An Abstract of Grants of Lands Registered in Georgia from 27 July 1757 to 27 Jan. 1758, received April 24, read June 1, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 40.
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To James Hartley for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Medway, Registred 1st August 1757
Grant dated 5th. Febry 1757
To Edward Barnard for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Augusta, Registred 4th. August 1757
Allotted to him by the late President and Assistants
Grant dated 5th. Febry 1757
To John Stewart Junr for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 4th. August 1757
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To John Adam Trittlen for 100 Acres of land in the District of Goshen, Registred 8th. August 1757
Grant dated 5th. April 1757
To Michael Stutz for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Ogechee, Registered 8th. August 1757
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To James Macfrary for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 8th. August 1757
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To Michael Switzer for a Lot in the Town of Savannah No 8 in the Second Tything Anson Ward & 50 Acres of Land in said Tything & Ward, Registred 15th. Augt 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To Michael Switzer for a Lot in the Town of Savannah No 10 in the second Tything Reynolds Ward & 50 Acres of Land in said Tything & ward, Registred 15th. Augt 1757
Allotted by the late President & Assistants
To Balthaser Backer for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 27th. Augt 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To John Reutter for Town Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 27th. Augt 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To Ezekiel Backler for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 15h Septr 1757
Grant dated 5th April 1757
To John Deaveaux for 950 Acres of Land in the District of Ogechee, Registred 4th. October 1757
Grant dated 5th. April 1757
To John Deveaux for 500 Acres of Land in the District of little Ogechee, Registred 4th. October 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 5th April 1757
To Mark Carr for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Medway, Registred 4th Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant Dated 5th. April 1757
To Mark Carr for 200 Acres of Land being an Island in the District of Medway, Registred 4th. Octr 1757
Allotted by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 5th. April 1757
To Thomas Carr for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Medway, Registred 4th Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 5th April 1757
To Daniel Donnam for 550 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 4th. Octr 1757
To Donald McDonald for 200 Acres of Land at the head of the Branches of Newport River, Registred 5th. Octr 1757
Grant dated 5th. April 1757
To Solomon Shad for 250 Acres of Land in the District of Ogechee, Registred 5th. Octr 1757
Grant dated 5th. April 1757
To Henry Snider for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Ogechee, Registred 5th. October 1757
Grant dated 5th. April 1757
To George Peters for a lot in the Town of Savannah No 8 in Belitha Tything Heathcote Ward & 50 Acres of Land in said Tything & Ward, Registred 5th. Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To William Dunham for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 14th. Octr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Nathan Taylor for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Medway, Registred 14th. Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To John Smith for Town Lot Garden Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 15th. Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Gotleb Stayley for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 15th. Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Valentine Depp for Town Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 15th. Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
To William Elliott for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 18th Octr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Audley Maxwell for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Midway, Registred 18th. Octr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Octr 1757
To Jacob Ports for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 22d Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To John Pletter for Garden Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 22d Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To John Hangleter for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 24th. Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Ruprick Ershberger for Town Lot Garden Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 24th. October 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Ludwig Ernst for Town Lot Garden Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 26th. Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Gabriel Maurer for Town Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 26th Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To John Maurer for Town Lot Garden Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 28th. Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
To Nicholas Cronenberger for Town Lot & 200 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 28th. Octr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To George Fowl for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 28th. Octr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To William Graves for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 28th. Octr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Middleton Evans for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Medway, Registred 1st Novr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To William Moore for 250 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 1st Novr 1757
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To Aaron Ward for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Hallifax, Registred 1st Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To David Cunningham for a Lot in the Town of Savannah No 7 in the second Tything Reynolds Ward and 50 Acres of Land in the said Tything & Ward, Registred 2d Novemr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To James Brooks for a Lot in the Town of Savannah No 4 in the second Tything Reynolds Ward & 50 Acres of Land in the said Tything & Ward, Registred 2d Novr 1757
Allotted by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Robert Baillie for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 2d Novr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
To John Prethero for 300 Acres of Land in the District of Hallifax, Registred 2d Novr 1757
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To John Emanuel for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Augusta, Registred 8th. Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Daniel Nunez Rivers for 300 Acres of Land in the District of Great Ogechee, Registred 9th. Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Abraham Sarzedas for a Lot No 87 in the Town of Hardwicke, Registred 9th. Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To John Spencer for a Lot No 9 in the Town of Hardwicke, Registred llth. Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To John Sheraus for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 12th Novr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To Sir Patrick Houstoun for 1000 Acres of Land in the District of Darian, Registred 12th. Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To John Jacob Metzger for 2 Town Lots & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 16th Novr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To David Ashperger for a Town Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 16th. Novr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President and Assistants
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Hugh Kennedy for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 16th. Novr 1757
To Henry Bourquin for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Savannah, Registred 18th. Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Henry Bourquin for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Little Ogechee, Registred 18th. Novr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Henry Bourquin for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Little Ogechee, Registred 19th. Novr 1757
Allotted by the late President and Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Henry Bourquin for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Little Ogechee, Registred 19th. Novr 1757
Allotted by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Donald Mackintosh for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registed 26th. Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Donald Kennedy for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Sappelo, Registred 28th. Novr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To William Kennedy for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 29th. Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Simon Reitter for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 29th. Novr 1757
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To John Farley for 250 Acres of Land in the District of Ogechee, Registred 1st. December 1757
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To Frederick Tradling for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 1st Decemr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
To George Dressier for a Lot in the Town of Savannah No 10 at Vernon Tything Heathcote Ward & 50 Acres of Land in said Tything & Ward, Registred 2d Decemr 1757
Allotted by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Thomas Smith for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 2d Decemr 1757
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To John Gaspar Walthour for 145 Acres of Land in the District of Little Ogechee, Registred 5th Decr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President and Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To David Montagut for a Lot No 46 in the Town of Hardwicke, Registred 5th. Decr 1757
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To David Montaigut for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Savannah, Registred 5th. Decemr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr. 1757
To David Montaigut for a Lot in the Town of Savannah No 5 in the first Tything Reynolds Ward & 50 Acres of Land in said Tything & Ward, Registered 5th. Decr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President and Assistants
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To John George Henry for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 6th. Decemr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To John McCollum for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Hallifax, Registred 6th. Decemr 1757
Grant dated 7th. June 1757
To William Alexander for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Augusta, Registred 6th. Decemr 1757
To John Perkins for a Lot No 103 in the Town of Hardwicke, Registred 6th Decemr 1757
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Joseph Alther for 117 Acres of Land on the Branches of Augustine Creek, Registred 5th. Decr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Anne Parker Widow for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Savannah, Registred 10th. Decemr 1757
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Anne Parker Widow for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Little Ogechee in Trust for the Heirs of Henry Parker Esqr deceas’d, Registred 20th Decr 1757
Allotted by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Henry William Parker for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Little Ogechee, Registred 20th. Decr 1757
Allotted by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Henry William Parker for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Little Ogechee in for Joseph Parker, Registered 20th Decemr 1757
Allotted by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decemr 1757
To Edward Goodale for 300 Acres of Land in the District of Little Ogechee, Registred 22d Decemr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To James Baillou for a lot in the Town of Savannah No 1 at Belitha Tything Heathcote Ward & 50 Acres of Land in said Tything & Ward, Registred 26th. Decr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th Decr 1757
To Isaac Baillou for a Lot in the Town of Savannah No 5 in Sloper Tything Percival Ward & 5 Acres of Land in said Tything & Ward, Registred 26th Decr 1757
Allotted by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th Decr 1757
To Robert Stewart for 300 Acres of Land in the District of Darian, Registred 27th. Decr 1757
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To Joseph Winn for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 27th Decr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To Jacob Keibler for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Abercorn, Registred 27th Decemr 1757
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757.
To John Barns for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Great Ogechee, Registed 27th. Decemr 1757
Grant dated 6th. Decemr 1757
To Peter Torquintz for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Hallifax, Registred 28th. Decr 1757
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To Philip Box for a Lot in the Town of Savannah No 10 in the first Tything Anson Ward and 50 Acres of Land in said Tything & Ward, Registred 28th. Decr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To Angus McKay for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 29th. Decemr 1757
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To James Pritchard for 150 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 29th Decr 1757
Grant dated 6th Decr 1757
To William Norton for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 29th. Decr 1757
To John Stailey Senr for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 31st Decr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To John Stailey Junr for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 31st Decr 1757
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th Decr 1757
To Samuel Hastings for 750 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 31st Decr 1757
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Michael Boarman for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 4th. Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Michael Boarman for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 4th. Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1758
To Michael Boarman for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 4th Jany 1758
Grant dated 6th Decr 1757
To Paynter Dickinson for 250 Acres of Land in the District of Medway, Registred 6th. Jany 1758
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To Stephen Dickinson for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Darien, Registred 6th Jany 1758
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Mattias West for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 7th Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th Sepr 1757
To Peda Clara Stroub for Town Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 7th. Jany 1758
Allotted to her by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th Decemr 1757
To Conrade Rahn for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 16th Janry 1758
Grant dated 6th. December 1757
To Jasper Rahn for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Augusta, Registred 16th. Janry 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th Decemr 1757
To Theobald Keiffer for 130 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 16th Jany 1758
Grant dated 6th. December 1757
To Joseph Butler Senr for 460 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 16th Jany 1758
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To Louis Mettear for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Great Ogechee, Registred 16th Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To Paul Fuick for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 18th. Janry 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decemr 1757
To John Gugell for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 18th. Janry 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To Martin Lackner Senr for a Town Lot Garden Lot & 100 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 18th Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th Decr 1757
To Martin Lackner Junr for Town Lot & 100 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 18th Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Mattias Zettler for Town Lot Garden Lot & 100 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 19th Janry 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To Peter Arnsdorff for Town Lot Garden Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 19th Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 30 Septr 1757
To Christopher Peters for 250 Acres of Land in the District of Savannah, Registred 19th. Jany 1758
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To William Spencer for a Lot No 50 in the Town of Hardwicke, Registred 23rd Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant Dated 6th. Decr 1757
To William Spencer for a Lot in the Town of Savannah No 6 in the third Tything Anson Ward & 50 Acres of Land in said Tything & Ward, Registed 23rd Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To William Spencer for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Little Ogechee, Registred 23 Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decr 1757
To Joseph Shubdrien for 100 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 24th. Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decemr 1757
To Nicholas Shubdrien for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 24th Jany 1758 Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
To Elisha Butler for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Great Ogechee, Registred 25th Jany 1758
Grant dated 30th. Septr 1757
To Elisha Butler for 500 Acres of Land in the District of Newport, Registred 25th. Jany 1758
Grant dated 30th Septr 1757
To James Weston for 200 Acres of Land in the District of Ebenezer, Registred 26th. Janry 1758
Grant dated 6th. Decemr 1757
To Jacob Walthour for 50 Acres of Land in the District of Goshen, Registred 26th. Jany 1758
Allotted to him by the late President & Assistants
Grant dated 6th. Decemr 1757
To Maria Catherine Cranwetter for a Town Lot & 50 Acres of Land in the Town & District of Ebenezer, Registred 26th. Janry 1758
Allotted to her by the late President & Assistants
An Abstract of all the Grants Registered in the province of Georgia from 27th. July 1757 to 27th. January 1758. Examined and compared with the Original Register at Savannah this 1st day of Febry 1758.
Pat Houstoun, Register
J. West, Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to John Pownall, Secretary to the Board of Trade, Feb. 15, 1758, London, informing the Board that the Treasury will prepare and lay before the House of Commons a 1757-1758 estimate of the expenses for Georgia.
Sir
I desire you will acquaint the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations that the Chancellor of the Exchequer hath received his Majesty’s commands that their Lordships should prepare and lay before the House of Commons an Estimate of the Expense attending this Colony of Georgia from the 24th day of June 1757 to Midsummer 1758.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, Feb. 18, 1758, Georgia received April 10, read April 12, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 35, giving an account of the colony, its new laws just passed, and his own deplorable state.
My Lords
The last letter I did myself the honor to write to your Lordships was of the 23d of December acknowledging the receipt of Mr Secretary Pownal’s Letter inclosing Resolutions of the House of Commons.
These Resolutions I have shewn to every body of consequence here with good effect.
I called our Assembly together the 11th. ultimate & communicated the same to them to the end that they may be entered in their Journals to be referred to upon future Occasions which I have reason to think will be done without opposition.
The principal design of convening the Assembly now was to enforce a Law passed in the time of the Trustees to prevent an unlicensed intercourse with the Indians in the Neighbourhood of this Province. This Law was become obsolete & impracticable by reason of certain powers vested thereby in Officers that since the Change of Government no longer exist. This was discovered by the Out Settlers who thereupon set up a number of little Stores which drew multitudes of the Indians into the Settlements & produced great disorders. That & the purchasing of Land from them were evils that threatened the most fatal consequences to this Province if a speedy remedy should not be applied. I had therefore a Bill brought into the Assembly which is since passed subjecting any person or persons to a penalty of £100 sterling & confiscation of Goods, who shall hereafter presume to have any traffic or intercourse with the Savages bordering upon this Province without License from the Commander in Chief. I chose that the Bill should have this form free from other restrictions & regulations common to such Bills in order that it might be permanent as well from its unlimited duration as from the power that the Governor of this Province is invested with thereby to vary & accommodate it to whatever change or circumstance may hereafter arise. The method to be pursued is this as no person can trade without license upon application for one the person enters into Bond with Securitys for £2,000 Sterling the obligation of which is that the strictest obedience shall be shewn to the Instructions he receives with that permission.
These instructions contain a regulation of the Trade & the particular conduct the Trader is to observe both in respect to the Indians & this Government.
The other part of this Act which respects purchasing of Lands from the Indians by private people makes all such Purchases void & subjects the purchaser to a penalty of £1000 one half to his Majesty & the other to the person who shall sue for the same. This will effectually disable such people as Bosomworth from embroiling us & prevent him from attempting to acquire a further Title to the lands he claims to which at the last Congress the Indians declared he had no right whatsoever.
In a former letter to your Lordships I mentioned the inconveniences this province suffers from the quantity of lands that lie unoccupied said to belong to absent people whose names are scarce remembered whose titles are no where upon Record & whose services neither to the Public or in the performance of the conditions of their tenure entitle them to any regard. At the same time that the Inhabitants are by their means doubly burdened with Taxes & public labor, the Colony weakened by that separation of the Settlements that these vacant Tracts occasion, its population retarded & his Majestys quit Rents left unpaid. A Bill has therefore been brought into the Assembly & has already passed both Houses whereby all persons who shall neglect to ascertain their claims & take out proper Grants in the time therein prescribed are to forfeit & the lands to revert to the Crown to be regranted as his Majesty shall think proper. I encouraged this Bill because I conceive it will be productive of immediate & very beneficial conseuquences to the Colony & because a step of this nature from the Crown might be interpreted as harsh & unpopular but cannot appear in that light when it comes from the people themselves. At the same time this measure does not preclude the Kings indulgence to such who may be in danger of suffering innocently. There are some other Acts depending which may be attended with public utility such as a parish bill or to encourage the introduction of white Handercraftsmen by prohibiting Negroes being bred to Trades, one to renew & amend the Militia Act which is near expiring with some others of less consequence which may not pass at this Sitting As the Season of the Year will soon oblige me to adjourn the Assembly. As to the other matters people are perfectly easy & at rest there are no fresh alarms from any quarter. All our Accounts from the Indian Countries are favorable & though we discourage them as much as is prudent yet we continue to be visited by numbers of the Creeks, 40 of whom are now coming here & are but a few miles distant. I should not at all be displeased with such Guests provided I had a sufficiency to entertain them & dismiss them with content but we shall soon be much straitened in this respect & indeed have been as sparing of late in our Hospitality & Gifts as was possible considering the number of our Visitants. In regard to myself my Lords I shall soon be reduced to the necessity of requesting your good offices to obtain my recall especially if things continue long in their present situation.
The unavoidable expenses that my Station imposes on me I cannot long support with my present means. I am already upwards of £1200 Sterling out of pocket exclusive of the reimbursement of my Salary & perquesites & yet I have been as frugal as I could with decency, but coming out in a private Ship on my own expense by way of Carolina the necessaries I have been obliged to provide here & the excessive price that every thing bears with us is such that I daily spend nearly twice my income. I would freely devote my time, my quiet, & my labour to the public service & even a large share of my private fortune was I sure that this would not in the end reduce me to a state of necessity & dependance which it becomes every prudent man to guard against. Such my Lords is my situation which I hope your goodness will lead you to consider & to take such measures thereupon as your justice & wisdom may suggest.
Memorial of William Little to the Board of Trade, n.d., London, read April 12, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 36, containing observations on the silk culture in Georgia.
May it please your Lordships,
The Culture of Silk in Georgia having engaged the attention & encouragement of the British Parliament & being capable of becoming by proper management an Affair of importance but as it is now conducted by the Manager must prove abortive & frustrate all expectation, I have agreeably to your Lordship’s permission set down some observations that occurr’d to me during my abode in that Colony.
In the year 1756 there was raised at Savannah 1024 lb. 14 oz of Cocoons at Ebenezer 1232 lb. 11 oz amounting in the whole to 2257 lb. 9 oz in Georgia. In Carolina there were raised the same year for the Filature at Savannah 1525 lb. 4 oz - for the Georgia Cocoons were paid at 3 shillings per pound £328.12.9 for the Carolina at 1 shilling 6 pence per pound £114.5.5, so that there was more than half the quantity of Silk made in the single Town of Purghburgh [Purrysburg] in Carolina as in the whole Colony of Georgia & that too for half price & under the discouraging circumstances of being obliged to carry their Cocoons near thirty miles by water so that being under the necessity of waiting for a proper number many were lost by not being baked in due time, the Worm eating through & spoiling the Ball, from this short detail it is plain that a premium upon the Cocoons only, tho’ so very great as to be more than double their value (for the Carolina people find their account in raising them for half what is given in Georgia) is not sufficient to answer the purpose and some other method is necessary to be taken. The most obvious is a reward for planting Trees but this has been constantly opposed by the Managers for no other possible reason than that it would render the culture more extensive, diffuse the art of reeling among the people & thereby lessen their own importance. It is indeed objected that such a Reward would open a door to many frauds & abuses which could not without great difficulty be prevented but be the difficulties ever so great they are far from being insuperable & unless they are overcome the culture can never be extended so as to become a provincial Concern much less a national Advantage, for tho’ it is artfully suggested that there is no Want of Leaves yet that must be understood to mean for the subsistence of the Worms where they are at present hatched not for such an increased number as must be made to render this Business of any real importance as there is a space of some years from the planting the trees to the time of their yielding Leaves fit for the Nourishment of the Worms and they must be fenced round to preserve them from the Cattle.
The distant prospect of a premium upon Cocoons will never induce poor people to undergo this trouble for their necessities require immediate payment for their labour & they are moreover not without apprehensions that the Parliament may be unwilling to grant future sums of money for encouraging a Work on which no progress is made & if that should be the case all their labour would be lost. To the Conduct of the Manager it must be ascribed that the Filature at Ebenezer has been un-employed nay so fearful was he lest it should interfere with his self interested views that it was concealed from the Governor that there ever was such a things in the Province until he himself discover’d it in his way up to Augusta and found it better constructed than that at Savannah particularly in having the Chimnies built on the Out Side a Circumstance very material in a hot Climate; there is also a well with plenty of the clearest water near it & wood to be had in abundance at a small expense; the people at Ebenezer are most remarkably assiduous in raising Cocoons & they are no less so in reeling them off & it is not only a great Hardship upon them to be denied the liberty of reeling at home, but as it has hitherto much retarded the Culture must in the end prove the utter Destruction of it for as they observe the circumstances of the Women alter almost very year so that their going down to Savannah is much hinder’d as some have small Children others are sickly. Others have Cattle to look after & all these could easily attend the Silk Business at their own Filature, tho’ they can not go down to Savannah so that by not exercising themselves they lose their required dexterity & forget what they have learned & other Young Women who are exceedingly desirous to learn are deprived of an opportunity of doing it. The Women can live much cheaper at home than at Savannah for there they can scarcely find Lodgings & are under many other inconveniences which greatly diminish the reward of their labour. There are also many old Widows and other weakly persons who would be very glad to be employed in picking & sorting the Cocoons and other services for a small reward. By sending down their Cocoons they suffer great loss since they must pay boat hire can not send them in small quantities but must wait till a Boat full is brought together, and in the mean time the Aurelia bites through the Silk & makes it unfit to be sold. The Silk is exposed in a Boat to bad Weather & loses much of its fine colour beauty hardness etc. all which might be prevented by its being reeled off at Ebenezer.
These Reasons are so Cogent that the Governor permitted them to make specimens of their skill in both sorts of silk & I believe when they appear as they will do if they are not secreted by the Manager they will prove to be as good as any made at Savannah, but if they should prove to be of any inferior kind it is humbly submitted to your Lordships whether it is not more eligible to have large quantities of Silk made in many Filatures of a some thing less value at first than to confine the Culture to the prime sort only at Savannah in one Filature since the practice of any Art is the most likely means of attaining perfection, nor can any inconvenience attend the employing many distinct Filatures in different parts of the province except the Trouble the Manager may in the beginning have in going from home at proper seasons to superintend & inspect the Work & even this trouble may be spared at Ebenezer the people there being as well versed in the Art as himself.
I have in compliance with my duty humbly presumed to lay these things before your Lordships and cannot forbear deploring my Unhappiness in being precluded by your Lordships Minutes of the 14th. of March from offering many Tracts to your Lordships Consideration that might fully illustrate & explain several other parts of the address & Remonstrance of the Assembly of Georgia to your Lordships.
Henry Ellis to William Pitt, Georgia, Feb. 20, 1758, received May 30, 1758, giving an account of a Spanish ship captured by a Bermudan privateer and brought to Savannah.
Sir
The 25th Instant I had the honour to receive your letter of the 16th of September relative to Monsr. Dabreu’s complaints, of divers Violences and depredations committed by his Majestys Subjects in America against those of Spain. The Kings Additional Instructions of the 5th of October upon that subject, I was honoured with before; and have not failed to give Copys of them to the Commanders of all Privateers that have since touched at the Ports of this Province, and at the same time, strenuously exhorted them to a strict obedience thereof. I shall redouble my efforts upon every future occasion that may offer, effectually to suppress such infamous proceedings which certainly have a direct tendency to embroil us with all the Neutral Powers. There has been but one Spanish Vessel brought into any Port of this Province since I have presided here viz the Aurora commanded by Don Ilario D’Aranda from Pensacola, who, upon an examination of the Circumstances which induced the Captain of a Bermudas Privateer to bring him in, I immediately set at Liberty, with an offer of full reparation for any Loss or Damages he might have sustained thereby, which however he did not insist upon, the Bermudian Captain I severely threatened and reprimanded, which may probably deter him from doing the like hereafter.
