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The History of Georgia
By Charles C. Jones
Volume II - Revolutionary Epoch, 1888
Submitted by: Dena Whitesell
Updated by: Angela D. Bagley-Marianchuk 07/15/08
CHAPTER
II
pages 18-39
The gratalations extended to Sir James Wright upon his arrival in Savannah were mingled with regrets at the departure
of Governor Ellis who, by a gentle, firm, conservative, and honest administration of public affairs had accommodated
former disagreements, maintained amicable relations with the aborigines, advanced the interests of the colonists,
and confirmed himself in their esteem and affection.
On the 5th of November, 1760, Governor Wright delivered the following inaugural to the General Assembly:
" His Majesty having been pleased to permit his Excellency Governour Ellis (He left the province November
2,1760) to return to Great Britain and to honour me with the appointment of Lieutenant Governour of this Province,
the Administration is now, on his Excellency's departure, devolved upon me. I am not insensible of the Merit and
Abilities of that Gentleman, and consequently of the Disadvantages I may be under in succeeding him.
" But let me assure you Gentlemen, that I shall, with the utmost Diligence and Integrity, discharge my Duty
to his Majesty and, consistent with that, will at all Times and in every Respect, with very great Sincerity endeavour
to promote the true Interest and Prosperity of this Province: in the Pursuit of which I am well persuaded I shall
always meet with the Approbation and Aid of all worthy Men and true Lovers of their Country, and therefore cannot
fail of your candid Assistance.
" The very short Time that I have been amongst you Gentlemen, has not been sufficient for me to acquire that
Knowledge of the State and Condition of the Province necessary to enable me to suggest to you every Circumstance
that may be proper for your present Consideration, and which might have made a further adjournment convenient.
" But there is one Object which is very striking and which requires our immediate Attention : I mean the Dangers
this Province in general is exposed to from the Creek Indians; the yet defenceless Condition of the Town; and the
necessity of putting it into some better State of Security by finishing the Works already begun, and erecting such
other within the Lines and elsewhere as may appear necessary for that End: for, although a great deal is already
done, yet much is still wanting, and a Supply of proper Guns and Ammunition for the Block Houses and small Forts
in order to render the several Works effectual: and therefore I have thought it expedient to continue Sitting at
this Time.
" From our Situation and Circumstances our Plan must chiefly be that of Security and Defence, and although
the very great Success with which it has pleased God to bless the Arms of our most gracious Sovereign in the North
Part of this Continent is a roost interesting and important Event in general, and to us in particular as it gives
us sanguine Hopes that this Southern Frontier will very speedily be strengthened, yet Gentlemen, let us not be
wanting to ourselves, let us act as becomes us, and every Consideration, every View in which we see our present
Circumstances must incite us to exert our utmost Efforts at this critical Conjuncture.
"The Success of the Cherokees against our Sister Colony, which the Savages well know to be populous, rich,
and powerful, has greatly extended its Influence amongst our Neighbours the Creeks and made them most insolent
and daring; but I trust those Dangers that we ai'e exposed to from thence will animate us and convince us how necessary
it is to be vigilant, to be active.
"Gentlemen, from your usual and well known zeal for his Majesty's Service and Readiness on all Occasions to
promote the Welfare of this Province, I doubt not but you will chearfully concur with me and make such Provision
as will be sufficient for the immediate Execution of these salutary Measures on which the Safety and Tranquillity
so much depend. I must likewise recommend to your Consideration the Condition of the Light House on Tybee Island,
and also what Laws are near expiring and may require an immediate Continuance."
To this, on the ensuing day, the following response was returned by the Upper House of Assembly:— " May it
please your Honour.
"We his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Council of Georgia in General Assembly met, beg leave
to return your Honour our unfeigned Thanks for your Speech to both Houses of Assembly, and to present our hearty
.Congratulations to your Honour on your safe Arrival in this Province.
" However sensibly we regret the Departure of his Excellency Governor Ellis, we do with great Sincerity assure
your Honour that it is with the highest Satisfaction we see your Honour appointed to preside over us. The Ability
and Integrity with which you have served our gracious Sovereign and his Subjects in the neighbouring Province,
though in a less elevated Station, and the unblemished Probity with which you have discharged the Duties of private
Life, as they have gained you his Majesty's Approbation and the Esteem of all worthy Men, so they are to us the
surest Presages of Prosperity and Happiness under your diligent and virtuous Administration.
" We do with the utmost Pleasure congratulate your Honour on the very great Success with which it has pleased
God to bless his Majesty's Arms in the different Quarters of the World, and particularly on the happy Reduction
of all Canada; an Event equally honourable for our glorious Sovereign and important and interesting to his American
Subjects. Nor do we on this occasion only participate in the general Joy. We flatter ourselves that as this Province
is now the only Frontier to our European Enemy it will speedily be strengthened, and the Insolence of the neighbouring
Savages effectually repressed.
" We are thoroughly sensible of the Dangers which this Colony is exposed to from the Creek Indians, the yet
defenceless Condition of the Town, and the necessity there is for putting it and the other Parts of the Province
in a better State of Security; and we do assure your Honour that nothing on our Part shall be wanting for enabling
you to carry into Effect so salutary a Measure, and on all Occasions consistent with our Duty to the King shall
chearfully concur in every Thing that shall tend to render your Administration easy and honourable, and the Colony
happy and flourishing."
