USA > Georgia > Miscellanies of Georgia, historical, biographical, descriptive, etc > Part 11
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52
PINE BARREN SPECULATION.
The following statement was furnished from the Surveyor General's office, June 17th, 1839, to the Finance Commis- sion, showing the ACTUAL number of acres in each county.
Appling 680,426 -
Baker 899,297
Lee
.340,203
Baldwin 156.160
Liberty 393,600
Bibb 152,563
Lowndes
1,238,203
Bryan 276,480
Lincolu. .126,720
Bulloch 605,440
Lumpkin 396,025
Burke .665,600
Macon. 240,308
Butts. 113,030
Madison 124,800
Marion
350,562
Campbell.
147.963
McIntosh 422.200
Carroll 482.180
Meriwether 335,885
Cass 439,130
Mouroe. .302,623
Chatham 268.800
Montgomery 407,680
Chattooga. 223,986
Morgan 228,480
Cherokee .467.780
Murray
407,740
Clark
179,200
Muscogee
291,903
Cobb 406,961
Newton .256,299
Columbia 320,000
Coweta. .282,881
Paulding 423, 617
Pike
266,962
Decatur .707,609
DeKalb
281,253
Dade 112.235
Rabun ..
249,515
Dooly
650,693
Randolph
519,968
Early
602,549
Effinghanı
$10.400
Elbert.
327,680
Emanuel 733,920
Fayette.
.218,801
Floyd
.317,343
Forsyth
183,515
· Franklin
499,200
Gilmer
530,572
.900,720
Glynn 253.440
Greene
268,800
Gwinnett
247,083
419,168
Upson
184,580
Walker.
399,663
Hancock.
288,640
Walton 164,015
Ware. 879,360
Warren .274,560
Washington 416,720
Houston 302,884
Irwin.
1.269,426
Jackson
.087,920
Jasper .245,760
Jefferson
376,320
Total
35,515,526
Jones
241,920
Richmond
.201,600
Scriven
315,600
Stewart.
482,170
Sumpter.
369,857
Talbot. .331,468
Taliaferro .86.400
Tatnall
761,600
Tolfair 264,960
Thomas
Troup 280,100
Twiggs. 231,680
Union.
Habersham 403,476
Hall. 258,277
Harris
.297,680
Heard
165,763
Henry
Wayne 380,160
Wilkes
823, 840
Wilkinson 288,000
Oglethorpe 286.720
Crawford .250,319
Pulaski
515,355
Putnam. 236,800
Camden .720.000
Laurens 450,560
53
PINE BARREN SPECULATION.
Statement furnished June 17th, 1839, to the Finance Com- mission by the Surveyor General of the number of acres of land in each county of the State agreeably to the MAPS and RECORDS of his office.
Appling 684.426
Baker 899.297
Lee 340,203
Baldwin
159,982
Liberty 870,680
Bibb
152,563
Lincoln
.14,624
Bryan
111,091
Bulloch.
358,217
Burke
.619,006
Macon. 240,308
Madison .30,518
Marion
850,562
Campbell
147,963
McIntosh.
667,251
Carroll 482,180
Meriwether 335,885
Monroe. 302,623
Montgomery 7,436,995
Morgan 228,480
Murray.
.407,740
Clark
22.136
Cobb 406,961
Columbia. 145,055
Coweta
282,881
Crawford 250,319
Decatur 707,609
DeKalb 281,253
Dade.
112,235
Dooly
.650,693
Early
602,549
Effingham
1,149,791
Elber
121,870
Stewart.
482,170
Emanuel. 356,869
Fayette 218,804
Floyd
317.343
Forsyth 183,515
Franklin.
5,126,548
Gilmer
530,572
Głynn
1,785,875
Greene.
324,278
Gwinnett.
