USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia: containing brief sketches of the most remarkable events, up to the present day, Vol. I > Part 13
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The affairs of the province passed on without any important occurrences for several years : the repeated complaints of the people were almost exclusively the subjects of colonial discussion. The tracts of land which had been planted with vines and mulberry-trees, scarcely retained the vestiges of cultivation The trustees made another effort to encourage the manufacture of silk, by offers of bounty ; a filature, or silk house was built, and the necessary articles for preparing the cocoons and winding the silk, were directed to be furnished.
Agriculture had not flourished, and commerce had scarcely been thought of : the firm of Harris and Habersham was established, and commenced
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something like a foreign trade, and in the year 1747, imported some foreign articles and estab. lished a mercantile correspondence in London and the West-Indies ; and in the next year ship- ped off several articles, such as deer-skins, lumber, cattle, hogs, poultry, &c. On these articles they made considerable profit for themselves, and greatly encouraged the planters by the purchase of every article they could dispose of, which was saleable abroad.
As agriculture and commerce go hand in · hand, petitions were drawn up and presented to the trustees, soliciting their patronage to the lat- ter, by an offer of bounties for the products of Georgia, but the trustees seem to have fixed their hearts exclusively upon wine and silk ; and these subjects were so much canvassed, that the very sound of those two words became hateful to the people.
Schedules were drawn up by those who pos- sessed mercantile talents, and laid before the trus- tees, exhibiting the advantages that would result to the mother country as well as to the colonists, by the allowance of bounties to be appropriated in this way, instead of expending such large sums in fruitless efforts, for the encouragement of a staple, which the experience of fourteen years might have convinced them would not be pro- ductive ; and that the ruin of the colony must be the result of their plans : but the trustees were inflexible.
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Mr James Habersham, who appears to have been a gentleman of considerable mercantile as well as political talents, at the particular request. of Mr. Boltzius, stated to him in a letter of con- siderable length, his ideas on agriculture and commerce. This letter was closed by a request that it might be considered in the light of a con- fidential communication ; because he had with great freedom, descanted on the views and conduct of many of the leading characters in the province, as well as the chimerical. plans of the trustees : Mr. Boitzius solicited his consent to furnish a reverend friend of his in Germany with a copy, and by him the letter was forwarded to the trus- tees in England. When Mr. Habersham was in- formed of this circumstance, he supposed that all hopes of future favor and countenance from that honorable body were at an end, and that his resi- dence thereafter in the province, would be made extremely unpleasant to him, if not insupport- able, and regretted the latitude with which he had licensed Mr. Boltzius, in giving publicity to the contents of his letter. The strong language and forcible reasonings it contained, attracted the par- ticular notice of the trustees, and became a sub- ject of deliberate discussion ; and instead of bring. ing the thunder of their vengeance upon him, he was appointed a member of the council in Georgia ; and Samuel Mercer, who had been charged with fraud and mal-practice in office, was suspended from the functions of membership,
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by the board in Georgia, and dismissed from office by the trustees. The appointment of Mr. Habersham, was as unexpected to his associates in the administration, as it was to himself. In the November term of this year, three persons were convicted and sentenced to suffer death ; one for murder and two for treason : the former and one of the latter, were executed; the other, a lad of sixteen years of age, was spared in consideration of his youth, at the solicitation of the inhabitants of Savannah. These were the first who suffer- ed death under the sentence of the civil authority in the province.