One of the earliest topics engaging the attention of the General Assembly embraced the fortification of Savannah,
the repair and erection of forts at necessary points within the limits of the province, and the development of
the military strength of the colony. Earnest consideration of this subject was rendered all the more important
because of the existing war between South Carolina and the Cherokees, and by reason of the fact that Georgia was
forced to rely upon her own resources and exertions for self-protection. The town of Savannah at this time contained
between three and four hundred houses, nearly all of theca small and builded of wood. The most imposing structures
were Christ Church, an Independent meeting-house, a council-house, a courthouse, and a filature. Using the present
names of the streets, Savannah was bounded on the north by the Bay, on the east by Lincoln Street, on the south
by South Broad Street, and on the west by Jefferson Street. Its extreme length from east to west was two thousand
one hundred and fifteen feet, and it extended from north to south one thousand four hundred and twenty-five feet.
Six squares or market-places were included within these limits, each three hundred and fifteen by two hundred and
seventy feet (see History of the Province of Georgia, etc., by John Gerar William DeBrahm, pg. 35).
Upon his return from Fort Loudoun, in 1757, Surveyor-General DeBrahm, at the instance of Governor Ellis and of
the General Assembly of the province, " proposed with a well palissadoed In-trenchment to envelope the City
so as to make it a Receptacle and Shelter for all the Planters, their Families, Slaves, &c." Savannah
being open to the north, and the river affording facile communication with South Carolina whence, upon an emergency,
supplies of food and ammunition might be obtained, the Indians would never be able to do more than burn the dwellings
in the country, and kill such cattle and steal such horses as might be left upon the plantations. Their families
being secure within the intrenchments of Savannah, where they could be supplied with requisite stores and where
they would enjoy the protection of the governor and council, the male inhabitants would be free to operate in the
field and devote their energies to the expulsion of the marauders. DeBrahm's advice met with general favor, and
he accordingly laid out " two Poligons with three Bastions " for the protection of the southern exposure
of the town. " With four Poligons more (two on the east and two others on the west side of the City, each
ending with a demi Bastion)," he completed the environment of the place. Northwardly the eastern and western
intrenchments terminated at the river. The soil of Savannah being very sandy, in order to preserve the breastwork
the outside talus was faced with pine logs set in the ground. Wooden towers were erected in the corner bastions
with strong platforms in their first stories to support twelve-pounder cannons. These fortifications were in an
incomplete condition when Governor Wright assumed the reins of government. That they might be finished at the earliest
practicable moment, the governor, James DeVeaux, Lewis Johnson, William Francis, Joseph Gibbons, James Read, and
Edmund Tannatt were nominated by the Commons House of Assembly as a supervising committee To this board were added
from the Upper House, the Honorable James Habersham, Colonel Noble Jones, James Edward Powell, and William Knox.
The work progressed rapidly, and Savannah soon afforded within its intrenchments an asylum whither the adjacent
planters, upon occasions of alarm, might betake themselves with their families and personal property and find refuge
from the rifle and scalping-knife of the Indian.
That like protection might be afforded to other localities, stockades and forts were constructed and strengthened
at Augusta, Ebenezer, Sunbury, Midway, Darien, Barrington, and elsewhere. For the defense of the mouth of the Savannah
River Fort George was erected on Coxpur Island. DeBrahm describes it as " only a small Redoubt 100 feet square,
with a Block House or wooden Tour Bastionee 40 feet square in it, to serve for a Defence, Magazine, Storehouse,
and Barrack. This Redoubt answers more to stop Vessels from going up and down in time of Peace, than Vessels which
had a Mind to act in a hostile View; the reason for so diminutive a Construction was the then prevailing Incapacity
to raise for this purpose more than £2,000 sterling, as many other equally necessary Constructions for the
public Benefit stood then in Competition before the Eyes of the Legislator.
Governor Wright discountenanced the project, which had been favorably entertained by his predecessors, of transferring
the seat of government from Savannah to Hardwicke. In this he acted most wisely. Pending the question of removal,
Savannah had suffered much. Her public buildings had been neglected and her citizens, ignorant of the future, grew
careless of their homes. As soon, however, as it was definitely ascertained that the little city of Oglethorpe
was to remain the capital and commercial metropolis of the province, a new impulse was imparted which conduced
most materially to the general prosperity and encouragement of the town.
The light-house on Tybee Island was repaired, a lazaretto was established, and the wharves along the Savannah River
were rendered convenient and permanent. These wharves were constructed upon a plan furnished by DeBrahm to Thomas
Eaton in 1759. His suggestion was " to drive two Rows of Piles as far asunder as he desired his Wharf to be
wide, and as far towards the River as low Water Mark; secure their tops with plates, and to trunnel Planks within
on the Piles; this done, then to brace the insides with dry Walls of Stones intermixed with willow Twigs, and in
the same manner to shut up the Ends of the two Rows with a like Front along the Stream ; to build inside what Cellars
he had occasion for; then to fill up the Remainder with the Sand nearest at hand out of the Bluff or high shore
of the Stream under the Bay.
This method was adopted and observed for many years. It was abandoned only when heavy freights and larger vessels
rendered the construction of more substantial landing-places a matter of commercial necessity.
