USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia, Volume I > Part 49
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No slave, except in the presence of a white person, could carry or use any firearm or offensive weapon, unless provided with a . special written permission from his owner or manager. Under no circumstances were slaves allowed "to carry any guns, cut- lasses, pistols, or other weapons," between Saturday evening after sunset and Monday morning before sunrise. Should a slave pre- sume to strike a white person, for the first and second offense such punishment, not extending to life or limb, as the presiding magistrate and freeholders should prescribe, was to be meted out to him. For the third offense he should suffer death. Griev- ously wounding, maiming, or bruising a white person by a slave, although the first offense of the sort, subjected the offender to the death penalty, provided such wounding, maiming, or bruising
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
was not done by command of his owner or employer, or in the defense of the person or property of such owner and employer.
When apprehended, a fugitive slave was to be at once re- turned to his owner if he could be ascertained. If his master or overseer were unknown, the fugitive was to be committed to the custody of the constable of the district in which he was taken up, whose duty it became to advertise him, giving personal descrip- tion of the slave and of his marks and brand. Until claimed, the constable was required to provide the slave with sufficient food, shelter, and clothing. If within six weeks from the date of ad- vertisement the owner of the slave did not appear and claim his property, it was then obligatory upon the constable, upon pay- ment of his fees and reasonable charges, to turn the slave over to the provost marshal. This officer was required, by frequent ad- vertisement, to continue the effort to ascertain the owner. If, after the expiration of eighteen months, the slave remained un- claimed, the provost marshal was then to sell him at public out- cry. The proceeds of such sale, after deducting all charges, were to be paid to the public treasurer, in whose hands they were to re- main for a year and a day, open to the claim of the true owner. If within that period no claimant appeared, then such proceeds were to be applied to the payment of the claims of the owners of negroes publicly executed.
Special punishments were provided in the case of free ne- groes, free persons, and slaves who harbored runaway slaves.
No slave, without permit, could expose for sale fishes, garden stuff, or wares, or be employed as a carter, fisherman, or porter.
Any person selling to a slave, without the consent of his owner or manager, beer or any spirituous liquor was liable to a fine of twenty shillings for the first offense, and double that amount for the second.
No owner, master, or mistress of any slave could permit such slave to work out of the house or family "without a ticket in writing," under pain of forfeiting the sum of one pound ten shil- lings sterling for every such offense ; one half of this penalty to be paid to the justices of the district for the use of the poor, and the other moiety to the informer. The employer of such slave was to forfeit to the informer fifteen shillings sterling for each day he so employed such slave without permit. It was competent, however, for the owners of slaves to hire them out by the day, or week, or year, the wages of such slaves being payable to their owners.
No slave was allowed on his own account to keep any boat,
483
ACT REGULATING SLAVES.
periagua, or canoe; or to breed or own any horse or neat cattle.
Persons residing out of Savannah might, under certain re- strictions, empower their slaves to sell goods, provisions, and commodities within the limits of the town.
Slaves found without tickets, beyond the confines of their master's plantation, could be whipped. If carrying arms, though provided with a ticket of leave, they were liable to a similar punishment.
Persons suffering negro slaves to beat drums, blow horns, or indulge in any public meetings or strange assemblages, were, on conviction, to forfeit thirty shillings for every such offense.
Cruelty to slaves was prohibited by the following section : --
" Whereas cruelty is not only highly unbecoming those who profess themselves Christians, but is odious in the Eyes of all Men who have any sense of Virtue or Humanity, therefore to restrain and prevent Barbarity being exercised towards Slaves, be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that if any person or persons whatsoever shall wilfully murder his own Slave or the Slave of any other person, every such person shall, upon convic- tion thereof by the oath of two witnesses, be adjudged guilty of Felony for the first offence and have the benefit of Clergy, mak- ing satisfaction to the Owner of such Slave : but the second offence shall be deemed Murther, and the offender shall suffer for the said Crime according to the Laws of England, except that he shall forfeit no more of his Lands and Tenements, Goods and Chattels, than what may be sufficient to satisfy the owner of such Slave so killed as aforesaid. And in case any shall not be able to make the Satisfaction hereby required, every such person shall be sent to any Frontier Garrison of this Province, or com- mitted to the Goal at Savannah, and there to remain at the pub- lie expence for the space of seven years, and to serve or to be kept to hard labour; and the pay usually allow'd by the public to the Soldiers of such Garrison, or the profits of the Labour of the Offender, shall be paid to the owner of the Slave murdered.
