USA > Georgia > A history of Georgia : from its first discovery by Europeans to the adoption of the present constitution in MDCCXCVIII. Vol. I > Part 29
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391
CHANCERY-OYER AND TERMINER.
Agreeably to the recommendation of this report, the Council established a general court,7 having jurisdiction and cognizance of all actions, real, personal, and mixed, exceeding the value of 40s .; and also to have cogni- zance of all criminal matters, with the like powers and authority as used and exercised by the respective courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, in Eng- land. This court was to consist of two judges, commis- sioned by the Governor, the Attorney General, and other lower officers; and was to be held quarterly, on the second Tuesday, respectively, of January, April, July and October. Appeals from the decisions of this court, provided the sum exceeded £300 in value, could be made to the Governor and Council ; and if the amount involved in the case was more than £500, it could be carried to the King in council, provided the appellant gave proper security to prosecute the same, and answer the condemnation. Notice of the appeal was to be given within fourteen days after the sentence of the Governor and Council. It was also ordered, that there be a Court of Chancery, for hearing and determining all matters of equity, to be held before his Excellency the Governor, as chancellor; the officers of which were to be a Master, Register, and Examiner; the court to sit after each General Court, if business required. A Court of Oyer and Terminer was also appointed, for the trial of all criminal matters, to sit twice a year. For breaches of the Act of Trade, and for determining con- troversies concerning salvage, mariners' wages, and other maritime affairs, a Court of Admiralty was established, before the Governor, as Vice Admiral- the other officers being an Advocate, a Register, and a Marshal-with liberty to appeal to the High Court of Admiralty of England.
7 Stokes, 259. MS. Min. of Coun., where the report is spread out in full, 34.
392
JUDGES OF THE VARIOUS COURTS.
For punishing slaves committing capital crimes, a commission of Oyer and Terminer, when necessary, " was to be issued to the justice of the district in which the offence was committed, to try the offender, on proof of the fact by witnesses, without jury; the justice to award execution, and set a value upon the slave, which is afterwards to be paid to the owner by the General Assembly, as an encouragement to the people to dis- cover the villainies of their slaves."8
Sums under 40s. were to be under the cognizance of inferior, or justices' courts.
Of the Court of Record, known by the name and style of the General Court, Noble Jones and Jonathan Bryan were appointed judges.
The officers appointed in the Court of Admiralty were, James Edward Powell, judge advocate; Will- iam Clifton, advocate-general; Alexander Kellet, mar- shal ; William Spencer, register.
Thus was the province invested with full judicial privileges, with courts of ample powers, and such legal advantages as its circumstances required.
This important matter being settled, another, and deeply interesting, subject was brought before the Council. By the King's instructions, the Governor was directed to convene a General Assembly, of which no person could be a member who did not possess in his own right a freehold estate of five hundred acres, within the district or division for which he was chosen. But this restriction excluded several of the most popu- lous villages in the province-Frederica, Vernonburg, Acton, Aberdeen, Ebenezer, and Goshen; and to re- medy this, the Council divided the province into three
8 MS. Minutes of Council, 38.
393
FIRST LEGISLATURE OF GEORGIA MEETS.
divisions, appointing to each its quota of representa- tives.
The writ of summons called for a General Assembly to meet in Savannah on the 7th of January, 1755. On this day the first legislature of Georgia, consisting of three branches, the Governor, Council and Commons House, met in the capital, and, after being organized, the Governor made to them his primary speech :-
" Gentlemen of the Council and of the Assembly :
" I congratulate you upon the regard His Maj- esty has been graciously pleased to show this province, in fixing here a regular form of government immedi- ately under his royal authority, the great advantages of which are too obvious to require mention ; and as His Majesty has done me the honour to appoint me your Governor, I take this first opportunity to assure you that it shall be my study, during the course of my administration, to promote the prosperity of the colony, that you and your posterity may reap the benefit that will attend its flourishing state. The only advantage I propose to myself is my share of the honour that will arise from the success of our mutual endeavours in this undertaking. I expect, therefore, that you will all cheerfully and loyally contribute your assistance to this laudable end ; and as the most effectual means to attain it are unanimity, method, and close application, let me recommend it to you, and advise that the more weighty and important affairs of the colony be taken into your immediate consideration at your first meet- ing, and afterwards things of lesser moment. I think it proper for the public service that you, first of all, frame some provincial laws for the well regulating the militia, for the making public roads, and establishing
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394
GOVERNOR'S SPEECH AND REPLY OF COUNCIL.
a provision for defraying the expenses of holding the two courts of Oyer and Terminer, which His Maj- esty has directed to be held on the second Tuesday in December, and the second Tuesday in June; and I likewise recommend to your consideration the making a provision for the ordinary contingencies of govern- ment, as far as the circumstances of the people will conveniently admit of the same.