Slavery had not yet been formally introduced into Georgia, and may be said to have been licen- sed, rather than authorised. The term for which the European servants were engaged, had general- ly expired, and there were no means of remedy- ing this difficulty, except by hiring negro servants from their owners in South-Carolina ; in which case, if any person attempted to enforce the regu- lation of the trustees, the owner appeared from Carolina and claimed his property. Finding that this plan of evading the law succeeded, negroes were hired for an hundred years, or during life, and a sum equal to the value of the negro was paid in advance ; and the pretended owner bound himself to exhibit his claim, in case circumstances should render it necessary, to secure his services. Finally, purchases were openly made in Savannalı from African traders ; some seizures were made
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by those who opposed the principle, but as a ma- jority of the magistrates were favorable to the in- troduction of slaves into the province, legal deci- sions were suspended from time to time, and a strong disposition evidenced by the courts to evade. the operation of the law. So great was the majority on that side of the question, that anarchy and confusion were likely to be kindled into civil war. Several negro servants had been purchased for the Orphan-house, and Mr. Haber. sham declared that the institution could not be supported without them. £ The servants sent over from England by Mr. Whitefield, after a few months, refused to yield to the menial duties assigned to them ; many ran away, and were sup- ported and secreted in Carolina by their country- men, until an opportunity offered to escape far- ther north, where they were secured against a compliance with the conditions of their inden- · tures ; and the few who remained were too old, too young, or too much afflicted with disease, to render services equal to a compensation for their clothing and subsistence. Those who had filed, soon found that they could procure land in the other colonies on easy terms, and engage in em- ployments less degrading and more advantageous. The Highlanders and Germans persisted in their opposition : the Reverend Mr. Boltzius, who had taken a warm interest in the settlement of his country-men at Ebenezer, had been uniform in his opposition to the principles of slavery, to his
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congregation, and expressed his fears that idle. ness and dissipation would grow out of the change, to the destruction of the people's morals ; and it was with great difficulty he could be restrained from a repetition of the expression of his feelings, as he had been accustomed to do in the execution of his clerical functions ; and indeed his event- ual yielding, seems to have resulted from the ap- prehension of a civil war, rather than from any conviction which had changed his opinion, with regard to the justice or propriety of the measure: This gentleman had uniformly been the particular friend of Mr. Whitefield, but on this occasion he addressed a letter to him, charging him with a whimsical change of sentiments, destructive to industry and morality, denouncing the vengeance of heaven against those who were instrumental in bringing a people under the yoke of slavery. Mr. Whitefield denied his having any participa- tion or knowledge, of the change of circumstan- ces which had lately taken place in Georgia, until a short time before this letter was received ; but that he had been taught by the exercise of his re- flections, to believe with Pope, that " whatever is, is best :" that God had some wise end in view in the permission of every occurrence, and that though he could not fathom the purposes connected with the slavery of the Africans, yet he had no doubt it would terminate to their advan- tage. That he had received a number of let- ters from Georgia upon the subject, which he had
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submitted to the trustees, on which he was in- formed, they were about to decide. When he took into view the wretched, miserable, starved condition of the negroes in their own country, that for the purpose of gaining a scant tempo- rary subsistence, the father had sold his sons, his daughters, nay his wife, to a barbarous cruel foe ; how much better must their condition be, when disposed of in a christian country, where they are treated with mildness and humanity, and required to perform no more than that portion of labor which in some way or other, is the common lot of the human race. After duly considering the subject, the trustees directed the president in Georgia, to convene a certain number of the in- habitants, who should be chosen out of the differ- ent districts, and who were considered capable of giving the true sentiments of a majority of the people upon the introduction of slavery, treating largely upon the subject, with such conditions and stipulations as would gratify their wishes ; accordingly the president notified to the different districts the objects contemplated at this meet- ing, and twenty-three representatives met at Sa- vannah, and after appointing major Horton pre- sident, they entered into sundry resolutions, the substance of which was, that the owners of slaves should educate the young and use every possible means of making religious impressions upon the minds of the aged, and that all acts of inhumani- ty should be punished by the civil authority. It
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was thought that under these restrictions, good. instead of evil, would grow out of the measurcs which the people had been so long anxious to adopt. The proceedings signed by the president and sanctioned by the members, were transmitt- ed to the trustees : this conference was just clos- ed, when major Horton was taken with a malig. nant fever, which soon closed his valuable life. In a letter from Mr. Habersham to Gen. Oglethorpe, he says, " Major Horton's unwearied and gene- rous exertions in the service of this colony, have perhaps contributed not a little, to abridge the number of his days. By particular desire he came to Savannah, to meet the president, assistants and other representatives, to consult on an affair of the greatest importance to the colony : his conduct and opinions, gave renewed specimens of his wis- dom and prudence. Your excellency knew him well, therefore it would be vain in me to attempt a description of his merits : envy itself is obliged to confess, that he shined in war and in peace, in. public and in private stations."