" And if any person shall, on a sudden heat or passion, or by undue correction, kill his own Slave, or the Slave of any other Person, he shall forfeit the sum of fifty pounds sterling.
" And in case any person or persons shall wilfully ent the tongue, put out the eye, castrate, or cruelly scald, burn, or de- prive any Slave of any limb or member, or shall inflict any other eruel punishment other than by whipping or beating with a
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
horse-whip, cow-skin, switch, or small stick, or by putting irons on, or confining or imprisoning such Slave, every such person shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of ten pounds ster- ling."
Neglect on the part of the owner or employer to furnish a slave with sufficient clothing and food subjected the offender to a fine not exceeding three pounds sterling for each offense, the same, when collected, to be appropriated to the benefit of the poor of the district.
Should any slave be cruelly treated and no white person be present to testify in regard to the inhumanity, the owner or man- ager of such slave was to be deemed and held guilty, unless he made his innocence clearly to appear.
No slave was permitted to become the lessee of any house, room, store, or plantation. Any person letting or hiring such premises to a slave forfeited £3 sterling to the informer. .
Not more than seven male slaves could travel together on the highway unless accompanied by some white person.
Slaves could not be compelled to labor more than sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, and any person enforcing work beyond this amount forfeited in each instance £3 sterling.
Teaching slaves to write, or employing them as scribes, was strictly prohibited.
No one was permitted to have a plantation or settlement, where- on slaves were worked, without keeping a white person also on such plantation. Every owner of twenty slaves was required to retain a white servant capable of bearing arms. Owners of fifty slaves were compelled to have at least two white servants, and an additional white servant for every additional twenty-five slaves.
Liberal rewards were offered for the apprehension of slaves attempting to desert to the Spaniards in Florida, and special instructions were promulgated for their capture, detention, and delivery to their owners.
This act was to be given in special charge to the grand juries of the province.
It is worthy of remark that not a few of the provisions of this, the first act on the subject, were, with certain modifications, re- enacted and maintained of force not only during the existence of Georgia as a colony, but also until the failure of the Confederate struggle for independence brought about the liberation of negrocs from slavery within the confines of Georgia. When we remem- ber that many of the slaves whom this act was intended to regu-
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LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS.
late were fresh from the shores of Africa, uncivilized, unrestrained by the influences of Christianity, unused to discipline, and in- clined to the exhibition of violent passions, we are the better prepared to appreciate the necessity for these stringent rules published for their governance and the protection of the whites. It will be perceived that a recognition of the contubernal rela- tion existing between these slaves and the necessity for their religious instruction are entirely ignored by the provisions of this bill.
The other public acts passed by the General Assembly may be quickly enumerated : -
(j.) An additional act for defraying the expenses of the courts of oyer and terminer and other governmental charges.
(k.) An act establishing the method of drawing and summon- ing jurors within the province.
(l.) An act authorizing the attachment of the personal estate of absent debtors in order to facilitate the collection of indebted- nesses existing on their part. This act is the parent of the at- tachment and garnishment laws existent to this day in the State of Georgia.
(m.) An additional act providing for the laying out and main- tenance of public roads in the province, the preservation of the town and common of Savannah in good order, the repair of the wharves, and the regulation of important ferries.
(n.) An act empowering justices of the peace to bind out all Acadians in the province, who refused to labor, to such persons as were willing, in consideration of the personal service to be rendered by them, to supply them with sufficient provisions, clothing, and lodging.
(o.) An act imposing penalties upon all persons who should declare that the acts of the General Assembly of the province of Georgia were not of force and authority.
(p.) An act proclaiming it high treason to counterfeit his majesty's broad seal of this province.
(g.) An act requiring the master of every ship or vessel en- tering any port of Georgia to deliver to the clerk of the naval office, for the use of the colony, four ounces of good, clean, and serviceable gunpowder for every ton which his vessel registered ; and in default of such powder, to pay to the officer designated sixpence sterling for every ton expressed in the register of his ship or vessel. The object of this regulation was to accumulate a public store of gunpowder for the defense of the province.