For nearly thirty years after its settlement, Savannah was regarded as a healthy town. Thither did the rice planters
from the adjacent lowlands in South Carolina resort during the summer and autumn of the year that they might escape
the fevers incident to the swamps. The dense forests growing upon Hutch-inson's Island and in the low grounds to
the east and west of the town shielded it from the noxious vapors and malarial influences of the fields beyond,
which were cultivated in rice. So soon, however, as these trees were felled, and the regions they formerly covered
were converted into rice plantations, the miasmatic exhalations thence arising were, by north and east winds, tolled
in upon the town to the prejudice of the health of its inhabitants.2 At a later period it was found necessary to
guard Savannah against the unwholesome effects to which we have alluded, by the rigid enforcement of a dry-culture
system within specified limits.
Upon the inauguration of Governor Wright the white population of Georgia amounted to barely six thousand souls.
The returns showed that there were then three thousand five hundred and seventy-eight negro slaves owned and employed
within the province. The military force of the colony consisted of sixty men belonging to his majesty's independent
companies, two troops of rangers numbering each five officers and seventy privates, and the militia, organized
as infantry, and aggregating one thousand and twenty-five. But thirty-four hundred pounds of rice were exported
in 1760, and the entire commerce of the colony was conducted by forty-two vessels, most of them of light burthen.
Of the manufactures and general industries of the province we are definitely advised by the following letter of
the governor, which, although penned a few years later, refers directly to the period which we are now considering.
“My Lords, — Your Lordships' letter of the 1st of August I had the honor to receive on the 12th inst., by which
I am required to transmit to your Lordships an exact Account of the several Manufactures which have been set up
and carried on within this Province from the year 1734, and of the public encouragement which has been given thereto.
“In obedience to which I am to acquaint your Lordships that there have not been any Manufactures of any kind set
up or carried on within this Province, but we are supplied with everything from and through Great Britain. Some
few of the poorer and more industrious people make a trifling quantity of coarse homespun cloth for their own families,
and knit a few cotton and yarn stockings for their own use, and this done but by very few, and I don't know that
there is or has been a yard of linen cloth of any kind manufactured in this Province.
“Hitherto, my Lords, and until the Province becomes much more populous than it just now is, the People can employ
their time to much better advantage than manufacturing, as they can be a great deal cheaper and better supplied
from Great Britain, and from whence my Lords, all our supplies of Silks, linens, and woollens of every kind are
brought, and all our tools, nails, locks, hinges, and utensils of every sort, and great quantities of shoes are
likewise imported, although we have some Tanners and Shoemakers here, but chiefly employed in making shoes for
the Negroes : also Blacksmiths who work up bar iron imported from the Northern Colonies for building and repairs
of Vessels and such other work as is not usually or indeed cannot be imported from Great Britain, as no particular
orders or directions can well be given to suit occasional necessary demands and uses. We have built one Ship, one
Snow, one Brigantine, and five or six Schooners, and a number of coasting Vessels since I have presided here.
"Our whole time and strength, my Lords, is applied in planting rice, corn, peas, and a small quantity of wheat
and rye, and in making pitch, tar, and turpentine, and in making shingles and staves, and sawing lumber and scantling,
and boards of every kind, and in raising stocks of cattle, mules, horses, and hogs, and next year I hope some essays
will be made towards planting and making hemp, and that it will, in due time, become a considerable article with
us.
“At present, my Lords, the people here have no idea of man* ufacturing these commodities, but possibly may hereafter,
when they become more numerous, and labour cheaper, especially as they have been within the course of the last
year so strongly called upon and exhorted to it by the Northern Colonies.
So tardy was the communication between the colony and the mother country that intelligence of the demise of his
majesty George III. was not received in Savannah until February, 1761. The assembly was thereupon immediately dissolved
and writs of election were issued for a new assembly to convene on the 24th of the following March.
Funeral honors were rendered to his late majesty, and George III. was saluted as king with all the pomp and ceremony
of which the province was capable. Then for the first and only time was a king proclaimed upon Georgia soil.
In addressing the General Assembly on the 25th of March, Governor Wright spake thus loyally: " The great and
important Event of the Death of his late Majesty, of ever blessed Memory, having made it necessary to call a new
Assembly, gives me this Opportunity of congratulating you on the happy Accession of our present most gracious Sovereign
to the Throne of his royal Grandfather.
“This Accession, Gentlemen, is a most inestimable Mark of Divine Providence: for, under the auspicious Government
of a Prince who has given such early Proofs of his Royal Abilities, Regard for the British Constitution, and Love
and Affection for his Subjects, we may rest assured that we shall not only continue in the perfect Enjoyment of
the many Blessings we have already possessed, but that we shall meet with every further Encouragement and Support
that this Infant Province may require.
"Animated therefore with a true Sense of our Happiness, let us with the utmost Gratitude and Veneration study
to promote his Majesty's Service; let us chearfully obey his royal Commands, and offer up our sincere Prayers for
his long and happy Reign over us."
Unaffected as yet by those rebellious sentiments which, a few years afterwards, induced the colonists to seek,
even at the peril of life and property, liberation from kingly rule, the assembly responded: " We his Majesty's
most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Council of Georgia in General Assembly met, beg Leave to return your Honour
our unfeigned and hearty Thanks for your affectionate Speech to both Houses of Assembly.
