The Life of Francis Marion | Page 9

SUITABLE IN NEATNESS AND
CONTRIVANCE. They are all of the same opinion with the church of
Geneva,** there being no difference among them concerning the
punctilios of their Christian faith; WHICH UNION HATH
PROPAGATED A HAPPY AND DELIGHTFUL CONCORD IN ALL
OTHER MATTERS THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE
NEIGHBORHOOD; LIVING AMONGST THEMSELVES AS ONE
TRIBE OR KINDRED, EVERY ONE MAKING IT HIS BUSINESS
TO BE ASSISTANT TO THE WANTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN,
PRESERVING HIS ESTATE AND REPUTATION WITH THE
SAME EXACTNESS AND CONCERN AS HE DOES HIS OWN:
ALL SEEMING TO SHARE IN THE MISFORTUNES, AND
REJOICE AT THE ADVANCE AND RISE OF THEIR BRETHREN."
Lawson fitly concludes his account of the settlers upon the Santee, by
describing them as "a very kind, loving, and affable people" -- a
character which it has been the happy solicitude of their descendants to
maintain to the present day.***
-- * Lawson's "Journal of a Thousand Miles' Travel among the Indians,
from South to North Carolina", is a work equally rare and interesting.
This unfortunate man fell a victim to his official duties. He was
confounded, by the savages, with the government which he represented,
and sacrificed to their fury, under the charge of depriving them, by his
surveys, of their land. He was made captive with the Baron de
Graffenreid. The latter escaped, but Lawson was subjected to the
fire-torture. ** "The inhabitants [of St. James, otherwise French Santee]
petitioned the Assembly, in 1706, to have their settlement made a

parish; and, at the same time, expressed their desire of being united to
the Church of England, whose doctrines and discipline they professed
highly to esteem. The Assembly passed an act, April 9, 1706, to erect
the French settlement of Santee into a parish." -- `Dalcho's Historical
Account', ch. 9, p. 295. *** See "A new Voyage to Carolina,
containing the exact description and natural history of that country, &c.;
and a journey of a thousand miles, travelled through several nations of
Indians. By John Lawson, Gent., Surveyor-General of North Carolina.
London, 1709." --
A more delightful picture than this of Mr. Lawson, could not well be
drawn by the social perfectionist. The rational beauty of the voluntary
system could not find a happier illustration; and, duly impressed with
its loveliness, we shall cease to wonder at the instances of excellence,
equally frequent and admirable, which rose up among this little group
of exiles, to the good fortune of the country which gave them shelter,
and in attestation of their own virtues. But this happy result was due
entirely to their training. It would be wonderful, indeed, if such an
education, toil and watch, patient endurance of sickness and suffering,
sustained only by sympathy with one another and a humble reliance
upon divine mercy, should not produce many perfect characters -- men
like Francis Marion, the beautiful symmetry of whose moral structure
leaves us nothing to regret in the analysis of his life. Uncompromising
in the cause of truth, stern in the prosecution of his duties, hardy and
fearless as the soldier, he was yet, in peace, equally gentle and
compassionate, pleased to be merciful, glad and ready to forgive,
sweetly patient of mood, and distinguished throughout by such
prominent virtues, that, while always sure of the affections of followers
and comrades, he was not less secure in the unforced confidence of his
enemies, among whom his integrity and mercy were proverbial. By
their fruits, indeed, shall we know this community, the history of which
furnishes as fine a commentary upon the benefit of good social training
for the young -- example and precept happily keeping concert with the
ordinary necessities and performances of life, the one supported by the
manliest courage, the other guided by the noblest principle -- as any
upon record.*

-- * It is one of the qualifications of the delight which an historian feels
while engaged in the details of those grateful episodes which frequently
reward his progress through musty chronicles, to find himself suddenly
arrested in his narrative by some of those rude interruptions by which
violence and injustice disfigure so frequently, in the march of history,
the beauty of its portraits. One of these occurs to us in this connection.
Our Huguenot settlers on the Santee were not long suffered to pursue a
career of unbroken prosperity. The very fact that they prospered -- that,
in the language of Mr. Lawson, "they outstript our English," when
placed in like circumstances -- that they were no longer desolate and
dependent, and had grown vigorous, and perhaps wanton, in the smiles
of fortune -- was quite enough to re-awaken in the bosoms of "our
English" the ancient national grudge upon which they had so often fed
before. The prejudices and hostilities which had prevailed for centuries
between their respective nations, constituted