USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia, Volume II > Part 21
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ADDRESS TO GOVERNOR WRIGIIT.
the Province was never more fully represented in any Assembly ; though possibly this measure never would have taken place had we not, from several successive prorogations or adjournments, but too much reason to fear your Excellency had received very strong instructions not to suffer the Assembly to enter into any meas- ures to secure the rights of America, or even to petition for relief, unless in terms which would have been giving up the rights of, and fixing lasting disgrace on, the petitioners.
" Although there is no doubt but a great majority of the in- habitants of this Province always looked upon the claim of Par- liament to take away the property of Americans as illegal and oppressive, yet, from a variety of causes not unknown to your Excellency, this Province in the American chain has hitherto been' the defaulting link. We have now joined with the other Provinces in the Continental Congress, and have sent a petition to his Majesty, appointed delegates to the American Congress, and entered into such resolutions - which we mean inviolably to ad- here to- as will convince the friends and foes of America that we would not live unworthy of the name of Britons, or labour under the suspicion of being unconcerned for the rights and free- dom of America.
" Extracts of some letters which are inserted in Parliamentary proceedings widely differ from what must appear to every un- prejudiced person to be the real state of the Province.
"We are not acquainted with an individual in Georgia that looks upon the claims of Parliament as just, and all men speak with abhorrence of the measures made use of to enforce them. Our fellow-subjects who formerly entered a dissent which we find was transmitted to the Minister in terms that bespeak the great pleasure it gave the transmitter, now generally say that they never differed from America as to the reality of grievances, but only in the mode of obtaining redress.
" Though candour must allow these mutilated extracts laid before Parliament were probably rather designed by the Minister to screen himself and justify his own measures than to give a just and true account of what information he might have re- ceived, yet we cannot help observing, the general purport of these letters seems to have a much greater regard to the designs of the Minister than to give an impartial account of the real state of things. Other Provinces, no doubt, if they find themselves men- tioned in any part of them, will view them in what light they may think fit; but as to any prejudicial informations they may
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
contain against many persons in this Province, while it is not to be expected that they will give up their feelings as private men, your Excellency may be assured we shall always pay due respect to his Majesty's Representative, and shall with great pleasure acknowledge every service your Excellency may hereafter ren- der to Great Britain and America whose interest we know, and whose connection we wish, to be forever inseparable. Your Ex- cellency may be assured these are objects which we have greatly 2 at heart, and shall ever do what in us lies towards a reconcilia- tion with our Parent State on constitutional principles, as well as endeavour to preserve the peace and good order of the Prov- ince." 1
Although Governor Wright, to use his own language, would not "condescend to take any notice of this Address," which was exhibited to him on the 13th of July, he thought it his duty, five days afterwards, to forward a copy of it to Lord Dartmouth with a lengthy communication defending himself against the charge of favoring the designs of the minister instead of giving an impar- tial account of the true state of affairs in the province. In that letter he informs his lordship that congress, on the 13th of July, gave to two messengers from the council of safety in Charles- town five thousand pounds of gunpowder, and also a brass field- piece and carriage belonging to his majesty. Ilis inability to prevent this action of the " Liberty People " he freely confesses. Again does he humbly request royal permission to return to England that he might resign the government of the province. In truth, that government had already been practically wrested from him. He was simply a locum tenens, beholding, reporting, and criticising, but without power to stay the onward march of events or to shape them to the will of his majesty. Even this unsatisfactory office was doomed to early extinction.
The Reverend Haddon Smith, rector of the parish of Christ Church, having refused to deliver a sermon and observe the fast proclaimed by the Continental Congress, was ordered by the vigi- lance committee to preach no more in Savannah. He had also reflected upon the conduct of the Provincial Congress, and was deemed an avowed enemy to the liberties of the province. Heed- ing the injunction, he did not attempt to officiate any longer in the town but, crossing the river, sought refuge in Carolina.2
1 Soo Georgia Gazette of July 18, 1775, Earl of Dartmouth, dated July 29, 1775, and inclosed doposition of the Rov. Mr. Haddon Smith.