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(r.) And lastly, an act for confirming sales of lands in Geor- gia made by attorneys and agents of absent parties, and prescrib- ing the proper method of authenticating documents executed beyond the limits of the province and intended to be used and recorded therein.
Although few in number, these acts ministered to the pressing needs of the colony and, in their preparation, involved no little deliberation and discussion. Nor were these the only public measures considered and passed upon by this legislative assem- bly. Early in the session the harmony of the body was disturbed by the machinations of Edmund Grey, a member who, coming from Virginia, had, with some followers, formed a settlement at Brandon, above Augusta. He was a man of strong will, of inor- dinate ambition, unscrupulous in his conduct, and a pestilent fel- low. The disturbance caused by him in the assembly and its eventual suppression are thus described in a letter addressed by Governor Reynolds to the Board of Trade, under date of Febru- ary 28, 1755 : -
" Here was an appearance of Sedition about a fortnight ago by the instigation of one Edmund Grey, a pretended Quaker, who fled from Justice in Virginia and is a person of no property here, but has an artful way of instilling Jealousy of their liberties into the peoples' minds, and withont the least scruple supports his assertion with any falsehoods that may serve his purpose. This man, by getting a qualification made over to him for that pur- pose, was elected a Representative for Augusta, for he has per- suaded many people that he has great interest in England by shewing a letter he pretends to have received from a person of a noble family there with whom he pretends to have formed a scheme for monopolizing the Indian trade and introducing such sort of Government here as would suit best with that and some other schemes he has the impudence to say he was consulted upon. He tells the People that this Government will soon be at an end, and then he has promised by his interest to give places of profit to many people, and has actually influenced five Repre- sentatives with himself to withdraw from the House in order to break the Assembly and prevent business being done; but his design was so ill concerted that he and his Associates have been expelled the House by a majority of the whole number of Repre- sentatives, not only for withdrawing themselves, but for signing a letter which was voted to be a seditious one by both Houses."
The intercepted letter was couched in the following language :
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487
MACHINATIONS OF EDMUND GREY.
" SAVANNAHI 15th Jan : 1755.
" GENTLEMEN, - If you regard the liberties of your country, as we cannot doubt but they are dear to you, it is highly neces- sary that you come immediately to Savannah, there, by your presence to animate and support your friends in their endeavours to procure those blessings that can alone render this Colony flour- ishing and happy. In this we hope you will not fail, and sub- scribe ourselves hearty and sincere friends to you and Georgia.
CHARLES WATSON. EDMUND GREY.
MARK CARR. JOHN MACKINTOSH.
JOHN FARMUR. EDWARD BARNARD.
JOHN HARN. WILLIAM GRAY.
" To the Freeholders of the Province of Georgia."
Disappointed in his ambitious and pernicious scheme, this mar- plot withdrew himself from the province and located on neutral ground lying between the Alatamaha and the St. Jolm rivers. Thither flocked criminals, outlaws, and debtors seeking escape from the just demands of their creditors. Edmund Grey and his gang became a pest and a nuisance to the entire region.
According to the terms of the proclamation issued by Governor Reynolds on the 1st of January, 1755, all persons holding lands in Georgia by virtue of grants from the trustees or their agents, or in consequence of allotments made by the president of the colony and his assistants (not exceeding five hundred acres to a single individual), were to be released from all conditions ex- pressed in such grants and deeds of allotment, and from the pay- ment of all arrearages of quit rents, provided, on or before the 7th day of April next thereafter,1 they appeared, either in person or by attorney, before the governor in council, and, surrendering the muniments of title which they then held, received new grants in the name of his majesty and under the broad seal of the col- ony. These substituted grants, which ran in the name of the king and were made "of his special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion," reconveyed the lands in free and common soc- age, upon the following conditions, however: that " the grantees and their assigns would yield and pay to the Crown, on the 25th of March in every year, at the rate of two shillings sterling for every hundred acres conveyed, the first payment to be made at the expiration of two years from and after the date of the grants ; " that they and their assigns should annually clear and
1 Subsequently extended by proclamation of the 26th of May, 1755, to the last day of June of that year.
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cultivate at least five acres in every hundred granted ; and also that the grants should be duly registered within six months from date.