The mode in which land had hitherto been granted, was by a warrant from the president to the surveyors, Messrs. Jones or Robison, and a. plat descriptive of the lot was annexed to the warrant, and recorded by the clerk of the coun- cil : the grantees were not satisfied with this in- formal kind of title, and many of them sent their grants · over to England to have them signed by the president of the board of trustees, or some
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higher power than had been vested in the execu- tive of Georgia. Application was made to the trustees to grant Hutchinson's island opposite to Savannah, to lady Huntingdon, who agreed to place negroes on it for the cultivation of rice, so as to furnish a substantial and permanent sup- port to the Orphan-house : the proposition was not argreed to, but a tract of five hundred acres was granted in trust to that lady, who stocked it with negroes, and at her decease left a large dona- tion for the use of this institution.
In the same year the remaining troops of gen- eral Oglethorpe's regiment, except one compa- ny, were disbanded ; such of them as did not choose to leave the colony, accepted of the lands allotted for them agreeably to the promise which had been made by the trustees at the time of en- listment : such as wished to return to England were conveyed to Charleston in boats, and from thence passages were provided for them at the expense of government. .
By the return of these boats from Charleston, Captain Daniel Demetree with ten or twelve men came on, and landed at Causton's bluff, in Augustine creek, and mentioned to some of the inhabitants that he was going to Frederica where he was to be stationed : as he had not report- ed himself to the president and council, they had a variety of conjectures respecting his au- thority and objects. Captain Jones was desired to wait on him and demand an explanation of his
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extraordinary conduct, in neither waiting upon or reporting himself to the president, who consider- ed himself at the head of affairs in Georgia, and literally clothed with all the powers and functions of governor : Mr. Demetree's reply to captain Jones was, that his instructions were derived from his grace the duke of Bedford by the con- sent of the trustees ; that he was to report to, rc- ceive from and obey the orders of governor Glen of South-Carolina, and he reluctantly ap- peared before the council to give any explana- · tion. The president as may be supposed, was . mortified at such contemptuous treatment, and addressed the trustees upon the subject, imag- ining that governor Glen's influence had been improperly exercised over the duke's friendship, and that it was contemplated to reduce the con- sequence of Georgia, if not to place it entirely under the government of Carolina; and that this small party would be of little use to the pro- vince if placed under his own control, and none at all, if placed under governor Glen's : he conjectured that the influence of that gentleman had been used to bring the province into con- tempt, and to gratify a private pique, in conse- quence of a misunderstanding which arose from his interference with the Indian trade at Augusta. Some men of bad character had been licenced by the governor of Carolina in this traffic, whom the Indians had charged with committing frauds up- on them in trade, in consequence of which the
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goods of others had been seized, and their lives endangered by way of retaliation. This subject had produced an unfriendly epistolary correspon- dence between them which had not been satis- factorily reconciled. President Stephens per- severed in his determination, and directed the troops and inhabitants at Frederica to seize the . boats which Demetree had in charge on his arriv- al, as the property of Oglethorpe's regiment, and to take no notice of Demetree, either in a civil or military capacity until further orders ; a copy of this letter and a statement of Demetree's conduct, were sent to governor Glen. Captain Demetree's reception was not such as he was entitled to from his rank in the army, but such as his rude and improper conduct towards the council had justly merited : a few days reflection convinced him of the impropriety of his conduct, and on making satisfactory acknowledgments to the president and council, he was ordered to take the com- mand.