347,083
Habersham
408,476
Upson
184,580
Walker
399,663
Hancock. .56,727 Walton 164,015
Harris 297,680 Ware . 879.360
Heard. 165,763
Warren. 95,239
Washington 5,018,018
Wayne
.880,360
Wilkes. 2,224,920
Wilkinson
288,000
Total
54,816,782
Joues. 241,920
Oglethorpe .55,018
Paulding 428,617 Pike 266,962
Pulaski
515,355
Putnam
236,800
Rabun.
248,515
Randolph
519,968
Richmond 443,457
Scriven. 242.656
Sumpter.
369,857
Talbot. 331,468
Taliaferro
.. 564
Tatnall
.395,840
Telfair
364,960
Thomas
900,720
Troup.
280,100
Twiggs
Union 231.680
419,168
Hall 258,277
Henry 333,510
Houston 12,881
Irwin 1.269,426
Jackson 175,120
Jasper 215,760
Jefferson 71,593
.55,619
Chatt oga.
223,986
Cherokee
467,780
Muscogee 291,903
Newton. 256,299
Cass 439,130
Chatham
Butts 113,030
Camden. 1,928,688
Laurens .450,560
Lowndes 1,238,203
Lumpkin .396,025
54
A TABLE-Exhibiting the quantity of acres of 1st, 2d and 3d qualities and Pinc Land-The number of Slaves -. Amount of Stock in Trade, and value of Town Property-The aggregate number of acres of Land -The Tax on each quality, and the aggregate amount of Tax paid on the whole. in the State of
. Georgia, agreeably to the Tax Returns of the several Counties, filed in the Comp. troller General's Office for the year 1838.
Counties.
Ist quality
2d.
3d.
Pine.
Stock 11 Trade.
Town Property.
Slaves
Appling,
393
8,336
5,204
81,000
3,700
295
Baker,.
3,977!
33 716
13.317
72,143
74,750
8,900
Baldwin,
5,252!
82,740
57,571
129,204
182.900
251.075
4,+25
Bibb,.
11,906
86,529
78,113
150.4231
732,117
1,344,105
4.418
Bryan, .
3,123
16,761
10,9.3
130,556
1,500
3,85€
1,447
Balloch.
1,810
11,223
12,080
416,725
7,900
017
Burke,
1,935
47,754
259, 195
352,8211
18,602
27.100
6.417
Batts,
2,253
54,396
99,512
28,924
19,450
30.337
1,619
Caniden,
12,59L
39,902
26,950
304,643
96,134
117,592
3,25€
Carroil, ..
890
43,121
69,019;
24,642
10.905
8,759
2,0)
Cass, . .
15,220
76,184
64,615:
10,279
41,250
35,218
1,137
Cherokee, .
4,276
38,897
42,706
9,676
20,191
12,290
321
Chattooga, .
0,000
0,000
0,000
0.000
000
009)
000
Clark, .
5.0331
96.532
250.792
102,592
108.312
300,995
4,895
Cobb,.
2,425
55,932
52.313
5,152
19,505,
36,425
351
Columbia,
1,779
.87.8751
145,075
154,684
19,076;
16,552
6,832
Coweta, .
3,437
126.4121
124,276
102,134
52,305
34, 1351
2,6 3
Crawford,
2,116
69,789
50,669.
525,150
65,23
15,385
2,402
Dade,
Decatur,
4,900.
50,758
22,54>
120,100
53.221
13,113
1,750
DeKalb,
4,744
83,723
216,871
31.784
90,965:
66,625
1.622
Dooly,.
3,205
26,207
5,157.
136,004
30.546:
14.708
inl
Early,
4,5-0
45.953
14,6 7
96,632
10,550
61,225
1,5~0)
Effingham, .
955
2,417
13,857
222,398
3,371|
1,211
Emanuel,
453
12,700
11,524
380,916
4,133'
SO!
Fayette, .. . .
1,278
80,207
107,201
23.419
27.11
22,707
1,121
Floyd,.
14, 101
73.9201
63,514
27,637
31,320|
22,0101
1,342
Franklin, .
3,554
55,045
357,270
56,062
18,562
17,300|
2,159
Forsyth,.