No Alteration has taken place in the Circumstances of this Province since my last Letter of the 3rd of January, which contained every thing material that then occurred. We continue to be Visited by great Numbers of the Creek Indians, who appear to be well satisfyed with us; but expect entertainment and a few presents when they come here which if they are refused, may disgust them, and give our Enemies an advantage. And as at present we have not sufficient means to do this I must beg Leave Sir to repeat my wishes that a Sum may be annually Allowed for this Service. £1500 at least, would be necessary, and no money could be better laid out, as the Creeks are the most formidable Tribe of Indians we have any Correspondence with upon this Continent. While they are at peace with us, they are a good Barrier against the French and Spaniards who, sensible of their importance spare no pains or expence to break their Connections with us, which however they may find a difficult task, if we are properly supported.
William Pitt to the Lords of Trade, March 7, 1758, Whitehall, read April 26, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 38, respecting a settlement made by some of his Majesty’s subjects to the south of the river Altamaha.
My Lords
Having laid before the King your Lordships Letter of the 1st inst giving an account that certain of His Majestys subjects had without any license or authority made a settlement to the South of the River Alatamaha the reputed Southern Boundary of Georgia & of the conduct of the Spanish Governor of Augustine thereupon and your Lordships apprehending that this Transaction may be of dangerous consequence to the Provinces of South Carolina & Georgia from the influence those Settlers are represented to have with the neighbouring Indians & also that it may disturb the peace & friendship subsisting with the King of Spain; I am commanded to signify to your Lordships the Kings pleasure that you do forthwith acquaint me for his Majesty’s information at what distance this Settlement may be from any of those which his Majestys subjects are possessed of in those parts & also what is the supposed number of the said Settlers; And it is the Kings further pleasure that your Lordships do report your opinion what Orders it may be most advisable to give for effectually preventing the bad consequences which your Lordships apprehend from so irregular a proceeding.
John Reynolds to the Board of Trade, March 7, 1758, London, asking for copies of his commission, instructions, and public papers to reply to the articles against his conduct.
My Lords
In perusing the Articles against my conduct in the Government of Georgia, which your Lordships have been so good as to allow me a Copy of and which I received this Morning I find it will be necessary for me to have recourse to my Comission and instructions the Copies of which and of most of my public papers I sunk when I was taken by the French and therefore beg that your Lordships will be pleased to order that I may have a Copy of the said Commission and instructions and likewise of such paragraphs of other papers either received or transmitted by me to your Lordships during my administration of that Government as I may find necessary for my inspection, in order to the justification of my conduct in the same in which I hope to give perfect satisfaction.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, March 31, 1758, Georgia, read Nov. 21, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 43, giving an account of the present state of the Colony together with several acts lately passed by the Assembly.
My Lords
My last letter was dated the 18th. of Feby I then mentioned whatever occurred to me deserving your Lordships attention particularly that an Act had just received my Assent respecting our intercourse with the Indians which I now send for your Lordships inspection together with three others that were afterwards passed.
I have nothing to observe upon the object of these Bills as the design of them will fully appear in the Contents.
The planting Season advancing apace & no very material matter occurring I was induced to adjourn the Assembly the 15th. Inst. to the 15th. of June next.
The same good correspondence as formerly still subsist between the several Branches of the Legislature & the people in general continue quiet & contented.
Since my last upwards of an hundred of the Creek Indians have been with me upon the old errand in expectation of presents. They very chearfully acceded to the late treaty & tho’ we were unable to treat with them the same munificence that those experienced who preceded them, Yet they departed well satisfied with their reception. Such numbers of them have late resorted here as have occasioned a great deal of employment & fatigue to me & not a little expense to the public. It is in vain to plead that the presents are exhausted for were they even convinced of this they would still come & expect to have their Guns Saddles etc. repaired & themselves subsisted in the meantime which alone would amount annually to a very considerable sum.
However irksome & inconvenient all these circumstances are I am afraid they must at this juncture be submitted to in order to preserve the friendship of such formidable & Capricious Neighbours & I may add that even a further supply is indispensably necessary to defeat the extraordinary efforts of the French who persist with unabating assiduity in their design of currupting & gaining them from us. I have about a third of the last presents that were sent us still left but no fund to defray the expense that will necessarily attend their distribution much less to support the charges that are continually growing from the frequency of Indian visits & I am persuaded your Lordships will not be surprised at this when it shall be known that no less than 1280 of these savages have been entertained at Savannah since my arrival. An inconvenience that proceeds from their attachment to & good understanding with us & how this is to be avoided without involving ourselves in much greater ones is difficult to comprehend.
This province still enjoys perfect tranquillity & we hear of nothing that is likely to interrupt it suddenly but however promising our prospect may seem it shall not prevent our taking proper precautions against the worst that may happen.
I am in hopes that long before this time the many dispatches I sent from hence are in your Lordships hands. The want of a direct Conveyance to England is at this time a great misfortune but I see no remedy for it until our exports are sufficient to encourage a number of Ships to come here. In the mean time the intelligence we receive from or transmit to Europe must be very much out of time as indeed we here & I find many of our friends at home experience. I generally send Copies of my dispatches by way of New York which must needs subject them to many unavoidable accidents & delays.
P.S. The Acts which accompany the first & second copies of this Letter & go by way of South Carolina & New York are the following vizt.
An Act for dividing the Province into Parishes & establishing the Church of England Worship.
One for regulating Indian Affairs
One to prohibit Slaves from being taught handicrafts
One to limit the time for Absentees to make good their claims to lands & take out Kings Grants
One to amend the Militia Act
One to enforce the fortification Bill &
John Reynolds to the Board of Trade, April 17, 1758, London, read April 18, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 37, giving his answers to charges brought his administration as governor of Georgia.37
THE ANSWER OF JOHN REYNOLDS Esqr Governor of his Majestys Colony of Georgia in America to a certain Paper entitled “State of the facts “respecting the Conduct of John Reynolds Esqr “& the state of the Colony of Georgia during “his residence there as Governor thereof” Received from John Pownall Esqr your Lordships Secretary by order of your Lordships on 6th. March 1758.
THIS RESPONDENT saith that his Majesty having been graciously pleased to appoint this Respondent Captain General & Governor in chief of the said Colony of Georgia in America by his Royal Commission bearing date the 6th. day of Aug 1754, This Respondent did in a few days after the date of the said Commission embark for the said Colony & on the 29th of Octr following Landed at Savannah where this Respondent immediately proceeded to take upon himself the Exercise of the Government of the said Colony & continued in the Administration thereof till the 16 day of Feby 1757 when this Respondent received your Lordships Letter of the 5th of Augst 1756 Signifying his Majesty’s pleasure that this Respt should return to this Kingdom “To the end that an account of the present Situation “& circumstances of the Province & of this Respondents Conduct “in the Administration of Government these might be laid before “his Majesty for his further directions thereupon” & at the same time directing this Respondent to resign the Government of the said Colony into the hands of Henry Ellis Esqr his Majesty’s Governor thereof. And this Respondent saith that in obedience to his Majesty’s Commands he immediately upon the receipt of your Lordships Letter resigned the Government to Mr Ellis accordingly & in a few days afterwards proceeded upon his return to England by the first opportunity which offered on Board a Merchant Man named the Charming Martha Wm Thomson Master bound from Georgia to the Port of London having previously furnished himself such necessary decuments & papers (so far as the time would permit) as he apprehended would best enable him to obey his Majesty’s Commands agreeable to your Lordships letter. This Respondent not being at that time apprized of any particular charge exhibited against him nor informed of Mr Kelletts Memorial (which this Respondent now finds was exhibited to your Lordships on the 7th. of July 1756) nor having so much as heard of the names of any other of his Accusers whose letters your Lordships were pleased to refer to in your letter of the 5th. of August (& to wch Letters as well as the Authors of them this Respondent still remains a Stranger) And this Respondent saith that in his return to England the Vessel on which he was embarked was on the 9th day of May 1757 unfortunately taken by a french privateer M. Garralon Commander & carried into the Port of Bayonne from whence this Respondent procured a passage home having been stripped by the Enemy of this Journal & all his other papers & every thing else of value belonging to him & on the 7th. day of July 1757 this Respondent arrived in London from which time this Respondent hath yielded his constant attendance at your Lordships Board till the 6th. of March last when your Lordships were pleased to favor him with a Copy of the said State of Facts, to which this Respondent now proceeds to return his answer in the best manner his present circumstances will admit of under the disadvantage of the loss of his papers the interval of time elapsed since several parts of his conduct now enquired into were administered his ignorance till very lately of the particular Transactions objected to him Save by your Lordships letter of the 5th of Augt 1756 & the great distance at which he finds himself removed from the scene of those transactions from whence his Vindication as well as his charge must proceed; But this Respondent at the same time he laments the difficulties of his present situation must acknowledge your Lordships goodness in indulging him with the use of the Office Copys of his Commission & instructions & with access to the papers transmitted to the Board of reced from them by him during his administration.
Answer to the 1st Article. In answer to the 1st Article of the said State of Facts whereby it is imputed to this Respondent that many Articles of his Majestys Instructions upon points whereon he is directed to act with the advice & consent of the Council have not been entered upon the Council Books as usual in other Colonys. This Respondent cannot help expressing his wishes that the Articles here pointed at had been particularly specified that his Answer might have been more immediately adapted thereto. But this Respondent having upon this General Charge reviewed his Instructions Finds the fourth Instruction to run in the following words vizt “You are forthwith to communicate unto our said Council such & so many of these our Instructions where in their advice & consent are required as likewise all such others from time “to time as you shall find convenient for our Service to be imparted “to them.” By which Instruction as this Respondent conceives there is a general liberty reserved to him of communicating or withholding his instructions from the Council at his own discretion except as to such only where their advice & consent is required & even those instructions are not required to be entered upon the Council Books; But upon a further perusal of his instructions he does not find himself directed to enter any of them upon the Council Books except the 11th. Instruction relative to the power vested in him of suspending the Councellors for non attendance upon their duty; And ten other instructions from 40 to 49 both inclusive relating to the habeas corpus Act. And this Respondent saith It appears by the Council Books transmitted by this Respondent That he did on the 1st of Novr 1754 being in two days after his arrival cause his first instruction containing his Majestys appointment of Councellors for the said Colony to be read & entered in the Council Books & on the 4th of the same Month caused his said 11th. instruction to be read & entered in like manner & on the 7th of the same Month also communicated to them his Majesty’s instructions in regard to the calling of a General Assembly & on the next day likewise communicated to them his instructions relating to the erecting of Courts of Judicature & on the same day also directed his ten instructions relating to the habeas corpus Act to be read to the Council & entered upon their Books & this Respondent does not recollect that he was required to enter any other of his Instructions upon the Council Books.
And as to such of his instructions which he was directed to communicate to the Council where their advice & consent was required tho’ not to enter the same upon their Books; This Respondent saith he did communicate the same accordingly by frequently & distinctly reading the same over to them when in Council assembled nor can a single instance be produced wherein this Respondent has ever acted without their concurrence where his instructions required it. But this Respondent did not think it incumbent upon him or consistent with his Majesty’s service (which was always his principal object) to give them Copys of all the Instructions he had received from his Majesty to which they seemed to think themselves entitled as apprehending themselves invested in an equal share of the Administration of the Colony with this Respondent & so he acquainted them in his Speech delivered to them in Council on 30th Septr 1755 which was transmitted to your Lordships with this Respondents letter of the 15th. Jany following. And this Respondent submits to your Lordships the inconveniencies which must have resulted from a General Communication by entry upon the Council Books of all his Instructions & whether the same would not have been a breach rather than a compliance with his Majesty’s orders. And as to the usage of other Colonies in this respect this Respondent owns himself a stranger thereto nor can such usage whatever it may have been be considered as the rule and measure of his conduct to which he was never required to pay the least conformity.
Answer to the 2d Article. To the 2d and 3rd Articles this Respondent saith That his instructions as he apprehends no where direct him to advise with the Council as to the time manner or place of delivering this Majesty’s presents to the Indians or to communicate to them afterwards what should pass at such conference with the Indians or to acquaint them with the disposition of the money allowed to answer the contingent expenses of this Service notwithstanding which this Respondent well remembers that he did consult them as to the delivery of the presents & that they approved of his proposals upon that occasion And that no particular minute or entry was made of such their approbation in the Council Books was owing with many other like neglects & omissions to the Neglect or Incapacity of the Clerk of the Council who was likewise one of the Members of the Council. But this Respondent saith that in the Minutes of the proceedings of the Council on the 7th. of Novr 1755 there is the following entry vizt “His Excellency acquainted the Board that he thought it was “necessary that a Committee of the Council should be present “with him at Augusta where he was shortly going to meet the Indians to distribute his Majestys presents to them And therefore “desired that three Gentlemen of the Council would go with him “Accordingly Sir Patrick Houstoun Bart James Habersham & James “Edward Powell Esqrs were nominated to attend his Excellency” By which entry it appears as this Respondent apprehends that the Council neither were nor were intended to be kept in Ignorance as to the time manner or place of delivering these presents & that this Respondent requested & they consented to give their attendance & assistance upon that occasion nor have they ever since as this Respondent knows in their collective capacity signified the least dislike as to the delivery of the said presents·
And this Respondent further Saith That not contented with consulting the Council this Respondent did also advise on that Occasion with many of the principal Indian Traders who were much better acquainted with Indian affairs than were any of the Members of the Council (who this Respondent apprehends understood very little of Indian Affairs) & agreeable to their advice this Respondent governed himself therein & this Respondent saith that apprehending himself to be at full liberty for any thing to the contrary contained in his instructions to act in all affairs relating to the Indians without the concurrence of the Council he this Respondent did not acquaint them in form with what passed at the conference with the Indians the rather for that the proceedings at such conference were of the most trivial & common nature & were public & notorious neither did this Respondent particularly acquaint them with the disposition of the money allowed to answer the contingent expenses of this Service nor did the same appear necessary to this Respondent as he transmitted regular accounts of such expenses to your Lordships to which no objections have as he apprehends been at any time made & which now remain to be passed with the Auditor of the Impress & this Respondent saith that having communicated to the Council the Intent of his progress to Augusta (vizt to meet the Indians to distribute his Majestys presents to them) & having therefore desired them to accompany him he this Respondent fully intended & would have consulted & advised with them in their Capacity of Members of the Council had any opportunity offered for that purpose. But this Respondent saith that as the Indians did not meet him according to their appointment He had no occasion to hold a Council upon that subject & consequently no entry could be made thereof in the Journals of the Council nor could this Respondent transmit to your Lordships regular minutes of any such proceedings had with the Indians. But this Respondent saith that in a letter he had the honor of transmitting to your Lordships of the 8th of Octr 1755 after acknowledging the receipt of the Indian presents this Respondent further acquainted your Lordships that he had already dispatched letters to all their chiefs acquainting them with the arrival of the presents & inviting them to an interview at Augusta & in a subsequent letter of the 5th. of Janry 1756 this Respondent further acquainted your Lordships that he had sent the Indian presents to Augusta to be distributed & appointed all the Indian Chiefs to meet him there in the first week of Decemr. That this Respondent went thither accordingly but the Indians neglecting the time of appointment this Respondent stayed there 10 days & then returned to Savannah leaving Mr Wm Little Commissioner & Agent for Indian affairs to deliver this Respondents speeches & the presents to them which he did to above 300 Indians who arrived there a Week after this Respondent came away & peace & friendship were renewed between them as fully appears from the Affidavit & Certificate of the gentlement & Indian Traders present at the Meeting hereinafter stated.
ANSWER TO THE 4th ARTICLE. To the 4th Article this Respondent saith That he did in his said letter of the 5th. of Jany 1756 acquaint your Lordships That whilst he was absent at Augusta (& which was one reason for his returning to Savannah so soon) two Transports arrived there from Nova Scotia with 400 French papists & Letters to this Respondent from Lieutenant Governor Laurence acquainting him that for the better security of that province he had sent those people to Georgia & did not doubt of this Respondents concurrence. That the Season of the year would not admit of their going back again & therefore this Respondent was obliged to receive them etc. & this Respondent further saith that he did according to the best advice invite the Indians to meet him at Augusta on a fixed day in the first week of Decr 1755 & they agreed to meet him accordingly in order to receive his Majestys presents & to renew & confirm the peace & friendship which subsisted between the Kings Subjects & them as usual upon the arrival of a new Governor in any of his Majestys Colonies upon which occasion they always expect handsome presents. And this Respondent further saith That after having waited 10 days at Augusta in expectation of seeing the Indians according to their own appointment but to no purpose this Respondent was advised by persons who perfectly understood the temper of the Indians to return to Savannah for that it would give the Indians a very mean opinion of the new Governor if he should suffer himself to be trifled with by waiting for them at Augusta any longer than he did after the time of their appointment was expired. And indeed this Respondent had been previously informed in his passage to Augusta That their meeting him at that Season of the year was very uncertain notwithstanding their promise & which information this Respondent received by several letters from some of those Traders whose interest it was to keep the Indians to their winters hunting advising this Respondent to go back again & defer the interview until the Month of April for that they were sure the Indians would not come as they had appointed. But which advice this Respondent then disregarded as considering it was his duty to be steady & keep his appointment with them whether they did or did not regard their appointment with him & therefore this Respondent proceeded to Augusta. But whilst this Respondent stayed there different expresses from the Indians arrived every day with accounts some times that they would come & at other times that they would not according as they were instigated by the Substitutes of the Indian Traders who have great influence with the Indians among whom they reside.
Their Meeting being thus uncertain & the extraordinary occurrence of the arrival of no less than 400 french Papists at Savannah happening at the same Juncture (by which this Respondents presence was become absolutely necessary there) did at length determine this Respondent to return to Savannah. But this Respondent before his departure from Augusta drew up in writing such speeches to the Indians & such instructions for Mr Little as he thought proper for him to observe in case the Indians should afterwards arrive in the course of that Month, leaving Mr Little at Augusta where he was directed to consult with the principal Indian Traders (who all reside there) in regard to the best means of delivering this Respondents Speeches & a part of the presents as his Majestys free Gifts whilst this Respondent proceeded to Savannah where he consulted the Council & took such steps as were proper in regard to the 400 french who were then lying before the Town in Two Transports & this Respondent saith that such being his motives for his return to Savannah.
So he doth not recollect to have made any mention in his said letter of 5th. Jany 1756 that there were a great number of material points in reference to disputes with the Indians concerning lands granted by them to private persons in prejudice to his Majestys Rights & other matters of great consequence to the Colony necessary to be attended to & settled with the Indians at that Interview (However this Respondent must herein refer himself to the said Letter when produced) on the contrary this Respondent saith The presents to be then distributed to the Indians were considered as his Majestys free gift to them & the Customary Gratuity upon the Arrival of a new Governor & according to the best intelligence this Respondent could procure of the disposition of the Indians at that time. It would have been very impolitic to have given them these presents in consideration of any Cession of their Lands in return or even at that ime to have seemed at all desirous of their Lands. And the french being then very industrious in using every Art to gain the Indians over to their Interest one of their chief arguments was that the English wanted nothing but their lands & then to make slaves of them of which your Lordships will find early mention made in this Respondents Letter of the 5th. of Decr 1754. To obviate which Insinuations of the French, These presents were intended as a free Gift entirely without any material Negotiation being then settled with the Indians more than the Renewal & confirmation of the peace & friendship before subsisting.
As to Mr Little’s qualification for this Trust this Respondent was then assured & is now convinced that he could not have found a more proper person in the Colony & he being at the same time Agent for Indians Affairs the discharge of this Trust fell more immediately within the province & no objection as this Respondent has heard was ever made to his conduct therein. As to the personal charges against him in his private character This Respondent begs leave to defer giving a more particular Answer thereto till he comes to some of the following Articles where the same are more particularly pointed out. But this Respondent saith It appears by an Affidavit of several Indian Traders Sworn the 20th. of Novr 1756 & by the Certificate of David Douglass & Edward Barnard Esqrs two of his Majestys Justices of the Peace for the District of Augusta (& Mr Douglass then Speaker of the Assembly & Representative for Augusta) the said several persons having been all present at the distribution of the Indian presents, That the same appeared to them to be made with the strictest justice discretion & frugality & that tho’ one of the Chiefs seemed at first displeased with this Respondents return to Savannah yet being soon convinced of the necessity of it he was fully satisfied & all the head men went home perfectly well pleased & as well satisfied as could be wished & that the event has proved they were sincere. To which Affidavit & certificate now in your Lordships Office this Respondent begs leave to refer.
ANSWER TO THE 5th. ARTICLE. To the 5th Article this Respondent saith That he did previous to the interview with the Indians advise Mrs Bosomworth & her husband not to be present thereat. But as these Meetings are always held in the most public manner where every person may be present that pleases It was not in the Respondents power to prevent their presence. Neither if it had been practicable would it have been prudent to prevent their presence. Neither if it had been practicable would it have been prudent to have forcibly kept them from the Conference Since her Interest with the Lower Creek Indians (being Indian & nearly allied to Malatchy their then Emperor) was such that she might have raised a disturbance on that Account. Since this State of Facts delivered to this Respondent some questions upon this head In answer to which this Respondent then alledged to your Lordships that nothing was transacted at this Meeting relative to Lands & this Respondent again begs leave to repeat his former assertion; For tho Mrs Bosomworth in private conversation with the Indians prevailed upon them to bring the matter of her Grant from Malatchi in question during the confernece Yet in public she was not permitted to have any discourse with them & they were particularly cautioned to regard nothing but what they heard from such as were duly Authorized to confer with them & the discussion of that Grant at that time was waived for several reasons. Because the Agent declared to them he had no authority to do any thing with regard to Lands as it was entirely foreign to the Intention of the Meeting & principally because the Upper & Lower Creeks were divided amongst themselves as to the power of making such Grants. So that the matter was preferred to a future General Meeting of the Upper & Lower Towns not the validity of Mrs Bosomworth’s Grant in particular but the power of making any Grants at all which method was taken as well to avoid the ill consequences which the Entring into a Contest with the Indians might occasion as also because her greatest if not sole influence with the Indians depended on Malatchi who was then dangerously ill & whose approaching death was foreseen & soon after followed & because Mrs. Bosomworth herself could not in the course of nature Live long & whenever she dyes all disputes upon that head will be at an end her husband having no more interest with the Indians than the greatest stranger to them.
