USA > Georgia > A history of Georgia : from its first discovery by Europeans to the adoption of the present constitution in MDCCXCVIII. Vol. I > Part 33
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These restless people, though quieted for a time by the firmness and zeal of the late President and assist- ants, were only waiting a favourable opportunity to agitate anew the subject, and extort a large sum by the sale or surrender of their claims. Involved in debt contracted upon this expectation, and supported in their pretensions by a party among the Indians, and some individuals in Carolina, they resolved to attempt enlisting the royal Governor, hoping by the weight and prerogative of his authority to accomplish their designs.
The memorial which, at the suggestion of Lieutenant Colonel Heron, had been sent in behalf of Mary to the Duke of Bedford, then one of His Majesty's principal - Secretaries of State, in 1747, was by command of the King,15 left to the consideration of the two agents that should be appointed for the provinces of South Carolina and Georgia for the distribution of Indian presents, to give the Bosomworths such parts as they should ad- vise. The agent selected by South Carolina was the brother of Thomas Bosomworth, and of course devoted to their interest. Artfully laying before the Governor and Assembly a statement of affairs, he induced that body, through their committee of conference, to advise, and the Governor accordingly to instruct the agent, to take the affair of Mrs. Bosomworth first into consid-
15 Board of Trade, v. 143.
451
THEY MEMORIALIZE THE EARL OF HALIFAX.
eration, and give her such a moiety of presents as the joint agents should think fit. The agent appointed from Georgia refused most properly to co-operate with the too partial agent of South Carolina, in thus sanc- tioning claims, and distributing gifts, merely to aggran- dize his own family; and no arrangements could of course be made.
The machination of his brother, the Indian agent of South Carolina, was too glaring not to be seen and thwarted, and though every influence was brought to bear in Georgia to his advantage which could possibly be excited, yet the minds of the President and assist- ants were too well informed to be blinded by pathetic appeals or supposititious services ; and they were too firm to be intimidated by threats, or overawed by de- nunciation. After the failure of this scheme, Bosom- worth and his wife went to England, and in 1754 again memorialized the Earl of Halifax and the other Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. This claim was prosecuted before the Lords Justices in council, by the attorney of the Bosomworths, who referred it to the Board of Trade, and by them it was sent over for the consideration of the Governor in Council. To this body, or rather to Governor Rey- nolds, Bosomworth, on his return to Georgia, addressed a long narrative embracing a history of the whole case, and commenting with great severity and crimination upon the journals and proceedings of the President and assistants.
The time chosen by Bosomworth for thus gaining the support of the Governor, evinced his cunning ; as the Council and Executive were then at variance con- cerning the conduct of Little, against whom they had freely remonstrated. Most of the Council had been
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452
GOV. REYNOLDS SIDES WITH BOSOMWORTH.
members of the old board of President and assistants, and being now in an antagonist position to the Gov- ernor, Bosomworth felt assured of the patronage of the Executive, and the success of his party. The narra- tive of Bosomworth was laid before the Council, on the very day that this body remonstrated with the Governor for his unwarrantable conduct; and as four of the five remonstrants were assistants under the Trustees, the Governor eagerly listened to anything that might humble them, and oppose their views. Bosomworth also attended in person, and his case, with accompanying papers, was referred to the con- sideration of Mr. Clifton, the attorney general. The subsequent Friday this law officer reported, that having examined the documents, he found the question to be a matter of right that could only be tried by a jury in a court of law, and was not cognizable by the Gov- ernor and Council. The one-sided course of the Governor in this matter, was especially evidenced in the conference held at Augusta in December, by his minion, and the Bosomworths' staunch friend, William Little. At this conference the Bosomworths were present, and allowed, by means of questions to which answers were previously framed, and by a scheme well planned, to give their own complexion to the council, and make it subservient to their sin- ister designs. Nothing can more demonstrate the self-aggrandizing schemes of the Governor and his secretary, than the course of their proceedings in this matter. Instead of remaining unbiased judges, aiming only to serve the best interests of the colony, they became absorbed partizans and interested clients, and bent down the powers of the government, and the
453
PROPOSALS OF BOSOMWORTH.
prerogative of the crown, to advance their selfish aims and monied interests.
The arrival of Governor Ellis checked for a time any further advances. He pursued a course at once wise and beneficial, and was enabled to bring the long troubled matters to an amicable conclusion. Sounding the Bosomworths, by means of mutual friends, he as- certained that they seemed tractable, and soon after sent them proposals for a compromise, engaging to ob- tain an absolute cession of those lands to the crown, provided his terms were accepted.
