USA > Georgia > A history of Georgia : from its first discovery by Europeans to the adoption of the present constitution in MDCCXCVIII. Vol. II > Part 5
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GEORGIA UNDER ROYAL GOVERNMENT.
followed by another which deprived Massachusetts of its chartered privileges ; together with a law for send- ing state criminals to England "to be butchered in the King's Bench," hurried on the catastrophe of war.
The zeal of Governor Wright in his Majesty's ser- vice, and the wisdom and prudence, as well as capa- city, which marked his executive character, procured him on his arrival in England a favorable audience of the King; who, on the 8th December, 1772, created him a Baronet of Great Britain. He sailed on his return to Georgia, from Falmouth, England, towards the close of December, 1772, in his Majesty's Packet- boat Eagle, being accompanied by his two daughters.5 He reached Charleston on the 4th February, 1773, and Savannah about the middle of that month. As, on his departure nineteen months before, affectionate ad- dresses had been presented to him by the Council, the bench, the merchants, and the public officers, so now, on his return, tokens of respect were freely tendered to him, and he was received by the Georgians with great friendliness and rejoicing. Despite the differences of opinion which existed between Governor Wright and some of the leading minds of the colony in refe- rence to the late measures of Parliament, there was a universal feeling that he had honestly discharged his duty to his king, and had exhibited qualities inspir- ing respect and commanding esteem.
5 Anne, subsequently married to Rear-Admiral Sir James Wallace ; and Mary, afterwards the wife of General Barron.
BOOK FOURTH.
GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
CHAPTER I.
DAWNINGS OF LIBERTY-INDIAN TROUBLES, ETC.
THE designs of George the Third were now un- masked; and Lord North boldly declared that he would not listen to the complaints of America until she was at his feet. The words, indeed, were those of the favorite minister, but the sentiment was the King's; for his feelings had been so wrought up by the resistance of his prerogative, not only by the Americans, but also by the opposition which he expe- rienced in Parliament, where "that trumpet of sedi- tion," as he termed Lord Chatham, made the walls of St. Stephen's ring with the defence of oppressed mil- lions, that he said several times "if the people will not stand by me, they shall have another king ;" and when Lord North, like a wise Palinurus, foreseeing the dan- ger, desired to retire from the helm of state, it was the constraining importunity of the king which alone kept him at his post. The Machiavelian fiction, which,
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
making the ministers amenable for political failures, assert that "the king can do no wrong," turned, in- deed, the nation's wrath from the monarch to his officials, but it is nevertheless true, that the severe measures pursued toward America, oftener originated with the king, than with the premier; and that the very effort to accomplish the absorbing idea of George the Third, " the preservation of the empire," resulted through his obdurate rancour in its irretrievable dis- union. Whatever might have been the effect of con- ciliatory measures prior to the recent Acts of Parlia- ment, it was now too late. The favorable moment had passed, and the thirteen colonies of America were lost to him forever. Remonstrances, petitions, resolu- tions, had all failed in producing a change of policy, and in common with the other provinces, Georgia, the last settled, and the last to renounce allegiance to the crown, addressed herself to the sacrifice of everything but liberty.
The spirit of indignation which was aroused throughout the land by the closing of the port of Boston, and divesting that town of commercial rights, was participated in by many Georgians, and a notice ac- cordingly appeared in the Georgia Gazette, of the 20th July, 1774, stating that " the critical situation to which the British Provinces in America are likely to be re- duced, from the alarming and arbitrary imposition of the late act of the British Parliament, respecting the town of Boston, as well as the acts that at present exist tend- ing to the raising of a perpetual revenue, without the consent of the people or their representatives, is con- sidered as an object extremely important at this criti- cal juncture, and particularly calculated to deprive the
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American subjects of their constitutional rights and liberties as parts of the British Empire." It concluded by requesting "that all persons within the limits of this province do attend at the liberty pole at Tondee's Tavern, in Savannah, on Wednesday, the 27th inst., in order that the said matter may be taken under con- sideration, and such other constitutional measures pursued as may then appear most eligible." This invitation, signed by Noble Wimberly Jones, Archi- bald Bullock, John Houstoun, and George Walton, was promptly responded to; and a large number con- vened at the watch-house at the time appointed. But little business was done at this meeting, because it was objected, " that many of the out parishes might not have a sufficient notice of the intended meeting ;" and, therefore, after reading letters from the various committees of Charleston, Wilmington, Williamsburg, Annapolis, Philadelphia, and Boston, it was “ resolved that all further business be postponed till the 10th of August next, and that in the meantime, notice be given to the inhabitants of the several parishes, in order to afford them an opportunity of sending down deputies to deliver their sense upon this very impor- tant occasion." This notice was sent by Mr. John Glen, the chairman of the Savannah Committee, to the different parishes, requesting that they would send a number " to join the committee agreeable to the number of representatives each parish sends to the General Assembly."
