USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia, Volume I > Part 44
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1 The following is a copy of one of dorsement hereon, sign'd by the said two these bills, with its indorsement : - who shall Issue this Bill.
" Georgia Bill of Exchange payable in England.
A. No. 13,464. Westminster 29th May, 1749. Thirty days after sight hereof, we the Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America Promise to pay this our Sola Bill of Exchange to Wm Stephens Esq-, Henry Parker, Wm Spen- cer, and Jag Ilabersham or the order of any two of them, the Sum of One Pound Sterling at our Office in Westminster, to answer the like value received in Georgia on the Issue hereof, as testified by In-
£1.
Sealed by order of the Common Coun- cil of the said Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America.
HARMAN VERELST, Accotant.
(Endorsed)
Georgia, October 13th, 1749.
This Bill was then Issued to William Stephens Esqr for value received. There- fore Please to Pay the Contents to him or order. HENRY PARKER, WM SPENCER. 1749.
WILL STEPHENS."
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430
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
While General Oglethorpe remained in Georgia, to him was con- fided the issuing of them, and after his departure this duty de- volved upon the president and assistants. The trustees required that specific report should be made of the purpose for which each bill was issued. More than one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars were thus sent over to the colony at different times and disbursed in payment of salaries and in discharge of other ex- penses connected with the execution of the trust. At the ex- piration of their charter the accountant reported to the trustees that sola bills to the amount of £1,149 had not been returned for payment. Whereupon, the common council placed that sum in the hands of Mr. Lloyd, a reputable silk merchant, who engaged to redeem them when presented. Public notice was also inserted in the American gazettes requiring their presenta- tion before the 1st of January, 1756.1
In their administration of the financial affairs of the colony the trustees exhibited the utmost prudence, care, and economy. In all their labors they were exact. No body of men could have executed a trust with greater fidelity or in a manner further re- moved from personal gain or the hope of private emolument. They were philanthropists all, and in the consciousness of duty discharged, in the scrupulous distribution of blessed charities, in honest efforts for the amelioration of the condition of their own unfortunate fellow citizens and of the oppressed . Protestants of Europe, in the dissemination of the truths of Christianity upon distant shores, and in the patriotic extension of British dominion did they find honor and reward. Commercial, industrial, and governmental mistakes they did commit, but their errors were all of the head and not of the heart. For more than a century and a quarter has their record been made up, and it stands to- day without a single stain.
To the house of Harris & Habersham is Georgia indebted for the establishment of her earliest commercial relations not only with Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, but also with Lon- don. They were the first merchants here engaged in exporting and importing. By them was the first ship chartered for a Geor- gia cargo. This was in 1749, and the articles exported consisted chiefly of pitch, tar, staves, rice, and deer-skins. Liberal in their dealings, possessing a commercial credit and correspondence be- yond any others in the province engaged in mercantile pursuits, and eager to promote the prosperity of the metropolis of Geor-
1 See Stevens' History of Georgia, vol. i. pp. 315. New York. MDCCCXLVII.
431
HOUSE OF HARRIS & HABERSHAM.
gia, these gentlemen sought to stimulate the inhabitants to such a degree of industry that their home products would suffice not only for consumption within the plantation but also for exporta- tion. Their effort was, by an accumulation of needed supplies, to secure the trade of the Carolina planters and sell their crops for them. By attracting English shipping to the port they in- creased the growth and importance of Savannah and furnished a direct outlet for all articles seeking a foreign market. So suc- cessful were the operations of this enterprising firm that the colony materially increased in wealth and in the enjoyment of comforts to which its inhabitants had hitherto been strangers. Within a very few years after the establishments of its relations with England, and after the introduction of negro slaves, a mem- ber 1 of this house thus writes : "My present thoughts are that the colony never had a better appearance of thriving than now. There have been more vessels loaded here within these ten months than have been since the Colony was settled. Our ex- portations for a year past are an evident proof that if proper labouring hands could have been had years before, this Colony before now would have demonstrated its utility to the Mother Country and the West India Islands. Two days ago a large ship arrived here addressed to my partner and myself, which is the fifth sea vessel which has been here to load within a year; more, I may affirm, than has ever been loaded in this Colony before since its first settlement, with its real produce."