Your Lordships were pleased upon this Respondents late attendance at the Board to produce a paper which had been transmitted under the public Seal amongst other papers the Bosomworths thought necessary for the support of their cause in regard to which this Respondent apprehends that the truth of such paper is no more Authenticated by being put under the Seal than that of many other papers (many of which are contradictory to each other) & this Respondent did not at that time recollect that any such paper had been sent for it had not the least reference to the matter than under enquiry which was the usage the Bosomworths had received from the Court of President & assistants & therfore this Respondent might easily pass it over as an useless paper for it appears from the Report which this Respondent had the honor to make to your Lordships that no notice is taken of this paper which is false in every essential point & when it was frequently offered to the agent it was as often rejected by him as fictitious nor would he make any alteration in it tho frequently importuned so to do but declared the whole to be a false Representation of every thing material. And this Respondent further begs leave to observe that it is impossible this pretended Abstract cou’d have any consequences Since it is the constant & invariable Rule never to Regard any thing as the Sense of the Indians but what is delivered by the Mouths of Sworn Interpreters. And here this Respondent cannot forbear again lamenting his difficult Situation. For had this Article been transmitted to him in Georgia he could have proved the whole to be true as above related by the Testimony of all the Interpreters & great numbers of other Persons who were present at the conference.
ANSWER TO THE 6th. ARTICLE. To the 6th. Article this Respondent Admits that Mr Little whom he had appointed to be the Agent for Indian Affairs was allowed to charge 6 Per Cent upon the original cost of the Presents as a Commission to himself; Because this Respondent was informed by letters from Carolina That such was the usual allowance in that Colony upon the like occasion & because the same Commission had been allowed to Mr Patrick Graham the former Agent for the delivery of Indian Presents And this Respondent presumes it will not appear that this charge was extravagant if it be considered that there is a great trouble & fatigue in attending the delivery of these presents to the Indians for 16 Months together & keeping the accounts during that time (for they were not half of them delivered at Augusta but kept in store to be issued as occasion should require And some of them were yet when this Respondent came away from Georgia) & the whole Commission claimed by Mr Little amounted to no more than £45 being 5 Per Cent on £900 the prime cost of the Goods. As to the variety of other charges for entertainments etc. This Respondent is well assured there was no more money expended on this occasion than was absolutely necessary & the best Oeconomy was observed therein. Nor did the charges exceed the money allowed to answer the contingent expenses of this service. Nor did Mr Little furnish any materials for those entertainments but the Bills for the several particulars were attested by those people who furnished them which this Respondent saw before he would pass the Accounts.
ANSWER TO THE 7th. ARTICLE. In answer to the 7th. Article this Respondent agreable to his former letter to your Lordships of the 5th of January 1756 already here stated begs leave once more to assure your Lordships That neither of the two Transports mentioned in this Article & that letter were arrived at Savannah before this Respondent set out for Augusta but just as this Respondent was going into the Boat to proceed thither he was informed that one of those Transports with 120 French was then at Tybee at the distance of 16 Miles from Savannah & would arrive the next Tide. Whereupon this Respondent wrote an order to the chief Pilot forbidding him at his peril to bring any more such people into the province & directing him to give orders accordingly to the other Pilots which would effectually have prevented the Second Transport from coming into the Province (as there was no danger apprehended from the first Since she brought but 120 People mostly women & children Whereas the second had 280 mostly Men) had not Mr Jones (who was one of the Council & Senior Justice of the General Court & first Officer of the Militia) and to whom this Respondent Gave it in especial charge to send his said order down immediately to the Pilot at Tybee Neglected to do so till the Ships were actually arrived. And this Respondent has since had strong reason to believe This Neglect was designed. Had this Respondent upon the sudden intimation given him of the expected arrival of one of the Transports stayed at Savannah a day longer (as he must have done to have called a Council) he would not have been able to prosecute his Voyage to Augusta (being then unable to Ride 150 Miles) for the River then began to fall & had actually fallen many feet So that there would not have been Water enough for the Boat to pass up the River & the Indians would have been highly affronted. If this Respondent had disappointed them which this Respondent considered might have the worst consequences as the French would gladly have availed themselves of such a circumstance. When the Respondent arrived at Augusta He received an Account from one of the Members of the Council of the arrival of these Transports with 400 French at Savannah together with the Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council which he had held thereupon in this Respondents absence wherein it appeared that a supply of provisions was sent on board the Ships which this Respondent approved of & this Respondent says he apprehends it would have been irregular for him to have concerned himself in sending home the minits of the proceedings of a Council held without his being present & who sat without any authority from him & not being able to assemble of their own authority what they then did could not be considered as the proceedings of a Council & this Respondent further saith that the Business thus transacted by the Council might as well have been done by Mr Russell the Commissary alone as it would have been according to the orders this Respondent had sent him if no Council had been held.
And this Respondent further says he does not believe that any of those French Inhabitants perished for want since those who were sick or otherwise unable to work for their living were supplied out of the contingent money. And it appears by the Minutes of the Council of 14th. Decr 1755 at which Mr Kellett himself was present That orders were then given for leave to the French passengers on board the Prince Frederick to land & that they should be allowed for 10 days a pound of rice to each person & that Boats should be provided to carry them to different parts of the Colony & letters to be wrote by the Clerk of the Council to the Magistrates recommending them to their care & it was further ordered that Mr Russell the Commissary should furnish them with provisions & boats. That many others of them built boats for themselves & left the Colony this Respondent knows to be true for having no orders to receive or detain them or fund for their support this Respondent judged it best to let them go as they were all Papists & consequently enemies to our Religion & Government & unfit to be suffered to remain in such a very weak & defenceless Colony as Georgia then was. And many of them were gone out of it before this Respondent came from thence. As to the authentic papers produced by Mr Kellett or any other persons relative to this or any other of the Articles in the State of Facts this Respondent having had no opportunity of seeing the same cannot give a more particular Answer thereto but in General this Respondent begs leave to assure your Lordships that there is nothing advanced in this his Answer which he shall not be able with your Lordships permission to clear up & support in the most satisfactory & most unexceptionable manner.
ANSWER TO THE 8th. ARTICLE. To the 8th Article this Respondent saith that he did very truly allege to your Lordships in his letter of 29th. of March 1756 That the three Members who had been chosen & returned upon this Respondents Writs to compleat the number which his Majesty had been pleased to direct that the Assembly should consist of were none of them admitted to sit. And in case it should not appear to your Lordships from the Journals of the Assembly that they refused to admit these Members or that these Members ever applied or produced any qualification of their having taken the oaths this Respondent humbly Apprehends the Silence of the Assembly in Journals of their own framing in respect to their own irregular proceedings cannot be changed into proof that no such irregular proceedings were had or be alone sufficient to destroy this Respondents Assertion That the three Members were neither admitted nor sworn is not only evident from the silence of the Journals in that respect but from this Respondents Message to the House entred in the Journals of the 13th. in answer to their Message of that day wherein this Respondent acquaints them that he will receive no Message nor book upon any thing valid that may be done by them till his former message be complied with & the elected Members therein mentioned be admitted into the House. So that the non admission of those Members appears to this Respondent to stand confessed upon the face of their own Journals & that the Misunderstandings between the Assembly & this Respondent were occasioned solely by that incident & that they had it in their power from this Respondents own overture to them to remove this understanding by their bare compliance in the admission of those Members which Concession their Journals Show they were not willing to make. If further proofs were necessary as to the non admission of those Members This Respondent begs leave to say It is of public notoriety in the Colony & that if he was now upon the spot he could produce a hundred people to give their testimony both of the refusal of the Assembly & that the Members did attend to be admitted & for that purpose came from distant parts of the province.
As to these Members producing their qualification of having taken the Oaths at the time they applied to be admitted which is mentioned as an essential circumstance necessarily previous to their taking their Seats This Respondent saith It appears from the Journals to have been the custom after the introduction & admission of a Member for the House to send two of their own Members with the Person to be Admitted to take the state oaths before the Governor. The irregularity of this proceeding has been already pointed out to your Lordships by this Respondents Letter of the 29th. of March & by his Message to the Assembly of the 12th. of Febry 1756 transmitted to your Lordships in their Journals & therefore this Respondent will enlarge no further upon it But submits it to your Lordships that had it been such an irregularity & misbehaviour as would have allowed of a discussion by way of address That yet the Address of the Assembly in Answer to this Respondents Speech upon that occasion so far as it respected the Admission of the Members was wholly evasive & uncandid nor did this Respondent otherwise decline the discussion of an address than by Insisting upon the admission of the excluded Members as a preliminary thereto, till which time no Address could be considered as the Act of that branch of the Legislature but of a few Individuals only. Having thus dismissed them with a second Message in answer to their Address This Respondent thought it proper as he had done before to give them time to cool by adjourning them for a few days & reasoning with the most dispassionate Members. Nor did this Respondent entertain the least thoughts of dissolving the Assembly till he found that the Moderation of his Measures only served to encourage them to a more violent & outrageous procedure. For the motives to this dissolution this Respondent must beg leave to refer your Lordships to his Speech upon that occasion to the Assembly upon the 19th. of Feby 1756 as entered upon their Journals to the Speakers protest of the 16th. of the same Month accompanying the same to this Respondents Letter to your Lordships of the 29th. of March 1756. And this Respondent submits it to your Lordships whether (after the violent proceedings of the Assembly) on the 13th. of Febry upon the Receipt of this Respondents Message of Adjournment inforcing the same by violence from the hands of the Speaker in confining him (who was paying due regard to this Respondents adjournment of them) in his chair & compelling him to sign a paper of address to this Respondent against which proceedings the Speaker drew up his declaration and protest in writing (this Respondent could consistent with his duty to his Royal Master & the honor & dignity of the character with which he stood invested so far countenance these irregular & violent proceedings of only eight or nine persons) (for there were not above 12 Members that attended the House at this Session) as to permit their further continuance together & whether this Respondent was not therefore under an indispensible necessity of resorting to the only means in his power to put a stop to this ferment by dissolving such an Assembly who had excluded the three Members above mentioned & had reduced themselves to so small a number that their opinion was far from being the sense of the province (which nineteen persons had a right to represent).
ANSWER TO THE 9th. ARTICLE. In answer to the 9th. Article This Respondent saith That his Majesty in his 13th. Instruction to this Respondent was pleased to declare his Will & pleasure that the General Assembly should consist of 19 Representatives to be chosen in manner therein mentioned & by the 17th. Instruction this Respondent is restrained from giving his assent to any Law for enlarging or deminishing the number of the Assembly. Agreeable to which instructions (both entered on the Journals of the Council) & the obvious sense & meaning thereof as the same appeared to this Respondent He did in his Message to the Assembly of the 12th. Febry 1756 Expostulate with them for their refusal to admit the excluded Members (tho’ without complaint from the district for which they were returned or Petition from any other Candidate) as a very unjustifiable proceeding not only as it was irregular in point of form & a violation of the privileges of the subject but as it was a contempt of the authority his Majesty had been pleased to invest him with to take care that the Assembly consisted of 19 Members & that this number should not be enlarged or diminished. That it was apparent to this Respondent that it was not compleat by the promotion of 2 Members & the removal of one to serve who had never qualified (which was signified to this Respondent in Council under the hand of the said Member) & therefore this Respondent caused the proper Writ to be issued in the Kings name to compleat the number of the Assembly as he was authorized & commanded by his Majesty so to do. That to proceed upon public business without admitting all the Members would be robbing their Constituents of their undoubted right of being consulted in their Representatives & consequently an infringement of their privileges. By which Message this Respondent never intended nor does the same as he apprehends import that the Assembly should understand that no less than 19 could make a House but only that 19 Members had a right to represent the province. If such a number were desirous of being admitted & willing to give their attendance and this Respondent humbly apprehends it was his duty to take care that the whole number if duly elected should be admitted if they desired the same, otherwise ten Members might take upon them to represent the Assembly & exclude the other nine. As to this Respondents issuing Writs for filling up the vacant seats during the interval of the Session it arose from the general discontent there was in the Province in regard to the Laws past in the preceding Session on account of the small number of Members of which the assembly was composed & the difficulty of attending the execution of some of the Laws. And the Members being otherwise duly elected This Respondent submits whether the Writs not being issued in consequence of an application from the House to the Governor (which could not be made during a recess) will be considered as a circumstance of sufficient weight in a Country so newly established as to vitiate such Election & make them void leaving the Assembly at liberty to consider those Elections as void without any enquiry into the merits or providing for new Elections upon a supposition of their being void & at the same time to proceed in the ordinary course of Business as if the House was compleat.
ANSWER TO THE 10th. ARTICLE. In answer to the 10th. Article this Respondent says it appears from the Journals of the Assembly That on the 3rd of Feby 1756 a Message was sent from the Council to the Assembly desiring that House to inform them what was become of two Bills One for “establishing & regulating patrolles in this province” and the other “To prevent the illegal “settling of Lands in the Province of Georgia.” Both of which were returned to that House after the Council had agreed to their Amendments & passed the same the last Session & neither of which were ever presented to the Governor for his assent. And that on the next day the 4th. of Feby upon a Motion made to take the Message at that time in to their consideration the same passed in the negative & the consideration thereof was ordered to be postponed but that the same was not afterwards resumed on that day & that on the next day (the 5th.) after having previously proceeded upon other Business upon a second Message from the Council to the House Resolved to take the same into consideration at 3 o clock that afternoon on which last mentioned day this Respondent admits he did adjourn the Assembly till that day sennight. But this Respondent denys that the Council charged Mr Little or any other person with having secreted these Bills otherwise than as in their Message Nor did he make this short Adjournment in order to skreen Mr Little from any inquiry into his conduct but for the reasons already given by this Respondent in answer to the 8th. Article & as to the charge made upon Mr Little by this Article & supposed to be insinuated by the Message of the Council about his having secreted two Bills, It had appeared upon enquiry to the house during the preceding Session & after they had sent the same up to the Council that the Patrole Bill as it was framed gave great offence to the Inhabitants of Savannah & therefore the same day took those amendments into consideration & they referred the further consideration thereof to the 27th. of March before which time they knew they should be prorogued & they were accordingly prorogued on the 7th. of March by which that Bill miscarried for that Session. As to the other Bill for preventing illegal Settlements of Land The House being of opinion upon further consideration thereof after the same had been returned with Amendments from the Council on the 21st of Febry 1755 That the inconvenience proposed to be remedied by that Act were already sufficiently provided for Did therefore agreeable to their Method of proceeding the same day upon the Patrolle Bill adjourn the further consideration thereof ‘till the 28th. of the same March. So that both these Bills (if it may be allowed to reason from the usage of Parliament) were at an end without ever receiving the Assent of the Assembly in their amended state or being brought to a Maturity for the Governors Assent & consequently the Message of the Council in a subsequent Session relative to those Bills was irregular & inconsistent with the usage of Parliament. All which is apparent from the Journal of the Assembly transmitted to your Lordships in the year 1755.
ANSWER TO THE 11th. ARTICLE. In answer to the 11th. Article This Respondent Saith That this Respondent having represented to your Lordships the extraordinary proceedings & resolutions of the Assembly upon a former occasion your Lordships were thereupon pleased to write to this Respondent That you were concerned to find that this Assembly had laid in such early claims to privileges & powers which tho’ of long usage enjoyed by some other Assemblys were inconsistent with all Colony constitution whatever, contrary to the practice of the Mother Country in like cases & the express directions of his Majestys Commission by which alone that Assembly was constituted & that this Respondent should do well therefore to use such Arguments with the most cool & dispassionate Members upon this point as this Respondent should think would be the most likely to prevail upon them to recede from those unjustifiable claims & pretensions. This Letter the Respondent considered not as written merely upon the occasion then existing which had subsided before this Respondent could receive the Letter but as a general Rule & direction for his future conduct in case of any subsequent Irregularities in the Assembly. Accordingly when this Assembly began again their unjustifiable proceedings in refusing admittance to three Members whose Election was never in the least questioned This Respondent did use such arguments with the most diapassionate Members as he thought most likely to prevail in their private Capacities as Individuals but finding the same ineffectual this Respondent was then obliged to speak out to them in their Collective Body as he did by his Message of 12th. Febry 1756 in the language of your Lordships Letter tho’ not as part of any such Letter but as the General sense of His Majestys Ministers communicated to this Respondent in respect of their irregular proceedings. And it is with the utmost concern this Respondent finds your Lordships considering this as an improper use of your confidence in him by reminding the Assembly of their duty in the most critical conjuncture as this Respondent apprehended in Terms the most significant & expressive for that purpose.
ANSWER TO THE 12th. ARTICLE. In answer to the 12th. Article This Respondent saith It is very truly mentioned in the Memorial of the Council to this Respondent as entred on their Journals on the 12th. of Septr 1755 That Mr Little was this Respondents Private Secretary. But it is not otherwise mentioned therein as this Respondent apprehends that he was appointed by this Respondent to the Office of Secretary Since he never was appointed nor acted in any other Capacity than as Private Secretary to this Respondent for which he received no Salary from the Public. This Respondent admits he did also appoint him Clerk of the Assembly because no other person in the Colony was so well qualified to that Station & this Respondent did also appoint him to the several Offices of Clerk of the Crown & Peace & of the General Court as well on account of his Abilities as for that no other person capable of the Business would accept of this united Clerkship when the profit of those three places together did not amount to £10 a year. This Respondent did likewise for the same reasons appoint him Agent & Commissioner (but not Secretary or Commissary as he is styled in this Article) for Indian Affairs & did also appoint him this Respondents Aid de Camp & justice of the Peace in which Station he did more service to his Majesty & the Province than any other person there. And this Respondent begs leave to observe to your Lordships that there was no Salary annexed to any of these Offices (except £20 a year for being Clerk of the Assembly) & the whole profits of all the places together as this Respondent is very credibly informed did not amount to £80 Sterling per Annum & as the whole of this profit accrued from some few only of the Offices he exercised this Respondent thought it necessary to oblige him to exercise some others which were attended with much trouble & no profit at all.
As to Mr Little being charged by the Council with Malversation in every one of those Offices in a remonstrance said to be printed by them this Respondent answers that he knows nothing of the printing of that Remonstrance & apprehends that the printing & publishing the same was a very indecent & improper proceeding in the Council but admits that Mr Little put in an answer thereto & that the remonstrance which had been delivered to this Respondent on the 2d Septr 1755 was entered upon the Journals of the Council together with Mr Little’s Answer thereto upon the 12th of the same Month being the day when this Respondent received the answer & before which time as the Council were themselves the Accusers there did not appear to this Respondent any necessity for entering the Remonstrance upon the Journals & this Respondent admits it appears by the Journals that on the same day the consideration of the Memorial was deferred till the return of Mr Habersham one of the Councellors & also Clerk of the Council who was then absent in South Carolina. The Article is silent & therefore this Respondent cannot conjecture by whom or in what manner it could be alleged that notwithstanding this the Respondent had a hearing before himself before that Councellor Returned the contrary thereof being true. But this Respondent saith that the Memorial being addressed to himself as Governor & as an application to him in that Capacity he this Respondent did afterwards proceed to hear the same upon Evidence when this Respondent from the Evidence given was clearly of opinion to acquit Mr Little of every charge brought against him Except that he had taken a Dollar from such as offered so much to him instead of s2:d4 for administring the State Oaths in Court as the Act directs. But though it appeared that Mr Little had taken this dollar in some few instances instead of s2:d4, Yet it appeared that he had in no case demanded it but only as it was offered accepted it. Yet in order to satisfy his Accusers & the whole Country of this Respondents impartiality This Respondent dismissed him from those Offices wherein this Transaction happened. The Memorial & Answer together with a second Memorial & this Respondents speech upon the same occasion are all entered upon the Journals of the Council & therefore this Respondent did not apprehend it necessary to transmit to your Lordships any further account of this affair the further proceedings whereon were had before this Respondent only & not before the Council & the rather as the transmission thereof could only tend to reflect discredit upon the Council who had exhibited so heavy a charge which they were so ill able to support. Nor could such Trial as this Respondent conceives appear upon the Minutes of the Council as they were themselves the Accusers and Witnesses & therefore could not with any consistency be the Judges.
ANSWER TO THE 13th. ARTICLE. In answer to the 13th Article This Respondent saith that the person he appointed to be Provost Marshal in the Room of Mr Kellett & whom this Respondent recommended to your Lordships in his letter of the 29th. of March 1756 as a person this Respondent had known many years to be a man of very good character & capacity (tho this Respondent admits him to have acted as his Steward but not as his menial Servant as here alleged) was much better qualified for that Office than any person in the Province being a sober diligent & alert person & in good circumstances in regard to fortune & for the 12 Months he acted did his duty to the universal satisfaction of the people. As to the person appointed to be Searcher of the Customs this Respondent is informed he is the Son of a reputable Tradesman in London & that he never wore a Livery but served Mr Little in copying papers & he was appointed by this Respondent in consequence of a blank Commission being left by Mr Cleland the Surveyor General of the Customs.
ANSWER TO THE 14th. ARTICLE. In answer to the 14th Article This Respondent humbly submits to your Lordships that no other leave of the Crown was necessary to the passing Grants to this Respondent of the 3810 Acres of Land & the three town Lots (containing less than half an Acre each) mentioned in this Article as this Respondent had the advice & consent of the Council thereto. For that this Respondent was authorized by his Commission & instructions with their advice & consent to order Grants of Land to be made out to any of His Majesty’s Subjects desiring the same (in proportion to their ability to cultivate & improve the Lands to be so granted). And this Respondent saith that before the obtaining of these grants he had wrote to Messrs Bell & Harrison (his Agents in London) to contract with proper persons in the African Trade for 50 Negroes to be sent him in Georgia which with the 6 persons in this Respondents family would according to the Rule of his instructions intitle him to take up 2850 Acres And this Respondent was allowed by his Instructions to take up or Grant 1000 Acres to any person that should be desirous of taking up a larger quantity of Land than the number of persons in family would intitle them to provided they were in condition to cultivate the same & that they paid to the Receiver of the quit Rents 5 shillings for every 50 Acres so granted on the day of the date of the Grant & tho’ it so happened that this Respondents Agents in London did not make the Contract for the Negroes as this Respondent had ordered them on account of the War’s breaking out. Yet as this Respondent was in expectation of their arrival this Respondent took up the said Lands for them to occupy on their arrival that they might not be idle & at an expense upon his hands when they came. And this Respondent further saith that as to the 2000 Acres of these lands this Respondent found (after he had taken them up) that they were barren Land & therefore this Respondent took up the extraordinary 1000 Acres & the whole are of so little value that this Respondent would gladly accept of six pence an Acre for his 3810 Acres or less than £100 sterling for the whole tho’ the fees upon the Grants & surveys of the same have cost him near £20 Sterling. But this Respondent admits that he did not pay the £5 which was payable for his extraordinary 1000 Acres to the Receiver of the Quit Rents as in the multiplicity of his Business not being reminded of it the same slipt his Memory & this Respondent further begs leave to observe that several of the Planters in Georgia had more land in the Country than he & several of the Council (& amongst the rest Mr Kellett) petitioned him to Grant them 6000 Acres each Alledging it was the custom throughout America & the West Indies for Members of the Council to have so much granted to them on account of their being Members of the Council. Which Petition of Mr Kellett if the Clerk of the Council had done his duty would have been inserted in the Journal. And this quantity of Lands for the whole of which this Respondent would gladly accept of £100 or less are the whole which this Respondent has to show for £1000 which his equipment for Georgia cost him in the year 1754.