4,548
43,1931
56,597;
11,840
20,320
25,2491
447
Giliner,
2,211
7,34%|
26,924
571
2,738
2,101
35
Giyun ..
2,000
21,959:
9,721
121,504
14,350
24, 4.36
2.666
Greene,
76,740
179,327
53,750
118,4-7
37.537
5,535
Gwinnett, .
2,95%|
61,463
245,1301
47,517
45.052
31.460
1,914
Habersham, ..
7,074
31,2571
95,953,
213,658
36.713
26,718
843
Hall, ..
4,70%
48,268
232,78%;
17,852
30,665
14,290
957
Hancock
2,43-1
51,000
152,506!
173,451
$3,900:
60.887
5,424
Harris,
7,061
183,002
110,120'
27,325
60.452
104,331
4,311
Heard,
5,911;
56,275!
220,03.
42,204
59. 3-
35,023;
2,925
Houston,.
6,053
5,369
3,000
$4,755
2,390
201
Jackson,
2,345
66,366+
214,600;
51,359
23.08
12,550!
2.346
Jasper,
2,270;
113,907
165,001
10,300
101,111
79,125
5,214
Jefferson
1,502
15,952
91.002
278,5-1
16,600
21,000
1,327
Jones,
2,363]
139,635
120.000
262,521
53,760
41.459
5,6,8
Laurens,
5.913
156,753
54,666,
10.3221
13,250
21,319
2,16%
Lee, . .
0,124
38,66>
23,270
95,282.
15,000
15,000
1,243
Liberty,
4,104
43.754
23 696'
193,626
8,550
Lincoln
4,520
50,929
135,70>
62,2-6:
24,603
10,519
3,253
Lowndes,
1,330
79,094
12 .50%!
205,031
3,531
3,18
674
loupkin,
21,954
21.007
13,-16
55,920
354
Macon,
25,0151
14.001
111,773
2,3.000!
1,159
Madison,.
326.
12.070
191,517;
5,920
1,33%
Monroe,
4,777:
1.0.7421
:: 1,50
105,192
106,590
Melutosh,
30,700 1
155,200
132, 192:
60,155
77,500
37,713
4,3~4
Marion,
1,152.
41,010
734
Montgomery,
1,090
13.1.1)
3,5-71
2.2001
3.,7
. .
Henry,.
1,790
119,231
32.567
226,296
59,213.
35,7561
4,199
Elbert,
4,056
52,151
222,363
80,455.
4,970
3.166
Campbell,
4,339
43,222
27,333]
17,08
8,031
875
Chatham,
667,589
2,644,792
11,136
5,315
5,246
882
800
32.4-2
27.729
12.035|
1,367
-
111,952
3.79-
31,50
154,013
$7.1861
Meriwether,.
93,118
11,6001
8,551
5,326
Irwin,
.
55
PINE BARREN SPECULATION. .
Counties.
1st quality
2d.
3rd.
Pine.
Stock Trade.
Town Property.
Slaves
Morgan.
5,082
186,609
117.275
15.097
114,882
64,05tl
5,367
Murray ... .
7,201
30,103
23,424
11,999
14,110
18.950
123
Muscogee,
9,001
102,668
82,340
246,954
537,675
1,183,080
4,322
Newton,
887
113,490
177,8841
113,887
61.602
68.830
2,008
Oglethorpe,
4,47:1
91.214
183.505
40,548
54,700
13,200
6,229
Pimlding,
1,666
20,5071
11,893
1,838
2,500
Pike ..
20,315
79,665
1.8,449
86.218
33,000
22,741
2,190
Pulaski
5,756
46.024
46.847
160,512
16,900
. 6.023
2,805
Patnain,
3,208
112,413;
150. 4:17;
45,500
87,10000
82.819
6,653
Rabonn, ..
2,091
11.260
73.620!