" Gentlemen, as you are called together for no other purpose but to consult about the best methods of pro- moting your own welfare, I doubt not but you will take care to suffer nothing to disunite you, or draw off your attention from the public good. I, on my part, shall be ready to concur with you in everything that can be conducive to your true and lasting interest."
To this modest and judicious speech, the Council replied :-
"May it please your Excellency, we, His Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Council of this prov- ince, met in General Assembly, beg leave to return your Excellency our hearty thanks for your speech de- livered to us.
" We are very sensible of the great and obvious ad- vantages that will necessarily result from the regard His Majesty has been graciously pleased to show this province, in fixing here a regular form of government immediately under his royal authority ; and from your Excellency's general character, and the knowledge that, from our nearer approach to your Excellency's per- son, we have of your abilities and inclinations, we are well assured that it will be your Excellency's study, during the course of your administration, to promote
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395
REPLY OF COUNCIL.
the prosperity of this colony, that we and our poster- ity may reap the benefit that will attend its flourishing state, and that the only advantage your Excellency proposes to yourself is your share of the honour that will arise from the success of our mutual endeavours in this undertaking. We are determined to contribute our assistance to this laudable end, and as we are con- vinced that the most effectual means to attain it are unanimity, method, and close application, we shall take into immediate consideration, at our first meeting, the more weighty and important affairs of this colony, and afterwards, things of lesser moment.
" We will very cheerfully co-operate in framing those provincial laws that your Excellency has been pleased to recommend, and being perfectly satisfied that we are called together for no other purpose but to consult about the best methods of promoting our own welfare, we shall take care to suffer nothing to disunite us, or draw off our attention from the public good; and we make no doubt but your Excellency will be ready to concur with us in everything that can be conducive to our true and lasting interest."
The Representatives also made the following ad- dress :
" May it please your Excellency :
" We, His Majesty's most dutiful and loyal sub- jects, the representatives for the province of Georgia, in assembly met, beg leave to return your Excellency our sincere and hearty thanks for your affectionate speech.
" We have a most grateful sense of the tender re- gard His Majesty has been graciously pleased to show
396
ADDRESS OF REPRESENTATIVES.
to this province, under the benign influence of his royal authority ; and doubt not but we shall reap the same advantages from it and enjoy the same privi- leges under it, as the other His Majesty's provinces in America do.
" We beg leave to offer His Majesty our most duti- ful acknowledgments for this instance of his pastoral care, and also for the wise choice he has been pleased to make of your Excellency, whom we have great reason to believe possessed of every qualification, necessary toward discharging your duty to your royal master, and making the people over whom you preside happy.
" We thank you, sir, in particular, for the kind assurance you have been pleased to give us of your hearty inclination to promote the good of the colony, and to join with us in everything we propose for that end.
" We, on our parts, assure your Excellency, that it shall be our constant aim and study, to propose nothing but what we judge consistent with the honour and dignity of our sovereign, and the good of our constitu- ents, being well convinced that the true interests of His Majesty and his loyal subjects are so closely con- nected, that whatever tends to promote the honour of the one, is likewise for the advantage of the other : having all of us this in view, we doubt not we shall be unanimous in all our proceedings ; and we shall in the first place take under our consideration such affairs as shall appear to be of the greatest impor- tance, and that require our immediate attention.
" We will likewise consider of methods for raising money towards defraying the contingent expenses of government ; but our present situation and circum-
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397
REPLY OF THE GOVERNOR.
stances are such, that we shall be able to contribute very little for that purpose ; but we hope from what we have already experienced of His Majesty's royal favour, that he will be pleased to grant us such assist- ance as will make good our deficiencies, and at the same time assure your Excellency, that our inclination shall not be wanting as far as our ability will permit.
