Following instructions from
his seven fellows Berkeley now declared this region separated from Virginia
and attached to Carolina. He christened it Albemarle. Strangely enough, he
sent as Governor that Scotchman, William Drummond, whom some years later he
would hang. Drummond should have a Council of six and an Assembly of
freemen that might inaugurate legislation having to do with local matters
but must submit its acts to the Proprietaries for veto or approval. This
was the settlement in Carolina of Albemarle, back country to Virginia,
gatherer thence of many that were hardy and sound, many that were
unfortunate, and many that were shiftless and untamed. An uncouth nurse of
a turbulent democracy was Albemarle.
Cape Fear, far down the deeply frayed coast, seemed a proper place to which
to send a colony. The intrusive Massachusetts men were gone. But "gentlemen
and merchants" of Barbados were interested. It is a far cry from Barbados
to the Carolina shore, but so is it a far cry from England. Many royalists
had fled to Barbados during the old troubles, so that its English
population was considerable. A number may have welcomed the chance to leave
their small island for the immense continent; and an English trading port
as far south as Cape Fear must have had a general appeal. So, in 1665, came
Englishmen from Barbados and made, up the Cape Fear River, a settlement
which they named Clarendon, with John Yeamans of Barbados as Governor. But
the colony did not prosper.
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