The proposals submitted by the Bosomworths recited their just claims to the territory in dispute ; yet as they had already been put to great expense in voyaging to and from England, in employing counsel, and in other ways prosecuting their claims, and as its further pur- suance involved still further expenditures, they agreed, by good and effectual conveyances in law, to release all their right, title, and interest whatsoever in and to the said islands Ossabau, Sapelo, and the tract of main land lying between Savannah and Pipemaker's Creek, for the sum of £3,000 sterling ; the island of St. Cath- erine's, whereon he lived, being reserved and con- firmed by a King's grant to himself. These terms Ellis thought too high, but told the Board of Trade that he believed at least two-thirds of the sum might be raised by the sale of the islands alone.
In the summer of 1759, the Governor received in- structions from His Majesty, dated 9th of February, to settle this long-depending dispute. In order that there might be no after-question as to the perfect right of the English to these lands, the Indian council, by their treaty of the 22d of April, 1758, ceded them all to His Majesty ; but of this cession the government could not
454
CLAIMS SETTLED.
take advantage because of the caveat of Mr. Bosom- worth. To satisfy the Bosomworths was the next step, and this was done by admitting a claim of Mrs. Bo- somworth for £450, for and on account of that value in goods expended by her in His Majesty's service in the years 1747 and 1748 ; and by allowing her a back salary, at the rate of one hundred per annum, for six- teen years and a half, during which time she had acted as government agent and interpreter, confirming to them the right and title to St. Catherine's Island, in consideration of their having built and planted there. These dues to Mrs. Bosomworth were to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of the islands Ossabau and Sapelo ; which being put up at auction on the 14th of April, the former brought £1350, and the latter £700. The lands lying about Pipemaker's Creek sold for over £638, the proceeds of which were to be applied to gov- ernmental purposes.
Thus after long years of litigation, after the most threatening disturbances, after scenes of turmoil and chicanery that embroiled the colony almost in civil war, and put in serious jeopardy its best interests, was this troublous claim adjusted to the satisfaction of all parties, and upon terms honourable and beneficial to each.
The sincerity of Bosomworth's professions was evinced by the employment of his influence among the Creeks, when Ellis, in order to divert the threatened invasion of the Cherokees, sought to provoke a war between these nations, and thus prevent the looked- for incursions. Ellis, in conjunction with Governor Lyttleton, laboured strenuously to bring the Chero- kees into a treaty, and indeed succeeded ; but they proved recreant to the conditions stipulated, and both
455
ELLIS REQUESTS A RECALL.
colonies were menaced with the torch and the toma- hawk of these mountain warriors. The blow, how- ever, fell upon Carolina, and Georgia escaped with the loss of only three or four lives.
The health of Ellis was seriously injured by the cli- mate of Georgia; indeed it was his opinion that the inhabitants of Savannah breathe a hotter air than any other people on the face of the earth; and to confirm this statement, he adds, "I have traversed a great part of this globe, not without giving some attention to the peculiarities of each climate, and I fairly pronounce that I never felt such heat anywhere as in Georgia."16 Nor was it the heat alone that undermined his con- stitution. The changes of winter he speaks of as equally deleterious, wherein he describes the ther- mometer as being at 86 on one day, and only 38 on another. His health soon gave way; and in Novem- ber, 1759,17 he solicited a recall, and the appointment of a successor, feeling unable to continue another sum- mer in Georgia. His request was granted; and on the 13th of May, 1760, James Wright was appointed Lieutenant Governor ; but he did not arrive until the following October, and Ellis was consequently com- pelled, amidst much debility, to pass another season of heat and sickness. Having delivered over the affairs of government to Mr. Wright, the Governor took his departure from Georgia the 2d of November, 1760. The people were much distressed at his removal ; for his kind and paternal administration had deeply and favourably impressed all with a sense of his integrity and worth. The Council, the Commons House of As- sembly, the Georgia Society, the merchants, the citi-
16 Philosophical Transactions, vol. 50, part 2d, 754.
17 Board of Trade, ix. 1.
456
DIFFICULTIES OF HIS ADMINISTRATION.
zens of Augusta, and other public and corporate bodies, presented him most affectionate addresses, regretting his departure, extolling his administration, commend- ing his character, and praying for his welfare. The Union Society, besides their address, presented him with a handsome piece of plate, as a token of the pub- lic gratitude of the inhabitants of Savannah. How different was his departure from that of Reynolds ! The latter, was followed by the maledictions of the people, beloved by none, condemned by all the good and honourable : the former, was laden with affection- ate addresses, and kindly feelings, and the unquestion- able evidences of love and devotedness. The one was a tyrant, and received a tyrant's execrations ; the other, like Ulysses, "swayed his people with a father's love."