On the 14th of December 1747, a number of Indians happened to be at Frederica, when the reverend Thomas Bosomworth was at that place, and a deep plan was laid by that gentleman, eith- er to destroy the colony, or acquire a fortune equal to any in America. An Indian king by the name of Malatche, of an age and standing in the Creek nation well suited to answer Bosom- worth's purposes, was present with sixteen oth- ers, who gave themselves the titles of kings and
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chiefs of the different towns. Bosomworth sug. gested to Malatche, the idea of having himself coronated in imperial form, by those of his tribe who were with him : accordingly a paper was drawn up, filled with royal ceremonies, acknow. ledging Malatche Opiya Meco, to be the rightful, natural prince and emperor of the dominions of the Creek nation ; vesting him with powers to make laws, frame treaties, declare war, convey lands, and transact all affairs relating to the na- tion ; Binding themselves on the part of their several towns, to abide by and fulfil all his con- tracts and engagements .*
This paper being signed and sealed by the pre- tended kings and chiefs, and witnessed in due form, Malatche requested that a copy of it might be sent over to the king of England for his sanc- tion, and to have it put on record among the archives of his great ally. Having thus far ac- complished his purposes, Bosomworth drew up a deed of conveyance in the common form, from Malatche Opiya Meco, emperor of the upper and lower Creek nations, to Thomas and Mary Bosomworth, of the colony of Georgia, for and in consideration of ten pieces of stroud, twelve pieces of duffles, two hundred weight of powder, two hundred weight of lead, twenty guns, twelve pair of pistols and one hundred weight of vermilion ; warranting and defending
* See appendix No. 4.
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to the said Thomas and Mary, all those tracts of land, know ; by the names of Hussoope or Ossa- baw, Cowleygee or St. Catharine's, and Sapelo islands, with their appurtenances, &c. to the said Thomas and Mary his wife, their heirs and as- signs, as long as the sun shall shine, or the waters run in the rivers, forever. Signed on the 4th day of the windy moon, corresponding with the 14th of December.
It has been mentioned that a number of the settlers had become so much dissatisfied with the tenures on which they held their lands, that they had removed to Carolina : Bosomworth tak- ing advantage of this feeble state of the country, by his avarice and ambition the whole colony was brought to the very brink of destruction. As the concerns of these settlements are closely connect- ed with the affairs of Indian nations, it is impossi- ble to attain proper views of the circumstances and situation of the people, without frequently taking notice of the relation in which they stood to their savage neighbors : a considerable branch of provincial commerce, as well as the safety of the colonists, depended on their friendship with In- dians ; and to avoid all danger from their savage temper, the exercise of a considerable share of prudence and courage was often requisite. This will appear more obvious from the following oc- currence.
It has been observed, that at an early period of the settlement of Georgia, during the time Gen.
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Oglethorpe had the direction of public affairs, he had from motives of policy, treated an Indian, or rather half breed woman, called viary Musgrove, afterwards Mary Mathews, with particular kind- ness and generosity. Finding that she had great influence amongst the Creeks, and understood their language, he made use of her as an interpre- ter, in order the more easily to form treaties. of alliance with them ; allowing her for her services an hundred pounds sterling a year. Thomas Bosomworth, who was chaplain to Oglethorpe's regiment, had married this woman, accepted a tract of land from the crown, and settled in the province. He now determined that his wife should assert her claim to the islands of St. Catha- rine's, Ossabaw and Sapelo, which had been allot- ted by treaty to the Indians, as part of their hunt- ing lands. To stock them, this reverend gentle- man had purchased cattle from the planters of Carolina; from whom he had obtained credit to a considerable amount. The stock not proving so productive as the proud ambitious clergyman ex- pected, he adopted this extraordinary method of attaining to future greatness and acquiring a for- tune : he encouraged his wife into the pretence of being the elder sister of Malatche, and of hav- ing descended in a maternal line from an In- di king, who held from nature the whole ter- ritories of the 'Creeks ; and Bosomworth now persuaded her to assert her right to them, as su- perior not only to that of the trustees, but also to
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that of the king. Accordingly Mary assumed the title of an independent empress, disavowing all subjection or allegiance to the king of Great- Britain, otherwise than by way of treaty and alli- ance, such as one independent sovereign might voluntarily enter into with another : a meeting of all the Creeks was summoned, to whom Mary made a long speech, in which she set forth the justice of her claim, and the great injury she and her beloved subjects had sustained by the loss of their territories, and urged them to a de- fence of their rights by force of arms. The In- dians were fired with rage at the idea of such indignity, and to a man pledged themselves to stand by her to the last drop of their blood in de- fence of her royal person and their lands ; in con- sequence of which queen Mary, escorted by a large body of her savage subjects, set out for Sa- vannah, to demand from the president and coun- cil, a formal acknowledgment of her rights in the province. A messenger was despatched to notify to the president, the royal family's approach, and that Mary had assumed her right and title of sovereignty over the whole territories of the up- per and lower Creeks, and to demand that all the lands south of Savannah river should be relin- quished without loss of time : that she was the hereditary and rightful queen of both nations, and could command the whole force of her tribe, and in case of refusal she had determined to ex- tirpate the whole settlement.