"The great and important Event of the Death of his late Majesty of blessed Memory having made it necessary
for your Honour to convene a new Assembly, we therefore avail ourselves of this Opportunity of congratulating you
on the happy Accession of our present most gracious Sovereign to the Throne of his Royal Ancestors, being truly
sensible of this inestimable Mark of Divine Favour in placing us under the auspicious Government of a Prince who
has given such early and repeated Proofs of his Royal Abilities, Regard for the British Constitution, and Paternal
Affection for his Subjects. From the Consideration of these Princely Virtues we assure ourselves a Continuance
of those invaluable Privileges and Blessings we have hitherto enjoyed; And that we shall also meet with every further
Encouragement that may conduce to the Protection and Prosperity of this Infant Province. We therefore shall, with
the utmost Gratitude, disinterested Regard, and a Sense of our own Happiness, make it our Study to promote his
Majesty's Service and pay all due Obedience to his Royal Commands."
At the moment it appeared scarcely possible that these pledges of loyalty, so freely given, would speedily be broken.
On the 20th of March, 1761, the king conferred upon James Wright full executive powers, with the title of "
Captain General, Governor, and Commander in Chief in and over the Province of Georgia." His commission, however,
did not reach him
at Savannah until the 28th of January, 1762. It was then read at the head of the regiment of militia, commanded
by Colonel Noble Jones, and drawn up in Johnson Square. Three volleys were fired, and these were answered by the
guns of Fort Halifax and by cannon from ships in the river. In the evening the ladies were entertained at a ball
given by the governor. It was the most numerous and brilliant assemblage, up to that time, ever known in Savannah.
Nearly every house in the town was illuminated ; and, if we may credit the testimony of the day, " there never
was an occasion on which the joy and satisfaction of the people were more apparent."
Although the orders framed by Governors Ellis and Lyttleton for the removal of Edmund Grey and his followers from
the settlements which they had formed south of the Alatamaha had, in 1759, been personally communicated by Powell
and Hern, commissioners appointed for that purpose, and although those malcontents at first promised obedience
and made a show of departing from the disputed territory, so soon as the commissioners returned home Grey and his
companions quietly violated their engagements and reestablished themselves in the situations which they had selected
beyond the immediate limits of the colony.
It would appear from a letter addressed by Governor Wright to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations
on the 17th of October, 1761, that although the southern boundary of the colony, according to the king's charter
to the trustees, extended only to the southernmost stream of the Alatamaha, the Georgia authorities at no time
ceased to exercise at least a qualified control over this region. Without regard to that boundary General Oglethorpe
extended his settlements and forts in the direction of Florida. Plantations were established far beyond the Alatamaha,
and lands were claimed upon the banks of the St. John's. At the south end of Cumberland Island a guard was maintained
at Fort William. When in 1758 Governor Ellis winked at the settlement of Grey and his adherents in this region,
he did so under the impression that a quasi affiliation with these intruders would prevent them from associating
themselves with the Spaniards and the Creek Indians. This action was disapproved by the home government, who feared
that the license from the Georgia governor might be construed by the authorities at St. Augustine as an open declaration,
on the part of the British Crown, of an exclusive right to those lands. The Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations
were also apprehensive that the influence exerted by Grey and his followers would prove prejudicial to the peaceful
relations existing between the colonists and the Creek Indians. Hence the anxiety of England for the immediate
removal of these malcontents. In 1761, however, when Governor Wright called the attention of the British Ministers
to the fact that seventy or eighty of these " runagates from the two Carolina*, Virginia, &c," were
still scattered through the disputed territory, Spain having allied herself with France in hostility to England,
the government was less zealous for the enforcement of the orders originally issued for the removal of Grey and
his cplony. The extension of the limits of Georgia, two years afterwards, to the St. Mary's River, rendered any
further action in this matter unnecessary.
The preliminary articles of peace with Spain were announced in December, 1762. The knowledge that Spain was about
to cede Florida to Great Britain was received in Georgia and Carolina early in the following year. While the English
government was considering the best method of apportioning and disposing of this territorial acquisition, a scheme
was devised in Charlestown, South Carolina, for monopolizing the lands lying south of the Alatamaha River. In support
of his authority for issuing the extensive grants of land which he then made in the region indicated, Governor
Boone contended that by the second charter granted to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina by Charles the Second the
limits of that province were extended southward as far as latitude 29°; that the cession of lands to the Georgia
trustees embraced only the territory lying between the rivers Savannah and Alatamaha; and that the Crown had never
seen fit to restrain the Carolina authorities from exercising jurisdiction beyond the southern boundary of Georgia.
He further alluded to the fact that for many years a military post had been maintained south of the Alatamaha River,
the garrison of which consisted of troops drawn from South Carolina.
Hearing that Governor Boone was about to issue these grants, and believing such acts to be at once inconsistent
with the intentions of the king and injurious to Georgia, Governor Wright dispatched Grey Elliott, a member of
council, to proceed to Charles-town and enter the following caveat and protest: — “To Thomas Boone Usqr. his Majesty's
Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over the Province of South Carolina, and to all other to whom these
presents shall come or may con cern.
“The protestation and caveat of James Wright Esqr. his Majesty's Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over
the Province of Georgia, against any warrants being issued or attempts made to survey any lands to the southward
of the river Alataraaha by pretence or colour of any right or authority from or under the said Thomas Boone as
Governor of South Carolina, or from or under the said Thomas Boone and his Majesty's Council in that Province,
and Against any grant or grants being passed or signed by the said Thomas Boone for any of the lands aforesaid
to any person or persons whatsoever until his Majesty's royal will and pleasure shall be known concerning the same.