1 The Honorable James Habersham.
CHAPTER XXVII.
MISSION OF PICKERING ROBINSON AND JAMES HABERSHAM. - FILATURE ERECTED IN SAVANNAH. - ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SILK CULTURE. - A PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY AUTHORIZED AND CONVENED. - ITS FIRST SESSION, ITS COMPOSITION, AND ITS PROCEEDINGS. - THE TRUSTEES PROTEST AGAINST THE ANNEXATION OF GEORGIA TO SOUTH CAROLINA. - ORGANI- ZATION OF THE COLONIAL MILITIA. - FIRST GENERAL MUSTER. - CON- SERVATORS OF THE PEACE NAMED. - THEIR POWERS. - MARY BOSOM- WORTH'S DEMAND. - RELIGIOUS TOLERATION. - RUMORED UPRISING OF THIE CHEROKEES. - REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF THE TRUSTEES. - THEIR NAMES, OCCUPATIONS, AND CONDUCT. - CLERGYMEN. - CHURCHES. - RE- LIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
ON the 26th of June, 1750, Henry Parker was commissioned as vice-president of the colony of Georgia, and James Haber- sham appointed secretary. The same day provision was made for holding at Savannah, " between Michaelmas and Lady Day next," an assembly of the people of Georgia " to propose, debate, and represent to the trustees what shall appear to them to be for the benefit not only of each particular settlement but of the Province in general."
That he might acquaint himself with the construction and management of filatures, with the most approved mode of prop- agating the silk-worm, and the best method of preparing silk for market, Mr. Pickering Robinson had been sent to France at the expense of the trust. Upon his return, being regarded as com- petent to assume the general charge and management of this important branch of industry, he was granted a salary of £100 per annum, with £25 additional for a clerk, and ordered to pro- ceed to Georgia, and there, by every available means, stimulate the production of silk.1 Mr. James Habersham was named as a
1 Mr. Robinson was further instructed to make a careful inspection of the prov- ince, and to prepare a detailed report of its condition. He was to examine the church, the light-house, the prison, the town house, the public and private wharves; visit the several settlements in Georgia ; ascertain their respective popu-
lations, both white and black, the amount of land cultivated and the crops grown thereon, the condition of the fences, the relative distances of towns and planta- tions, the situation and status of the forts, their respective garrisons, armaments, and storehouses, the present appearance of the vineyards and mulberry groves ; and
433
SILK CULTURE ENCOURAGED.
commissioner to act with him in the discharge of the duties ap- pertaining to this matter. Mr. Robinson carried with him a quantity of silk-worm eggs, but none of them, save about half an ounce, could be vitalized. It was determined to erect a filature in Savannah as a sort of normal school for the instruction of the inhabitants in the art of silk culture. This building was con- structed of rough boards, was thirty-six feet long by twenty wide, and had a loft upon the flooring of which the green co- coons were spread. It was commenced on the 4th of March, 1751. Basins were put up on the 1st of April, and about a month afterwards the reeling began.
To encourage the colonists the trustees proposed to purchase all the balls and wind them at their own expense, paying from 18. 6d. to 2s. 4d. per pound for green cocoons.
This compensation proving unsatisfactory to some of the resi- dents in Savannah and Purrysburg, the vice-president and assist- ants, at the request of Messrs. Robinson and Habersham, issued a proclamation on the 26th of April, in which they promised to pay for cocoons delivered in Savannah the following prices : for cocoons made by one worm, hard, weighty, and of good substance, 2s. per pound ; for such as were of an inferior quality, pointed, spotted, or bruised, 1s. 3d. per pound ; and for dupions, 6d. per pound. For raw silk from cocoons of the first quality they agreed to give 14s. per pound ; for that reeled from cocoons of the second quality, 12s. per pound ; and for the product of double cocoons, 6d. per pound. These prices were most extravagant. In their efforts to elicit from Georgia some respectable yield of the article upon which they had so long fixed their hopes of profit, the trustees took little note of the cost of production. Present expenditures, they trusted, would be justified by the labors and the rewards of the future. Camuse and his son and daughter, who by their perverse conduct had given the commis- sioners no little trouble, returned to Savannah and found em- ployment in the Filature.