2.1601
6,034
78
Randolph,
3,601
118,365
79,963
258,459
1,555. 155
2,171.170
5.438
Scriven
6,129
27,912
36.073
285.025
13,980
3,155
2,477
Stewart,
1,920
104.168;
29.451
174.027
121.225
23.7081
950
'Talbot,
8,290
195,885
74,997
78.7111
91,102
50.4401
5,511
Taliaferro
4.913
25,805
117,731|
25,275
70,018
50,375|
2,461
Tattnall
380
14,619|
19,319:
487,162|
2,000
1,000
654
Telfair,
510
13.876
14,611
313,612
9,700
1.100
661
Thomas,
2,639
64.749
11.714
2332.005
53,650
29.550
2.354
Troup,
11,183
110,177
124.819
61,220
212,124
71.407
6,956
Twiggs.
6.436
94.4225
55,281
146.244
51.619
13,950|
4,074
Union,
1,010
13.588
11,7012
30.193
4.441
1.000)
62
Upson,
3,008
84.722
100.4.7
11.038
47,736
35,520|
3,437
Walker,
7,036
65,463
61,500
64.400
60.310
35,771
4,155
Walton, ..
3,095
102,073
200.323
36.930
33,700!
12,913
2,943
Washington,
4,6344
51,610
110,1581
377.312
38,350
48,875
3,444
Wayue,
440
1,843
2,358
67.710
6,300
200
81
Wilkes
2,889|
72,981
248,497
79.540
73,400
117.688
6,681
Wilkinson,
1,472
36,833
15,809
259,830
26,509
9,772
1,605
410.415
16,604.331
8,057.293 10.434.207
7.214,9041 11,059,141 242.923
LAND.
AMOUNT OF TAX PAID ON EACH.
AVERAGE TAX.
Ist quality
410,15, 9 5-8 mills per acre
3,954 74
3rd
8.057299 12 1-2
66
1.712 17
Pine Land.
10,704,297|| 1 6-8
66
66
1,259 35
Total number of acres
35.364,2360
Stock in Trade.
7,244,994
At 15 5-8 cts. per $100
11,320 30
Town Property.
11,050,154.
" 15 5-8 .
.17.279 92
Slaves ..
242,923
" 15 5-8 per Slave
37,956 71
Total Tax
6-2,052 92
The whole amount of taxes paid, agreeably to the returns made, is
$111,338 44
CHATHAM COUNTY .- The quantity and quality of Land returned in this county cannot be as- certained from the Tax Book returned, and not included in the foregoing additions.
CHATTOOGA COUNTY .- No returns have been received from this county.
COMPTROLLER GENERAL'S OFFICE, Milledgeville, 21st June, 1839. GENTLEMEN :- In compliance with your letter of ila. 2d April lust, the foregoing Tabular Statement is furnished, as containing the information requested. The statement required would have been prepared at an earlier period, but for the great labor necessary in obtaining from the books in this Departroept, correct information as to the several classifications of Land, de . desired, and the difficulty of procuring competent assistance to perform the work.
I am, very respectfully your obedient servant, JOHN G PARK. Comptroller General, Georgia.
To Mowers. A. H. Chapul, J. M. Berrien, and W. W. Holt, Commissioners, &c.
466
Ware,
1,002:
10.293
5,458
41.271
1,500
34.403
708
Warren.
892
39,756
107.212
114,129
16.760
21,380
1,557
Richmond,
9,968
61.225
83.280
10,915
76,5451
29.258
3,452
Samter,
16,601.301 15 6-8
8,371 75
30,010;
261
5€
. THE YAZOO FRAUD.
CHAPTER VII ..
THE YAZOO FRAUD-SECTION I.