Such proceedings could not pass unnoticed. The Governor was now fairly excited at the threatening aspect of affairs, and at the array of respectable names on this Savannah Committee of thirty-one persons.
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
True to his purpose of treading out the first sparks of rebellion, he issued his proclamation, "notifying that all such summonses and calls by private persons, and all assembling and meetings of the people, which may tend to raise fears and jealousies in the minds of his Majesty's subjects, under the pretence of consulting together for redress of public grievances or imaginary grievances, are unconstitutional, illegal, and punishable by law. And I do hereby require," says the Governor, "all his Majesty's liege subjects within this Province to pay due regard to this my Proclamation, as they will answer the contrary at their peril."
Undaunted by such warnings, the patriots of Geor- gia met at the appointed place, on the 10th August, and unanimously passed the following resolutions :
" Resolved, nemine contradicente, That his Majesty's subjects in America owe the same allegiance, and are entitled to the same rights, privileges, and immunities with their fellow-subjects in Great Britain.
" Resolved, nemine contradicente, That, as protection and allegiance are reciprocal, and under the British Constitution correlative terms, his Majesty's liege sub- jects in America have a clear and indisputable right, as well from the general laws of mankind, as from the ancient and established customs of the land, so often recognized, to petition the throne upon every emer- gency.
" Resolved, nemine contradicente, That an act of Parliament, lately passed, for blockading the port and harbor of Boston, is contrary to our idea of the British Constitution : First, for that it in effect deprives good and lawful men of the use of their property without
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DAWNINGS OF LIBERTY-INDIAN TROUBLES.
judgment of their peers; and, secondly, for that it is in nature of an ex post facto law, and indiscriminately blends, as objects of punishment, the innocent with the guilty. Neither do we conceive the same justified upon a principle of necessity ; for that numerous in- stances evince that the laws and executive power of Boston have made sufficient provision for the punish- ment of all offenders against persons and property.
" Resolved, nemine contradicente, That the act for abolishing the charter of Massachusetts Bay tends to the subversion of American rights; for, besides those general liberties the original settlers brought over with them as their birthright, particular immunities were granted by such charter, as an inducement and means of settling the province; and we apprehend the said charter cannot be dissolved, but by a voluntary sur- render of the people, representatively declared.
" Resolved, nemine contradicente, That we apprehend the Parliament of Great Britain hath not, nor ever had, any right to tax his Majesty's American subjects ; for it is evident beyond contradiction, the Constitution admits of no taxation without representation; that they are coeval and inseparable; and every demand for the support of Government should be by requisi- tion made to the several Houses of Representatives.
"Resolved, nemine contradicente, That it is contrary- to natural justice and the established law of the land, to transport any person to Great Britain, or elsewhere, to be tried under indictment for a crime committed in any of the colonies, as the party prosecuted would thereby be deprived of the privilege of trial by his peers from the vicinage ; the injured perhaps prevented from legal reparation, and both lose the full benefit of their witnesses.
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
" Resolved, nemine contradicente, That we will con- cur with our sister colonies in every constitutional measure to obtain redress of American grievances, and will by every lawful means in our power maintain those inestimable blessings for which we are indebted to God and the Constitution of our country-a Consti- tution founded upon reason and justice, and the indeli- ble rights of mankind.