Regarding the condition which necessitated the clearing and cultivation, each year, of five in every hundred acres granted as onerous and calculated to retard agricultural operations and, hin- der the rapid colonization of the province, the General Assem- bly, on the 22d of January, 1755, prepared a remonstrance to the king praying the abrogation of this article, and suggesting as a substitute an agreement on the part of all grantees to occupy the lands conveyed and to reside within the province for a period of at least three years. This memorial received the approval of the governor and was forwarded. After the usual reference, the home authorities consented to the repeal of the obnoxious feature.
To the suggestion of Sir Thomas Robinson, one of his majes- ty's secretaries of state, that Georgia should assist in raising men and supplies for the two royal regiments to be recruited for the defense of America, the General Assembly, on the 3d of February, 1755, responded through the governor that, "while they were extremely willing and desirous to concur in any measure that might conduce to the general security and welfare of the conti- nent of North America, they found this colony, so far from being able at present to assist their fellow subjects, itself in great want of his Majesty's Royal consideration and further assistance."
Two weeks afterwards a lengthy memorial setting forth the defenseless condition of the province, and invoking troops, artil- lery, fortifications, arms, and ammunition, was prepared and transmitted to his majesty.
To a communication dated Whitehall, March 13, 1756, an- nouncing that the Earl of Loudoun had been appointed com- mander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in America, that he was about to set out with two regiments of foot, a train of artillery, and a quantity of warlike stores, and requesting aid from the colony, the General Assembly on the 11th of November responded that, while Georgia had no funds and was incapable of raising any for military uses, she would, nevertheless, to testify her zeal in his majesty's service, engage, if any of the king's forces came within her limits, to supply them with forage and provisions to the extent of her ability.
On the 17th of November of the same year the governor laid before the General Assembly, for its careful consideration, an ur- gent communication from the Earl of Loudoun, dated Albany,
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FEEBLENESS OF GEORGIA.
August 20, 1756, announcing the fall of Oswego and the destruc- tion of the English naval power on the lakes, cautioning Gov- ernor Reynolds to place the province in the strongest attitude of defense, confessing his inability to do more than check the ad- vance of the French in his neighborhood, and calling upon Geor- gia to assist him with money and recruits. The intelligence of this disaster to the British arms and the threatening posture of the French and Indians awakened the liveliest apprehensions. It was with genuine regret that the assembly, on the 22d of No- vember, felt constrained, in their reply to the governor, to admit the weak and impecunions condition of the province which pre- vented it from extending to others the protection and assistance which it earnestly solicited for itself.
So feeble were the American provinces, and so intent was each colony upon its own defense, that the hopes which had been con- ceived in England of strengthening Lord Loudoun's command by recruits drawn from this side the water were only partially realized. That officer, convinced that he was not strong enough to inaugurate offensive operations, pitched his camp at Albany and acted on the defensive. Meanwhile, the French wore the laurel of victory and extended their power among the Indian nations. Carolina and Georgia were threatened by an invasion of French and Cherokees, and the public mind remained for some time in a state of perturbation.1
By the terms of the law as first promulgated upon the crection of a royal government in Georgia, the right to fix all fees of pub- lic officers was confided to the governor and council. As the im- mediate representatives of the inhabitants of the province, the members of the Lower House of Assembly conceived that they were entitled to a voice in this matter. They therefore ad- dressed a petition to the Crown, praying that the General Assem- bly might be entrusted with the regulation of these fees, as they were in reality paid by the people of the colony and might prop- erly be regarded in the light of specific taxes. This remonstrance, however, for some time passed unheeded, and the schedule of fees was made out by the council who took as their guide that established in South Carolina.
The last legislative act to which we will allude in connection with the General Assembly convened during Governor Reynolds' administration was a memorial, dated the 21st of February. 1755,
1 Sec Letter of Governor Lyttleton of Reynolds, and received by him January South Carolina, addressed to Governor 25, 1757.