No. 616.
2 Soo Letter of Governor Wright to the
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ARTICLE OF ASSOCIATION.
On the 13th of July the Provisional Congress unanimously adopted this ARTICLE OF ASSOCIATION : -
" GEORGIA. 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 prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety, and convinced of the necessity of pre- venting the anarchy and confusion which attend the dissolution of the powers of government, we, the freemen, freeholders, and inhabitants 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, and hon- our, and love to our country, to adopt and endeavour to carry into execution whatever may be recommended by the Continental Congress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention ap- pointed for preserving our constitution and opposing the execu- tion of the several arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British Parliament, until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America, on constitutional principles, which we most ardently desire, can be obtained; and that we will in all things follow the advice of our General Committee appointed, respecting the pur- poses aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and the safety of individuals and private property."
John Smith, Basil Cowper, George Houstoun, Joseph Clay, William Young, Philip Box, Seth Jolin Cuthbert, William O'Bryan, George Walton, William LeConte, William Gibbons, Samuel Elbert, Edward Telfair, and Oliver Bowen were desig- nated as a committee "to present this Association to all the in- habitants of the Town and District of Savannah to be signed." Expedition was enjoined, and these gentlemen were requested to furnish the general committee with the names of all who de- clined to affix their signatures.
The qualification of voters to elect delegates to future con- gresses having been discussed it was, on motion of Mr. Drayton, submitted on the 14th of July, determined that every man who. contributed towards the general tax should be held qualified to vote. The following representation was also agreed upon : " The Town and District of Savannah shall have seventeen members ; District of Little Ogeechee, three; Vernonburgh, two; Acton, two; Sea Islands, three; Goshen and Abercorn, two; Parish of St. Matthew, seven ; St. George, nine; St. Paul,
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
nine; St. Philip, seven ; St. John, twelve; St. Andrew, nine; St. David, three ; St. Patrick, two; St. Thomas, two; St. Mary, two; St. James, two; Ceded Lands, three; and that the Presi- dent and thirty four members do constitute a Congress to proceed upon business."
On the 15th, Stephen Drayton, Samuel Elbert, Dr. Nathan - Brownson, and Peter Tarlin were commissioned to prepare a report upon the militia of the province, with such suggestions as they might deem proper for its more efficient organization.
That the inhabitants of Georgia might be intelligently advised of the disputes existing between Great Britain and the Ameri- can provinces, and be correctly informed of the proceedings of this congress, the Reverend Dr. Zubly, Dr. Noble W. Jones, William Young, and George Walton were selected to frame a suitable address. As published by those gentlemen that address reads as follows : -
" To the Inhabitants of the Province of Georgia.
" FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN, - We are directed to transmit to you an account of the present state of American affairs, as well as the proceedings of the late Provincial Congress.
" It is with great sorrow we are to acquaint you, that what our fears suggested, but our reason thought impossible, is actually come to pass.
" A civil war in America is begun. Several engagements have already happened. The friends and foes of America have been equally disappointed. The friends of America were in hopes British troops could never be induced to slay their brethren. It is, however, done, and the circumstances are such as must be an everlasting blot on their character for humanity and generosity. An unfeeling Commander has found means to inspire his troops with the same evil spirit that possessetli himself. After the starving, helpless, innocent inhabitants of Boston delivered up their arms and received his promise that they might leave that virtuous, devoted town, he is said to have broke his word; and the wretched inhabitants are still kept to fall a prey to disease, famine, and confinement. If there are powers which abhor in- justice and oppression, it may be hoped such perfidy cannot go long unpunished.