“Whereas his late most gracious Majesty, by letter from one of his principal Secretaries of State dated the 10th
day of June 1758, was pleased to signify his commands to the Governor of the Province of Georgia that he should
immediately give orders in his Majesty's name to the inhabitants of a certain settlement to the southward of the
river Alatamaha, made without his Majesty's license or authority, and called by themselves New Hanover, to remove
immediately from thence, and that the Governor should take all due care that no settlements whatever be made without
leave of his Majesty or by his authority: in the execution of which orders the Grovemor of Georgia was directed
to act in concert with the Governor of Carolina who had received his Majesty's commands to the same purpose:
"And although the reasons which possibly induced his Majesty not to suffer his subjects to settle the aforesaid
lands may now be thought not to subsist because his Catholic Majesty, by the 19th preliminary article of peace
cedes to our most gracious Sovereign all that Spain possesses on the continent of North America to the east or
to the southeast of the river Mississippi; yet, as the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace between Great
Britain and Spain, if it has taken effect, is not notified, it would be premature in any of his Majesty's Governors
to proceed as tho' it actually was notified: And from the state and light in which those lands have been for some
years past considered by his Majesty, to attempt to intermeddle therein until his Majesty's royal will and pleasure
be known and his commands signified thereon, it is conceived would be highly improper and contrary to his Majesty's
intention:
"Therefore, for preservation of the rights and claims of the Province of Georgia in and to the premises aforementioned
against any extraordinary or injurious attempts of the said Governor and Council of South Carolina for the reasons
herein before given and many others transmitted to Great Britain to be laid before his Majesty, I, the said James
Wright, as Governor of the Province of Georgia aforesaid, do protest against all and any attempts whatsoever to
survey any lands to the southward of the aforesaid river Alatamaha by pretence or colour of any authority from
or under the Governor, or the Governor and Council of South Carolina. And do by these' presents enter a caveat
against any grant or grants being passed or signed by the Governor of South Carolina for any of the lands aforesaid
to any person or persons whatsoever, until his Majesty's royal will and pleasure shall be known concerning the
same; And in most full and solemn manner protest and declare against all proceedings whatsoever that have already
or may hereafter be had or done by the said Governor and Council in or about the disposal of the lands aforesaid
as expressly contrary to his Majesty's royal intention, and null and void.
" And that no person or persons may plead ignorance of this protestation and caveat, I so request and demand
that it be entered in the book of caveats against grants, usually kept in the Secretary's Office in the Province
of South Carolina.
" In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Savannah in Georgia this thirtieth day of March
in the Year of Our Lord 1763. Ja: Wright."
Acting under his instructions, Mr. Elliott proceeded to Charles-town, and on the 5th of April, 1763, exhibited
to Governor Boone the foregoing protest and caveat. He refused either to receive or to peruse the document. Mr.
Elliott then delivered it to the secretary of the province, with the request that it be recorded. That official
promised to record it; but, in the afternoon, returned it to Mr. Elliott with the statement that he had been ordered
by the governor and council neither to receive nor to enter it upon the records.
On the 20th of April Sir James Wright advised the Earl of Egremont of these transactions, and protested most earnestly
against the immense grants of land which were being made to parties in Carolina who proposed simply to speculate
in and not to occupy them. " Possibly," continues the governor, " by the time this reaches your
Lordship, a million of acres may be granted to persons now settled in Carolina, and the greatest part of whom it
is expected will continue to live there. Your Lordship will also be pleased to consider how greatly this will affect
his Majesty's service in the settlement of this frontier Province, and how much it must be impeded by those vast
tracts being held by such an handful of people who live in another Province; and this further ill effect it will
have, for nobody will think of coming this way when they hear that the Carolinians have engrossed all the lands.
And how contrary does this step seem to be to his Majesty's royal intention ! And your Lordship will be pleased
to observe that those who have these very great tracts, or any of the persons who are to have these lands, have
not one negro or one shilling's property on this side of Savannah river. I have had accounts my Lord of many hundred
families, I may say Borne thousand people, who were ready to come into this Province (chiefly.from North Carolina)
as soon as it was extended and I should be authorized to grant these very lands, all which will be prevented if
these proceedings are suffered to take effect. I must beg leave my Lord, to mention another objection against these
grants which seems an equitable one on the side of this Province. Mr. Elliott informs me that one, Mr. Young, who
has some negroes in Carolina and also some in Georgia, petitioned for a tract of land for all his negroes, and
on his saying that part of those negroes was in Georgia, he was refused lands for them and told he should only
have lands for such negroes as he had in Carolina, so that your Lordship sees the inhabitants of this Province
are totally excluded. This, my Lord, seems to us here to be very unequitable that the people of this Province,
who have borne the brunt and fatigue of settling a new Colony, and who have struggled with innumerable difficulties
and hardships besides dangers from the Savages, and, during the war, from the neighbouring French and Spaniards,
and who by their great in* dustry and labour have acquired a few negroes and are in a capacity of settling their
children or making other settlements for themselves, I say my Lord, it seems to them hard and unequitable that
they are not to have an inch of these lands, but that the whole or most of the best is to be swallowed up by Btrangers
who never contributed one farthing or one hour's fatigue or hardship towards the support of thS Province; and for
these reasons, and many others that must occur, your Lordship will see why I call this the death wound or destruction
of Georgia.
"I have never yet, my Lord, granted any lands but to people who actually undertook to settle and improve them
forthwith, and only in moderate quantities, for, my Lord, it's the number of inhabitants we want here, and although
these lands may be annexed to Georgia yet if they are engrossed and held by the Carolinians in the manner I have
mentioned, it will nevertheless ruin the Province; for, my Lord, as I have already said, although if some who have
small tracts may probably remove and settle them, yet those who have large tracts it is pretty certain have no
such intention and never will, and your Lordship will observe that no less than 343,000 acres were ordered to less
than 200 persons, and which quantity alone would accommodate a thousand very good families and settlers, and such
as are the sinews and strength of an infant colony.
