made by him, together with six members of the council and some of the
clergy, particularly the Rev. Mr. Fouace, Colonel Nicholson was
recalled.[369:A] He ceased to be governor in August, 1705. Before
entering on the government of Virginia he had been lieutenant-governor
of New York under Andros, and afterwards at the head of administration
from 1687 to 1689, when he was expelled by a popular tumult. From 1690
to 1692 he was lieutenant-governor of Virginia. From 1694 to 1699 he
held the government of Maryland, where, with the zealous assistance of
Commissary Bray, he busied himself in establishing Episcopacy. Returning
to the government of Virginia, Governor Nicholson remained until 1705.
In the year 1710 he was appointed general and commander-in-chief of the
forces sent against Fort Royal, in Acadia, which was surrendered to him.
During the following year he headed the land force of another expedition
directed against the French in Canada. The naval force on this occasion
was commanded by the imbecile Brigadier Hill. The enterprise was corrupt
in purpose, feeble in execution, and abortive in result. This failure
was attributable to the mismanagement and inefficiency of the fleet. In
1713 Colonel Nicholson was governor of Nova Scotia. Having received the
honor of knighthood in 1720, Sir Francis Nicholson was appointed
governor of South Carolina, where during four years, it is said, he
conducted himself with a judicious and spirited attention to the public
welfare, and this threw a lustre over the closing scene of his long and
active career in America. Returning to England, June, 1725, he died
at London in March, 1728. He is described as an adept in colonial
governments, trained by long experience in New York, Virginia, and
Maryland; brave, and not penurious, but narrow and irascible; of loose
morality, yet a fervent supporter of the church.[369:B]

Upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes, by Louis the Fourteenth, in
1685, more than half a million of French Protestants, called Huguenots,
fled from the jaws of persecution to foreign countries. About forty
thousand took refuge in England. In 1690 William the Third sent over a
number of them to Virginia, and lands were allotted to them on James
River. During the year 1699 another body came over, conducted by their
clergyman, Claude Philippe de Richebourg. He and others were naturalized
some years afterwards. Others followed in succeeding years; the larger
part of them se