This Respondent having thus in compliance with your Lordships Commands submitted such Answers to the Articles delivered to him in writing by your Lordships order as he is at present enabled to make under the several disadvantages already taken notice of further entreats your Lordships permission for a few words more in respect to some matters mentioned at a late personal attendance at your Lordships Boards relating to the paper Bills current in the Colony.
That this Respondent did not direct the commissioners of the Loan Office (who were the President of the Council another Member of the Council the Surveyor General & two other Members of the Assembly) to be prosecuted for issuing out paper Bills was in compliance with the earnest & repeated solicitations of many of the principal Inhabitants, Members of the Council & Assembly who represented in the strongest terms the necessity the Colony was under of having some thing for want of Cash to serve as a Medium of Trade there being scarce any currency in the Province but promissory Notes of Haris & Habersham & because there was no possibility any other way for the Country to defray the expenses of the Courts of Oyer & Terminer & this Respondent took care that those Bills should never be regarded as a legal tender or be of any other force than mutual Credit might give them & that they never should be accepted for quit Rents or customs or any thing due to the King. If the Secretary of the Province was permitted by this Respondent to receive them for fees due to this Respondent such permission was given at the hazard of the loss purely out of compassion to the circumstances of the Colony. The Clerk of the Accounts did also as this Respondent is informed give Bills of Exchange for them but with this precaution that they should be first accepted in payment by such as had demands upon the Government & notes were likewise taken to make good any deficiency if any should happen from their being refused. This Respondent had also first advertized in the Public Papers at Carolina to get money for Bills of Exchange but without success nor did this Respondent receive more uneasiness in any part of his Administration than from the constant clamor that was raised about those Bills not having a stronger sanction given to them by being accepted in all payments. The necessity this Respondent was under of acting as he did may appear further from this consideration, That the Lieutenant Governor as this Respondent is informed by letters from Georgia has during this Respondents Absence given his Assent to the stamping & emitting more of those Bills to the amount of £638.7.1 1/2 for the payment of the public Debts & the method of giving Bills of Exchange for them has likewise since been constantly followed.
In the course of this defence this Respondent has endeavored & trusts he has kept clear of every wilfull misrepresentation. For any imperfections it may contain his present circumstances must be his excuse. The foundation upon which the charge has been framed he must submit to your Lordships. The Journals either of Council or assembly as they were not of his composing nor the Clerk of the Council of his Appointment he humbly hopes will not be received with all their defects & imperfections of which your Lordships are so well apprised at least as conclusive proofs against him. Much less will he trust the allegations or even letters of anonymous persons (for complaint this Respondent as yet knows of none except from Mr Kellett only), have the least weight with your Lordships to this Respondents prejudice without evidence to Corroborate the same & an opportunity to this Respondent of knowing his Accuser & making his defence to such particular accusation. If Mr Kellett is to stand forth as this Respondents Accuser this Respondent is most ready & willing upon the least intimation from your Lordships to answer every imputation He has already has brought or may hereafter Attempt to bring upon him. But your Lordships will permit this Respondent at the same time to produce some proofs even now in this Respondents hands of that Gentlemans personal misbehaviour in the execution of his Office of Provost Marshall & in his General deportment during his residence in the Colony of which your Lordships must have observed some mention in the Journal of the Council & Assembly.
This Respondent may have been guilty of mistakes but not of any thing criminal or of wilful disobedience of orders. And as for the former this Respondent is persuaded he need not entreat your Lordships Indulgence when you reflect upon the circumstances in which Respondent found this Colony upon his arrival amongst them as the first Kings Governor they had ever received. When your Lordships consider the Arduous task a Governor has to perform who is to frame the first Laws which regulate the police & constitution of Government & that in a Country so poorly inhabited where very few people are to be found capable of executing even the most inferior public Offices & above all when the only persons most capable of contributing their Assistance & who are appointed for that purpose of this Respondent’s Council Instead of contributing the assistance justly expected from them either because they did not owe their appointment to this Respondent or because so many of them having been formerly in the Administration before the Arrival of a Governor were unwilling to part with that power they had so long arbitrarily exercised & to accept a less degree of authority or that they hoped to extort compliances from this Respondent in Breach of his duty became the Authors & promoters of every disorder which crept into the Government & then at last were the first to complain of that confusion themselves had created in order to throw imputations upon this Respondent which he trusts he shall be found not to have Merited since it is as well known that long before the Lieutenant Governor left England there was the most perfect harmony between this Respondent & the people of the Colony in general (except a very few Individuals only who hoped to escape with impunity for their bad conduct by keeping up a misunderstanding) for the new Assembly elected after the dissolution of the former Assembly instead of wasting their time in laying claims to unwarrantable privileges applied themselves during a Session of 3 Months preceding this Respondents departure from the Colony with the most remarkable Assiduity to frame & pass many Bills of great public utility to which this Respondent gave assent & their address of thanks to his Majesty for his gracious appointment of this Respondent to be their Governor transmitted to your Lordships as also to the Secretary of State fully shews their sense of the rectitude of this Respondents administration.
The importance of the charge is so great & the Respondents character so involved in it that he entertains not the least doubt but your Lordships will indulge him with every opportunity & method of making his defence which the law and usage in like cases will admit of more particularly a permission to procure all necessary proofs in support of his vindication together with the Assistance of Council to explain support & enforce them.
Order in Council, May 8, 1758, Kensington, C.O. 5/646, C.39, directing the Board of Trade to draft a commission and warrant for Henry Ellis to be Governor in Chief of Georgia in the room of John Reynolds.
Upon reading this day at the Board a Representation from the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations dated the 21st of last Month proposing that Henry Ellis Esqr the present Lieutenant Governor of his Majestys Colony of Georgia may be appointed Governor of his Majestys Colony of Georgia may be appointed Governor in Chief of the said Colony in the room of John Reynolds Esqr His Majesty in Council approving thereof is pleased to order, as it is hereby ordered, that the said Henry Ellis Esqr be constituted & appointed Governor in Chief of his Majestys said Colony of Georgia in the room of the said John Reynolds Esqr & that the said Lords Commissioners for Trade & Plantation do prepare a draught of a Commission & Warrant for passing the same under the Great Seal & also draughts of instructions for the said Henry Ellis & lay the same before his Majesty at the Board for his Royal approbation.
W. BLAIR
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, May 20, 1758, Georgia, read Nov. 21, 1758, C.O. 5/696, C. 43, giving the state of the colony’s defenses on his recent southern journey.
My Lords
I did myself the honor to write to your Lordships the 31st of March when I forwarded the principal Acts that passed here the last Session.
Immediately after our Assembly arose I took a Journey to the South in order to examine the state of things in that quarter. On my way I touched at the River Ogechee & saw the Fort that had lately been raised there in consequence of the Resolutions of Assembly the last year. It is of a quadrangular figure each side measuring 100 yards constructed with thick Logs set upright 14 feet long 5 whereof are sunk in the earth & has 4 little Bastions pierced for small & great Guns which would make it very defencible. From thence I proceeded to Midway where I found the Inhabitants had inclosed their Church in the same manner & erected a Battery of 8 Guns at Sunbury in a very proper situation for defending the River. I reached Frederica 2 days afterward; the ruinous condition of which I could not view without concern. A dreadful fire that lately happened there has destroyed the greatest part of the Town. Time has done almost as much for the fortifications; Never was there a spot better calculated for a place of Arms or more capable of being fortified to advantage. It lies on the West side of the Island St Simon & on the Chief & most Southern Branch of the Great River Altamaha. The Military works were never very large but compact & extremely defensable. The sound will conveniently admit of 40 Gun Ships & those of 500 Tons burthen may come abreast of the Town but for 3 Miles below it the River winds in such a manner that an enemy must in that space be exposed to our Fire without being able to return it. In short it is of the last importance that that place should be kept in constant repair & properly Garrisoned as it is apparently & really the key of this & the rest of the Kings Provinces to the South but the wretched condition in which it now is makes it easy to conjecture what would be its fate should a Spanish War suddenly break out.
From hence I went to the Island of Cumberland in the South point whereof stands fort William; A post of no less consequence as is evident from the defence it made against 28 Spanish Vessels & considerable land force that attacked it unsuccessfully in the Year 1742.
General Oglethorpe has in my humble opinion displayed a great deal of skill in his choice of such Situations. This Fort commands a noble inlet from the Sea the entrance of the River St Mary which runs deep into the Country & the inland passage thro’ which the runaway Negroes & other Deserters are obliged to go in their way to St Augustine. The works are of no great extent but admirably contrived to be maintained by a small Garrison & might be repaired with no very great expense £3000 sterling would be sufficient & Frederica might be rebuilt with solid & lasting materials as well as be rendered very strong for about £10,000 & until these things are done I apprehend this province & I believe I may add the next will be very insecure.
While I was at Cumberland I saw & had much discourse with Mr Gray. He is a very unintelligible character shrewd sagacious & capable of affording the best advice to others but ridiculously absurd in every part of his own conduct.
He is now settled upon that Island with his family & engaged in a small traffick with the Spaniards & Creek Indians. With him I found a person lately come from St Augustine who informed me that a new Governor & 200 fresh Troops from the Havannah were just arrived there & that the Spaniards persisted in their design of settling a new Colony in the environs of that Castle; & that they were preparing to build two or three other Forts on the River St Juan.
This information has a little alarmed our people which is not much to be wondered at considering their defenceless condition. Another circumstance which augments their fears in an account we have received that 3 french privateers are now cruising upon our Coast whilst we have no vessel of war stationed here to molest them & but a very incompetent force to prevent their Crews doing much mischief should they attempt a descent. It is more than a year & a half since a troop of Rangers were begun to be raised here. The Late Governor drew Bills upon the Earl of Loudoun for their subsistence which were protested. Upon the most urgent & repeated remonstrances his Lordship 10 Months ago furnished me with a Credit upon the Pay Master at New York for £850 Sterling to maintain them till further orders. That sum is expended but those Orders are not yet arrived notwithstanding his Lordship has embarked for England. I am now supporting them upon my own credit which that I may be the longer able to do, I have been compelled to disband half their number & if General Abercromby38 to whom I have repeatedly & pressingly wrote upon this Subject does not speedily authorize me to keep them on foot & appropriate a proper fund for that purpose I shall be constrained to dismiss the rest.
There remains but to acquaint your Lordships that every thing is quiet here & that the Colony improves apparently.
There is a probability that the raising of Silk will engage the attention of our people more than heretofore & that that important undertaking will one day or other compensate for the trouble & expense which has attended its infancy. This Season promises fair in its behalf 6000 weight of Cocoons of a good quality are already brought to the Filature & more are yet expected.
Order in Council, June 16, 1758, Kensington, received May 21, read July 8, 1760, C.O. 5/647, D. 10, approving Henry Ellis’ commission & warrants as governor of Georgia and forwarding them to the King for his signature.39
Whereas the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, have this day laid before His Majesty at this Board (pursuant to His Majestys Order for that purpose) a Draught of a Commission, prepared by them, for Henry Ellis Esqr to be Captain General and Governor in Chief of His Majestys Province of Georgia, together with a Warrant for His Majestys Royal Signature, for passing the said Commission under the Great Seal of Great Britain. Which Draught of a Commission and Warrant being in the usual Form His Majesty was pleased with the Advice of His Privy Council to Approve thereof, and to Order, as it is hereby Ordered, that the Right Honourable William Pitt Esqr One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretarys of State, do lay the said Draught of a Commission and Warrant (which are hereunto annexed) before His Majesty for His Royal Signature.
W. Sharpe.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, June 28, 1758, Georgia, read Nov. 21, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 44, proposing a compromise for the Bosomworth claims and troubles.
My Lords
My last letter to your Lordships Board was dated the 20th of May & contained every thing that then occurred to me worthy of remark. The incidents that have fallen out since & my observations upon them are intended to be comprised in this.
Soon after I had finished my Journey to the Southward (mentioned in my last) I was visited by several Gangs of the Creek Indians with no other view however than to obtain what they could. I gave them a few presents and sent them away contented.
These have been succeeded by about 50 of their Country men now with me among whom are some principal men deputed by their nation to resign in a formal manner to the King for ever the Islands St Catharines, Ossaba & Sappelo & the Indian Land adjacent to the Town which has so long been an object of contention in the Colony. This my Lords is a matter of great consequence to us in as much as it disengages the Indians & leaves this dispute to be decided with the Bosomworths in whatever way may be thought most eligible. Yet still my Lords as I am clearly of opinion that a compromise with these troublesome people will be the most prudent speedy & effectual method of terminating it with advantage both to the Crown & the Colony. I presume it cannot be of much moment who possesses the Lands in question provided they are peaceably & actually annexed to this province & that the possessors of them comply with the terms prescribed by his Majesty to other Settlers. It is not sufficient that nothing is done on the part of the Government towards dispossessing these people since they look upon this as a forbearance which is to last no longer than is convenient & think it incumbent on them in the meantime to employ every means to keep the Indians on their side. The way in which they attempt this is at once the most prevalent & injurious to our Interests.
I mean by inspiring them with Jealousies of our dispositions & designs by disclosing the secrets of our policy which has a tendency to discredit our professions & frustrate our endeavors for the public Service by instigating them to plunder the out settlers which having been repeatedly done with impunity discovers our weakness & encourages them to persist in such profitable outrages & by numerous other flagitious practices that interrupt the quiet of the Colony, weaken our influence, alienate the affections of these Savages & equally favor our Enemies views & their own. These my Lords appear to me as so many reasons; yet how can we punish the authors of them upon Indian Evidence? And no other can be obtained & how is it possible to endure such enormities with patience or suffer them to continue without exposing the imbecility of this Government in the most glaring colours? The little subordination subsisting among the Indians is an unhappy circumstance As the disagreement of a small number of leading men greatly impedes & in some degree invalidates their public Resolutions & it must be allowed that a few of these are still firmly attached to the Bosomworths. Moreover Mr Bosomworth himself is cunning industrious & desperate, his Wife is sensible, speaks the language of the Indians perfectly, & is related to them besides. They are supported by many people here in Carolina & to the Northward to whom they are indebted & who have no other way of reimbursing themselves but by establishing their Title to the Lands in dispute. It is therefore manifest that they are capable of doing a great deal of mischief; yet the steps I have taken to traverse their measure & the ascendency they perceive I have acquired over the Indians has made them tractable. We should avail ourself of this disposition. Delays are highly dangerous & can answer no good purpose for tho’ it is probable I may for some time be able to prevent any disturbance from happening yet this engrosses too much of our time & attention, creates infinite trouble to Government, keeps the Inhabitants under continual apprehensions & occasions an extraordinary expense to the public. And I humbly conceive My Lords that temporary expedients should never be employed but in cases of unavoidable necessity; ‘tis doing nothing to patch up a sore today in such a manner as to be liable to break out tomorrow & grows more malignant by being tampered with & who knows what alterations the incessant importunities & artifices of Bosomworth may produce in the minds of a people so fickle & mercenary as the bulk of these Savages are? My Lords I cannot help being sanguine in this affair. My zeal for the public prompts me to it as I can plainly forsee a multitude of good or bad effects that may flow from the manner in which it is settled. Should the Spaniards come to a rupture with us we might expect powerful assistance from the Creeks & no one would be better qualified to negociate such succours than Mrs Bosomworth who was constantly employed by General Oglethorpe upon such occasions.
Were these people once made satisfied & embarked in one common interest with the other Inhabitants of this province they would be as zealous for its welfare & I am convinced that many advantages of a different nature from what I have mentioned might be gained to the Colony by the additional influence that their Interest would give us for if we have been able to effect so much notwithstanding a steady & violent opposition from them what might we not accomplish if their weight was in the other scale. From these considerations I have reason to expect that your Lordships will enable me as soon as possible to reclaim these enemies of the safety & prosperity of the province & put a period to a dangerous & growing evil.
Copy of an Order in Council, July 8, 1758, Kensington, received May 21, read July 8, 1760, C.O. 5/647, D. 11, approving drafts of general instruction and trade for Henry Ellis, Governor of Georgia.
The Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council
Upon reading this day at the Board a Report from the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of Council for plantation Affairs dated the 7th of this Instant, upon considering the Draughts of General Instructions, as also of those relating to the Acts of Trade and Navigation prepared by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, pursuant to His Majestys Order in Council of the 8th of May last, for Henry Ellis Esqr Captain General and Govr. in Chief of His Majestys Province of Georgia in America. By which Report it appears, That in the said Draughts, the said Lords Commissioners have made no Alterations from the Instructions given to John Reynolds Esqr the late Governor of the said Colony, except only in the following particulars. That in the present Draught of General Instructions, they have amended the 58th Article, relative to the supplying of Vacancys, occasioned by the Death or Suspension of Patentees or their Deputies, so as to make it conformable to the Instructions approved by His Majesty, and given for the like purposes, to the Governor of the Massachusets Bay, New Jersey, and such others, as have been lately appointed; That in the 67th Article relative to Grants of Land; they have inserted such Terms of Cultivation and Improvement as were prescribed by His Majestys Additional Instruction to Mr. Reynolds in August 1755, That they have omitted the 95th Article directing the Governor to enforce the Observance of the 5th and 6th Articles of the Treaty of Neutrality, such Direction being useless and improper in Time of War; And that the Draught of Instructions relative to the Acts of Trade and Navigation, is exactly the same as that approved by His Majesty for the late Governor of Georgia, and all other His Majestys Governors on the Continent of North America. And the Lords of the Committee being of Opinion, that the said Alterations were proper to be made in the said Draught of General Instructions. His Majesty was thereupon pleased, with the Advice of His Privy Council, to approve of both the said Draughts of Instructions, together with the Alterations made in the said Draught of General Instructions, and to Order as it is hereby Ordered, That the Right Honourable William Pitt Esqr, One of His Majestys Principle Secretarys of State, do lay the same before His Majesty for His Royal Signature.
W. Sharpe.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, July 20, 1758, Georgia, read Nov. 21, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 45, informing them of the filature’s burning, of Indian affairs, and of a troublesome French privateer.
My Lords
I have wrote your Lordships several letters of late which an Embargo on the Shipping in these parts have prevented me sending away. My last was dated the 28th of June which I judged would close my packet by this Conveyance; but with the unexpected detention of the Convoy new incidents have fallen out to convince me of my mistake. On the 4th. instant a dreadful fire broke out in the public filature & raged at once through the whole building with such irresistable fury that it was impossible to save more out of it than about 340 lb of wound Silk & the Eggs of the worms reserved for the next season. Between 2 & 3000 Wt of Cocoons were consumed upon that occasion together with all the utensils of the house near £40 in money & many other things of value belonging to Mr Otterlonghe. Had there been the least breath of wind our Council House the provincial Records Arms & ammunition which were lodged therein must inevitably have perished. For tho’ that Building was at the distance of an hundred feet yet the heat was so intense as to set it many times on fire & had it not been for the extraordinary efforts of some Sailors (as the case was) it could not have been saved, the Towns people being intimidated by the dangerous situation of the powder which miraculously escaped. Tho’ this unlucky accident is not to be filed with the List of impediments to the raising of Silk yet I cannot help being very much concerned even on that account as the generality of Men are but too apt to ascribe things to wrong causes, besides I am extremely mortified by the destruction of the Cocoons as I had flattered myself we should have been able to send home a much larger quantity of Silk this year than ever had been raised here in one Season; however I must endeavor to forget what cannot be remedied & only think of guarding against such misfortunes hereafter. The late Filature was dangerously constructed the Basement & floor which should have been brick or Stone were of Fir teeming with turpentine & of course very liable to kindle in a house where seven or eight fires were constantly burning. This disaster seems to have been merely accidental & it is supposed was occasioned by some embers falling between the Boards of the floor where they long lay concealed without making any considerable progress, for the fire did not break out until 4 o’clock next Morning. I propose that the new Building shall be upon a different plan to the end that it may be more convenient as well as secure. Whereon I shall immediately consult the Council as we shall have no more than time to finish it before it may be wanted, a circumstance which puts it out of our power to obtain your Lordships approbation of our design or directions concerning it. Nevertheless every thing shall be done according to the best of our Judgment & with the greatest regard to economy & the public Service.
This Colony still enjoys a state of uninterrupted repose the generality of our accounts from the Indian Country are favorable. All the Towns of the Upper & Lower Creeks are well affected to us except the Cowetas where the Interest of the Bosomworths chiefly centers. The Son of the late Emperor Malatchi who was so well treated here last Winter & departed with the most evident marks of an entire satisfaction is by the insinuations & intrigues of these restless people become extremely discontented & jealous of the English which he has manifested by a late visit to the French Fort at Mobile, but I am not very apprehensive of any immediate effects from what may have happened there notwithstanding. I am of opinion that the smallest disaffection should not pass unattended to. The Wolf King Superior of the Upper Creeks is of a different disposition. He has sent a courier with a letter to acquaint me that he has in concert with the head men of the neighbouring Towns to the number of 200 projected an expedition against the new French Fort upon the Cherokee River. At the same time he has for this purpose sent for ammunition & vermilion & desires I will not be impatient as to the event since he expects to be absent three Months & concludes with strong assurances of his fond attachment to the English & resentment to their Enemies which he hopes upon his return to produce the most convincing proofs of it.
While I am upon such Topics I cannot avoid remarking upon the conduct of the Captains of the Kings Ships stationed at Charles Town during these two Summers. We have been infested with privateers from the Mississippi who have insulted with impunity the Coasts of these provinces & carried off every vessel to be met with. ‘Tis true the Men of War have sometimes gone out stood off & on before Charles Town Bar for two or three days & then returned to port again instead of stretching towards St Augustine, the usual Rendevoz of those privateers and their prizes. 5 English vessels have lately been sent thither by a privateer of 10 & another of 6 carriage Guns, the Captain of whom had the insolence to threaten dismantling Fort William & Frederica.
In order to punish this presumption I have fitted out a vessel for a six Weeks cruise with 14 Carriage 14 Swivel Guns and 90 Men commanded by tried Officers whom I cannot doubt will give a good account of these Gentlemen if they are so fortunate to meet with them.
In a former letter I have observed to your Lordships how ill calculated the Harbour of Charles Town is for Cruising Ships the shallowness of the Water the difficulty of Pilotage the attractives to men of pleasure which that Town affords & the remote situation of the Port from the Tract of the Enemy’s Vessels excepting those that cruise for their Trade are circumstances that will always interfere with the service if the Admiralty should think proper to station a Sloop of War either at Frederica Green Island Harbour at the entrance of Ogechee or at the Mouth of this River merely to cruise upon the Enemy. I think such a Vessel could not fail annoying them extremely as all their Trade from the Mississipi as well as that from their Sugar Islands which of late have come through the Gulph of Florida to avoid our Men of War in the West Indies would be very apt to be intercepted. ‘Tis a strange circumstance that the two privateers above mentioned should have cruised 10 Weeks upon these Coasts without interruption notwithstanding there being in that time generally three of the Kings Ships at Charles Town.