" Resolved, nemine contradicente, That the committee appointed by the meeting of the inhabitants of this province, on Wednesday the 27th of July last, toge- ther with the deputies who have appeared here on this day from the different parishes, be a general committee to act; and that any eleven or more of them shall have full power to correspond with the committees of the several provinces upon the Continent; and that copies of these resolutions, as well as all other pro- ceedings, be transmitted without delay to the Com- mittees of Correspondence in the respective provinces.
" A committee was appointed to receive subscrip- tions for the suffering poor of Boston, consisting of William Ewen, William Young, Joseph Clay, John Houstoun, Noble Wimberly Jones, Edward Telfair, John Smith, Samuel Farley, and Andrew Elton Wells, Esquires."
The question was also discussed, whether six depu- ties should be sent to join with the deputies of the other colonies at the General Congress; but, after much debate, it was negatived, though it was as- serted that this negative was brought about by the suffrages of those who had no right to vote in the matter.
The parish of St. John (now Liberty County) was
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DAWNINGS OF LIBERTY-INDIAN TROUBLES.
unanimous and remarkably spirited in furnishing sup- plies for the oppressed ; and of the 579 barrels of rice contributed by the province for the suffering Boston- ians, 200 barrels came from this parish. They were also exceedingly anxious to be united with the others in every constitutional measure for the removal of public grievances, and expressed their willingness, in this noble struggle, "to exert themselves to the utmost, to make every sacrifice that men impressed with the strongest sense of their rights and liberties, and warm with the most benevolent feelings for their oppressed brethren, can make, to stand firmly or fall gloriously in the common cause." Unwilling to abide by this decision of the meeting, not to send delegates to the General Congress, the parish of St. John called a meeting on the 30th August, at which deputies from St. George's and St. David's united with the people of St. John's, who " Resolved, that if the majority of the parishes would join with them, they would send depu- ties to join the General Congress, and faithfully and religiously abide by and conform to such determina- tion as should be there entered into, and come from thence recommended."
The adherents of Government strove to cast odium on these meetings, by representing them as the mere gatherings of factious demagogues, self-appointed and unauthorized representatives,1 forcing their measures by the low tricks of cunning, and palming off " as the voice of the province" resolutions, " unfairly and inso- lently made by a junto of twenty-five or six."
With the assent of the Governor, petitions opposing the positions taken by the liberty party were prepared,
1 State Paper Office, vi, 130-3.
VOL. II.
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
and freely circulated, by artful and interested men, who were to receive a certain sum for each name signed ; consequently, the number of those, who by these peti- tions protested against the liberty proceedings, exceeded in some instances the number of free white persons in the respective parishes; the names of several in fact were put upon the papers who had been dead several years.2
The meetings of the friends of liberty, and the grow- ing discontent of the people, under the harrowing le- gislation of Parliament, justly alarmed the Governor, and he frankly told the Earl of Dartmouth that "it required the interposition of higher authority than the executive power, for however coercion or lenient mea- sures might for a time smother the flame, it would only break out again at some future day with greater vio- lence."3 He was anxious that things "should be brought to a point at once ;" but the " point" to which he wished to have them brought,-" entire submission and obedience to the sovereignty of Great Britain,"- was the very point at issue, and one to which Ameri- cans could never again be brought.
A temporary lull in the political elements around him enabled the Governor to give attention to the pre- carious and threatening condition of Indian affairs.
To manage the complicated relations of the Indian tribes with the government, with the traders, and with each other; to redress their grievances, and to claim redress when they were the aggressors; to preserve their friendship and secure peace ; required great tact, unquailing firmness, indomitable energy, blended with patience and wisdom. Governor Wright understood
2 State Paper Office, vi, 147-59.
3 State Paper Office, vi, 122.
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DAWNINGS OF LIBERTY-INDIAN TROUBLES.
the Indian character, and dealing wisely with them in all his plans, secured their confidence, and often saved the colony from their savage incursions.
In 1770, the Cherokees proposed to cede to the traders certain portions of land to liquidate the claims upon them, which, in consequence of a scarcity of game they were unable to pay to their creditors. The amount of their indebtedness to the traders was over $200,000, and the matter having been brought before the Governor by a memorial from the traders, he took occasion, while in England, to represent the matter in such a light to the Board of Trade and his Majesty's Council, that they agreed to his proposals, and gave him full powers to carry out his plan.