" We hope that the whole tenor of our actions will tend to convince your Excellency that we have nothing more at heart than to consult the honour and dignity of our most gracious sovereign, and truly to promote the interest of this colony; in the doing of which, we flatter ourselves we shall in some measure lessen to you the weight of government, and procure you the lasting satisfaction of having contributed so largely towards rendering us a flourishing people, which we believe to be your sincerest wish."
His Excellency replied as follows :-
" Gentlemen of the Assembly :
" It gives me great satisfaction to find you so truly sensible of His Majesty's paternal care of this colony. I am obliged to you for the kind marks of your esteem in this address, and for the assurances you give me of proceeding in the public business with unanimity. I shall be glad of any opportunity of con- vincing you of the sincerity of my good wishes for your prosperity, and I promise myself from your appli- cation, that they will be crowned with success.">
This was a fair and promising beginning of his administration. The people, through the Council and
9 These addresses and replies have
trative of the general tenor of such been given in full, as they were the official courtesies,
first made in Georgia, and as illus-
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398
FACTION OF EDMUND GRAY.
Commons, met him with courteous words and sincere promises ; and came together with honest purpose to labour with him in raising up the depressed colony, and giving to it new life, through the new agencies brought to bear upon its interests.
But this unanimity was soon disturbed by the machinations of one of the representatives, Edmund Gray,10 a pretended Quaker and a fugitive from justice in Virginia. This artful and insinuating man, having no property himself, was enabled, “ by getting a quali- fication made over to him for that purpose," to obtain a seat in the town-house, as representative from Augusta. Having framed a scheme for monopolizing the Indian trade, he pretended that there was con- nected with him in this matter a nobleman in Eng- land, through whose influence, combined with such representations as he could obtain from Georgia, he designed to overturn the present government, and establish one more suitable to his nefarious purposes. By promising places of trust and emolument to various persons, he actually influenced five representatives to withdraw with him from the assembly, in order to break it up by destroying a quorum, and thus defeat- ing one of the objects of government. Their plan, however, was immediately found out, and four of them were expelled (February 6th) from the assem- bly, not only for withdrawing themselves, but for signing a letter which was voted to be seditious by both Houses.11
1º Board of Trade, v. 158.
11 The following is the letter :- " Savannah, 15th Jan., 1755. " GENTLEMEN :- If you regard the liberties of your country, as we cannot doubt but they are dear to you, it
is highly necessary that you come im- mediately to Savannah, there by your pesence to animate and support your friends, in their endeavours to procure those blessings that can alone render this colony flourishing and happy.
399
THE ASSEMBLY PROROGUED:
The disaffection must have been deep and serious, as the Governor sent to Charleston for a sloop-of-war, and an association was formed by the two Houses, and other well-disposed persons, "to defend with their lives and fortunes the person and government of . His Excellency."
This serious interruption to its progress removed , the assembly went on with its appropriate business a month longer, when, having accomplished their legis- lative duties, the Governor met both Houses in the council chamber, (March 7th,) and gave his assent to twelve acts which had passed the assembly, and then in a few forcible and affectionate words, urging them in their several districts "to frustrate the wicked intentions " of those men whose conduct had been censured by expulsion, and " who disliked govern- ment only because it is government," and " who have gone about to poison the minds of the people with groundless and false insinuations," he prorogued the assembly to the 7th of January, 1756. The acts passed by this assembly were-
First. For regulating the militia of the province, and for the better security and defence of the same.
Secondly. For stamping, imprinting, emitting, and making current, the sum of £3,000 sterling in paper bills of credit, to be let out at interest on good secu- rity, at six per cent. per annum, and for applying the said interest.
" In this we hope you will not fail, and subscribe ourselves hearty and sincere friends to you and Georgia.
CHARLES WATSON, EDMUND GRAY,
MARK CARR,
JOHN MACKINTOSH,
JOHN FARMUR,
EDWARD BARNARD,
JOHN HARN, WILLIAM GRAY.
" To the Freeholders of the Province of Georgia."
400
ACTS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY.
