Sir Nathaniel Johnson having advanced so far, was determined to proceed in spite of every obstacle thrown in his way. He instituted what the inhabitants of Carolina took to be a high-commission court, like that of King James the second. It was enacted, that twenty lay-persons be constituted a corporation for the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, with full power to deprive ministers of their livings at pleasure, not for immorality only, but also for imprudence, or on account of unreasonable prejudices taken against them. In vain did many persons complain of this institution, as tearing the ecclesiastical jurisdiction out of the hands of the bishop of London, in whose diocese the whole British colonies in America were included. The governor, bent on carrying into execution the favourite plan of the Palatine, paid little regard to the uneasy apprehensions of the people. According to the act for erecting churches, the colony is divided into ten parishes; seven in Berkeley, two in Colleton, and one in Craven counties. Money is provided for building churches; lands are granted for glebes and church-yards; and salaries for the different rectors are fixed and appointed, payable from the provincial treasury. When these bills were transmitted to England, to be ratified and confirmed by the Proprietors, John Archdale opposed them, and insisted, that the Dissenters of Carolina had not yet forgot the hardships they suffered in England from acts of uniformity; that the right of private judgment in religious matters was the birth-right of every man; that undisturbed liberty of conscience was allowed to every inhabitant of Carolina by the charter; that acts of conformity, with penalties annexed to them, have in general proved destructive to the cause they were intended to promote, and were utterly inconsistent with Protestant principles; and therefore that these bills, so unpopular and oppressive in Carolina, ought to be repealed, as contrary to sound policy and religious freedom. The majority of the Proprietors, however, did not view them in this light, and the debate ran high between them. At length the Palatine, equally tyrannical as bigotted put an end to the dispute, by telling Mr. Archdale: "Sir, you are of one opinion, I am of another; our lives may not be long enough to end the controversy. I am for the bills, and that is the party that I will head and support." In consequence of which the acts were ratified by four Proprietors, and the following letter was sent to Sir Nathaniel Johnson. "Sir, the great and pious work which you have gone through with such unwearied and steady zeal, for the honour and worship of Almighty God, we have also finally perfected on our part; and our ratification of that act for erecting churches, _&c._ together with duplicates of all other dispatches, we have forwarded to you by Captain Flavel." [Sidenote] The petition of Dissenters to the House of Lords.