" But the enemies of America have been no less disappointed. Nothing was so contemptible in their eyes as the rabble of an American militia ; nothing more improbable than that they would dare to look regulars in the face, or stand a single fire. By this
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ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS OF GEORGIA.
time they must have felt how much they were mistaken. In every engagement the Americans appeared with a bravery wor- thy of men that fight for the liberties of their oppressed country. Their success has been remarkable ; the number of the slain and wounded. on every occasion vastly exceeded theirs, and the ad- vantages they gained are the more honourable, because, with a patience that scarce has an example, they bore every act of injus- tice and insult till their lives were attacked, and then gave the fullest proof that the man of calmness and moderation in counsel is usually also the most intrepid and courageous in battle.
" You will doubtless lament with us the hundreds that died in their country's cause ; but does it not call for greater sorrow that thousands of British soldiers sought and found their deaths when they were active to enslave their brethren and their country ? However irritating all these proceedings, yet so unnatural is this quarrel, that every good man must wish and pray that it may soon cease; that the injured rights of America may be vindicated by milder means ; and that no more blood may be shed, unless it be of those who fomented and mean to make an advantage of these unhappy divisions.
"From the proceedings of the Congress, a copy of which ac- companies the present, you will be convinced that a reconciliation on honorable principles is an object which your delegates never lost sight of. We have sent an humble and manly petition to his Majesty : addressed his representative, our Governor ; pro- vided, as far as in our power, for internal quiet and safety ; and Delegates will soon attend the General Congress to assist and cooperate in any measure that shall be thoughit necessary for the saving of America.
" His Excellency, at our request, having appointed the 19th inst as a Day of Humiliation, and news being afterwards re- ceived that the Continental Congress had recommended the 20th inst to be observed as such, both days have been observed with a becoming solemnity ; and we humbly hope many earnest prayers have been presented to the Father of Mercies on that day through this extensive continent, and that He has heard the cries of the destitute and will not despise their prayers.
" You will permit us most earnestly to recommend to you a steady perseverance in the cause of Liberty, and that you will use all possible caution not to say or do anything unworthy of so glorious a cause; to promote frugality, peace, and good order, and, in the practice of every social and religious duty, patiently
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
to wait the return of that happy day when we may quietly sit under our vine and fig tree, and no man make us afraid." 1
The following is the petition which was submitted to the king: " To the King's most excellent Majesty.
"May it please your Majesty : Though we bring up the rear of American Petitioners and, from the fate of so many petitions presented to your Majesty from America, your great city of Lon- don, and others of your European subjects, have a most melan- choly prospect, we still hope that He by whom Kings rule and to
2 whom monarchs are accountable, will incline you to receive and pay some regard to our most humble and faithful representation.
" In times like these, when the edge of present feelings is blunted by the expectation of calamities still greater, we must take the liberty to speak before we die. We would acquaint our Sovereign with things which greatly affect his interest. We would endeavour to waken the feelings and pity of our common father. Hear us therefore, that God may hear you also.
" Your Majesty is the rightful Sovereign of the most important empire of the universe.
" The blessings of Providence on your arms have put a country in America under you of greater importance and extent than sev- eral kingdoms in Europe. In this large extent of territory, by some late acts, Popery is not only tolerated (which we conceive would have been but an act of justice), but an indulgence has been granted, little short of a full establishment, to a religion which is equally injurious to the rights of Sovereign and of man- kind. French and arbitrary laws have there by authority taken the place of the just and mild British Constitution, and all this has been done with a professed and avowed design to overawo your Majesty's ancient Protestant and loyal subjects, some of whom had no small share in the merit of that conquest.
" Acts to raise a perpetual revenue on the Americans without their consent have been enacted, which, at one stroke, turn all your American subjects into slaves, and deprive them of that right which the most oppressive taskmaster does not deny to the servant bought with his own money. Experience must now have shown, as it will clearer should these acts be enforced, that in- stead of increasing the revenue, or lessening the burdens of your European subjects, they can only serve to increase their taxation.
" Laws which we conceive fraught with so much injustice have been attempted to be enforced by equal cruelty, and whenever 1 Sco supplement to the Georgia Gazette, No. 616.