Extracts from two letters of Henry Ellis to the Georgia Agent, April 18 & June 27, 1758, Georgia, read Nov. 28, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 47, concerning his proposal for arming a coasting vessel, enclosed with Ellis, July 20, 1758, to the Board of Trade.
Extract of Henry Ellis to the Agent April 18th. 1758
The proposal I made for a Stout sailing Boat to go occasionally to the different Coasts of this & the neighbouring province by sea I still think a good one & I am confident a crew particularly for her consisting of a patroom of Coxswain & 8 hands upon the same Establishment with the Scout Boat & at the same Wages with her people would be extremely proper & necessary at this juncture. Such a Boat might cost about £120 Sterling.
Extract of a Letter from Ditto 27th June 1758
Sure I am that the Saling Boat would be of great service in the present conjuncture of affairs. I have sent you an Estimate of the expense that would attend the maintaining her but I see I have there ommitted a sum for repairs etc. which doubtless would amount to £50 per Annum & provisions to the Soldiers stationed at Frederica in the Southern part of the Province. The Crew consist of a Coxwain & 10 Men. It is maintained by the Government & the estimate for the same (settled by the Lords of the Treasury in 1752) is £426.7.6 per Ann. The pay Bills certified by the Governor are returned to Merchants in England & paid by the pay Master General by a Warrant from the War Office countersigned by the Lords of the Treasury.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, Aug. 30, 1758, Georgia, read Jan. 16, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 49, informing them that he has received no royal letters or instructions since his stay in Georgia.
My Lords
I have just received a letter from Mr Martyn dated the 26th April wherein he acquaints me he had by that conveyance forwarded a packet for me with another to Governor Lyttleton from your Lordships Board. But by a Letter I had from his Excellency to day I learn that the Captain who had the care of these dispatches threw them over board upon being hailed in french by a Bristol Privateer which he took to be an enemy so that I am yet totally uninformed of your Lordships pleasure or what number of my letters etc. have come to hand not having received one line relative to either since I have been in Georgia. I must beg leave to observe to your Lordships upon this occasion that if duplicates of the dispatches you intend to honor me with are not sent also I may remain here without any instructions. I have just perused my last letters. I find I can add nothing material to ‘em; every thing continuing peaceable & I may say precisely in the same state as when they were wrote so that this will only serve to notify the Miscarriage of your Lordships letters & afford me an opportunity of subscribing myself.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, Oct. 25, 1758, Georgia, read Feb. 7, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 52, lamenting the defenseless state of his frontier province.
My Lords
My last letter dated the 30th of Augt only served to notify the Miscarriage of the dispatches your Lordships intended for me by Capt Fairweather & though nothing very material hath since occurred I cannot suffer any opportunity to slip without transmitting an idea of the present state of things here since I am persuaded nothing can be more satisfactory in times of danger than frequent intelligence from the places exposed to it.
Your Lordships are too well acquainted with the real circumstances of this frontier province to blame my solicitude for its safety or my entertaining some apprehensions of what may happen in consequence of its neglected condition. I have perhaps been too frequent & importunate in my representation upon this head to your Lordships whose zeal for the public I am well convinced of. Nevertheless I cannot avoid being so whilst my remonstrances to other Branches of Ministry seem to be disregarded. I have repeatedly urged these matters in the strongest terms to the Right Honorable The Secretary of State & to the Commanders in Chief of the Kings forces in these parts but hitherto with less effect than I could wish; one point in particular concerns me so much that I cannot now be silent upon it notwithstanding I have so often mentioned it, I mean what relates to the Rangers raised here by my predecessor who are not yet upon any Establishment but have for many Months past been maintained upon my own Credit & risque. They are highly necessary to be kept on foot & have been more than tacitly allowed of by the Earl of Loudoun. I am therefore afraid I cannot answer to disband them although I am not able to support them much longer.
His Lordship gave me a credit last year for £850 to subsist them until further orders but those have never arrived & that sum has been expended long ago.
Since General Abercromby assumed the chief command I have wrote no less than 4 times successively to him upon this very subject but I cannot be favored with one Line to answer. In short this affair has created me a great of uneasiness & embarrassment especially as I have not been able to procure the smallest instruction altho’ no method to gain it has been left untryed. Indeed I am equally in the dark in regard to some other points of moment & notwithstanding my best endeavors I find myself in a very unpleasant & hazardous situation much exposed to censure & mischance.
Surely my Lords if the present times were less perturbed & dangerous there would be sufficient reason for keeping up a small body of Troops here the want of means to inforce the Laws necessarily brings the Government into contempt & constrains me to wink at many enormities committed by our own people & the Savages. It is not uncommon for the former to set their civil power at defiance & Gangs of the latter have more than once lived at discretion upon the Out settlers & drove away numbers of their Cattle. A few Months ago some stragling Indians from the Northward (who are now settled in the Creek Country) robbed & murdered a whole family not 40 Miles from this Town. I immediately insisted upon satisfaction from the Creeks who with some difficulty & reluctance in part gave it to me for one of the Murderers they put publicly to death the others made their escape but partys are sent in quest of them & I have strong assurances that they shall suffer the same fate when they can be taken. It is very happy this affair ended thus for had those Savages been more averse to do justice we could not have compelled them. Our weakness then must have been most apparent & crimes of this Nature would probably have been perpetrated daily. It would be endless to relate to your Lordships the various shifts & expedients I have been induced to conceal our mobility. This sort of management may do for a season but mankind are too penetrating to be long imposed upon even by the most refined policy. As to the rest we remain very peaceable & considering the discouragements of the times the Colony grows & thrives apace. Our savage neighbours in general appear extremely well affected to us & the influence we have acquired with them adds greatly to our Security but it cannot be denied that these people are unaccountably fickle & capricious & that that Security which depends upon their humours must be extremely precarious.
I ought to inform your Lordship that Mr Atkin his Majesty’s Agent for Indian Affairs has been with me these 10 days past. He is just now setting out for the Creek Nation. I have very honestly endeavoured to serve him & render his employment easy to himself & beneficial to the public by furnishing him with all the lights & assistance in my power & by giving him my sentiments on Indian matters with the utmost plainness & candour. In the mean time I must confess I am not entirely convinced of the expediency of his visiting that Nation where every thing at present is perfectly quiet & whilst affairs of an alarming nature are left unsettled behind him. For by my last accounts to the Northward the Cherokees & Virginians were upon the verge of a quarrel with each other & it said that many of the former have deserted General Forbes’s Army; However Mr Atkin assures me he has taken some measures in consequence thereof which I hope will be effectual.
Henry Ellis to William Pitt, Oct. 31, 1758, Georgia, received Feb. 14, 1759, asking for instructions to maintain and keep a troop of Rangers to secure the province’s frontiers.
Sir
I was honoured with your Letters of the 30th of December and 7th of January last, which I immediately acknowledged, but as I have not been favoured with any information relative to the points touched upon in my last Letters, I must now beg leave to resume them and lay before you some further particulars of consequence.
In some former Letters I had the honour to receive from your self, and the Earl of Holderness, I was directed to apply to the Commanders in Chief of the Kings forces in North America, for any assistance that might be thought necessary to the safety of this frontier Province. Convinced of its exposed and defenceless condition, and urged by the solicitations of our Assembly, and the principal Inhabitants here, I applyed to the Earl of Loudoun near two years ago, for a few Troops to remove the apprehensions of the People and protect them from the growing insolence of the Savages, who seemed sensible of our Weakness and inclined to take advantage of it by committing daily outrages and irregularities, at the same time that we were threatened with insults from the Enemys Privateers, who for three months together, infested our Coasts without molestation; there being no Naval force here to interrupt them. This I likewise unsuccessfully represented to Admiral Holbourn.
In consequence of some very Alarming appearances amongst our Indian Neighbours, the late Governor in December 1756 began to raise some Rangers for the defense of the Colony. The Officers for three Troops were Commission’d and forty men for the first one levyed which to this day are unestablished.
When I entered upon this Government I did not fail to write frequently to My Lord Loudoun concerning them, and pressed him in the strongest manner to instruct me how to proceed, whether I should compleat the Troop which was half raised or disband them. His Lordship saw the expediency of keeping them on foot, but gave me no positive, or direct instruction about them further than to authorize my drawing upon the deputy Pay Master at New York for a certain Sum to maintain what were raised untill further orders; but I heard no more from his Lordship.
Upon the change in the chief Command of the Kings Forces I wrote four times successively to General Abercomby upon the same subject, but I have never been able to obtain one Line for answer. So that after soliciting and remonstrating near two years upon this and other material points relative to the Security of this Colony, I find myself precisely where I set out; The Forts on the frontier in the most decayed condition, and except these few Rangers which for eight or Nine Months past have been subsisted upon my own Credit and risque and a small detachment from one of the Independant Companies of South Carolina stationed upon the Ruins of Frederica, no other force is near us. As the above Rangers are highly necessary to be kept up, and were more than tacitly allowed of by the Earl of Loudoun as being well calculated for the Service, I am loth and even afraid I cannot answer to dismiss them, which however I shall soon be obliged to do, if I receive no orders to the contrary. I am therefore to entreat you Sir, that I may be honoured with the Kings Commands upon this Head, for no situation in Life can be more uneasy and embarrassing than that in which I have been for these twenty months past. I have indeed been very fortunate in accommodating most of the differences that subsisted between this Colony and the Creek Indians; and the influence I have acquired amongst them, adds greatly to our security. But it is generally known how unaccountably capricious these people are, and how precarious that Security must be, that depends upon their humours. In the mean time the Colony thrives apace, the people are pretty easy in their minds, and a general tranquility prevails.
Order in Council, Nov. 6, 1758, Kensington, received May 21, 1760, read July 8, 1760, C.O. 5/647, D. 12, ordering William Pitt to lay a warrant for William Grover to be Chief Justice in Georgia for His Majesty’s signature.
The Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council
Whereas the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations have this day laid before His Majesty at this Board (pursuant to His Majestys Order for that purpose) a Warrant to authorize and require the Governor or Commander in Chief of His Majestys Province of Georgia in America, to cause Letters Patent to be passed under the Seal of the said Province, for Constituting and appointing William Grover Esqr. to be Chief Justice of that province, to hold and execute the said Office during His Majestys Pleasure and the residence of the said William Grover within the said Province And His Majesty in Council having been pleased to approve of the said Warrant (which is hereunto annexed) Doth hereby Order, That the Right Honourable William Pitt Esqr One of His Majestys Principal Secretarys of State, do lay the same before His Majesty for His Royal Signature.
Order in Council Nov. 6, 1758, Kensington, received & read Nov. 7, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 41 approving William Grover as Chief Justice in Georgia and ordering the Board of Trade to prepare a warrant for the King.
The Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council
Upon reading this day at the Board a Representation from the Lords Commissioners of Trade & Plantations dated the 25th of last Month setting forth that it is expedient for his Majestys Service that a Chief Justice should be appointed for his Majesty’s Colony of Georgia & that William Grovor Esqr hath been recommended to them as a person every way qualified to serve his Majesty in that Station they therefore propose that he may be appointed Chief Justice of His Majestys said Province of Georgia. His Majesty in Council approving thereof is pleased to order as it is hereby ordered that the said William Grover Esqr be constituted & appointed Chief Justice of His Majestys said Province of Georgia And that the said Lords Commissioners for Trade & Plantations do cause a Warrant to be prepared for that purpose & lay the same before his Majesty at this Board.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, Nov. 9, 1758, Georgia, read Feb. 7, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 53, thanking the Board for his appointment as Governor and forwarding a letter from an Indian trader.
My Lords
Although I have yet had no Letter from your Lordships Board I have accidently heard that His Majesty has been graciously pleased to appoint me Governor in Chief of this province an honour which I am well convinced is owing more to your Lordships goodness in representing my conduct favorably to the King than to any pretensions of mine. I must therefore beg leave to return your Lordships my most grateful & hearty thanks & to assure you that I will very strenuously endeavor not to forfeit the favorable opinion your Lordships are pleased to conceive of me nor disgrace his Majestys Commission.
In my last letter to your Lordships of the 25th. of October I took notice of some dangerous appearances which were arising among the Cherokees but I have since received accounts from several hands acquainting me that affairs there were likely to take a different turn. The following is an extract of a letter to me from a very sensible Indian Trader, which as it contains the best account of this matter that has reached my hands, I beg leave to transcribe for your Lordships perusal.
“Of late our affairs among the Cherokees seem’d to be on a tottering foundation owing to the unlucky management in Virginia. They attempted to form a confederacy of all the Indian Nations against the English particularly the Virginians. Their Embassadors however met with no encouragement from the Creeks who declared that they would take no part in any quarrel between them & the English nor were they more successful with the Chicesaws at New Savannah who gave them a very cold reception & immediately acquainted me with their proceedings.”
“In the interim there happened to be some of the Upper Creeks of the Oakfushee Town in the Cherokees who were beat & abused by the latter at a rum frolick. The Creeks resented this treatment for next day they took their departure & killed 2 Cherokees & scalp’d them. This unexpected blow threw the latter Nation into so great a consternation that it gave an immediate turn to all their designs & seemed at most entirely to quash their resentment against Virginia for now they court their Traders as their only support in time of distress who before were upon the point of being murdered. Should this affair not extend to a rupture between the two Nations it will at least keep them shy & at a distance from each other for some time which will be conducive to the safety of the English provinces in the present critical juncture of affairs. “
As to any thing else my Lords no alteration has taken place since my last.
William Grover to the Secretary of the Board of Trade Nov. 28, 1758, London, received & read Nov. 28, 1758, C.O. 5/646, C. 46, asking the Board’s pleasure with respect to the Offices of the court and the commencement of his salary.
Sir
Your favor is come to hand for which I am much obliged to you & shall obey the commands of their Lordships. I must beg to know their Lordships pleasure with respect to the Offices of the Court & as to the commencement of my Salary for which purpose I am desirous of attending their Lordships Board or Lord Hallifax will receive their Lordships Resolutions from you as to them shall be agreeable.
Order in Council, Dec. 4, 1758, St. James, received May 21, read July 8, 1760, C.O. 5/647, D. 13, giving Henry Ellis permission to repair to a northward colony during Georgia’s hot months to recover his health.
The Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council
Whereas there was this day read at the Board a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations dated the 29th of last Month, Setting forth, That Henry Ellis Esqr His Majestys Governor of the Province of Georgia, hath represented to them, That his Health has been much impaired by the extraordinary Heat of the last Summer, and requested that he may have His Majesty’s Permission, in case he shall find it necessary, to repair to some of His Majestys Northern Provinces during the Hot Months of the ensuing Summer; The said Lords Commissioners Therefore propose That His Majesty would be graciously pleased to grant the said Governor The same permission as is constantly given to the Governors of His Majestys Islands in the West Indies, of quitting their Government, and repairing to any Northern Colony on the Continent of America, whenever it is necessary for the Recovery or Preservation of their Health. His Majesty having taken the same into Consideration, and approving of what is above proposed, is hereby pleased, with the Advice of His Privy Council to permit and allow the said Henry Ellis Esqr Governor of the Province of Georgia, in all times of Sickness to repair to the province of New York, or any of His Majestys Northern Plantations, and there stay for such a Space of time, as the Recovery of his Health may absolutely require.
Memorial of Benjamin Martyn, Agent for Georgia to the Board of Trade, Dec. 18, 1758, London, read Dec. 19, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 48, asking permission to pay £155.5.10 for the listed services to the colony.
Sheweth
That your Memorialist was authorized by a Warrant from the Lords Justices July 29th 1755 to pay a surplus of an Account amounting to £1,400 then lying in your Memorialists hands for such uses & sources as your Lordships should appoint & there being at this time the sum of £790.7.4 3/4 remaining of the said sum of £1,400 your Memorialist humbly desires your Lordships Warrant for his paying the sum of £155.5.10 for the following services, vizt.
Order in Council, Jan. 11, 1759, Whitehall, read Jan. 18, 1759 C.O. 5/646, C. 50, instructing the Board of Trade to present its proposed settlement of the Bosomworth claims.
WHEREAS there was this day laid before the Lords of the Committee a Report made by the Lords Commissioners for Trade & plantations dated the 6th. of last Month upon considering the Memorial & Representation of Cousaponakeesa Rightful & natural born Princess of the Upper & Lower Creek Nations in behalf of herself her Chieftans subjects & Vassals praying a reimbursement of what she has expended for the British interest & such recompense for 20 years personal services as His Majesty shall think fit. The Lords of the Committee taking their said Report into their consideration & agreeing in opinion with what is proposed by the said Lords Commissioners for Trade & Plantations Do therefore hereby order that the said Lords Commissioners do prepare a draught of an instruction for the Governor of Georgia conformable to what is proposed by the said Report & lay the same before this Committee.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, Jan. 28, 1759, Georgia, received April 25, read May 8, 1759, C. O. 5/646, C. 54, giving an account of the new Hanover settlement and of the current state of the province’s affairs.
My Lords
My last letter to your Lordships Board was dated the 9th of Novr since which nothing very material has occurred in this Government. Yet I cannot allow myself to neglect any safe opportunity of conveying to your Lordships an account of every incident that happens here.
I have lately received a letter from the Right Honorable Mr Secretary Pitt directing me to give immediate orders in his Majestys Name to those people who have settled Southward of the River Altamaha without his Majestys license & authority to remove from thence forthwith.40 In the execution of the said Commands Governor Lyttleton is instructed to act in concert with me. We have accordingly consulted together upon the best method of proceedings herein & the course we determined upon was to send from each province Commissioners properly authorized who are to follow the Inclos’d Instructions which are exactly conformable to the orders we have receiv’d. Those Commissioners set out upon that service with the Scout Boat of each province last Week but it is too soon to learn what reception they met with or the time they have given the said Inhabitants to depart with their effects. These points I shall mention here after. In the mean time I am to acquaint your Lordships that this just measure gives great uneasiness to the Inhabitants of our Southern districts who considered these Settlers as a sort of Security to the Colony & to say the truth they were become unfit in diverting the Indians from the thicker settled parts & in intercepting Negroe Slaves who frequently attempt to desert that way to the Spaniards. Yet I am far from thinking these advantages equivalent to the Mischiefs that might justly be apprehended from an association of so licentious a Crew unawed as they were by Government. Nevertheless I humbly conceive My Lords that if it were the Kings pleasure to extend the jurisdiction of this Government indefinately as far as his Majestys rights upon this Continent reached to the South these mischiefs might easily be prevented without giving umbrage or even a handle to the Spaniards to commence any contest about the limits.
If I recollect right by the last Treaty with Spain each power was to keep whatever Lands they were then possessed of in America save such as were therein excepted.41 For many years past the River St Juan has in these parts been considered as the line of partition between us & the Spaniards & it may be needless to remind your Lordships that when General Oglethorpe commanded here we had a fort upon an Island at the Mouth of that River which he afterwards demolished & that we still have one upon the South point of the Island of Cumberland where a small Garrison is now maintained altho’ this lies 60 Miles Southward of the River Altamaha. So that I presume there can be no question of our rights extending at least so far & possibly no great inconvenience would arise from those parts being settled. ‘Tis true in consequence of some outrages committed by the Indians on the Spaniards at the supposed instigation of Grey, The Governor of Florida addressed himself to me in October 1757 requesting I would give Orders that such people as had settled upon what he loosely called his Catholic Majestys Territories should remove there from, but the answer I made to this requisition prevented any further application.
These people have continued there ever since cultivating the Lands & trading with the Spaniards by virtue of secret encouragement given them from the Government of Florida itself. There may nevertheless be good reasons why they should not longer remain there. A very good one indeed it is that they have dared to settle the Kings Lands without license from his Majesty or those acting under his authority. But this objection may not lie against others who might be properly authorized & who would be responsible to Government for their conduct. This is not the case of the present Settlers who have fled from their Creditors in this & other provinces & who without some peculiar indulgences must abandon this Country altogether. Hence there is danger of their going to the Spaniards to whom they may be very useful in promoting their design of Settling a Colony in Florida & should they afterwards attempt & succeed in opening an intercourse & establishing a friendly correspondence between that people & the Creek Indians; such an event might prove highly prejudicial to us. I could therefore have wished it had been in our power to have prevented this by giving them liberty to settle upon the Island of Cumberland. They would then have been serviceable to this Country in general & to our Garrison there in particular which would have kept them in order & I cannot help thinking such a liberty might still be expedient & even necessary altho’ our present Institutions do not authorize it. I hope your Lordship will excuse the freedom with which I perhaps too often presume to offer my sentiments upon such subjects. When our Commissioners set out upon this Business I detached the few Rangers we have on foot to the Southward & have posted parties of them at the principal passes upon the River Altamaha which gives much satisfaction to the people thereabouts since they will be some Security against the desertion of their Slaves. They will also be useful in taking up deserters from his Majestys & the provincial Troops; many of whom fly to the Spaniards & are received & incorporated with the Troops of that Nation. They will likewise contribute to the supressing a practice carried on by some people here & in South Carolina of furnishing the Spaniards at St Augustine with abundance of Cattle & other provisions by Land & thro’ the Island passages by water whereby the object of Embargoes has in some measure been defeated. For by such means Magazines have been formed there to supply the Settlements of the French whose privateers are admitted & encouraged to resort to that Port where they occasionally refit are provided with necessarys & intelligence & from whence they have for 2 years together greatly interrupted the commerce of these parts. And here My Lords it may not be improper to observe that notwithstanding the goodness & advantageous situation of the ports in this province for his Majestys Ships to be stationed at for the protection of the British Trade & annoying that of the enemy yet we are still without a single vessel. And on the other hand altho this is a very dangerous frontier from its vicinity to the French Settlements & some numerous Tribes of Indians yet it is still suffered to continue in a condition too alarming to be described.
The Rangers which I have so often troubled your Lordships about are yet unestablished. I dare not disband them & I have no fund for their support. Upon the expiration of the Earl of Loudouns credit to me upon the Pay Master at New York for this Service I continued to draw Bills as usual until I should receive orders to the contrary but those Bills to the amount of £600 Sterling are now come back upon me protested but no orders. The only alternative now left me is to pay them out of my own pocket or draw Bills upon the Pay Master General at home; the latter I shall venture to do in hopes they will be honor’d for otherwise my situation will be truly hazardous and perplexing nor shall I know how to act upon any future emergency. I am therefore humbly to intreat that your Lordships will be pleased to assist in relieving me from this dilemma by enforcing the representations I now make to the Right Honorable the Secretarys of State & War, The objects of which are that these Troops may be established & their arrears paid.