The great Yazoo Fraud was conceived earlier than the Pine Barren Speculation, but as it had a much longer gesta- tion, it turned out that the two reached their birth about the same time, and were consequently contemporaneous though not twin villainies ; for there never was any actual connection between them either as to facts or persons. It would be impossible for people nowadays to form an ade- quate idea of the immense and almost wild stir and excite- ment caused by the Yazoo Fraud in its day ; and it was by no means a short any more than a commonplace day that it had. Not only was it radicated far back in the then Past, but curious explorers will detect its roots and ramifications interwoven with national matters of that period important enough to claim a place in history. And when we come down later and take a view of the great cancerous abomina- tion in its several vicissitudes and more advanced stages, how complicated it is seen to become alike in its facts and in the questions and principles it involves! How the huge villainy stands out and strikes us, distent with odious interest and energy at every turn, making its way over all obstacles, discouragements and delays, first through the State Legisla- ture, next through the Cabinet, Courts and Congress of the United States, and in the end, after near twenty years of unholy striving and perseverance, triumphing at last and plunging its felonious hands deep into the National Treas- ury.
That memorable crime which was consummated in the Legislature of Georgia on the 7th of January, 1795, is the
57
THE YAZOO FRAUD.
one to which I am now referring. The intelligence of it no sooner reached Washington than it caused him great con- cern, for he instantly saw its enormity and dangerousness, having already a few years previously had to deal (and stern and decisive was that dealing) with its comparatively innocent and less formidable and now almost forgotten predecessor, the much smaller Yazoo Sale of 1789. Upon obtaining from Augusta, then the seat of Government of Georgia, the authentic documents on the subject, he hastened on the 19th of February, 1796, to lay them before Congress with a mes- sage in which he characterised the matter as one "of exceed- ing magnitude, that might in its consequences affect the peace and welfare of the United States." But Georgia on this occasion saved trouble to the National Authorities, or rather she staved it off to a remoter day. For, as if seeking to make amends for her apathy in regard to the Yazoo Sale of 1789, she was now fierce and rapid in her action, and stepping forward at once she of her own mere motion and with her sole arm struck down this new and more monstrous Yazoo crime to which corruption had just given birth on her soil, leaving to the Federal Administration at that time no other task to perform in relation to it than mere arraign- ment and some steps of precaution and inquiry. It was only a temporary respite, however, that resulted to the United States from the indignant, patriotic promptitude of the State. For it turned out that the Hydra was only "scotched, not killed" by Georgia. In a few years it came to life again, developing a new head not vulnerable to the blows of the State and only amenable to the National arm, and from thenceforward it unceasingly harassed the United States and exhibited such pernicious and deathless faculties for mischief and annoyance that, finally in 1814, Congress was glad to give up the warfare and compromise with the great iniquity by passing a Bill appropriating five millions of dollars to the appeasing of its claims.
Into the politics of Georgia it continued to be ever and anon dragged for years afterwards laden with unforgiven
58
THE YAZOO FRAUD.
guilt and intense public odium. At length in the year 1825, in the first popular election for Governor we ever had, and by far the hottest and fiercest known to our annals, a fiery farewell eruption of this old political Vesuvius of the State was provoked by some slight unfavorable reminiscences that were stirred up connected with the name of one the candi- dates for the office. For our people had not learned even down to that period to pardon to any man the smallest par- ticipation in that great parricidal crime. And if their ven- geance has not been since inflamed in regard to it, it is only because time has both extinguished the causes and dimmed the recollections by which it could be kindled anew.
The wonderment, perplexity and curiosity which the very word Yazoo used to excite in juvenile minds in Georgia fifty and sixty years ago I have never been able to forget. Its strange exotic sound to the car and look in print was the first and not a very small thing. Then, besides, it was a word which had evidently long been, as it still was, perfectly familiar in the mouths of all elderly and full grown people, so much so, that taking it to be universally under- stood they never bethought them that it needed explanation to anybody, no, not even to the listening boy whom they saw sitting silent and attentive. Most frequently it was of the Yazoo' Fresh they spoke, yet often of the Yazoo Fraud. Sometimes it was the Yazoo Sale and the Yazoo Lands, and then again the Yazoo Script and Yazoo Shares. The Yazoo Legislature, the Yazoo Speculators and Yazoo Companies were likewise frequent topics, nor was the story of the burn- ing of the Yazoo Act with fire drawn from heaven by Gen. Jackson with a sun-glass left untold. Thus numerous, va- rious and unlike were the things called by name of Yazoo; and all of them too so much the theme of talk ! And yet where was Yazoo, and what was it? It seemed to be all over Georgia and yet no mention was ever made of any place in or out of Georgia where it was to be found or seen. Was there, indeed, any such place, and if there was, why should it cause so much talk and give its name to so many
59
THE YAZOO FRAUD.