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ADDRESS TO THE KING.
we thought ourselves at the height of our troubles, your Maj- esty's Ministry have strained their unhappy ingenuity to find out new methods of distress ; and, it is believed, methods have been more than thought of too shocking to human nature to be even named in the list of grievances suffered under a British king.
" The goodness of God hath made your Majesty the father of a very numerous issue, on whom we place the pleasing hopes of a Protestant succession ; but your Majesty's arms in America now every day make mothers childless, and children fatherless. The blood of your subjects has been shed with pleasure rather than with pity, for an action which amounted to no more, even under the worst construction, than an irregular zeal for constitutional liberty ; and without any step taken to find out the supposed guilty persons, the capital of your American dominions has been blocked up, deprived of its trade, and its poor of subsistence. Thousands, confessedly innocent, have been starved, ruined, and driven from, or kept like prisoners in, their own habitations; their cries and blood innocently shed have undoubtedly reached, and daily do reach, His cars who hateth injustice and oppression.
" Believe us, great Sir, America is not divided; all men (Crown officers not excepted) speak of these acts and measures with dis- approbation, and if there has been some difference of opinion as to the mode of relief, the rigorous experiments which your Min- istry thought fit to try on the Americans have been the most effectual means to convince these of the iniquitous designs of your Ministry and to unite them all as in a common cause. Your Majesty's Ministers, after thus introducing the demon of discord into your empire, and driving America to the brink of despair, place all their dignity in measures obstinately pursued because they were once wantonly taken. They hearkened to no informa- tion but what represented Americans either as rebels or cowards. Time will every day make it clearer how much they were infatu- ated and mistaken. Too long, we must lament, have these men imposed on your paternal affection. Deign now, most gracious Prince, in their room, to hearken to the cries of your loyal and affectionate subjects of this extensive Continent ; let the goodness of your heart interpose between weak or wicked Ministers, and millions of loyal and affectionate subjects. No longer let the sword be stained with the blood of your own children ; recall your troops and fleets ; and if any misunderstanding remains, let the Americans be heard, and justice and equity take place. Let us be ruled according to the known principles of our excellent
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Constitution, and command the last shilling of our property and the last drop of our blood in your service.
"Uncertain as to the event of this our humble representation, it affords us a relief that we may, unrestrained, apply to the great and merciful Sovereign of the whole earth, who will not despise the prayer of the oppressed ; and to Him we most ardently pray that, the wicked being taken away from before the king, the king's throne may be established in righteousness.
" By order of the Congress, at Savannah, this 14th day of July. A. BULLOCH, President." 1
Having thus memorialized the General Congress, the governor, the citizens of Georgia, and the king, having framed a bill of rights and proclaimed the privileges for which they were resolved to contend, having introduced Georgia into the fold of the con- federated provinces, having strengthened the hands of the council of safety and appointed committees of correspondence and of in- telligence, having provided the ways and means for future ses- sions of congress, and, above all, having demonstrated the ina- bility of the king's servants to control the province in the present crisis, this assembly, perhaps the most important ever convened in Georgia, adjourned on the 17th of July, subject to further call up to the 20th of August.
Official notice that Georgia had acceded to the general union and elected deputies to attend at Philadelphia reached the Con- tinental Congress on the 20th of July, the day set apart to be observed as a season of prayer and fasting, and was received with manifestations of profound joy. Welcomed as the thirteenth of the united colonies, she was at once admitted to all the privi- leges of the political sisterhood, and the resolutions of the 17th of May, which had placed her, with the exception of the parish of St. John, under the ban of colonial non-intercourse, were immedi- ately rescinded.