On his return to Georgia, he united with Captain Stuart, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, in send- ing a message to the Creeks and Cherokees to meet him in congress at Augusta.
They convened at the appointed place on the 1st June, 1773, and having in a long preamble stated their inability to pay the debts justly due from them to the traders, and their desire to cancel these claims by grants of territory, they ceded to his Majesty over 2,100,000 acres, comprising most of the land now lying in the counties of Wilkes, Lincoln, Taliaferro, Green, Oglethorpe, and Elbert.
The Governor anticipated the most beneficial results from this concession, and told the ministry4 that he expected it would add 10,000 families to the present population ; give an increase of 15,000 effective men on the militia muster roll; bring over $500,000 worth of produce into the market; add greater security to the
4 State Paper Office, v, 168.
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
present settlements ; and remove still farther off the Indians; who, with all their promises of peace, were still troublesome and dangerous. A plan for the settle- ment of this fertile and healthy region was arranged by the Governor, and Messrs. Bartlett, Maddox, Hol- land, and Young were vested with powers to carry out this scheme. Two hundred acres were granted to every head of a family, and fifty acres to each mem- ber, black and white; warrants for the survey being granted when the entrance money, £5 per one hundred acres, was paid into the Land Courts at Augusta, or Fort James (now Petersburg), at the confluence of the Broad and Savannah Rivers.
A portion of these benefits would no doubt have ac- crued to Georgia, but for an unfortunate rupture between the Creeks and frontier settlers, owing to which seven- teen white persons were murdered by them at Sherrill's Fort, in the beginning of the year 1774. The Indians, led on by Big Elk, secretly approached the fort in the morning, and suddenly firing upon the people then at work, killed three persons, among whom was Sherrill, at the first fire. They hoped to complete their work of destruction by setting fire in several places to the building into which the women and children had retreated, but being suddenly attacked by a party of men under Captain Bernard, they quickly retreated, not, however, until they left several of their number dead upon the field. The attack on Sherrill's Fort was followed up by other skirmishes, in which many lives were lost on both sides; though the great body of the Creeks repudiated these maraudings of a por- tion of their tribe. These events blasted for a time the fair prospect which dawned on the newly ceded
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DAWNINGS OF LIBERTY-INDIAN TROUBLES.
lands, as the inhabitants who ventured there and opened plantations were driven off, by the insecurity of their position, so that the settlement of this noble tract was for some time delayed. In consequence of these frequent ruptures, the Governor and Captain Stuart solicited an interview with the Upper and Lower Creeks at Savannah, and accordingly twenty chiefs met them there on the 18th October, 1774, when a new treaty of peace and amity was made and signed, giving the strongest assurances of mutual good will, and of the pacific disposition of the Indians. It is difficult for us, hemmed in by no savage tribes and exposed to no merciless warfare with infuriated In- dians, to appreciate the dangers to which Georgia was then so constantly exposed. Their causes of anger were so slight, their irruption into the settlements was so sudden, their revenge so cruel, that the bold pioneer and the hardy settler quailed before the terrors of the wilderness, and few were sufficiently daring to strike out new paths in the forest, and detach themselves from the stronger settlements. The exer- tions of the Governor now gave to the population a security they had never before enjoyed, and his nego- tiations with so many and conflicting tribes, reflected the highest praise upon his sagacity and his fair and equitable dealings. Success was not always commen- surate with his hopes; but the failure was caused by .the disjointed times, rather than by any defect in his well-matured schemes. He merited and received for his zeal and labors in Indian affairs, the thanks of Georgia, the ministry, and the king.
The autumn of 1774 passed without any public de- monstrations in favor of liberty. Both parties were
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
now fairly arrayed, and each labored to secure ascen- dency ; and whatever could be effected by the allure- ments of office, by promises of favor, by the smiles of the Governor, by political favoritism; was done, and that most sedulously, to keep the province loyal to the King, and free from the innovations of continental reform.