By this Conveyance I transmit what public papers are ready & a List of what were sent by the last Carolina Fleet which I very much fear have not got to hand as we are just now alarmed by an Account that the greatest part of those Ships were met by a Squadron of french Men of War who took & destroyed many of them. Your Lordships will therefore be pleased to direct that I may be inform’d whether those papers have miscarried to the end that if they have I may forward other Copies.
Our Assembly is now sitting upon the usual Business of this Season. The Members are very solicitous that the duration of their Service in that capacity should be fixed. They lately prepared a Bill for this purpose which I caused to be suppressed in the Upper House after the former had threatened to do no business unless I would pass it but I convinced the Majority of them separately of the absurdity of such conduct & the impossibility of their forcing a compliance which has so far wrought upon them that they proceed as usual relying however that I will represent to your Lordships the great hardship it is upon the people in their circumstances to be obliged to serve the public at a great expense & without the least prospect of being at any time relieved from it.
Might I be permitted to give my sentiments upon this matter they would be that the duration of the Assembly might without any considerable inconvenience be limited to 5 or 7 years and I conceive if something of this sort is not soon done the discontent of the people hereupon will probably increase & be productive of some disagreeable consequences. But I cannot think it should have any power to nominate returning officers, ascertain the qualifications of the Electors or Elected, or to fix or alter the distribution or number of Representatives.
In respect to other matters there are no complaints, for the province under all the discouragements of insecurity improves very fast. Our numbers are augmented from less than 500 Whites to upwards of 7,000 & the Negroes from about 1800 to more than 2,100. When I arrived here the Militia amounted to but 745 & now 12 64 are enrolled, other things are increasing in proportion. The produce of the Country is more than doubled but the sum of it cannot be gathered from the Entrys at the Custom House since the greatest part of it is conveyed into Carolina in small Boats the Owners of which neglect those forms which the Laws of Trade prescribe & this is impossible to be prevented in a Country where there are so many inlets, so few Officers, & where every one may export his goods from his own landing place unobserved. Nevertheless the accounts I have collected from the Merchants & planters may be near the truth & they suppose that there was exported from hence last Year 25000 wt of Indico & about 5500 Barrels of Rice besides a very large quantity of Corn & Lumber to the West Indies.
By this Conveyance Mr Martyn will receive a state of the public Accounts which I suppose he will lay before your Lordships.
Henry Ellis to James Edward Powell, Jan. 22, 1759, Savannah, received April 25, read May 8, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 55, instructing him to go south of the Altamaha and order the settlers of New Hanover to move.
WHEREAS by a Commission under the Seal of this Province bearing date the 22d day of Jany 1759 which will herewith be delivered unto you I have commissionated constituted & appointed you the said James Edward Powell to do & perform all such matters & things for the due & faithful execution of His Majesty’s pleasure concerning the Inhabitants of a certain Settlement to the Southward of the River Alatamaha (made without His Majesty’s License or authority & called by themselves New Hanover) as you shall by these Instructions be required & directed. You will therefore (with the Commissioner constituted & appointed by His Majestys Governor of South Carolina on his part to act in concert with you in the execution of His Majestys pleasure signified to us concerning the said Inhabitants) proceed from hence with all convenient speed to the Settlement above mentioned & being arrived there you will cause your Commission to be read & published with all due solemnity & after publication thereof you will immediately give orders in his Majesty’s name to the Inhabitants of a certain Settlement made without his Majestys license or authority & called by themselves New Hanover to remove forthwith from thence. And if any other Settlement or Settlements shall have been made without His Majestys License or authority you are in like manner to order the Inhabitants thereof to remove immediately from thence.
But for as much as a certain time will be indispensably necessary for the removal of the said Inhabitants with their effects you are to name a day on or before which the said Inhabitants are to remove & when you have so done you are with all convenient speed to return to Savannah. And you will not fail to act in concert in all your proceedings with the Commissioner appointed to act with you by & on the part of the Governor of His Majestys Province of South Carolina & to keep exact minutes & to transmit an account thereof to me by all proper and safe opportunities.
Samuel Martin, Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the Board of Trade, Jan. 31, 1759, read Jan. 31, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 51, desiring the Board to lay before the Chancellor an estimate of Georgia’s expenses from June 24, 1758, to midsummer, 1759.
I desire you will acquaint the Lords Commissioners of Trade & plantations that the Chancellor of the Exchequer hath received his Majestys commands that their Lordships should prepare & lay before the House of Commons an Estimate of expense attending the Colony of Georgia from the 24th day of June 1758 to Midsummer 1759.
Order in Council, Feb. 2, 1759, St. James, received May 21, read July 8, 1760, C.O. 5/647, D. 14, approving the draft of an instruction for Henry Ellis to dispose of lands the Creeks lately ceded to His Majesty.
The Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council
Upon reading at the Board a Report from the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs dated the 1st of this Instant, humbly Offering to His Majesty for His Royal Approbation, a Draught of an Instruction prepared by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, for Henry Ellis Esquire His Majestys Governor of the Province of Georgia, Authorizing and directing him, to dispose of the Lands which the Nations of Creek Indians have lately surrendered to His Majesty, in the manner and for the purposes proposed by the said Instruction. His Majesty this day took the said Report and Draught of Instruction into Consideration, and was pleased with the Advice of His Privy Council to approve of the said Draught of Instruction (which is hereunto annexed) And to Order as it is hereby Ordered, That the Right Honourable William Pitt Esqr One of His Majestys Principal Secretarys of State, do lay the same before His Majesty for His Royal Signature.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, Feb. 10, 1759, Georgia, received April 25, read May 8, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 56, objecting to the Appointment of Patrick Mackay and James Reid to the Council.
My Lords
The 5th instant I received the Kings Commission appointing me Governor in Chief of this Colony with which I think myself highly honored. The same Conveyance brought for my direction & guidance the Royal Instructions.
I was not a little surprised & concerned to find in the first Article Mr Patrick Mackey & Mr James Reid nominated of His Majesty’s Council for this province whether I am to impute this nomination to the powerful solicitation of their friends at London or to the Miscarriage of those dispatches of mine wherein I had given their Character I cannot determine but I am inclined to think the latter for I can hardly admit that your Lordships would disregard any circumstance whereon the peace of the Colony depends. These Gentlemen were introduced when there were already 7 Members in the province & for the support of the most indefensible measures. The latter is a person of no consequence of small fortune moderate abilities & no interest in the Country. Yet these objections are trivial in comparison to those which lie against the other.
I acquainted your Lordships in my first letter that when I qualified as Lieut Governor I had not summoned these two Gentlemen to Council nor of course ever since they were then so well satisfied that I acted without prejudice & agreeable to the Kings Instructions that they seemed not to take the least umbrage.
Mr Mackay had been appointed by Mr Reynolds Senr Justice in the Kings Courts in the Room of Mr Jones one of the Council removed from that Board & the Bench to gratify Mr Little & it is positively affirmed to promote the establishment of Bosomworths Titles to the Indian Lands with a view to share the spoil. Though I was apprised of this intention I took no other step to defeat it than that of encreasing the number of Judges by the addition of 2 Gentlemen of unexceptionable character. Notwithstanding this alteration the Chief Judge conceived he had the sole power upon the Bench & exerted it accordingly in the most arbitrary & partial manner. I will relate one instance to your Lordships as a specimen of his conduct.
The Owner of a Vessel & Cargo which was seized & condemned here (in a very irregular manner by the late Governor) being heated with liquor & exasperated by the severity & unfairness of the preceedings threw out some indiscreet expressions to this effect that if he was deprived of his property the French would be in possession of the province in a twelve month. This being reported to the Governor the man was immediately seized imprisoned & at length sent to England under a charge of treason. Soon after his confinement his Attorney demanded from the Marshal of the Admiralty a Copy of his commitment which was refused. The Attorney prosecuted the Marshal upon the Statute of 31 of Charles 2d which subjected him to a penalty of £100 Sterlg. The Judges unanimously declared he had incurred it but he being an Active & servile tool to the late Governor the Senior Justice exerted himself in his behalf, adjourned the Court in spite of the remonstrance of his colleagues to evade signing the Judgment & contrary to his Oath, became his private Councellor & with his own hand wrote a Memorial & Petition for the delinquent addressed to me setting forth the iniquity of the Judgment & praying for a rehearing. This & several other of his transactions equally inconsistent & unjustifiable proved him most unworthy to preside in a Court of Judicature.
In the mean time he kept up the fairest correspondence with me visiting me by day & plying me with the warmest professions of friendship & attachment whilst at Night he associated with a Cabal of Mr Reynolds partizans composed of no less than 14 Members of the Assembly & 4 or 5 of the Council who solemnly engaged to unite in supporting the late measures & maintaining a strenuous oppositon to mine. Moreover he was privately exerting himself to get into the Assembly where it was agreed he should be chosen Speaker & head the Faction. Being told by one of the party that I had got intimation of his practices & would certainly suspend him from the Bench if he persisted in them he publickly replied “there was no danger for he knew I had neither the power nor spirit to do it.” The temper & moderation I had hitherto preserved in all my proceedings might possibly have deluded in that imagination & encouraged him to go on; accordingly the next thing I heard was his introducing to the Assembly an inflammatory Letter left with him by the late Speaker, many Copies of which I transmitted for your Lordships perusal. He likewise offered himself a Candidate to represent the Town of Savannah in Assembly in the room of that Gentleman. It now became highly incumbent on me to check his career by exposing him & publishing my disapprobation of his behavior which I accordingly did & suspended him from the Bench. The consequences were that he lost his Election & retired highly chagrined. This Miscarriage dissolved the Cabal; & gave me an opportunity of undeceaving the people & reconciling their jarring humours. From that period the Government has been easier administered & the Colony has throve in a remarkable manner. It would be a great evil were those unhappy times revived; & this my Lords would certainly be the Case should that Gentleman be again called upon the Theatre & invested with any degree of power or influence. For all the acrimony & rancour of his party is collected & exalted in him by the remembrance of the mortifications his conduct brought upon him. And should not such irregular & audacious proceedings be discountenanced & publickly stigmatized but on the contrary overlooked & even tacitly approved, there will seem to be no discrimination no reward to distinguish the worthy from the unworthy every restraint upon indecency & insolence will be removed all the petulent & restless spirits among us will be in motion; His Majesty’s Government will fall into contempt & I shall entirely loose my authority & the power of defending the rights of the Crown & promoting the prosperity of the Colony.
The facility with which I have been able to establish several capital points here may in a great measure be ascribed to the influence I have had in the Council for the Assembly are already a Match for the other branches of the Legislature united. But should I loose my weight there by the introduction of violent & disaffected Members every thing must fall into confusion And such a situation of things would have infinitely more pernicious consequences at this time than at any other for now every point is contested as the first steps in the introduction of a constitution became a part of it.
I am therefore persuaded that when your Lordships consider these matters attentively you will be convinced that to reinstate Mr Mackay would be highly impolitic & I have good reason to believe that had he not been an Offender in a public Capacity his private character alone would be a sufficient objection to your Lordships allowing him any I have in the Administration of this Government. For he is universally disliked was disdainfully rejected by the people at several Elections where he offered himself a Candidate & is esteemed an artful implacable & disingenuous Man. He does not even reside in the Colony nor has he ever rendered it any service.
I shall beg leave to detain your Lordships but a moment longer whilst I make a few remarks with respect to the situation of the other Members.
Mr Robinson has been absent from this Province upwards of three years. Mr Russell would never act as Counsellor. Mr Clifton the Kings Attorney declined that honor at first because of the attention the erecting the Courts & forming their constitutions required, but he afterwards qualified & admitted as your Lordships will see in the Minutes of Council & has been extremely useful especially as a Member of the Upper House especially in defending the prerogative against the attempts of the Lower House which is ever ready to invade it as well as in complying & drawing up the public Acts. Indeed this Gentleman & Mr Knox are the only persons there possessed of any talents that way & among the rest if we except Sir Patrick Houstoun & Mr Powell there is not the least zeal for his Majestys Service to be found.
Mr Jones was suspended by Mr Reynolds, Mr Martyn likewise but whether his Majesty has been pleased to confirm or reverse those Suspensions I have not been informed. ‘Tis true Mr Jones’ Name is again in the Instructions but whether of course or in consequence of an approbation does not appear.
Mr Martyn is left out tho he has a mandamus which indeed is of a prior date to these instructions yet I am at a loss to know what regard I ought to pay to it; To admit Mr Jones & reject Mr Martyn without sufficient authority would be subjecting my self to censure at home & give great offence as well as occasion disagreeable animadversions here; These several considerations have prevailed upon me to let things remain as they were to qualify upon & continue to act by the former instructions (which differ from the last only in the first Article) until I can learn by your Lordships means the Kings pleasure hereupon; and if I have acted imprudently in this affair I hope your Lordships will attribute it to want of information & judgment; for I can truly affirm I have done for the best, being persuaded that very mischievous consequences might result from my proceeding which cannot happen from any delaying to carry that particular instruction into execution since every thing is perfectly quiet here & this matter not divulged.
‘Tis possible some regard may be paid to this representation, if there should it may not be improper for me to mention such Gentlemen as are best qualified to supply future vacancies in the Council.
Mr Clifton the Kings Attorney is known to your Lordships; A very good Man. Charles Pryce Esqr a Man of Good dispositions independent fortune & bred to the Law. William Butler Esqr a considerable planter of good parts & universally esteemed. Captn William Mackenzie a Setler from North Carolina of sufficient fortune & understanding & strongly recommended to me by Govr Dobbs as an honest and worthy man.
Henry Ellis to William Pitt, Feb. 12, 1759, Georgia, giving an account of the New Hanover settlement and ideas about the southern frontier.
Sir
Last month I had the honour to receive your letter of the 10th of June, I immediately consulted with Governor Lyttelton upon the subject matter of it; and the best manner of carrying the Kings Commands into execution, in respect to the people settled to the Southward of the River Altamaha, the reputed Boundary of Georgia.
The Course we at length agreed upon, was to send Commissioners properly authorized from each Province, a Copy of the Instructions given them is enclosed herewith. Those Gentlemen set out upon that Service but last Week; it is too soon therefore to know what reception they met with, or the time they have allowed those people to depart with their effects; these particulars I shall mention hereafter. At present Sir, I have only to observe that as these Setters have fled from their creditors in the different Provinces to the North; whither they cannot return, there is danger of their putting themselves under the protection of the Spaniards at St Augustine, to whom they may be very useful in promoting their intention of setling a Colony in Florida; and if they should afterwards attempt opening an intercourse, and establishing a friendly correspondence between that Government and the Creek Indians which they will probably do with success such an event will prove highly prejudicial to his Majestys Interest in these parts. I could therefore have wished it had been in our power to have prevented this, by allowing them to settle upon the Island of Cumberland, where we have a Fort and Garrison that would have kept them in order; and to which they would have been useful.
At present the Lands between Georgia and Florida are said to constitute a part of South Carolina, but I am persuaded Sir you will readily see the impropriety of this State of things, the many inconvencies attending it, and may possibly affix some remedy.
I humbly apprehend that to settle those Lands as far as the River St Mary (at the entrance of which stands Fort William) could give Umbrage to our Neighbors as the River St Juan which in these parts is considered as the common Boundary of the Territory of his Majesty and the King of Spain lies Sixty Miles Southward of St Marys.
When General Oglethorpe Commanded here we had a Fort upon an Island at the Mouth of the River St. Juan, from whence the Garrison was withdrawn in 1736, to quiet the minds of the Spaniards at St Augustine and in consequence of a Treaty between the Governor of that Fortress and Mr Oglethorpe, which act it was stipulated should not prejudice his Majestys Rights in those parts, but no objection has been made to Fort William which is still kept up and Garrisoned. And give me leave Sir to suggest upon this occasion that if it were the Kings pleasure to annex these Southern Lands to this Province either expressly, or in general terms, by extending the jurisdiction of this Government as far as his majestys Territorys extended to the South, the irregularities of Setlers there would be prevented by the operation of our Laws.
Everything remains quiet here and the Colony is in a thriving condition under many circumstances of insecurity.
Henry Ellis to William Pitt, Feb. 12, 1759, Georgia, acknowledging notification of Major General Amherst’s appointment as Commander of the King’s forces in America.
Sir
A few days ago, I was honoured with your Letter of the 18th of September, notifying his Majestys appointment of Major General Amherst to the Chief Command of the Kings Forces in America, and signifying his Majestys pleasure that I should apply to and correspond with that General upon every matter, that may concern, or promote his Majestys Service. As also to obey such Orders, as he may think proper to honour me with, relative to the said Service.
All and every particular of these Commands I shall pay the strictest regard and obedience to, upon every necessary occasion.
Nothing material occurs at present.
Henry Ellis to William Pitt, March 1, 1759, Georgia, transmitting report of Commissioner sent to expel settlers south of the Altamaha.42
Sir
The 12th of February last I did my self the honour to acknowledge your Letter of the 10th of June, relative to the people settled South of the River Altamaha, the reputed Boundary of this Province. At the same time, I took the liberty to give my sentiments upon the situation of things there; (to which I beg leave to refer) and related the steps I had taken preparatory to the carrying the Kings Commands into execution, in reference to the said Setlers.
I now transmit the Report of the Commissioner who was employed on my part in that Service; and also that, of the Commanding Officer of a detachment of the Kings Troops stationed at Frederica, whom I directed to inform me in what manner these people should act after the departure of the Commissioner and the time Limitted for their removal. And tho’ according to the accounts I have received they have done everything which was required of them, yet, I am not without suspicions that they will soon steal back to their habitations; and this I am afraid, it will be impossible for me effectually to prevent; however, I shall exert myself by every means in my power, to divert them from it.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, March 1, 1759, Georgia, read July 11, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 58, transmitting a copy of the report of the commissioner sent to displace the settlement south of the Altamaha together with his comments.
My Lords
Since the sailing of the last Convoy from Charles Town there has happened no opportunity of conveying to your Lordships an account that our Commissioner effected with the people South of the Altamaha. I now enclose a Copy of his Report to me which comprehends a detail of his proceedings & the state in which he found things in that quarter.
I should have mentioned before that this Gentleman carried a Letter from me to the Commanding Officer at Frederica directing him to repair to the Settlements of these people (after the time fixed by the Commissioners for their departure) in order to see in what manner the Kings Commands should be obeyed & his Report accompanies that of the Commissioners.
Your Lordships will perceive by these papers that the number of people settled South of our Boundary is about 300 as most of those whose names are in the inclosed Lists are heads of families; & upwards of two thirds of them had left New Hanover some time ago & sat down with Gray upon the Island of Cumberland. I should have been glad our Instructions had authorized us to suffer their continuing there upon which point I have already taken the liberty to give my sentiments at large in my letter of the 28th of January. I do not think there is a great deal of regard to be had to the steps reported to have been taken by Gray & his adherents as I know him to be a fellow of infinite Art & Finesse; & therefore I am inclined to think these people will steal back to their habitations very soon & it will not be in my power to prevent it having no directions to use rigourous measures for that purpose.
Report of James Edward Powell, Commissioner from Georgia to the inhabitants of settlements southward of the Altamaha Jan. 23, 1759, Georgia, read July 11, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 59, enclosed with Ellis’ letters to William Pitt and the Board of Trade, March 1, 1759, on the success of his mission.
Thursday the 1st of February We arrived at the place proposed for their principal Town by the Settlers South of the River Altamaha. The spot they have chosen for this purpose lyes 30 Miles from the Entrance of the Noble River Sitilly & upon its Banks. The extent & depth whereof is such as ranks it amongst the most considerable Rivers in the Southern Provinces being navigable for large Vessels upwards of 70 Miles & much farther with small ones. There we were kindly received by the Principal Settlers & very much pleased to find their dispositions better than had been represented; for altho’ they had made valuable improvements in one of the finest parts of North America they very submissively agreed to abandon them conformably to His Majestys Commands by us signified to them in the annexed Notification which we put up in the most public places after having read & published our Commissions. This being done we immediately proceeded for the Island of Cumberland where we arrived the next day Summoned the Inhabitants together & repeated the same steps we had taken at Sitilly. The Majority of these people attended but many of the most profligate & refractory stayed away & are suspected of having received encouragement from the Governor of Florida to go & settle there in conjunction with a number of Spanish Families lately sent from their Islands purposely to establish a Colony in those parts & as Edmund Gray the Leader of our people was apprehensive many bad consequences might result from the desertion of so many of his followers which he seemed desirous to prevent he with our approbation drew up the following Instrument & prevailed on the Majority of his Associates to sign it vizt:
Whereas the Inhabitants of New Hanover having been duly required to assemble this day to consider of proper places to remove to in obedience to His Majesty’s commands published here by Commissioners from Georgia & South Carolina And many failing to attend gives us too much reason to believe what we have heard with regret vizt: That some rash persons are resolved to remove into the Spanish Territorys & are seducing many unthinking people to follow their example or connive at a project so contrary to their allegiance & the national Weal. We therefore intreat them to decline a step so undutiful to his Majestys, injurious to the public, destructive to themselves, reproachful to us their fellow Adventurers & contrary to the plain meaning of our Mutual Compact.
But lest any should persist in a design so weak & wicked We do hereby appoint John Cubbage to go to their respective places of abode & assure them that we knowing our duty are determined to adhere to it & will not suffer them or any of them to retire to any place without His Majesty’s Dominions & that we have enjoined him to watch their conduct & take effectual means to prevent whatever may be disrespectful to his Majesty’s Orders or prejudicial to the British Interest & do promise to hold ourselves in readiness to aid & assist him in such manner as he may think most eligible. The first immediately inviting all those that may be well disposed to sign this writing & jointly with us enter into measures so indispensibly necessary.
Signed
1 Edmund Gray
2 Andrew Maxton
4 Marmaduke Perry
5 Joseph Blythe
6 John Copland
7 Edmund Gillman
8 Saml Richardson
9 Edward Bristoe
10 William Hester
11 John Hester
12 Oliver Shaw
13 Joseph Fortner
14 Samuel Mills
15 Edmond Pierce
16 Nathl Wilson
17 Joshua Latman
18 Henry Bedford
19 John Kerrol
20 John Cubbage
21 William McGregor
We then collected the following Names of persons Mostly heads of families who were settled there abouts but we Learned that there were a considerable number of Straglers besides who subsist chiefly by Hunting.