All these exertions, ontlays, and bounties eventuated in little else than continued disappointment. After incurring an ex- pense - including the passages of servants, the cost of provisions from the public store, bounties on cocoons, salaries, machines, basins, and filatures - of nearly £1,500, the trustees, at the date
explain why the culture of the grape and trustees fully with regard to the province. of silk had not progressed more favora- See Shaftesbury Papers in Public Record Office, London. bly. In a word, he was to inform the 28
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434
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
of the surrender of their charter, had succeeded in raising scarcely a thousand pounds of raw silk, - a costly experiment, truly, demonstrating the vanity of that expectation in the realization of which they believed England would be saved £500,000, and that employment would be given to forty thousand of her sub- jects.1
On the 8th of April, 1751, as we have seen, Mr. Parker was appointed president of the colony in the room of Colonel Will- iam Stephens who retired upon a pension of £80 per annum. Mr. Noble Jones was commissioned as register of the province, and Pickering Robinson and Francis Harris were named as assistants to the president.
In pursuance of the resolution adopted by the trustees in June, 1750, writs of election had been issued for the selection of dele- gates to a provincial assembly to convene at Savannah on the 15th of the following January. Sixteen delegates composed that assembly, and they were " proportioned to the population of the different parishes or districts." For the convocation, appor- tionment, and qualification of these assemblymen, the following regulations were established by the common council.
The assembly was to convene in the town of Savannah once a year at such time as should be designated as most convenient by the president of the colony and his assistants, and remain in ses- sion not longer than one month.
Every town, village, or district in the province, containing a population of ten families, was empowered to send one deputy. Any settlement embracing thirty families could appoint two delegates. To the town of Savannah four deputies were allowed ; to Angusta and Ebenezer two each; and to Frederica two, pro- vided there were thirty families resident there.
As the privilege of enacting laws was, by charter, vested solely in the trustees, this assembly could not legislate. Its powers were limited to discussing and suggesting to the trustees such measures as they might deem conducive to the welfare of particular communities and important for the general good of the province.
Within three days after their assembling these deputies were required to submit in writing a statement showing the number of inhabitants, both white and black (specifying sex and age in every instance), the quantity of land cultivated by each inhab- itant and in what crop planted, the number of negroes owned
1 See Stevens' History of Georgia, vol. i. p. 275. New York. MDCCCXLVII.
435
FIRST COLONIAL ASSEMBLY.
and employed, the quantity of mulberry - trees standing and fenced on each plantation, and the progress made by each man or family in the culture of silk, indigo, cotton, etc., in the several towns or parishes represented by them.
These accounts, and also the suggestions of the assembly when signed by its presiding officer, were to be delivered to the president and assistants for prompt transmission to the trustees.
The presiding officer was to be chosen by the delegates. When selected by them, he must be presented for the approval or dis- approval of the president of the colony. Should the president decline to sanction the choice of the assembly, if demanded by any three of the members, he was required to give his reasons for such disapproval and to transmit the same in writing for the consideration of the trustees.
For delegates to the first assembly, which was convened at the earliest practicable moment, no qualifications were prescribed ; but after the 24th of June, 1751, no inhabitant could be elected a deputy who had not one hundred mulberry-trees planted and properly fenced upon every tract of fifty acres which he possessed. From and after the 24th of June, 1753, no one was capable of be- ing a delegate who had not strictly conformed to the preseribed limitation of the number of negro slaves in proportion to his white servants, who had not in his family at least one female in- structed in the act of reeling silk, and who did not annually pro- duee fifteen pounds of silk for every fifty acres of land owned by him.
Such were the eurious qualifications prescribed for membership of the first quasi-deliberative, quasi-legislative body which ever assembled in Georgia. They were evidently intended to stimul- late the production of silk, that commodity which blinded the eyes of the trustees and warped their judgment in directing the industrial pursuits of the colonists.
The assembly convened at Savannah on the day appointed, and organized by the election of Francis Harris as speaker. The following members appeared, and, having taken the "oathis of allegiance, supremacy, and abjurgation " were duly seated : -
From the Savannah District : Francis Harris, speaker, John Milledge, William Francis, and William Russel.