During the second week in January, 1775, a district Congress was held by the inhabitants of St. Andrew's Parish (now Darien), at which a series of resolutions were passed, embodying with great force and earnest- ness the views of the freeholders of that large and flourishing parish. These resolutions, six in number, expressed, first, their approbation of "the unparal- leled moderation, the decent, but firm and manly, con- duct of the loyal and brave people of Boston and Massachusetts Bay, to preserve their liberty ;" their acquiescence "in all the resolutions of the Grand American Congress," and their hearty and "cheerful accession to the association entered into by them, as the wisest and most moderate measure that could be adopted." The second resolution condemned the shut- ting of the land offices, to the great detriment of colo- nial growth, and to the injury of the industrious poor, declaring " that all encouragement should be given to the poor of every nation by every generous American." The third, animadverted upon the ministerial man- dates which prevented colonial Assemblies from pass- ing such laws as the several exigencies of the provinces required, an especial grievance, as they declared, "in this young colony, where our internal police is not yet well settled." The fourth, reprobated the practice of making colonial officers dependent for salaries on Great
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Britain, "thus making them independent of the people, who should support them according to their usefulness and behavior." In the fifth resolution, the parish declare " our disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural practice of slavery in America," and their purpose to urge " the manumission of our slaves in this colony, upon the most safe and equitable footing for the mas- ters and themselves." And, lastly, they thereby choose delegates to represent the district in provincial con- gress, and instruct them to urge the appointment of two delegates from this colony to the Continental Con- gress, to be held in Philadelphia in May.
Appended to these resolutions were the following articles of agreement or association :
" Being persuaded that the salvation of the rights and liberties of America depend, under God, on the firm union of the inhabitants in its vigorous prosecu- tion of the measures necessary for its safety, and con- vinced of the necessity of preventing the anarchy and confusion which attend the dissolution of the powers of government, we, the freemen, freeholders, and in- habitants of the province of Georgia, being greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody scene now acting in the Massachusetts Bay, do, in the most solemn manner, resolve never to become slaves ; and do associate, under all the ties of religion, honor, and love of country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution, whatever may be recommended by the Continental Congress, or resolved upon by our Provin- cial Convention that shall be appointed, for the pur- pose of preserving our Constitution, and opposing the execution of the several arbitrary and oppressive acts
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
of the British Parliament, until a reconciliation be- tween Great Britain and America, on constitutional principles, which we most ardently desire, can be ob- tained; and that we will in all things follow the advice of our general committee, to be appointed, respecting the purposes aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and the safety of individuals and private property.
(Signed)
LACHN. MCINTOSH,
GEO. THREADCRAFT,
CHARLES MCDONALD,
JNO. MCCOLLUGH, SEN.,
JOHN MCINTOSH,
JNO. MCCOLLUGH, JUN.,
RAYD. DEMERE,
WILLIAM MCCOLLUGH,
JILES MOORE,
REU. SHUTTLEWORTH,
SAMUEL MCCLELAND,
JOHN MCCLELAND,
PETER SALLENS, JUN.,
RICHARD COOPER,
JAMES CLARK,
SETH MCCULLUGH,
JOHN WITHERSPOON, JUN.,
THOMAS KING, PAUL JUDTON,
JOHN WITHERSPOON,
JOHN FULTON,
JOHN ROLAND,
SAMUEL FULTON,
PR. SHUTTLEWORTH,
ISAAC CUTHBERT,
JOSEPH STOBE,
ISAAC HALL,
To. BIERRY.
JONES NEWSOM,
A. DANIEL CUTHBERT, JOHN HALL,
On the 18th January, six days after the above asso- ciation was signed, a Provincial Congress met in Sa- vannah, upon invitation of a committee of the citizens of Christ Church Parish, and elected John Glen chair- man. The General Assembly of the province met there, also, on the same day, and was opened by an earnest, affectionate, and argumentative speech from Sir James Wright, in which he cautioned them not to be "led away by the voices and opinions of men of overheated ideas; consider coolly and sensibly of the
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DAWNINGS OF LIBERTY-INDIAN TROUBLES.
terrible consequences which may attend adopting reso- lutions and measures expressly contrary to law, and hostile to the mother country ;" and he hoped that their "prudence and regard for the welfare and happi- ness of the province, of themselves, and of their pos- . terity, would deter them from entering into similar resolutions."
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