John Williams
Willm Hester
Saml Mills
Andw Palmer
William Ross
Wm Steadman
Thos Carr
John Loney
John Lofter
John Evans
Jas Bryant
Ephm Alexander
Saml Richardson
Doctor Brisko
William Chadows
Joseph Blythe
Joseph Gray
Richard Hazard
Wm McGregor
Joseph Wilson
Marmad Perry
John Pemberton
Giles Moore
Thoms Clemons
Andw Maxton
Anty Fernands
Joseph Goodby
John Cubbage
John Cane Junr
Andw Collins
Joseph Goodson
John Duncan
John Hester
Saml Mills Junr
Henry Bedford
John Copland
James Mathews
Edmund Pierce
Oliver Shaw
Joseph Faulkner
Patrick O’Neal
Wm Carpenter
Edmund Gray
John Cane
Saml Piles
Wm McKintosh
James Westly
Danl Mackay
Philip Sutton
John Bryant
Jacob Whitman
William Gray
Jno Chumby
Jacob Helvenstine
John Percival
Francis Cane
James Jones
John Bennet
Joshua Lipman
Jeremh Helvenstine
Edward Gillman
John Carrol
James Green
Richard Ogilbie
Robert Lucas
Nathl Watson
NOTIFICATION
Whereas His Majesty has been pleased to signify his Royal Will and pleasure to their Excellencys William Henry Lyttleton Esqr Captain General & Governor in chief of His Majesty’s Province of South Carolina & Henry Ellis Esqr Captain General & Governor in Chief of his Majesty’s Province of Georgia That the Inhabitants of a certain Settlement to the Southward of the River Altamaha made without His Majesty’s License & authority & called by themselves New Hanover shall immediately remove from thence & if any other Settlement or Settlements shall have been made to the Southward of the said River Altamaha without such License & authority that they the Inhabitants of any such Settlements shall likewise immediately remove. And whereas their said Excellencys have commissionated constituted & appointed Major Henry Hyme on the part of the Province of South Carolina & James Edward Powell Esqr on the part of the province of Georgia to make known to the Inhabitants of the said Settlement or Settlements His Majesty’s will & pleasure concerning them & pursuant thereto to order them immediately to remove from thence. We the said Commissioners do therefore in His Majesty’s name order all & singular the Inhabitants of the said Settlement to the Southward of the River Altamaha made without His Majestys License & authority & called by themselves New Hanover & all & singular the Inhabitants of any other Settlement or Settlements which shall have been made to the Southward of the said River without such License & authority to remove from thence. But whereas it may greatly distress the said Inhabitants to be obliged to remove from their said Settlements without some time given them to procure others & to carry off their Stock provisions &c We also in consideration thereof allow them 28 days that is to say till the 1st day of March next ensuing the date hereof for that purpose.
Given under our hands & seals this 1st day of February in the 32nd year of His Majestys Reign & in the Year of our Lord 1759.
JAMES EDWD POWELL
HENRY HYME
Order in Council March 3, 1759, St. James, received May 21, read July 8, 1760, C.O. 5/647, D. 15, disallowing six Georgia laws passed in 1755, 1756, and 1757.
The Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council
Whereas by Commission under the Great Seal of Great Britain the Governor Council and Assembly of His Majestys Province of Georgia are Authorized and empowered to make constitute and Ordain Laws Statutes and Ordinances for the Publick Peace, Welfare and good Government of the said Province, Which Laws Statutes and Ordinances are to be, as near as conveniently may be, agreable to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom, and to be transmitted for His Majestys Royal Approbation or Disallowance. And Whereas in pursuance of the said Powers Six Acts have been passed in the said Province in the years 1755, 1756, and 1757, and transmitted, entituled as follow vizt:
An Act to prevent fraudulent Deeds and Conveyances.
Passed in March 1755.
An Act for the ease of Dissenting Protestants within this Province who may be scrupulous of taking an Oath in respect to the manner and Form of Administring the same
Passed in December 1756.
An Act for the better regulation of Courts of Request
Passed in December 1756.
An Act for declaring and Establishing the Method of Drawing and Summoning Jurors in the Province of Georgia
Passed in December 1756.
An Act to explain and amend an Act entitled An Act for declaring and Establishing the method of drawing and Summoning Jurors in the Province of Georgia.
Passed in February 1757.
An Act for the better settling the province of Georgia.
Passed July 1757.
Which Acts, together with a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations proposing the Repeal thereof having been referred to the Consideration of a Committee of the Lords of His Majestys most Honourable Privy Council for Plantations Affairs. The said Lords of the Committee did this day Report to His Majesty as their Opinion that the said Acts ought to be repealed His Majesty taking the same into Consideration, was pleased, with the Advice of His Privy Council, to declare His Disallowance of the said Acts and pursuant to His Majestys Royal pleasure thereupon expressed, The said Acts are hereby repealed, declared Void, and of none effect. Whereof the Governor or Commander in Chief of His Majestys Province of Georgia, for the time being and all others whom it may concern are to take Notice and Govern themselves accordingly.
Report of Thomas Goldsmith, Commanding Officer at Frederica, to Governor Ellis, March 6, 1759, saying that the settlements at New Hanover and Cumberland Island had been abandoned.
Sir
In consequence of your Excellencys Commands & agreeable to what I had the honor to write to you the 5th. of February I arrived at the intended Town of New Hanover & found that the people inhabiting there had quitted the place. I also fell down the River to the Island of Cumberland where the Major part of these people did formerly reside & found that they likewise had left their habitations save one Man only to take care of the effects they had not time to carry off & the fields of Rye which grow there in great plenty.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, March 15, 1759, Georgia, read July 11, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 60, giving an account of his recent troubles with the Assembly.
My Lords
In my Letter of the 28th of January I took notice of the growing discontents among the Representatives in our Assembly owing to the expense they were put to, the injury they suffered in neglecting their private affairs during their attendance on the public Business & to the unlimited duration of their service in that capacity which entailed those hardships upon them. I also mentioned their having prepared a Bill to remedy those inconveniences which with some difficulty I caused to be suppressed in the Upper House. But finding afterwards that the stopping its progress there was like to excite much clamour against the Gentlemen of the Council & apprehending that a diminution of their Credit might be attended with bad consequences hereafter I suffered them to revise the consideration of it which made all smooth again. After some alterations therein it passed both Houses, was presented to me, & laid aside by the Parliamentary Phrase “that I would consider of it.” This disappointment occasioned the enclosed Address which was presented to me before the Assembly rose & in consequence thereof I now transmit to your Lordships a Copy of the Bill;43 my thoughts upon the subject of it are contained in my Letter of the 28th of January.
At present I shall only observe in general that exceptionable as it is in some parts perhaps there never was a more moderate & innocent one framed by an American Assembly. And really my Lords I do not perceive considerable objection to it except that the term proposed for the duration of Assemblys seems too short. And persuaded I am that the people here will never rest until they can obtain some indulgence in these matters; but particularly in respect to this last point which affects them most. I am likewise clear that if any future Assembly should form a Bill with the same views it would be infinitively more objectionable than the present one. For these reasons I should be extremely glad your Lordships would condescend to bestow some consideration upon it soon as it is really a point deserving attention, and in order that the inconvenience complained of for want of such limitation as is sought for may be felt as little as possible & to the end that the discontent of the Members may not increase & infect the people in general I shall in all probability be under a necessity of dissolving the Assembly before long & indeed I intend to suggest as much at the opening of the next Session in November. This step may prevent any immediate complaints & give me time to procure your Lordships advice as to my future conduct herein which I shall impatiently wait for. It would be happy for us if South Carolina was at a greater distance as our people are incessantly urging & aiming at the priviledges enjoyed there. And all those arguments have but a momentary effect which are employed to prove that those privilidges are so many encroachments which in their operation & effects are not so favorable to liberty & the subject as they imagine.
It would fatigue your Lordships were I to recite the many instances wherein these Carolina notions have prevailed with our people over every other consideration. And I am afraid so long as our present intercourse with & dependence upon that Province subsists they will not alter their ideas.
During the late Sitting of the Assembly many Laws were passed but none of so singular & important a nature as to merit particular notice. Some of them have already & the rest will be transmitted by the first safe Conveyance.
Our usual tranquillity continues All the Accounts from the Country of the Indians are favorable but not uncommon, I have frequent visits from small parties of them which serve to keep up an intimacy & are less expensive than formal Meetings, I have not yet had the honor of a Line in answer to the many Letters I have wrote to your Lordships Board; but I flatter myself this will not be the case long.
Bill to ascertain the manner of electing members to the Commons House of Assembly and for limiting the time of their sitting, read July 11, 1759, C.O. 5/642, C. 61. Enclosed in Ellis to Board of Trade March 15, 1759.44
WHEREAS the choosing of Members of the Commons House of Assembly for this His Majesty’s Province of Georgia by Parishes & Districts is thought to be the most just and least expensive method and approaches nearest to the form and method of choosing or electing Members in other His Majestys Provinces therefore We humbly pray your most sacred Majesty that it may be enacted, AND BE IT ENACTED by his Excellency Henry Ellis Esquire Captain General and Governor in Chief of the province of Georgia by and with the advice and consent of His Majesty’s Honorable Council and Commons House of Assembly of the said province in General Assembly Met & by the authority of the same that the persons who shall be chosen to serve as Members of Assembly after the passing of this Act shall be elected and chosen in the manner herein after directed.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that all Writs for the future Elections of Members of Assembly shall be issued out by the Governor or Commander in Chief for the time being forty days before the day appointed for the Meeting of the said Members, and shall be directed to the provost Marshall requiring him to make out Warrants of Election for the several Districts of this Province. And the said Provost Marshall is hereby impowered and required to execute or cause to be executed every such Writ faithfully according to the true intent and meaning of this Act. And each and every returning Officer by him appointed shall some time before the day of Election take an Oath before any Justice of the Peace for the due and faithful execution of his Office agreeable to the directions of this Act; which person so qualified shall ten days before the day of Election post up a Notice in writing on the door of the Parish Church or other public places in the District setting forth the day and place when and where the said Election shall be held to the intent that the time and place of Election may be the better and more fully known. Which Elections respectively shall be executed upon the same days and at the same places as in the Warrants are directed, Provided always that the Elections for the several Districts shall be appointed to be held on different days.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the Authority aforesaid that every Freeman (those that were Slaves and their Offspring only excepted) who has attained to the age of twenty one years And is in actual possession of and hath a legal title to a Freehold of at least fifty Acres of Land or a Town Lot with improvements thereon to the value of Ten pounds sterling in the District where he offers his Vote shall be deemed a person qualified to Vote for a Representative.
It is HEREBY FURTHER ENACTED that the Names of the Electors shall be fairly entered in a Book or Roll for that purpose provided by the Returning Officer to prevent any person’s Voting twice at the same Election and the manner of their Voting shall be as follows: that is to say, each person qualified to vote shall put into a Box or Sheet of paper prepared for that purpose by the person as aforesaid a piece of paper roll’d up wherein shall be written the names of the person or persons he votes for to which paper the Elector shall not be obliged to subscribe his own Name. And if upon a Scrutiny two or more papers be found roll’d up together or more persons names be found written in any paper than ought to be voted for all and every such paper or papers shall be invalid and of no effect and those persons who after all the Votes are delivered in as aforesaid that shall be found to have the Majority of Votes he or they is and are hereby declared duly elected Members of the Commons House of Assembly if they be found qualified as is hereinafter directed.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the Authority aforesaid that no Election for any District shall continue longer than one day beginning at Nine in the Morning and ending at four in the Evening. And that at adjourning the Poll at convenient hours in the time of an Election the Returning Officer shall seal up the said Box or Sheet of paper wherein are put all the Ballots roll’d up and delivered in by the Electors as aforesaid with his own Seal and the Seals of any two or more of the Electors that are there present and upon Opening the Poll shall unseal the said Box or Sheet of Paper in the presence of the said Electors in order to proceed in the said Election.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED that the Returning Officer shall within three days after the Scrutiny is made give public notice in writing at the Church door or in places where there is no Church at some other public place in the Parish or District where the Elections was made to the person or persons so elected that the inhabitants have made choice of him or them to serve as their Representative or Representatives in the Commons House of Assembly under the penalty of ten pounds sterling for his neglect or default therein to be recovered and applyed as is hereinafter directed.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED that the Inhabitants of the several Districts in this Province qualified to vote for Members of Assembly as in this Act before directed shall upon the day of Election according to the precept aforesaid meet at the respective places therein appointed and there proceed to choose their Representatives according to the numbers following (that is to say): For that part of the Parish of Christ Church called the Town and District of Savannah four Members, for that part called the District of Little Ogechee one Member, for that part called Acton one Member, for that part called Vernonburgh one Member, and for the Sea Islands in the said Parish one Member, for that part of the Parish of Saint Matthew called the Town and District of Ebenezer three Members, and for that part called the District of Abercorn and Goshen one Member, for the parish of Saint George and District of Hallifax two Members, for the Parish of Saint Paul and Town and District of Augusta three Members, for the Town of Hardwick and Parish of Saint Philip two Members, for the Parish of Saint John three Members, for the Parish of Saint Andrew Two Members, for the Town of Frederica and Parish of Saint James one Member; and the said several Candidates who upon the Scrutiny are found to have the Majority of Votes they being qualified as is herein after directed shall be and they are hereby declared to be the true Representatives for the said Parishes and Districts.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the Authority aforesaid that every person who shall be elected and returned as is before directed by this Act to serve as a Member of the Commons House of Assembly shall be qualified as follows, vizt: He shall be a free born subject of the Kingdom of Great Britain or of the Dominions thereunto belonging or a foreign person naturalized by Act of Parliament in Great Britain or Ireland that hath attained to the age of 21 years and hath been resident in this Province for twelve Months before the date of the said Writs and having in this Province a Freehold in his own right of at least 500 Acres of Land or has in his own proper right to the value of one hundred and fifty pounds Sterling in Houses Buildings Town Lots or other Lands in any part of this Province.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that the Returning Officer shall and is hereby authorized and impowered to tender and administer an Oath to any Elector at the time of his coming to vote if required so to do by any Freeholder then present which Oath shall be to the effect following (that is to say) I A. B. do swear that I am duly qualified to Vote for a Representative in the Commons House of Assembly of this Province for the District or Parish of _______________ _______________ agreeable to the directions of an Act of this Province intituled An Act to ascertain the manner and form of electing Members to represent the Inhabitants of this province in the Commons House of Assembly and to direct who shall be capable of chosing or being chose Members of the said House and for limiting the time of their Sitting. So help me God.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that if any Member or Members hereafter chosen to serve in the Commons House of Assembly should die, depart the province, or refuse to qualify him or themselves as in this Act is directed or be expelled by the said House then and in such cases the said House shall by Message to the Governor for the time being desire him to issue a new Writ or Writs in manner as herein before is directed for choosing another person or persons to act in the place of such Member or Members so dead departed this Province or who shall refuse to qualify him or themselves or be expelled as aforesaid which person or persons so chosen and returned shall attend the Commons House of Assembly as by the precept shall be directed.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that all and every Member and Members of the Commons House of Assembly of this Province chosen by virtue of this Act shall have as much power and priviledge to all intents and purposes as any Member heretofore of right had might could or ought to have in the said province.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that if any returning Officer shall willingly or knowingly admit or take the Vote of any person not qualified according to the purport of this Act or after any Vote is delivered in at such Election shall open or suffer any person whatsoever to open any such Vote before the Scrutiny is begun to be made or shall make an undue return if any person for a Member of the Commons House of Assembly each person so offending shall forfeit for every such offence the sum of fifteen pounds sterling to be recovered and applied in such manner as is hereinafter directed.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that all and every person and persons appointed to take votes as aforesaid shall for that purpose attend at the time and place of Election accordingly as he or they are directed by the said Warrants and attend likewise on the said House of Assembly two days if thereunto required and being paid his reasonable charges to inform them of all such matters as may be necessary to be known concerning any Election for which they were appointed Returning Officers as aforesaid and shall produce to the said House a List of the Votes for every person that was voted for at such Election (if required) and every person appointed to take Votes as aforesaid who shall omit or refuse to attend at either of the times and places as aforesaid shall forfeit the sum of forty shillings sterling to be recover’d and disposed of as is herein after directed.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that if any person or persons whatsoever shall on any day appointed for the Election of a Member or Members of the Commons House of Assembly as aforesaid presume to violate the freedom of the said Election by an Arrest menaces or threats or endeavor or attempt to over awe fright or force any Elector to vote against his inclination or otherwise by bribery obtain any Vote or who after such Election is over shall menace, despitefully use, or abuse any person because he hath not voted as he would have had him, every such person so offending upon due and sufficient proof made of such his violence or abuse before any two Justices of the Peace shall be bound over to the next Court of Oyer and Terminer himself in six pounds sterling with two Securities in three pounds like money each and to be of good behaviour and abide the sentence of the said Court where if the Offender be found guilty of such Offence and is convicted thereof then he or they shall each of them forfeit the sum of six pounds Sterling and to be committed to Goal without bail or mainprize ‘till the same be paid which fine so imposed shall be paid to one of the Church Wardens of the parish where the offence was committed for the use of the Poor thereof.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that who ever is elected a Member to serve in the Commons House of Assembly before he be permitted to take his Seat and Vote in the said House shall qualify himself by taking the following Oath in the House to be administered by any Justice of the Peace then present or before any other Justice that may be required to administer the same vizt I A. B. do sincerely swear that I am duly qualified to serve and be chosen as a Member of the Commons House of Assembly of this Province for the Parish of ____________ or District of ____________ agreeable to the directions of an Act of this Province intituled an Act to ascertain the manner and form of electing Members to represent the Inhabitants of this province in the Commons House of Assembly and to direct who shall be capable of choosing or being chose Members of the said House and for limiting the time of their sitting and shall qualify himself for the same by taking the usual Oaths and make and sign the declaration appointed by the several Acts of Parliament of Great Britain.
AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that all fines and forfeitures mentioned in this Act and not before particularly disposed of shall be one half for the use of the poor of the Parish where it is incurred to be paid to the Church Wardens of such Parish and the other half to him or them who shall sue for the same by Action of Debt suit bill plaint or information in any Court in this Province.
AND WHEREAS it is extremely inconvenient in this new Settled Province for Members of the Commons House of Assembly to continue to serve any long term of time be it therefore ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that this present general Assembly shall determine and be dissolved at the expiration of three years next after the date of the Writs issued out for calling the same and that every General Assembly hereafter called by virtue of any Writs as aforesaid shall determine and be dissolved every three years next after the date of the respective Writs by which they were called. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the authority aforesaid that the holding of General Assemblies shall not be discontinued or intermitted above twelve Months.
A true Copy taken from the Original 7th May 1759
THOS BURRINGTON
Clerk of the Commons House of Assembly
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, April 24, 1759, Georgia, read July 11, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 63, commenting upon the acts recently suspended and various other subjects.
The 5th instant and not before I had the honor of receiving the 3rd Copy of your Lordships Letter of the 21st of April and with it that wrote the 24th of November last.
The Approbation which your Lordships are pleased in so obliging a manner to express therein of several transactions of mine & the justice & honor you do me in ascribing even my errors to honest and upright motives have the strongest title to my most grateful and hearty acknowledgments.
My Lords I am satisfied that the measures which you object to are not right and therefore I shall not attempt to Justify them. I shall only beg the favor that your Lordships will be so indulgent as to permit me to describe those measures and their causes in the light they appeared here as that may to some degree account for their taking place.
In your first letter your Lordships are pleased to give your opinion on the Asylum Act. I must candidly own the reasons for repealing it appear stronger than those on the other side, And also that it has not been attended with the advantages which were expected as very few hitherto have taken the benefit of it. It was indeed calculated for such as were considered as lost to the state, I mean those who had put themselves under foreign protection. But the present troubles have put it out of their power to avail themselves of it; so that I do not think its repeal would affect us or be attended with any ill consequences even to the very few that it may have induced to come here.
The next point I shall take the liberty to touch upon is the paper currency. I must entirely agree with your Lordships that the issuing of it was illegal and not to be justified as in the act on which it was founded. There was a Clause suspending its operation until the Royal pleasure could be known. What has been issued in my time in the same way I have not failed to remonstrate against but I have been answered by the commissioners that the Bills so emitted were to be considered as their proper Notes of hand for which their private fortunes were answerable. And as every body knew this was the case they might accept or refuse them at their choice, that the public had been in suspense for the fate of the original Bill near three years and that the services to be provided for were urgent and admitted of no longer delay.
It may be proper to observe upon this occasion that the Act passed by Mr Reynolds authorizing Commissioners to issue a paper Currency differs very essentially from the Laws passed for the same purpose in any other Colony for as much as it restrains the Commissioners from issuing any but by way of Loan and that in such small sums & upon such real Securities as exposes the Acceptor to no kind of risque whereas the paper Bills made current in our neighbouring province by a Law which I presume obtained the Royal Assent were issued in payment of the Public Debts and have for any thing I know to the contrary no better basis than that Act which compels the people to take them.
The Act of Parliament quoted by your Lordships passed in 1750 I have not been able to get a sight of but I apprehend the object of it was to prevent any paper Bills being issued for the sinking whereof there was not a proper fund provided and appropriated. Wherefore as no paper Bills have been issued here without such provision having been previously made, it was apprehended no evil could arise from them. As to the Currency emitted since the Loan such Revenues have been appropriated for the calling in and sinking of it as will infallibly do it before the year 1762 which is the period fixed by the original Act for calling in the whole Currency.
The practice of issuing Certificates signed by Commissioners appointed by Provincial Laws and giving these Certificates credit for a certain number of years by virtue of a Clause recited in the body of them obliging the Treasurer to receive them in all payments of the Revenue appropriated for sinking them until the time limited for their circulation expires is I believe an expedient which every Colony in America has in some instances employed with great utility and convenience because it enables the Government to go to a much larger expense in one year than the circumstances of the people would bear to be raised in that time: And my Lords it was imagined that as this method was frequently practiced by the Parliament of England it might be imitated here for the like purposes and on a similar foundation. And it must be confessed that our Currency upon its present basis is less exceptionable than the above Certificates because no person is compelled to receive any payment therein & there is a visible and unexceptionable Security for its being made good when the possessors of it may think proper to require it.
The advantages attending the several emissions of it are manifestly great as will appear by what follows:
As the Money lent to the planters was at a low interest they found their advantage in investing it in Negroes the labour of whom not only served to improve the lands but added also to the export of the province and thereby diminished the Balance of Trade against it. And the Revenue arising from the Interest paid for the use of that money enabled the Government to undertake several important and necessary services without any additional burthen to the people. A burthen that they would have been still less able to bear had they been deprived of the profit arising from the money lent them in consequence of the aforementioned Act. The sum of this Loan was about £2700 which at 6 per cent yielded £162 per Annum one fourth of which or £40.10. -- was by that law appropriated to defray the expenses of the Issue. The other 3/4ths remained unappropriated when Mr Reynolds was recalled. Then the debt of the Province amounted to near £700 and the ordinary civil expense to about £600. The Taxes did not produce £300 so that it became necessary to double them in order to defray the current expense. And as justice required that those who had lain longest out of their money should be first paid even that extraordinary tax must have been solely applied to discharge the Arrears so that the current service would never have been provided for until it was performed. Consequently every Officer would in a great measure have become dependant on the caprice and good pleasure of the Assembly for his maintenance the pernicious consequences whereof are notorious in South Carolina. It appeared therefore of high importance that the arrears should be paid off in order that the then present tax might be applied to the then present service. And as it was impossible to raise so large a sum at once as would discharge the debt & provide for the current services without exceedingly distressing & I may say ruining the Colony it was supposed that there could not be a more inoffensive way of proceeding than that of emitting paper Bills to the amount of the debt & appropriating the Interest of the Loan aforementioned for calling in & sinking them. This was the ground & object of the Bill passed in 1757.