and such different things ? Or, perhaps it was not a place, but only a thing ; and if so, why was it such a noted thing, and why were so many other things baptized with its name? And did it pertain to land or water, or was it amphibious and akin to both ? All was vague, misty, mysterious, per- plexed, yet pervaded not doubtfully with the general idea of somewhat that was sinister, abhorrent and damnable.
This uncertainty, however, which tormented young imag- inations was more and more dispelled, so far at least as the question between land and water was concerned, by every spell of heavy, unrelenting rains, by every extraordinary and destructive inundation of the creeks and rivers. These oc- currences never failed to renew and strengthen the associa- tion in youthful minds between Yazoo and water. For then the Yazoo Fresh was sure to be in the ascendant in people's mouths and thoughts. Another Yazoo Fresh was feared or threatened, or such another fall of rain and rise of the waters had never been seen since the great Yazoo Fresh when all the streams and rivers rose high above all former water- marks and the mountain torrents and windows of heaven were opened to swell the proud Savannah, and the glorious river vindicating the honor of its banks, swept in angered majesty over the scene so lately desccrated by a monstrous and unprecedented public villainy, and for the first time and the .last too for more than forty years, made beauteous Augusta, Georgia's capital, a subaqueous and navigable city. 1
Terruit Urbem ; Terrnit cires, grave ne rediret Sacculum Pyrrha nova monstra questar, Omue cum Proteus pecus egit altos Visere montes ;
--
Pisciam et summa genus hasit ulmo Nota que sedes fuerat columbus, Et suprijecto pavide natarunt Acquose damar.
60
THE YAZOO FRAUD.
Vidimus flavum Tiberim retortis Littore Etrusco violenter undis Ire dejectum momementa Regis Templaque Vestæ.,
But the watery visitation lasted not long. The whelming flood rushed quickly away, as if hastening in sorrow from the havoc it had done and left the broad riparian plain which Augusta adorns, bare to the genial sun once more and to the woful gaze of men. And also in years ensuing, when more time and knowledge had accrued to the younger folks, the idea of water associated with Yazoo gradually subsided from their minds and in its stead, land and fraud and many cog- nate abominations came up to view and grew to the name and asserted themselves the originals to which the alien word was first applied in Georgia. For it was a word not native here. It was outlandish in its origin, born in a dis- tant savage nook and imported from thence across hundreds of miles of Indian wilderness and odiously denizened amongst us. Its birth place and long its only and sinless home, where its utterance called not up remembrances of turpitude, was far away on the confines of the Mississippi,
* As it may be interesting to the non-latinist to see in an English poetic dress these fine stanzas from Horace describing an inundation of the Tiber at Rome, I subjoin a translation by Covington, which may perhaps also have some inter- est for the classical scholar both on account of its own merits and as showing the wuapproachableness of the original :
Appalled the city, Appalled the citizens, lest Pyrrah's time Return with all its monstrous sights, When Proteus led his flocks to climb The mountain heights ;
When fish were in the elm tops caught Where once the stock dove want to hide, And deer were floating, all distraught. Adown the tide.
Old Tiber, hurled in tamnult back From mingling with the Etruscan main, Has threatened Numa's Court with wreck And Vesta's fane.