The administration of Ellis was highly beneficial to Georgia. He found it in the most distracted state. Discord had glutted itself with the broken peace and blasted hopes of the settlers; representatives had been forcibly expelled from the Assembly ; members ejected from the Council; judges displaced from the bench ; officers turned out in merest caprice ; menial body- servants of the Governor and secretary were appointed to posts of honour; and confusion and misrule per- vaded the whole province. It was no easy task to bring order out of this chaotic mass. But Ellis began with temperate measures and gentle means ; engaging by his mildness and urbanity the affections of the peo- ple, and yet firm and decided in putting down, one after another, the evils to which the province was subjected.
The flourishing state of the colony was evidenced by the increase of settlers, and the extension of trade. The population now numbered about ten thousand ; 18
18 Board of Trade, viii. 93.
457
ELLIS'S MANAGEMENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
the enrolled militia had nearly doubled; and the com- merce of the province had augmented in a still greater proportion. During the year 1758 there were export- ed 25,000 weight of indigo, 5,500 hogsheads of rice, besides a very large quantity of corn and lumber to the West Indies.
By nothing, however, was the ability of Ellis more tested than by his management of Indian affairs. These, during his administration, were very compli- cated and precarious. The French and Indian wars, the Spanish depredations on the southern borders, the ill management of the British Indian agents, and the singular and irritating course pursued by the Governor of South Carolina, made it a matter of much difficulty to arrange, harmonize, and pacify the frontier tribes, and preserve the outskirts of the province from those savage incursions which had desolated the back set- tlements of the other provinces.
Indian warfare, in a thinly populated district, is but a succession of massacres and cruelties ; and the de- fenceless inhabitants of the upper parts of Georgia were stricken with the fears which such hostilities engender. It is unnecessary to pause over the history of this war, which mostly expended itself in other colo- nies ; suffice it to say, that by the prudence, decision, and admirable measures of Governor Ellis, the frontiers of Georgia were preserved from much of the distressing ravages which had else fallen upon them with scath- ing vengeance. He gathered the Indians to him in council-spoke to them friendly talks-conciliated their feelings-redressed their wrongs, and made them feel that he was their father and protector. The hu- man heart is the same, whether in the wigwam of the savage, or in the tapestried halls of power ; it ever,
458
APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF NOVA SCOTIA.
like Memnon's statue, murmurs responsive music to the warm rays of affection, and answers back kindly in- fluences by reciprocal friendship. Gain the heart and you have gained the man ; and the savage, equally with the pale man, is led by the cords of sincerity and love. Through these judicious measures the belligerent spirit of the bordering tribes was repressed, friendly alli- ances were formed; and Georgia experienced no other consequence of this long and disastrous war, than har- assing alarms and threatened invasions, though the frontiers of Carolina were bathed in blood and black- ened by the smouldering ruins of the midnight incen- diary.
The administration of Ellis was quiet and equable, marked by no towering event save the Indian war, but characterized rather by a gradual improvement of affairs, the adjustment of long-litigated points, an in- flux of population, the advancement of trade, and the tranquillity and happiness of the more populous dis- tricts. The period of his connection with Georgia will ever be in her history, like the calm hour of sun- shine after a tempest has blackened the sky.
After leaving Georgia, he visited the northern prov- inces on his return to England, and was everywhere received with marks of courtesy and attention. Again, through the influence of the Earl of Halifax, through whose agency Nova Scotia became a royal government, as well as for his own merit, he was in April, 1760, appointed Governor of Nova Scotia.
He held the station two years and a half, but with- out leaving England,19 when he resigned his commis- sion. He is represented as having much influence with government, and as enjoying, through the favour of
19 Haliburton's Nova Scotia, i. 317.
459
HIS DEATH.
the Earl of Halifax, sinecures to the amount of £800 per annum.
In consequence of continued ill-health he went to France, and located himself at Marseilles. In 1805 he resided in Naples, and even then was occupied in his favourite maritime researches. But he died the next year, over eighty-five years old. He was, at his death, the father of the " Royal Society," having been longer connected with it than any other member-enjoying the honour of a Fellow nearly fifty-seven years-having been admitted to membership about nine months be- fore the election of General Oglethorpe.