"It might be impertinent in me to trouble your Lordship further on this subject, the consequence of which
your Lordship will see with so much more perspicuity and extension than I can. On the one band my Lord, with great
deference, it seems to be a considerable step towards the ruin of a very flourishing Province: ofc the Other the
advantage rather of a private nature, and this done, it is humbly conceived contrary to his Majesty's royal intention,
when even in Cbarlestown it is the general opinion, and they daily expect to hear, that these lands are annexed
to this Province; all which is submitted to your Lordship's consideration."
This cogent letter is followed by another on the 6th of May, in which Sir James Wright enumerates, as far as he
has been able to obtain them, the names of the grantees and the amount of land conveyed to each. " I am informed,"
says he, " that 27,250 acres were ordered to 11 persons, viz. to one Donnone, on account of Col Bed's Estate,
5000 acres, to Lord Wm Campbell 2000, to Henry Middleton 3000, to one Stephens 3000, to Henry La wrens 8000, to
Wm Hopton 2000, to Wm Guering 2000, and to David and John Deas and one Vanderhorst, together, 5250 acres."
. .
" On Tuesday last," he continues, " a great many more warrants were ordered to other persons for
lands to the Southward of the river Alatatnaha, to the amount of about 160,000 acres as appears by their Gazette;
but it's not in my power to give your Lordship any further particulars. I shall only add that those large grants
will soon reach St. Augustine. Some, it's said, have already gone far up St. Juan's Lake or River, and the Creek
Indians are greatly alarmed at seeing a number of armed men surveying these lands and marking trees. They have
sent runners all over the Nation to assemble them together, and what the consequence may be I don't yet say, but
am apprehensive it may involve us in difficulties, for, my Lord, there is a great difference between extending
our Settlements gradually and easily, and an appearance as though the whole country was to be swallowed up at once
and that by armed people ; and this the Indians say is a confirmation of what the French have told 'em, that we
should take all their lands from 'em and then drive 'em back and extirpate 'em in time."
These, and other letters, addressed by Governor Wright to the Board of Trade, drew from the home government the
following communication: — To Thomas Boone, Esquire, Governor of South Carolina.
"Sir, — A report having prevailed that you had, with the concurrence of the members of his Majesty's Council
in South Carolina, issued orders or warrants for surveying large tracts of land in that part of his Majesty's dominions
in America which lies to the South of the River Alataraaha in order to pass grants of such lands as being within
your Jurisdiction: and the truth of this report having been confirmed by the copy of a protest or caveat of the
Governor of Georgia against making such surveys and grants, which has been communicated to us by the Agent of that
Province: it is our indispensable duty to avail ourselves of the opportunity by a vessel now ready to depart for
Charlestown of expressing to you our surprise and concern that you should have engaged in a measure of this nature
so inconsistent with and prejudicial to his Majesty's interests and authority.
" The making grants of any part of this country is certainly contrary to the spirit and intention of his late
Majesty's orders for the removal of Grey and his adherents from the settlement of New-Hanover, and must not only
embarrass the execution of what general arrangements may be necessary in consequence of the cession of Florida,
but will also interfere with those measures it may be reasonably supposed his Majesty will now pursue to extend
the government of Georgia and thereby remove those obstacles and difficulties which that well regulated colony
has so frequently and justly stated to arise out of the narrow limits to which it is confined.
" We hope however, that this letter will reach you in time enough to prevent any grants passing in consequence
of the surveys; and as to any equitable claims which those persons in whose favour the surveys have been made may
have in consequence of the expences they have been at, such claims most remain for his Majesty's determination
upon a consideration of each particular case ; but if it shall appear, as it has been suggested, that this measure
has been calculated with a view to the particular benefit of those who advised and acted in it, such persons may
be assured that any claims on their part will not only be discountenanced, but that, as officers of the Crown,
their conduct will meet that censure and disapprobation it so justly merits. “We are Sir,
" Your most obedient humble Servants,
Shelburnis.
Ed: Eliot.
John Yorke.
Geo: Rich. "Whitehall, May 30th, 1763."
Governor Wright's protest having been utterly disregarded by Governor Boone, the Board of Trade hastened, so soon
as it was advised of these transactions, to declare its disapprobation of them, and to promulgate specific instructions
that no grants or charters should be issued for any lands south of the Alatamaha River surveyed under warrants
from South Carolina. The action of Governor Boone was declared unwarrantable.
The orders of the Board arrived too late. Surveys had been made, and charters had been issued before the disapprobation
and directions of the Lords Commissioners were made known. Governor Boone apologized, but his excuses were deemed
unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, the grantees having apparently acquired vested rights in the premises, the Board of
Trade, on the 8th of July, 1763, applied to the attorney-general and to the solicitor-general for their opinion
upon the question whether, under all the circumstances, the grants to land lying south of the river Alatamaha,
made by the governor of South Carolina, were to be deemed valid in law.