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THE YAZOO FRAUD.
in the land of the Choctaws, a region as wild to the eye as its own sound to the ear. There it had been for unknown ages articulated by barbarian tongues as the name of a petty stream meandering sluggishly from the North to lose itself in the bosom of the Father of Floods. But what made that petty stream so important and how came it to supplant not only the Alabama, the Tuscaloosa, and the Tombigbee, but the great Tennessee and even the mighty Mississippi itself, and to impose its own ignoble name in preference to all theirs on the immense territory watered by them all, and also on the stupendous feat of villainy of which that territory was the subject matter and prize ? These are points which used of yore to bother not a little the heads of both old and young in Georgia and which, I durst opine, may be still obscure to many at the present day. But even if it be so, there is little reason why I should hang back longer from my destined task in order now to lift the veil and clear up the mystery. For it is one of those curiosities of Ameri- can territorial history and controversy the explication of which will assuredly come ont in the course of that handling of the Yazoo Fraud upon which it is high time I should enter, if indeed I would redeem the promise held out in the heading of this chapter.
SECTION II.
Beyond doubt no greater or more consequential event of a mere worldly character has ever happened in the world than the discovery and settlement of America. What an infinite variety and multitude of things new and momentous under the sun have been owing directly and indirectly to that vast and pregnant occurrence ! How it has teemed with results of all sorts and sizes, creating new, modifying or annihilating old interests, reaching all over the globe, and sure of per- vading all futurity ! Among the earliest and most striking of the novelties to which it gave birth, was the practice originated by Spain on this continent of what may be called conquest by contract ; by the associated enterprise, capital,
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THE YAZOO FRAUD.
cupidity and ambition of bodies of private adventurers, act- ing at their own pecuniary cost, though under regal sanc- tion and protection, and enjoying a meretricious partnership with royalty in the honor of ruling and the Incre of plun- dering the conquered countries. War and the acquirement by force of new dominions was by this cruel means rendered easy and unexpensive to a government sitting enthroned and unendangered across the Atlantic, ignorant or unthink- ing of the diabolical lawlessness and inhumanity which sprang from its policy and sullied its arms, and which have indelibly tarnished the Spanish name. It was thus that Mexico was subdued for Spain by Cortes, Peru by Pizzaro. Such too was the origin of the atrocious, warlike wanderings of Fernando deSoto* and his martial companions, over the immense regions stretching Northwardly from the Gulf of Mexico, which at that day and for a long while afterwards were massed by the Spaniards under the then comprehensive name of Florida; and which now form in addition to the present Florida, the great States of Georgia, Alabama, Mis- sissippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana. If what was first seen and known of the New World warranted its dis- coverers in calling its inhabitants barbarians, assuredly cause enough was soon given to those barbarians for regard- ing the civilized new-comers as demons, who had on a sud- den preternaturally appeared among them to be the curse of their land and the destroyers of their race.
The course of Great Britain, however, towards the natives in those parts of America colonized or acquired by her was nobler and more humane. She sought not to enslave or oppress or plunder them, or to extort tribute from them like the Spaniards, nor did she imitate the bad Spanish example of sentencing them to be brought under her yoke by the agency of armed bodies of irresponsible free booters wearing their Monarch's livery and flaunting his license, and only
* Bancroft's History of the United States. Chapter 2d. Vol. 1. Pickett's History of Alabama. Chapter 1. Vol. 1.
tBancroft's History of the United States. Vol. 1. Page 60. .
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THIE YAZOO FRAUD.
the more licentious because so licensed, and who emula- ted the worst piratical hordes in their infamous disregard of the laws of nature and of nations. It was on the contrary the pervading principle of the policy of Great Britain, that war and peace, negotiations and treaties with the Indians and all territorial acquisitions from them, whether by con- quest, purchase, or in any other way, should be strictly affairs of Government to be transacted only by and through its recognized officers and agents, civil or military, and never to be given up to private hands, or subordinated to private interests of any kind, or under any circumstances. Equally contrary was it to the British system for the Government to sell or convey to private persons or compa- nies the right of soil in any lands before the aboriginal title therein had been first regularly extinguished by the Govern- ment itself, nor would the Government in any manner, direct or indirect, warrant or tolerate private individuals or companies in buying or conquering lands from the Indians. Such rights and all others affecting the con- trol over Indian relations, it always retained to itself and vigilantly guarded as a high and incommunicable pre- rogative.
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