The colony planted by Oglethorpe, nurtured by the Trustees, fostered by Parliament, tyrannized over by Reynolds, and cherished by the kind government of Ellis, had passed its infancy and youth-an infancy of weakness, a youth of sorrow-and now began to rejoice in the first freedom of its early manhood. It gave prom- ise of a noble maturity; the results of that pomise constitute the theme of our remaining history.
Let there then go up a tribute of gratitude to Him, through whose protecting care alone, this " little one has become a thousand," and this " small one a great nation," because " the Lord hath spoken it."
LIST OF TRUSTEES.
APPENDIX.
LIST OF THE TRUSTEES, WITH NOTICES OF THE SAME.
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TRUSTEES APPOINTED BY THE CHARTER.
1. JOHN, LORD PERCEVAL.
THIS nobleman-lineally descended from Ascelin Gouel de Perceval, who accompanied William the Conqueror to Eng- land-was the son of Sir John Perceval, Knight and Baronet of Ireland. After becoming a Privy Councillor of Ireland, and a member of its Parliament for many years, he was elevated to the Peerage of that kingdom, in 1715, as Baron Perceval ; in 1722, was created Viscount Perceval; and in 1733, was advanced to an Earldom in Ireland, as Earl of Egmont. (Burke, in his "Peerage and Baronetage," makes the patent for this last title to be given in conse- quence of Lord Perceval's being nominated first President of the Trustees for settling Georgia. But this is not so; for he was nominated President only for the first meeting ; and after their organization, the office was held in rotation, a different member presiding at each meeting ; and further, the Trustees had existed as a body nearly a year and a half before the patent of Earldom was granted to Lord Per- ceval.) He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a writer of several works of much merit ; among them was a small volume styled, " Remarks upon a Scandalous Piece entitled, 'A Brief Account of the Causes which have re- tarded the Colony of Georgia ;' being a reply to a pam- phlet written by Thomas Stephens, son of William Stephens,
464
APPENDIX.
President of Georgia, and Sir Richard Everhard, son of Sir Richard Everhard, formerly Governor of North Carolina." He was a firm friend, a faithful Trustee, and a generous benefactor to Georgia. He died the 1st of May, 1748. His second daughter, Helen, was married to Lord Raw- don, a British officer during the Revolutionary War, and so celebrated throughout the Southern States for his unrelent- ing severity, and especially for his inhuman conduct in the murder of Colonel Isaac Hayne.
2. EDWARD DIGBY.
This gentleman was the grandson of Baron Digby ; and on the death of his grandfather-his father having pre- deceased-he succeeded him, in 1752, in the Peerage of Ireland, as sixth Baron Digby, having been previously a member of Parliament, and one of the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales. His brother Robert, an Admiral in the Royal Navy, married the daughter of Andrew Elliott, Esq., Governor of New York. Lord Digby never married ; and dying in 1757, the honours of that ancient house devolved on his brother Henry, who was subsequently advanced to the dignities of Viscount Coleshill and Earl Digby.
3. GEORGE, LORD CARPENTER,
The second Baron of that name, was the only son of Lieu- tenant-General the Right Honourable George Lord Car- penter, commander-in-chief of all the forces in Scotland. Lord Carpenter was Lieutenant-Colonel in the First Regi- ment of Horse Guards. He died in 1749, leaving an only son, who was subsequently created Viscount Carlingford and Earl of Tyrconnel.
4. JAMES OGLETHORPE, M. P.
5. GEORGE HEATHCOTE, M. P.,
Alderman of London ; and in 1740 elected Lord Mayor, but declined.
6. THOMAS TOWER, M. P.
7. ROBART MOORE, M. P.
465
LIST OF TRUSTEES.
8. ROBERT HUCKS, M. P.
A wealthy brewer ; died 21st of November, 1745.
9. ROGER HOLLAND, M. P.
10. WILLIAM SLOPER, M. P.
Died January 14th, 1743.
11. SIR FRANCIS EYLES, Bart., M. P.
One of the Commissioners of the Navy.
12. JOHN LAROCHE, M. P. Died 20th of April, 1752.
13. JAMES VERNON, Esq.
Son of James Vernon, Secretary of State to William III. He was appointed Envoy to the King of Denmark ; and was spoken of when not twenty-five years old as "a young gentleman who hath had a fine education, is master of abundance of learning, is very modest and sober." He was one of the Commissioners of Excise, and died in 1756.
14. WILLIAM BELITHA.
Soon resigned, on account of confinement in the country.