The documents laid before the Crown lawyers, to assist them in the proper solution of the inquiry, were the protest
of Sir James Wright, the two charters of Carolina, a statute of 2 George IL ch. 80, an extract from the commission
to Governor Johnson empowering him and his successors to grant lands, and the order of (he Secretary of State,
dated the 10th of June, 1758, directing the removal of Grey and his followers from their settlements south of the
Alatamaha, "a country which, the Board were pleased to add, it does not appear the province of South Carolina
has at any time exercised any jurisdiction in, or taken any possession of, either while it was under the government
of the Proprietors, or since it has been in the hands of the crown." We are not advised that the attorney
and solicitor generals ever rendered any opinion.
The Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations seem at one time to have resolved to vacate, by process of law,
these grants which they always regarded as illegal. To this course were they strenuously urged by Governor Wright
who, by the most emphatic representations, called their attention to the failure and neglect of the South Carolina
grantees to comply with the royal instructions which rendered it obligatory upon every grantee, within a specified
period, to bring into the province either a white person or a negro for every fifty acres of land claimed, and
to enter upon the proper cultivation of the same. He also assured them that the surveys upon which these grants
were based were partial and unreliable. " It is, my Lords, an undeniable fact," so writes the governor,
that most if not all the Tracts of Land taken up by the Carolina People upon any river were not surveyed, but the
method was to stop their Boat and set up a Stake, or Mark a Tree, and then row a guessed distance and there stop
again and put in another stake (which they carried in their Boats ready mark'd and notched,) or mark another Tree,
and thus make a Plat of the Land all at random without ever stretching a Chain upon the Land. This information
I have had from many persons of reputation, some of whom were present. And indeed it must partly appear from the
Plots themselves, and very few, if any, of the inland tracts are surveyed, but only a Corner and a few Trees marked,
and the rest laid off in the Plot without ever going over or surveying the lands; so that, my Lords, our Surveyors
don't know how or where to lay out any Lands in that part of the Country with any certainty, as they can find no
Lines to regulate their Surveys by."
It was finally determined, however, to admit, at least in a qualified manner, the validity of these grants. As
the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations did not deem themselves justified in entirely abrogating what
had been so improvi-dently done, in order to prevent, as far as practicable, the mischiefs arising from such irregular
and uncertain cessions, they ordered that transcripts of all grants to lands south of the Ala-tamaba should be
bent by the governor of South Carolina to the governor of Georgia that they might be recorded in the proper offices
of the latter province. Thus it came to pass that these grants which, in their inception, were, to say the least,
of very doubtful authority became in a measure legalized and incorporated into the land tenures of Georgia.
As expressing the sentiments of the colony of Georgia with regard to these grants, the General Assembly, on the
25th of March, 1765, passed an act rendering it obligatory upon all persons claiming lands in the province under
grants from his majesty witnessed by the governor of South Carolina, within six months after notice of royal approbation
of the act should have been received by the governor of Georgia, to appear before the governor in council and make
proof that they bad " within the Province a family of white persons or negroes amounting in the whole to the
number of one person for every fifty acres of land contained in their respective grant or grants, (allowing an
hundred acres for the master or head of such family if he shall be come to settle within this Province) agreeable
to his Majesty's royal instructions for granting lands to any of his subjects in this Province," and also
that the negroes brought into the province were introduced bona fide, with an intention to settle and improve the
lands claimed, and not with any fraudulent or secret purpose of removing them, or any of them, or carrying them
again without the limits of Georgia.
Claimants were also required to produce their original plats and grants and have them regularly recorded and registered
in the established offices in Georgia. Upon failure, within a specified time, to comply with this provision, the
grants were to be regarded as null and void.
If, upon the production of the plats and grants, it should appear that the surveys upon which they were based were
irregular and defective, the grantees were enjoined, under penalty of forfeiture, to have the lands claimed resurveyed
within six months by the surveyor-general of the colony of Georgia.
Thus did Georgia endeavor to shield herself against the speculative intervention of sundry parties in South Carolina
who, invoking the official sanction of Governor Boone, sought to invest themselves with a title to some of the
best lands in the newly-acquired territory.
In forwarding this act for the consideration and approval of the Board of Trade, Governor Wright on the 4th of
April, 1765, took occasion to assure their lordships that he could not at that date learn that any settlements
whatever had been made upon the granted lands. He affirmed that none of the grantees had peopled their premises
with either families or negroes, " nor has one Shilling Tax been paid or offered to be paid in this Province,
notwithstanding his Majesty's Royal Proclamation of Annexation in October 1763, and that the Parties have had those
lands for a year and ten months; a Specimen, my Lords, of the great advantage this Province is like to receive
from the owners of 90,000 acres of the best Land in it."
After the usual reference, the king was pleased to sanction the following report, which was accepted and acted
upon as a determination of the whole question. w May it please your Majesty.
"We have had under consideration an Act passed in your Majesty's Colony of Georgia in March 1765 intitiled.
An act for the better strengthening and settling the Province by compelling the several persons who claim to hold
lands within the same under any grant or grants from his Majesty, witnessed by the Governor of South Carolina,
to bring or send into this Province a number of white persons or negroes in proportion to the lands they claim
to hold agreeable to his Majesty's royal instructions for granting lands, and to cultivate and improve the same:
and for the better ascertaining the said several tracts of land by regulating the surveys and marking the lines
thereof and recording the several Plots in the Surveyor General's Office, also for registering and docketing such
Grants in the other proper offices in this Province.'
" It will be necessary before we enter into a consideration of the particular provisions of this act briefly
to state to your Majesty the occasion and ground upon which it has been enacted.