Of the five delegates selected by the Provincial Congress to represent Georgia in the Continental Congress, Messrs. Bulloch, Houston, and Zubly repaired to Philadelphia and participated in the deliberations of that body at an adjourned session held on the 13th of September, 1775. Dr. Lyman Hall, who had been present at a previous meeting as a delegate commissioned by the parish of St. Paul, was now absent; and Dr. Noble W. Jones, than whom the " Sons of Liberty " claimed none more competent, courageous, and accomplished, it is said, in deference to the en-
1 See supplement to the Georgia Gazette, No. 630.
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GEORGIA ABLY REPRESENTED.
treaties of his aged father, Colonel Noble Jones, a trusted friend of Oglethorpe, who, as military officer, surveyor, member of council, and provincial treasurer, had, during a long life, rendered invaluable aid to the colony and maintained a faithful allegiance to the Crown, and who, now trembling upon the verge of the grave, bespoke the companionship of his distinguished and de- voted son, postponed for the while his service to the province in this prominent capacity that he might respond to his filial obliga- tions.
Georgia was ably represented. From the inception of the diffi- culties between Great Britain and her colonies Archibald Bul- loch had been a firm friend to the liberties of America. No one stood higher in the respect of his fellow citizens, and for him the most pronounced honors were in store. John Houstoun too was amongst the most zealous advocates of the rights of the colonies. Of honorable descent and liberal education, of acknowledged bravery and commanding influence, his memory is indissolubly associated with some of the best traditions of the epoch and com- munity in which he dwelt.
Of the early labors of the Reverend Dr. Zubly in the cause of freedom, education, and religion one may not speak except in praise. His course in the first Continental Congress which he attended was consistent and patriotic. The acceptable pastor of a large Presbyterian congregation in Savannah, learned and elo- quent, public spirited, and of marked ability, his voice and pen had been freely employed in the vindication of the rights of the colonies against the encroachments of Parliament. Discussing the suggestions made in England to arm the slaves in order to reduce their masters to obedience to British rule, he wrote 1 to the Earl of Dartmouth as follows : " Proposals publicly made by ministerial writers relative to American domestics laid the South- ern Provinces under the necessity of arming themselves. A proposal to put it in the power of domestics to cut the throats of their masters can only serve to cover the proposers and abettors with everlasting infamy. The Americans have been called 'a rope of sand,' but blood and sand will make a firm cementa- tion, and enough American blood has been already shed to ce- ment them together into a threefold cord not easily to be broken." In the deliberations and utterances of the Provincial Congress in Savannah, no member had borne a more prominent part.
When, however, he found himself confronted with the deter- 1 On the 3d of September, 1775.
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mination of the Continental Congress to sever the ties binding the American colonies to the mother country, and to erect on these shores a separate, independent, and republican govern- ment, his heart failed him and he opened a correspondence with Sir James Wright in which he revealed to him the plans of con- gress and warned him of the impending rupture. His conduct and language exciting suspicion, he was watched, and one of his treasonable letters was seized. This fact was intimated by Chase of Maryland upon the floor of congress. So alarmed became Dr. Zubly that he precipitately abandoned his seat and returned to Georgia where, taking sides against the liberty people, he be- came so obnoxious that in 1777 he was banished from Savannah with the loss of half his estate. Taking refuge in South Caro- lina he there remained until the royal government was reestab- lished in Georgia in 1779, when he resumed his ministerial charge in Savannah and there abode until his death, which occurred on the 23d of July, 1781. Broken in heart and fortune, the latest years of his life involved a ceaseless struggle with misfortune. " His political defection," says Dr. Stevens,1 " while it did no harm to Georgia or the Colonies, brought misery upon himself and family, and tarnished a name which shone among the earlier patriots of Georgia with peculiar brightness. Savannah still bears the record of this learned man in the names of two of its streets, 'Joachim ' and ' Zubly,' and one of the hamlets of the city is called 'St. Gall' in honor of his birthplace in Switzer- land." His declaration in his place in the Continental Congress that " a Republic was little better than a government of devils," and his subsequent desertion of his post to seek shelter under the authority of the Crown, were but the prelude to misery, disgrace, and an early grave. Georgia was now practically governed by the Council of Safety. Her people, earnest and united in the cause of freedom, were prepared to practice economy, endure pri- vations, and subdue every murmur in the hope of winning their independence.
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