From the Augusta District : George Cadogan and David Doug. lass.
From the Ebenezer District : Christian Reidlesperger and The- obald Keiffer.
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436
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
From Abercorn and Goshen Districts : William Ewen.
From Joseph's Town District : Charles Watson.
From Vernonburg District : Patrick Houstoun.
From Acton District : Peter Morell.
From Little Ogeechee District : Joseph Summers.
From Skidaway District : John Barnard.
From Midway District : Audley Maxwell, and
From Darien District : John Mackintosh.
Noble Jones and Pickering Robinson were, by the president of the colony and his assistants, appointed a committee to inquire into the general condition of the province and to present a special report thereof to the assembly.
After an exchange of courtesies with Vice-President Parker, the assembly proceeded to business and, having deliberated some two weeks, submitted the following " heads of grievances " which they thought the president and his assistants were able to re- dress.
1st. The want of a proper pilot-boat.
2d. The want of leave to erect a building under the Bluff for the convenience of boats' crews, negroes, etc, - such building to be erected by subscription.
3d. The want of standard weights, scales, and measures.
4th. The want of a survey of the river.
5th. The want of an order to prevent the masters of vessels from discharging ballast into the river.
6th. The want of a commissioner to regulate pilots and pi- lotage.
7th. The want of an inspector and sworn packer to inspect the produce of the colony.
8th. The want of a clerk of the market.
9th. The want of proper regulations for the guard.
10th. The want of suitable officers to command the militia.
11th. The want of repairs to the court-house.
To these suggestions the following answers were returned :
1st. The Board not having funds with which to purchase a substantial pilot-boat, this matter would be referred to the trus- tees.
2d. The Board would provide a location for the boat-house.
3d. The Board had already applied to the trustees for standard weights and measures, and hoped soon to be furnished with them.
4th. The Savannah River shall be surveyed so soon as the ser- vices of a competent party can be secured.
OBJECTIONS TO ANNEXING GEORGIA TO CAROLINA. 437
5th. A prohibitory order would be at once promulgated.
6th. This want would soon be supplied by the appointment of a suitable person.
7th. The appointment would be made without delay.
8th. A clerk should be named.
9th. Suitable regulations would be established.
10th. Competent officers would be commissioned.
11th. Materials had already been provided for these repairs and workmen designated to make them.
The assembly remained in session until the 8th of February, 1751, and, before adjourning, submitted an address and addi- tional representations touching the magistraey, Indian affairs, the introduction of negroes, silk culture, the continuance of the charter, and other matters, all of which were forwarded for the consideration of the trustees. Among these was one representa- tion which specially attracted the notice of the trustees and evoked from them the following " Objections to annexing Georgia to South Carolina," which are now of file among the Shaftesbury Papers in the public record office in London : -
" As the Assembly of the Province of Georgia have set forth in a Representation dated Jany 15, 1751, that the annexing of this Province to South Carolina will soon reduce it to the same desolate condition in which the Southern Parts of South Carolina were before the Establishment of Georgia, the Trustees think it their Duty in behalf of the People to represent the same to your Lordships: and the Assembly having given us one Reason for this, the great Distance they are at from Charles-Town, and con- sequently the hazards and intolerable Expence and Inconven- iences of attending so remote a Seat of Government as Represen- tatives, and Seat of Justice as Jurymen or Clarks, the Trustees think it incumbent on them to state to your Lordships that the nearest Part of Georgia is at least 80 Miles by Land and 100 Miles by Water from Charles-Town, that the Travellers by Land have many Rivers to cross, and the Roads thro' the Southern Parts of Carolina are in the Winter almost impassable: That the Passage by Water is over Sounds which in Winter are very dan- gerous, and Boats must be hired at a great Expence for this Passage, and that many of the Inhabitants of Georgia in the Southern Parts are above 170 Miles by Land and above 200 Miles by Water from Charles-Town.