" The Cession made to your Majesty by the treaty of Paris of all the territories possessed by Spain on the
Continent of North America having put an end to the disputes concerning the title to those lands which lay to the
south of the Alatamaha river,and which, pending such dispute, had never been occupied and settled by either nation,
the consideration of what might be expedient to be done in respect to these lands necessarily fell under the attention
of Government, and it being the opinion of your Majesty's ministers that all the territory to the south of the
river St. Mary should be erected into a separate government under the name of East Florida, and that all the lands
between that river and the river Alatamaha to the North should be annexed to the Colony of Georgia, which before
was bounded to the South by the last mentioned river, this arrangement was notified by your Majesty's proclamation
of the 7th of October 1763. Previous however to this signification of your Majesty's will and pleasure as to the
disposition of these lands, your Majesty's Governor of the Province of South Carolina thought fit, upon the ground
that they lay within the limits of South Carolina according to the charters of King Charles the Second, to pass
patents for a considerable part of them to many of the opulent planters in the settled part of that Province upon
the terms and conditions prescribed in your Majesty's royal instructions to the said Governor.
"This measure taken by your Majesty's Governor of South Carolina was soon followed by complaints on the part
of your Majesty's Governor of Georgia, not only of the irregularity of the measure itself, but also that the surveys
in consequence thereof had been slightly and incorrectly made, and that in respect to far the greatest part of
the lands no steps had been taken or were likely to be taken for a proper cultivation of them.
" Upon the ground of these representations and upon a consideration of all the circumstances which accompanied
this transaction this Board thought fit to signify to the Governor of Georgia in general terms that they would
readily concur in any law that should be enacted there for obliging the grantees of those lands to cultivate them
according to the conditions of their grants, adopting upon this occasion a measure which appeared to them not only
just and necessary in itself, but strictly agreeable to former precedents.
" In consequence of this signification the law now in question was passed with a clause suspending its execution
until your Majesty's royal will and pleasure should be known.
" We need not upon this occasion enter into any consideration of such parts of this law as appear by implication
to draw into question either the propriety of the measure taken by your Majesty's Government of South Carolina,
or the validity of the grants themselves, but shall confine our observations to the enacting clauses of the act
itself and the objections stated to the particular provisions of it by Mr Dunning who appeared before us as counsel
on the occasion for the grantees whose interests are to be affected by this law.
" The principal objections were that this act not only prescribes other terms and conditions than those- upon
which the lands were granted conformable to your Majesty's instructions to the Governor of South Carolina, but
also in the manner of ascertaining the proof of those requisites leaves it entirely to the discretion of the Governor
and council to decide what that proof shall be, and further does limit the time of adducing such proofs to six
months from the receipt and notification in the Gazette there of your Majesty's confirmation of the act, without
any exception in the case of infants, insane persons, or those under other natural disabilities, which .exceptions
by the strict rules of law ought to be provided for in every case of this nature.
“These objections do not appear to us so essentially to vitiate this act that we cannot recommend it to your Majesty
to confirm it.
“At the same time we think it our duty to represent to your Majesty that as there is the greatest reason to believe,
as well from the letters we have received from your Majesty's Governor of Georgia, as from what has been laid before
us by his agent who appeared in support of the act, that not only the surveys made under the warrant of the Governor
of South Carolina have been incorrect, but also that few if any of the grantees have taken any steps for the due
and proper settlement and cultivation of the lands, and none have paid the quit rents due to your Majesty according
to the terms of their grants. We do entirely agree with our predecessors in office that it is both just and necessary
that some effectual means ought to be taken to correct an abuse of this nature operating to the prejudice as well
of the public interest as of your Majesty's revenue, and therefore we humbly beg leave to propose that your Majesty's
Governor of South Carolina be instructed to give positive directions to the proper officers in that Colony forthwith
to prepare transcripts, duly authenticated, of all the patents granted under the Seal of that Province for lands
to the southward of the river Alatamaha, and also of all orders, warrants, and proceedings thereupon, and to transmit
the same with all convenient dispatch to the Governor of your Majesty's Province of Georgia.
"That your Majesty's Governor of Georgia should be instructed to cause such transcripts, when received by
him, to be entered upon record in all the proper offices in that Colony.
" That if the said Governor shall, upon an examination of these documents, or from any other evidence or information,
have reason to think that there have been any frauds or abuses in the survey of these lands, he do forthwith issue
a warrant to the Surveyor General of lands in the Province of Georgia to cause a resurvey to be made thereof in
the presence of the grantees or of such persons as they shall appoint within a reasonable time for that purpose.
And in case it shall be discovered upon such resurvey that a greater number of acres has been taken in than are
expressed in the original grant, that the said Governor do forthwith grant such surplus to such other persons as
shall apply for the same, upon the terms and conditions prescribed by your Majesty's instructions to the said Governor.
“That the said Governor be further instructed to recommend to the Council and Assembly of the Province of Georgia
to pass, an act for establishing a method of enforcing the cultivation of lands, causing an inquest to be held
on the oaths of a jury of twelve men before a Commissioner of escheats and forfeitures to be appointed by the said
Governor for that purpose, and enacting that all lands which, upon a return of such inquest into the office of
register of the court of chancery, shall appear not to have been duly cultivated according to the terms and conditions
of the grant, be vested in your Majeety, your heirs, and successors without any further or other process. Clare.
Soame Jentns.
Wm FlTZHERBEBT.
Tho. Robinson. " Whitehall, May 2&A, 1767."
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