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representing the hardship of the qualifications of electors and representatives as established in the instructions of his majesty to the governor of Georgia, and praying that the assembly should be permitted to prescribe the qualifications of its own members. In support of their views, the representatives pressed upon the consideration of the home authorities that, under the existing regulations, which no colonial law could abrogate, an elector for representatives in the assembly must be the owner of at least fifty acres of land, and a representative himself must be a free- holder to the extent of five hundred acres. According to this rule, residents in towns, possessing buildings and improvements of much greater value than five hundred acres of land in the country, who did not chance to be the owners of five-hundred- acre lots, were excluded from the privilege of sitting in the as- sembly ; and freeholders of town lots exceeding in value the fifty acres by which others became qualified to vote were declared incompetent to cast votes for representatives. The injustice of the royal instructions was, upon review, readily recognized, and the property qualifications were modified in accordance with the views of the General Assembly.1
1 See Stevens' History of Georgia, vol. i. p. 412. New York. MDCCCXLVII.
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CHAPTER XXX.
MIDWAY DISTRICT .- THE DORCHESTER SOCIETY. - ITS REMOVAL FROM DORCHESTER AND BEECH ISLAND IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND SETTLEMENT IN THE MIDWAY DISTRICT. - THE TOWN OF SUNBURY.
THE road leading from Savannah to the Darien settlement on the Alatamaha, which, in obedience to General Oglethorpe's instructions, was located by Captain Hugh Mackay assisted by Indian guides furnished by Tomo-chi-chi, not only served as the established route for inland communication between the northern and southern portions of the province, but tended to facilitate the population of the intermediate region. The swamp belt of Georgia, through which this highway led, was very fertile and well adapted to the cultivation of rice, cotton, corn, indigo, and vegetables of various sorts. Its agricultural advantages attracted the notice of the colonists, and of planters from South Carolina who, upon the abrogation of the regulation prohibiting the intro- duction of negroes, began to move in with their slaves and to form plantations along the line of this road, in the delta of the Great Ogeechee, and upon the high grounds to the south border- ing upon salt-water streams and upon the extensive swamps emptying into them. The territory lying between the Great Ogeechee and South Newport rivers was called the Midway Dis- trict because of its central location, being abont equidistant from the Savannah and Alatamaha rivers, which then constituted respectively the northern and southern boundaries of Georgia. It has been suggested by some, and the belief is to a limited extent current, that the name both of the district and of the river which permeates it is, and was at the earliest period, Med- way and not Midway, and that this appellation was borrowed from one of the well-known rivers of Merrie Old England.1 The
1 The Medway, in the county of Kent, is a noble stream. Its trunk and branches cover thirty square miles of the surface of the county, and its length is nearly sixty miles, of which forty are navigable. This river well deserves the name of Vaga, by which the Britons described its
wanderings. The Saxons added the syl- lable Med, the sign of middle, because the river runs through the centre of the county, and thus gets its present name of Medway. Encyclopedia Britannica, 8th Edition, article " Kent," vol. xiii. p. 65. See also vol. viii. p. 716.
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
records do not justify the intimation, and in the light of history it should be repudiated.
In December, 1695, a band of Protestants, associated together as a Congregational Church, arrived in South Carolina. The ancestors of these immigrants, Puritans in belief and conduct, jealous of their religious faith, and strongly imbued with sen- timents of political freedom, coming from the counties of Devon, Dorset, and Somersetshire, assembled at Plymouth, England, early in 1630, and resolved to seek in New England for broader fields and larger liberty. Sailing on the 30th of March, after a protracted voyage they reached the shores of Massachusetts and, early in June, founded within that province the town of Dorches- ter. There for sixty-five years did they and their descendants abide until some of them, influenced by a desire to encourage a settlement of churches and to promote the extension of religion in the Southern plantations, determined to remove to South Carolina. They were industrious, prudent, thrifty, self-reliant, intelligent, tyranny-hating, God-fearing peoples. Bringing with them their own pastor, the Rev. Joseph Lord, they came not as wanderers and as mendicants, but as enterprising colonists, prepared with their own arms and means to wrest from primeval forests new homes and comfortable subsistence. Selecting a lo- cation on the Ashley River about eighteen miles above Charles- town, they there builded houses, cleared lands, and erected a church. In honor of the place whence they departed, they called their town Dorchester. A portion of their settlement was also known as Beech-Hill. Theirs was one of the earliest Con- gregational or Independent churches established in South Caro- lina.
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