Thirdly. An act inflicting and imposing penalties upon any person or persons that shall publish and de- clare that the acts of the General Assembly of the province of Georgia are not of force.
Fourthly. An act to regulate fences in the province of Georgia.
Fifthly. An act for raising and granting to His Majesty a sum of money to defray the expense of the courts of oyer and terminer, and other contingencies of government.
Sixthly. An act declaring it high treason to coun- terfeit His Majesty's seal of this province.
Seventhly. An act to prevent fraudulent deeds and conveyances.
Eighthly. An act for ascertaining the interest of money in the province of Georgia.
Ninthly. An act for the better ordering and gov- erning negroes and other slaves, in this province.
Tenthly. An act to empower surveyors to lay out public roads.
Eleventhly. An act for establishing a market in the town of Savannah, and to prevent forestalling, engrossing, and unjust transactions in the said town and market.
Twelfthly. An act for raising a fund for keeping the light-house on Tybee island in repair, and for building a house there for the use of the pilot.
Three of these acts, the third, sixth and seventh, were directed against the late disorganizing attempts of Gray, and others which might yet spring up, to the sorrow and confusion of the colony.
The first and ninth acts were to meet the necessity which existed to guard against Indian enemies with- out, and to overawe, and keep down, the increasing black population within.
401
PEOPLE DESIRE NEW TRIBUNALS.
The fifth related to one of the most important, yet long-neglected, interests of the colony.
Prior to 1741, the bailiff court had sole civil and criminal jurisdiction. It was then superseded by the appointment of two boards of President and assistants, for the northern and southern parts of the province ; which, in its turn, was superseded by one board for the whole colony.
This was the only tribunal until the arrival of Gov- ernor Reynolds.
The inhabitants solicited the Trustees to constitute this board a court of appeal; and the subject was before them during two meetings, but it was unani- mously voted down; and the old tribunal remained, burdening the colony with its inefficient and irre- sponsible power.
The new form of civil government required judicial powers more consonant to the tribunals instituted in the other provinces; and the erection of this Court of Oyer and Terminer, to hear and determine all treasons, felonies, and misdemeanours, was the first step towards investing the province with full judiciary instruments and powers.
The second and eighth acts, relating to pecuniary matters, were specially demanded by the exigencies of the province. The early settlers brought but little money with them, and being supported by the weekly issues from the Trustees' store, did not need much. What little trade existed was mostly by barter; and a small supply of the bills emitted by South Carolina constituted almost the only currency. The increase of the colony, and the demands of trade, made a circu- latory medium necessary ; and the Trustees, at times, sent over English coin, which being paid to the sala-
26
402
CURRENCY OF GEORGIA.
ried officers of the Trust, was at once thrown into cir- culation. At one time they ordered £1,000, in silver, to be sent over ; and on another occasion, two tons of halfpence were to be shipped to Georgia.
To meet the still further demand, the Trustees issued their sola bills; and though they could not be made a legal tender, they were freely circulated, and nearly supplanted every other currency in the colony.
The promptness with which the Trustees met these as they fell due, kept up their credit, and to the very last, funds to the full amount of the unredeemed bills were placed in the hands of an agent, to cancel them as they were presented. At the surrender of the charter, only £1,149 of sola bills remained unredeem- ed; and but very little of this sum was circulating at this time in Georgia. Their foreign trade absorbed most of the specie ; and their currency was principally of the Carolina bills, which were seldom at par out of the province, and often greatly depreciated, notes of hand, or orders on merchants, which were discharged either in Carolina bills or goods-in either case to the great loss of the holder.12 Under these circumstances, without a currency adequate to the demands of trade, depending on her sister colony for the unsound medium which did circulate, and anxious to remedy the financial evils growing out of this condition, the Assembly ventured to pass, and the Governor to approve, the act for emit- ting £3,000. It was a step dictated by self-preservation, and to which they were enticed by the frequent in- stances wherein Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and es- pecially their neighbour, South Carolina, had stamped and made current bills of hundreds and thousands of pounds.
1 2 Board of Trade, vi. 8.
403
ACT OF PARLIAMENT.
The Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations disapproved of it; but they in vain strove to stop it. They could not make uncurrent what was in circula- tion, because it was too much braided in with all the mercantile and social relations of the colonies; and they could not send over sufficient sterling money to supply its place. South Carolina alone, between the years 1702 and 1746, emitted £535,000; and so much had its bills depreciated, that a dollar was equivalent to £1 12s. 6d. currency ; and after fluctuating for some time in depreciation, the rate of £7 of currency for £1 sterling was finally fixed upon.13
Maryland and Massachusetts had gone further than any of the other colonies, inasmuch as they had erected mints and coined money. This infringement upon a royal right, tolerated for a little while, was soon arrested, and the operations of the mint suspended.14
The alarming increase of colonial paper currency was taken notice of in Parliament in 1748 ; and an act was passed in 1751, " for regulating and restraining bills of credit in the colonies." By this act, colonial bills were not to be a legal tender, and could only be emitted for the current expenses of the year, and in case of invasion. 15 But the necessities of this long-suf- fering colony were not to be squared by the precise terms of a parliamentary statute; and when, therefore, the Lords of Trade referred this act to Sir Matthew Lambe, the King's Solicitor, for his legal opinion, he cautiously replied : " How far in this province, and in the very particular manner it is intended to be done by this act, it is to be admitted, must, from circum-
13 Ramsay, ii. 164-5. Chalmers's Polit. Ann., b. i. ch. x. 248.
14 Felt's Historical Account of Mas- sachusetts Currency, Boston, 1839, 31.
15 Minot's Hist. of Massachusetts, Boston, 1798, i. 146.
404
REYNOLDS ASKS DEFENCES AND INDIAN PRESENTS.
stances, and the information given relating thereto, be submitted the confirmation of this act."16
Such was the first legislation under the first royal Governor of Georgia. It shows the spirit of the people, the necessities of the colony, the friendly relations which then subsisted between the ruler and the ruled, and the mutual aim of both to advance the leading interests of the province.
In a colony which had suffered so much from mal- administration, there was much to be done by its first Governor, and there was still more expected. His duties were arduous, his salary small, his responsibili- ties great.
Governor Reynolds began well, and entered upon his duties with industry and zeal. One of the earliest subjects which engaged his attention, was the neces- sity of having troops for the defence of the province. This he represented to the Board of Trade in his first letter to that body, and in his next renewed his appli- cation as a matter absolutely necessary for so exposed and defenceless a colony.
With equal earnestness he craved Indian presents for the pacification of the surrounding tribes, whose amity it was necessary to secure, especially now when so many efforts were making to disengage them from the interests of the English King. The Indian pres- ents came, but the troops did not ; and the inhabitants were disappointed in the increased trade and money which the three companies asked for by the Governor would, as they fully supposed, have brought to the colony.
Soon after the adjournment of the Assembly, the Governor set out on a tour through the southern parts
16 Board of Trade, vi. 63.
405
PLANS THE CITY OF HARDWICKE.
of the province as far as St. Simons. Here he beheld the spectacle of the once bustling Frederica in ruins ; " the fortifications entirely decayed, and the houses falling down ;" twenty pieces of cannon lying about, but spoiled for want of care. Three years only had sufficed to bring on this desolate condition ; for two years before the visit of Governor Reynolds, an anon- ymous journalist describes it as " presenting the melancholy prospect of houses without inhabitants, barracks without soldiers, guns without carriages, and streets grown over with weeds. All appeared to me with a very horrible aspect, and so different from what I once knew it, that I could scarce refrain from tears."
While at the south, he explored a number of the inlets and rivers; and thinking that he found in the Ogeechee a stream superior in its channel and in its bar to the Savannah, he laid out a town upon the bluff, twelve or fourteen miles from the sea, which he called Hardwicke, in honour of his relative, the Earl of Hard- wicke, Lord High Chancellor of England. In his letter to the Board of Trade, he writes:17 " Hardwicke has a charming situation, the winding of the river making it a peninsula ; and it is the only fit place for the capital. There are many objections to this town of Savannah being so, besides its being situated at the extremity of the province, the shoalness of the river, and the great height of the land, which is very inconvenient in the loading and unloading of ships. Many lots have al- ready been granted in Hardwicke, but only one house is yet built there ; and as the province is unable to be at the expense of erecting the necessary public build- ings, and the annual sum of £500 allowed for erecting
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