15. REV. JOHN BURTON, D.D.
He was the son of a clergyman, and made such proficiency in learning, that when seventeen years old he was admitted to a scholarship in Corpus Christi College, Oxford. At the age of twenty-one he took the degree of B.A. and was ap- pointed soon after to read the Greek Lecture. In 1733 he was elected to a fellowship in Eton College, and presented to a vicarage of Maple-Derham, in Oxfordshire. Here he married the wife of his predecessor, Rev. Dr. Littleton, but at her death, in 1748, he removed to Eton College, and devoted the greater part of his time to literary pur- suits. In 1752 he was made D.D., and in 1766 was pre- ferred to the rectory of Warplesdon in Surry. The day before his death, on Sunday eve, he sent, as had been his custom, for five or six promising youths, and after supper discoursed to them with much force and elegance on some important subject of divinity. At their departure he re- tired to rest, and died the next morning, February 11th,
30
466
APPENDIX.
1771, aged seventy-six. Dr. Burton was a voluminous writer in various departments of literature-a man of acknowledged talents, and most amiable and winning vir- tues. " A man like this," says his Latin biographer, Dr. Bentham. " though invested by no ecclesiastical dignities, though adorned with no cathedral titles, must certainly be deemed praiseworthy, and his many virtues must long be remembered and honoured."
16. REV. RICHARD BUNDY, D.D.
Prebend of Westminster, and Chaplain in Ordinary to the King. He died prior to 1740.
17. REV. ARTHUR BEDFORD, A.M.
Chaplain to the Prince of Wales. He was a pious and very learned clergyman, and the author of many interest- ing and valuable works. Among them were, " Animad- versions upon Sir Isaac Newton's Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms amended," and " Scripture Chronology demon- strated by Astronomical Calculations, and also by the Year of Jubilee and the Sabbatical Year among the Jews :" London, 1730, fol. Dr. Waterland characterized this as " a very learned and elaborate work." He was also a good Oriental scholar, and edited the Arabic New Testa- ment and Psalter. He died 13th of September, 1745.
REV. SAMUEL SMITH, LL.B.
Of Magdalen College, Oxford, and rector of All Hallows on the Wall. He preached the second sermon to recom- mend the charity of the Trustees, for which he received the thanks of that body.
19. ADAM ANDERSON,
A native of Scotland, and forty years clerk in the South Sea House, and afterwards chief clerk of the " Stock and new Annuities," which place he held till his death in 1763. He was the author of that most valuable work, (afterwards enlarged by David McPherson,) " Historical and Chrono- logical Deduction of Trade and Commerce from the earliest accounts to the present time, containing a History of the great Commercial Interests of the British Empire. 2 vols. fol. 1762."
467
LIST OF TRUSTEES.
20. THOMAS CORAM,
Called also Captain. By his sole application he obtained the charter for the Foundling Hospital, and the bounty on naval stores imported from British plantations. He was also eminently concerned in the colony of Nova Scotia as well as Georgia, and had made considerable progress in a scheme for uniting the Indians in North America more closely to the British interest, by an establishment for the education of Indian girls. All his thoughts, indeed, were turned towards schemes of public utility. He died 29th February, 1751, and was interred with great solemnity, in the vault under the chapel of the Foundling Hospital. The charter of the hospital was carried before the corpse. on a velvet cushion, the children walking before it. The pall was supported by eight persons of distinction. A great number of governors followed the body in deep mourning, and were met by the choirs of Westminster and St. Paul's, who performed a solemn service composed by Dr. Boyce. 21. REV. STEPHEN HALES, D.D.
This eminent naturalist and divine was born in Kent, in 1677, and was the grandson of Sir Robert Hales, Bart. He was educated at Bennet College, Cambridge, of which he was elected Fellow in 1702. Having graduated M.A., he entered into holy orders, and became rector of Farringdon, in Hampshire. In 1717 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1739 received its annual gold medal for a valuable scientific paper. In 1733 the University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.D., a distinction the more honourable as it was not usual for either of the two Univer- sities, Oxford or Cambridge, to confer honours on those educated without its walls. On the death of Sir Hans Sloane in 1753, he was elected in his place a member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris. Intimate in his friend- ship and intercourse with His Royal Highness Frederick Prince of Wales, who frequently visited him at Zeddington from his neighbouring palace at Kew, he was, at his de- cease, in 1750, appointed without his solicitation or even knowledge, clerk of the closet, or almoner to Her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager. The King also manifest-
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