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President Stephens and his council, alarmed at her high pretensions and bold threats, and sensi- ble of her influence with the Indians, from her having been made a woman of consequence as an interpreter, were not a little embarrassed.what steps to take for the public safety : they thought it best to use soft and healing measures until an opportunity might offer, of privately laying hold of her and shipping her off to England. In the mean time the militia were ordered to hold them- selves in readiness to march to Savannah, at the shortest notice. The town was put in the best possible state of defence, but its whole force amounted to only one hundred and seventy men, able to bear arms : a message was sent to Mary, while she was yet several miles distant from Sa- vannah at the head of her mighty host, to know whether she was serious in such wild pretensions, and to try the influence of persuasion to induce her to dismiss her followers and drop her auda- cious design ; but finding her inflexible and re- solute, the president resolved to put on a bold countenance, and receive the savages with firm- ness and resolution. The militia were ordered un- der arms to overawe them as much as possible, and as the Indians entered the town, captain Noble Jones at the head of a troop of horse stopped them, and demanded whether their visit was with hostile or friendly intentions; but receiving no satisfactory answer, he ordered them to ground their arms, declaring that he had orders not to
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suffer one armed Indian to set foot in the town, and that he was determined to enforce the orders at the risk of his own life and that of his troops. The savages with great reluctance submitted, and accordingly Thomas Bosomworth, in his canonical robes with his queen by his side, fol- lowed by the kings and chiefs according to rank, marched into the town on the 20th of July, making a most formidable appearance .- The inhabitants were struck with terror at the sight of this ferocious tribe of savages. When they advanced to the parade, they found the mi- litia drawn up under arms to receive them, by whom they were saluted with fifteen cannon, and conducted to the president's house. Bosomworth being ordered to withdraw, the Indian chiefs in a friendly manner, were required to declare their intention in paying this visit in so large a body, without being sent for by any person in authority : the warriors, as they had been instructed, an- swered that Mary was to speak for them, and that they would abide by whatever she said; that they had heard that she was to be sent like a cap- tive over the great waters, and they were come to know on what account they were to lose their queen ; that they intended no harm, and begged that their arms might be restored to them ; and after consulting with Bosomworth and his wife, they would return and amicably settle all public affairs. To please them their guns were accord- ingly returned, but strict orders were issued to
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allow them. no ammunition, until the council should see more clearly into their dark designs. On the day following, the Indians having had some private conferences with Mary, were ob- served with sullen countenances to march in a tumultuous manner through the streets, evidenc. ing a hostile temper apparently determined on mischief : all the men being obliged to mount guard, the women and children were terrified and afraid to remain in the houses by themselves, ex- pecting every moment to be murdered and scalp- ed. During this confusion, a false rumor was cir- culated, that they had cut off president Stephens's head with a tomahawk, which so exasperated the inhabitants that it was with difficulty the officers could restrain the troops from firing upon the savages : perhaps the exercise of the greatest pru- dence was never more requisite to save the town from being deluged with blood. Orders were given to lay hold of Bosomworth, to whom it was insinuated that he was marked as the first victim of vengeance in case of extremities ; and he was carried out of the way and closely con- fined, upon which Mary, his beloved queen, be- came outrageous and frantic, and threatened the thunder of her vengeance against the magis- trates and the whole colony : she ordered all white persons to depart immediately from her ter- ritories, and at their peril to refuse ; she cursed Oglethorpe and his fraudulent treaties, and furi- ously stamping her foot upon the earth, swore
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