" Another Objection which the Trustees beg leave to mention to your Lordships is the Jealousy which some of the Charles-
438
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
Town Merchants have of the Town of Savannah becoming from the superior fitness of its situation the great Mart for the Indian Trade, to prevent which they will distress the present Inhabit- ants of Georgia by all the means in their power, and particularly by reviving old claims to large tracts of Land in Georgia which they never did cultivate and which the Indians would never suffer them to cultivate. By getting these they must dispossess great Numbers of the Inhabitants of Lands which they have long been in possession of and have cultivated under his Majesty's Charter, and this will consequently expose the Inhabitants of South Carolina to another Indian War for the same reasons that that Province was involved in one in the Year 1718 when the In- dians laid South Carolina in a manner waste with fire and sword.
" The Trustees think it needless to observe to your Lordships that annexing the Colony is absolutely repugnant to his Majesty's Charter which does expressly declare that it shall be a separate and independent Province and that the Inhabitants shall not be subject to the Laws of South Carolina.
" As the Trustees' Power of governing the Colony will expire on the 9th of June, 1753, but their Trust for granting the Lands is to remain in them, and their successors (to be chosen by them) forever; and as these two Powers being unconnected, and inde- pendent of each other may be attended with many unforseen difficulties, the Trustees are ready to accommodate the Adminis- tration with a surrender of their Trust on such Terms as they think themselves obliged, in behalf of the People, to stipulate for, which Terms they are ready to offer to his Majesty's Council.
" As the Trustees ought not to surrender their Trust but on such Conditions only as will secure to the Inhabitants of Georgia those Rights and Privileges which were promised them at their first going thither, they hope if such surrender is not accepted of, that for the security of their large property in the Lands as Trus- tees, they shall be allowed the Alternative, viz of recommending to his Majesty the Persons to be employed in the Government of Georgia."
This project for the annexation of Georgia to South Carolina originated with the citizens and friends of the latter province. Among Georgians it was regarded with extreme disfavor. So manifestly unjust was it and so thoroughly at variance with the provisions of the charter, the scheme of the colonization, and the vested rights both of the trustees and of the colonists, that so soon as it was seriously considered it was heartily repudiated.
439
ORGANIZATION OF TIIE MILITIA.
Responding to the promise made to the assembly in their reply to the tenth representation, President Parker and his assistants, on the 16th of April, 1751, proceeded to organize and officer the militia of the province. This action was all the more important because General Oglethorpe's regiment having been disbanded, and there being but few military organizations within the limits of the plantation, the citizens were forced to rely upon themselves for police duty at home, and for the protection of the frontiers against any incursions of the Indians. All adult white male inhabitants who possessed three hundred acres of land and more were ordered to appear, well accoutred and with horses, to be organized as cavalry. White male proprietors of less property were armed as infantry. The militia force was thus organized into four companies, one of horse and three of foot, numbering in all some three hundred men. The first general muster in the lower districts was held at Savannah on Tuesday the 13th of June, 1751, when about two hundred and twenty men, infantry and cavalry, armed and equipped, paraded under the command of Captain Noble Jones. In the language of the record of the day, they " behaved well and made a pretty appearance." 1
Conservators of the peace were named for the most populous districts in the province which did not enjoy the privileges of established courts. Thus, Captain John McIntosh was appointed at Darien, Audley Maxwell for the district of Midway and the Great Ogeechee, and James Fraser at Augusta. Each conser- vator of the peace, with the assistance of three reputable free- holders in his neighborhood, was empowered to hold what at a later period would have been designated a justice's court, for the trial of trifling misdemeanors and for the determination of civil suits where the amount involved did not exceed forty shillings. The courts at Savannah and Frederica were regularly holden for the adjudication of weightier complaints both civil and criminal.
The day after the adjournment of the assembly Mary Bosom- worth, attended by her husband, waited upon President Parker, renewed her application for compensation, complained of the injustice done to her reputation, endeavored to vindicate her conduct in asserting a claim to the ceded lands, expressed a deter- mination, in the event that she failed in obtaining justice at the hands of the colonial authorities, of proceeding to England and bringing her grievances to the notice of the Crown, and de- manded a sum of money sufficient to defray her expenses thither.
1 Sce Stevens' Ilistory of Georgia, vol. i. p. 250. New York. MDCCCXLVII.
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