In respect to that passed this last Session all that can be said upon it is this. The Taxes of the preceding year were so far from producing any surplus that they actually fell short of the ordinary expense about £100 in six. In order to keep things in their right track this arrear seemed indispensibly necessary to be provided for with the current service as well as an extra ordinary charge of £113 which was incurred by the measures taken here for the protection of our Coast when we were threatened with descents from the privateers of the enemy so that those two sums added to the ordinary expense amounted to as much as the increase of Taxable property in the province could be supposed to yield.
Your Lordships have been informed of the great danger to which this Town and I may add the Colony is exposed for want of a public Magazine & this danger was thought too alarming to be long overlooked especially when it was considered that any Negro or other ill disposed person had it in his power (with a fire brand) not only to destroy all the Records but disarm the Province at one blast since there is no other place to lodge the Military stores but in the Building where these papers are kept & this is of fir liable to catch fire with the first spark. Another service which could not be postponed was to secure the foundation of the light house at the entrance of this River. An Edifice of general use built at a large expense & which the inroads of the Sea threatened with immediate destruction. This by all means should have been prevented as its fall might be fatal not only to the lives & properties of His Majestys trading subjects in this part of the world but extremely prejudicial to the commercial Interest of this Colony.
The ruinous condition of the Church at Savannah was another object deserving attention it being such as was not only scandalous to Religion highly disreputable to the Colony but dangerous to the lives of those who frequented it.
The produce of the several funds allotted for these Services was insufficient to undertake them immediately; a further Issue of paper Bills was therefore thought requisite and the several funds before appropriated to those Services were now appropriated to the sinking of the Bills so issued.
And this My Lords is a true account of these proceedings which tho’ irregular and illegal I humbly conceive neither has had nor probably will have any bad consequence.
Nothing in my humble opinion is more certain than that a currency of some kind or other is absolutely necessary here. Neither public nor private business can be carried on without it. We have had no trade that brings in any specie & if we had it would not remain here a moment so much is the Balance of Trade at present against us ! Had we no paper currency our produce must be carried to and sold in Carolina or the Carolinians would send their Currency to purchase it and then I apprehend our circumstances would not be mended for the major part of that currency was issued without any real basis or even provision for the calling in & sinking of it and passes here only because it serves to pay our Debts in that province.
Upon the whole my Lords the enquirys I have made and the attention I have given to this subject incline me to think that our people in general are so well satisfied with the present state of our paper Bills that even the confirmation of the Act on which they are founded would scarce mend their credit. However in obedience to your Lordships commands I will take those steps in regard to it which you are pleased to recommend so soon as I can have it in my power to peruse the Resolutions of the British Parliament and the Act which I am referred to.
I am now my Lords to say something upon that part of my conduct which relates to Mr Gray. It is well known he had been settled to the Southward of the River Alatamaha with several of his Adherents many Months before I arrived here or took any notice of him and when I did he was on the best terms and kept up a frequent & friendly correspondence with the Governor of Florida who was very desirous he should become a subject of Spain and settle on the River St John in order to open an intercourse with the Creek Indians whom the Governor apprehended would obstruct the settling a New Spanish Colony in these parts; a design which he had very much at heart & had already engaged his Court in. But as Gray was afraid to put himself in the power of the Spanish Governor & could not effectually be wrought upon he was promised the protection of that Government & was assured that he should not be interrupted by the Spaniards or their Indians altho’ he should prefer settling on the Northern side of that River.
I had the most unquestionable proofs of the reality of this Negociation & of the truth of the above circumstances wherefore I concluded that if Grays settling so near the Spanish Territory was agreeable to the Governor of Augustine his fixing at a greater distance could not be umbrageous. Besides the permission I gave that fellow was not to cultivate & plant the lands but to traffick with our Indian allies, the Creeks, similar permissions having been given those who presided in this Colony ever since its first Settlement. From this view of things I am not without hopes that the steps I took in an affair so full of embarrassment and so big with mischief may appear to your Lordships in a more favorable light than heretofore especially when your Lordships recollect that my correspondence with the Spanish Governor occasioned by the hostilities of the Savages commenced many Months after I had given Gray a trading license and not before as your Lordships seem to suppose.
My Lords I have perused Mr Littles Memorial in reference to the silk culture a Copy whereof I have sent to Mr Ottolenghe for him to answer & I shall now give my own thoughts upon it as your Lordships are pleased to desire it.
It is universally suspected here and I believe upon good grounds that it was more to gratify his private resentments to discharge his engagements with those of his party and to procure them an advantage by employing another Filature which would necessarily be under their direction than to promote the welfare of the Colony by extending the silk culture that Mr Little composed his Memorial and I am sure I do not speak with the least prejudice when I say that altho it is wrote very plausibly yet it is far from being either just or solid. It is there asserted that the single Town of Purysburgh produces half as many Cocoons as the whole province of Georgia. This is not strictly true for the Cocoons which come annually from thence to our filature are I am informed raised in the three Southern Counties of Carolina where this Commodity had been long cultivated under the countenance and with considerable encouragement from that Government.
The employing a filature in Ebenezer would doubtless be a great convenience to those who raise Cocoons there & about Purysburgh, but I very much question that it would be attended with any advantage to the public.
First Because the Cocoons produced in this & the neighbouring Colony are not at present near sufficient to employ the Filature at Savannah.
Secondly Because this would open a door to very great frauds & impositions as the Manager would not be able to controul & inspect two filatures at once.
Thirdly—Because another Filature would require more people in direction and management who must be paid considerable Salaries which would absorb much of the bounty given by Parliament to promote the increase of this Article; And
Fourthly Because the Germans the only people settled thereabouts are already too much separated from the rest of the Colony insomuch that after 20 Years residence many of them scarce understand a word of English & the taking away the occasion of mixing and conversing with the other inhabitants would confirm this evil instead of removing it and be so far from diffusing that knowledge which is proposed that it would really confine it to those of them that are even now sufficiently versed in it. Besides the hardships that those are said to labour under who bring Cocoons from Purysburgh and Ebenezer to Savannah are far from being so great in themselves or injurious to the public as is represented because opportunitys of conveying the Cocoons generally happen two to three times a Week and if that were not the case they have been instructed how to prevent the Worm from piercing them. Indeed if there were a filature erected at Augusta or Sunbury it might have very good consequences as it would be a probable means to engage people there in the raising Silk which hitherto has not been attempted.
But I really think my Lords it is too soon to set the Ebenezer filature a working.
Mr Littles Assertion that to bestow a Bounty on the raising of Mulberry Trees instead of giving it upon Cocoons would have a greater tendency to advance the culture of Silk is I dare say contrary to his own judgment. Every body here knows that what was formerly given in that way was an entire misapplication of the public money for none of those who received the premiums had any other object in view & the Trees they planted for that purpose never came to any thing. The many flagrant instances of this kind determined Mr Reynolds to declare that to prevent such notorious impositions the premium would no longer be given on Trees but Cocoons & indeed this seems the properest way of bestowing it & the surest means of encouraging this Culture in all its states & gradations until it comes to the filature. There are at present great abundance of Mulberry Trees. Many people plant them as well for ornament as use since their fruit are excellent for raising poultry & the cattle are extremely fond of their leaves.
Those who plant with these views take care to fence & preserve the trees which was not the case when a temporary advantage only was aimed at. Nor is it the fact that these Trees must be several years old before they are fit for use the tenderest & best leaves are those from the youngest plants. In all the Counties of the East where a vast quantity of Silk is raised they cut down the Trees or sow Beds of Mulberrys to raise young ones every three years & perhaps if this example was followed here our Worms would be healthier and the Silk prove of a finer quality than it is. In fine My Lords I must think that Mr Littles Memorial contains many gross misrepresentations which must either have proceeded from ignorance or disingenuity. And tho’ it cannot be denied that Mr Ottolenghe has been actuated by very narrow motives & extremely jealous of a competitor in his department, yet to do him justice he seems to have great knowledge in his Business & to have employed it in carrying this valuable commodity to perfection except when he apprehended his importance and subsistence were struck out by the late Rulers. Mean while I shall use my best endeavors to procure that Gentleman a proper Coadjutor & Successor agreeable to your Lordships Commands & I have signified to Mr Ottolenghe that your Lordships future favours will depend on his care to instruct the person whom I shall appoint & on a proper behaviour in other respects. Your Lordships are pleased to express some concern that the raising of Silk makes so inconsiderable a progress notwithstanding the great encouragement afforded for that purpose and desire I would point out the impediments to it which I will endeavor to do and My Lords I imagine they are chiefly these.
First, The aversion & backwardness wherewith all new projects are received when there can be any doubt of the success of them.
Secondly, To the scarcity of poor white people who seem peculiarly calculated for this undertaking as they find it an easier employment than working in the field and;
Thirdly and chiefly because the Planters who have many slaves think it more profitable to employ them in making rice and Indico and until they have a demonstration of the contrary they probably will not alter their opinions, but what many of them have lately attempted the silk with success & their example we may reasonably suppose will have an influence upon others. I cannot think this Country less favorable to this produce than those where great abundance is raised. On the contrary I believe it is well adapted to it for I have now by me several Cocoons spun upon the Trees in out Woods by a wild species of Silk Worm And tho’ this Culture succeeds some years better than others yet this uncertainty is not peculiar to it; many Seasons are fatal to the rice and indico, nay I think these latter as precarious a produce as the silk which for my own part I cannot help thinking is making considerable strides towards perfection.
I am very glad your Lordships approve of the Law for vacating the Lands of absentees & this leads me to resume the subject of granting large tracts upon Family Rights. I have just perused his Majesty’s Instructions upon that head and must crave leave to observe that tho the ability of the Petitioner for Land is recommended to our consideration therein yet the instruction that follows seems a little imcompatible with it: for there the quantity to which each person is entitled seems particularly specified. However this may be a misapprehension of mine & ‘tis possible what I am going to say may be so too. Yet your Lordships will be good enough to excuse me when with the greatest deference I differ in opinion with you. Your Lordships are pleased to say that no mischief can be apprehended from the quantity of land granted provided it is properly improved. This my Lords may be true in respect to the Northern Provinces where the lands are cultivated by white people & where great improvement supposes numbers of such Inhabitants, but I humbly conceive where cultivation is performed by Negroes it makes a material difference for then the number of free & valuable subjects is to be computed from the number of settlements and not from the extent & quantity of the cultivation. I believe it will be allowed that with an hundred Negroes one planter will cultivate more than ten poor families of whites can do. Nevertheless I presume the latter will give more strength & be thought a more valuable acquisition than the former. Laws have been passed in several of our Colonies to oblige planters to augment their Whites in proportion to the increase of their Negroes but these Laws have not produced their effect, and the only measure I can think of that would is that of limiting the extent of plantations; and tho’ this might be considered as an exclusion or at least an hardship upon the wealthy settlers yet it would not affect the middling people who are the most peaceable and useful members of Society. I am also of opinion that these restraints might & should be made up to the people in exemptions and indulgences of another nature. And may I add further my Lords that I conceive that system of policy which may be proper for the middle provinces upon this Continent is not so for those upon the frontier. The first object with the former is the increase of produce and extension of Commerce. In the latter it should be security & defence. The former are secured from danger by their situation the latter exposed to it from the same circumstance. The first might have more indulgencies of one kind, the last more of another. But to return. The regulation I would with submission suggest is this:
When any person is possessed of not more than sixty negroes he should be entitled to his family rights upon the present regulation; for each Negro in family above that number to only 20 Acres until they amounted to 100 & then to 10 Acres a head for any increased number.
This would not effectually prevent the evil of too large plantations and the danger from a multitude of Slaves it would nevertheless retard it and might make people improve lands in another manner; that is they would manure them which no body hath hitherto done the practice at present being to wear one spot entirely out and then clear another.
It gives me the greatest satisfaction that your Lordships have bestowed so much attention to the affairs of the Bosomworths & that there is now a prospect of there being speedily terminated. An event that will have many good consequences and be highly pleasing to the people here who already think themselves under the greatest obligations to your Lordships to whose powerful interposition they owe every thing they have of late obtained.
Mr Chief Justice Grover seems well calculated to please and I have great hopes will do so. Such a Magistrate was very much wanted.
The indian presents arrived safe from Charles Town a few days ago. The Ship on board of which they were appeared off our Bar on the evening of a stormy day, the Pilot being then not able to get off she proceeded thither & has sent us the goods in a sloop. Their arrival is apropos as our store was almost cleared by about four score Creek Indians who lately made me a friendly visit. All the accounts from their Country are uncommonly favorable. That great Nation of French Indians the Choctaws are very desirous to enter into a friendly connection with the English; for this purpose they have made piece with our old friends & their Enemies the Chickesaws & sent 30 of their head men into the Creek Nation. The Wolf King writes me he has detained them there until Mr Atkin, the Kings Agent arrives. The Mauanese a villainous tribe of Indians from the Northward attached to our Enemies & for some time past settled among the Creeks are alarmed at these appearances and have removed for their greater safety to a French Fort upon the Cherokee River as the Creeks have long been meditating their destruction. An hundred & forty of the Chicesaws their inveterate enemies are in pursuit & will certainly cut them off if they over take them before they arrive at their place of destination. These circumstances are favorable to the British Interest & if Mr Aikin makes a right use of them the french may be greatly harrassed & the commerce of the English vastly extended in these parts.
I can add nothing more to this long Letter but that every thing is perfectly quiet within the province & that this season promises fair for a large quantity of Silk.
There remains however to return your Lordships my most humble & hearty thanks for procuring me his Majesty’s leave to go to the Northern provinces when the bad state of my health may make it necessary. Should the heats of the approaching summer prove more moderate than those of the last which were almost intolerable I would hope there will be no occasion for me to leave this Province.
Order in Council, May 31, 1759, Whitehall, received June 2, read June 19, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 57, revoking and annuling the first article of Ellis’ instructions thus allowing him to change the composition of his council.
His Majesty having pleased by his Order in Council of the 21st of this instant to refer unto this Committee a representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade & plantations proposing that an additional Instruction should be forthwith sent to Henry Ellis Esqre His Majestys Governor of the province of Georgia to revoke & annul the first Article of His Majestys General Instructions to the said Governor wherein the Members of the Council for the said Province are named & to nominate & appoint the following persons to be of His Majestys Council in the said Province, Vizt: Sir Patrick Houston, James Habersham, Nobel Jones, Francis Harris, Jonathan Brian, James Mackay, James Edward Powell, William Knox, William Grover, William Clifton & Charles Pryce Esqrs And also further proposing that in case it shall not be thought proper to restore Mr Clement Martin who was suspended by the late Governor that then William Butler Esqr, may be added to the 11 persons above mentioned. The Lords of the Committee this day took the said representation into their consideration & being of opinion that the said Mr Clement Martyn ought not to be restored to his said Seat in the said Council Do therefore hereby order that the said Lords Commissioners do prepare & lay before this Committee a Draught of an Instruction for the Governor of Georgia agreeable to what is proposed by the said Representation & that they do add the name of the said William Butler Esqr. to the afore mentioned eleven persons in order to compleat the number of the Council of the said Province.
Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade July 26, 1759, Georgia, received Nov. 26, read Dec. 14, 1759, C.O. 5/646, C. 65, proposing a settlement to the Bosomworth claims agreeable to all parties, giving the current state of affairs with the Indians, and other subjects.
My Lords
The last letter I had the honor to receive from your Lordships was acknowledged in mine of the 25th of April by the last Carolina fleet. I have since received an instruction from His Majestys authorizing me to settle the long depending dispute with the Bosomworths in the manner recommended in your Lordships Report. Accordingly I appointed a Meeting with those people & after a great deal of discussion of the Merits of their service their disbursements on the public account & their Title to the Indian Lands we fixed upon the following preliminaries each party reserving a liberty of receding from them provided they should prove disagreeable to the friends of the Bosomworths on the one side or to the sentiments of his Majesty’s Council of this Province of the other.
The points premised were the following: First that Mr. and Mrs. Bosomworth should have a Royal Grant in the usual form for the whole Island of St. Catherines.
Secondly that he should have 2000 guineas paid him by the Crown provided that the Islands of Ossaba and Sappelo produced so much in the manner we agreed to sell them. And Thirdly That upon our performing these conditions Mr. & Mrs. Bosomworth should give the most satisfactory & ample discharges & securities against all future claims in regard to the Lands in question or an account of other demands upon the Crown of what nature or kind so ever. At a subsequent Meeting of both parties in the Council Chamber the consideration of these terms were resumed & debated and at length agreed to & an instrument framed thereupon which has been signed and sealed by Mr. and Mrs. Bosomworth on the one part and by myself & the Council on the other. And now these people declare themselves not only contented but entirely devoted to his Majesty’s service & that they will upon all occasions be ready to exert their utmost influence with the Indians to promote the same & preserve the good correspondence which happily subsists at present & I am induced to believe they will endeavor to realize those professions when any occasion may require it. No event has happened here of late that has given such general satisfaction & indeed with some reason as these people were very capable & not a little disposed to do mischief & any wrong step of ours in respect to the Indians would have put it still more in their power.
This much I thought proper to relate to your Lordships upon this occasion but a more distinct account of our proceedings will be transmitted in the Minutes of Council when this matter is entirely finished, Which cannot be done for some time as the Islands are to be advertized for Sale during four Months in the Carolina Gazette.
By reviewing the proposals made by Mr. Bosomworth last year which are in your Lordships hands I flatter myself it will be thought that our present Agreement is full as advantageous as could have been expected from the obstinate temper of our opponents and the critical situation of things which they were well qualified to improve to their advantage.
For some time past the Spaniards & Creek Indians have been at variance a few of each have been slain in their rencounters & there is scarce a probability of their being on more friendly terms whilst the present Governor of St. Augustine continues to act as he has done; for it is to his imprudent conduct & morose deportment that not only the Indians but his own people ascribe the present defection & resentment of the Savages. I am very careful of intermedling in these disputes & keep up an amicable or rather ceremonious Correspondence with the Governor which I find answers some useful purposes.
Our last Accounts from the Creek Nation were not very unfavorable; those Indians appeared pretty well disposed. There were several principal men from the Chactaws amongst them waiting the arrival of his Majesty’s Agent & extremely solicitous to open a Trade with the English. Mr. Atkin’s dilatoriness in going to the Creeks tis said has been attended with two bad circumstances; one, that as it forewarned the French so it gave them time to provide presents to counteract him, & another that it so much disgusted the Chactaws that many of them went back to their Country before his Arrival but since then tis reported they have returned in consequence of his Messages & we have vague accounts (for I have no direct one) that a treaty of friendship and commerce is concluded with them but the manner of bringing it about we are told has not been very pleasing to the Creeks who think themselves somewhat slighted & our new friends too respectfully treated. As this intelligence comes to me from various hands it may be true tho’ I will not answer it is strictly so in every particular since the Indian Traders who transmit it have not the most favorable sentiments of Mr. Atkin. Nevertheless I thought your Lordships had a right to be acquanited with everything I was in possession of in reference to these matters indeed I sincerely wish the Officers of the Crown in general would be more attentive to the national service than to the gratifying of pride vanity or any other narrow ridiculous passion or humour.
I am now to consult your Lordships upon a point highly necessary for me rightly to understand, I mean the manner of constituting a Court of Chancery whether his Majesty’s Governor should preside as sole Chancellor as is customary in some of the Islands or that the Gentlemen of the Council should assist as they do in South Carolina &c. Tho God knows how little desirous I am of engrossing power who feel the anxiety & am sensible of the danger attending the exercise of it yet I cannot but think it absurd that the Decrees of Chancery should be formed upon the opinions of the Majority of Council which may happen not to quadrate with that of the Governor who is nevertheless to issue them as the result of his own Judgment. I know your Lordships are not ignorant that the present form of Government in South Carolina is far from being consonant to that of the Mother Country indeed this is no inconsiderable instance of the difference & if it should be thought improper for us to imitate that Colony in other Branches of Administration there can be no good reason for establishing a Court of Chancery upon the plan adopted there. If I am rightly informed the Governor of Barbadoes presides as Chancellor unassisted but by the Register & Master & if it be true that he has a power occasionally to authorise one of the Council to Officiate in his stead I humbly conceive it is a wise regulation as well as a great convenience on many accounts. I am therefore to request that your Lordships will be pleased to give me your opinion on these matters as such a Court becomes daily more necessary none yet having been established as also whether a provincial Law will not be necessary to give a sanction to its proceedings.
Whilst I am upon this subject I cannot avoid mentioning to your Lordships a great inconvenience the people here labour under by reason of the unseasonable times appointed for holding the other Courts. Mr. Chief Justice Grover having given me his sentiments hereupon in writing I beg leave to transmit them for your Lordships consideration apprehending I cannot make the alteration he requires without an instruction from the Crown since the days for holding the Courts of Oyer & Terminer are already fixed by His Majesty’s General Instructions.
I should also think it highly expedient to appoint a Clerk of the Crown by Warrant with a competent Salary for otherwise no man of character or skill in the Law will accept of that employment the perquisites at present being trifling & if your Lordships should be at a loss for a proper person I would beg leave to mention Mr. Chas Pryce a Gentleman professing the Law here of good repute & sufficient abilities for that Office.
Mr. Martyn will doubtless acquaint your Lordships of the great demands made upon him this year for building the filature & purchasing Cocoons; and tho’ the former has cost a large sum yet it has been done upon the very best terms. We thought indeed that we had made it sufficiently capacious for the present state of the Silk Culture but the great increase of Cocoons this Season has convinced me as it is necessary even to enlarge that Building. I am persuaded your Lordships will not be displeased at this circumstance seeing it affords good grounds to hope that this Undertaking will one day answer the public expectation to evince which we need but observe the progress it has made these three last years.
The year 1757 produced little more than 5000 wt of Cocoons, 1758 upwards of 7000, and 1759 near 12,000. When we are in possession of such facts further argument upon the point are needless.
As the ill state of my health can be of very little consequence in any other light than as it disqualifies me from doing my duty as I ought, this consideration alone induces me to mention to your Lordships that the heats of this Summer have caused a return of my former indisposition with some aggravation. I was indeed preparing to take the benefit of His Majesty’s Leave of absence during the hot season which your Lordships had been so good to procure for me when I received the Royal Instruction to accomodate Mr. Bosomworths affair. This being a matter in my Judgment of very great consequence to the welfare of this Colony I could not with any satisfaction of mind defer the execution of it upon any account whatsoever. I was therefore obliged entirely to wave my design of going to the northward tho’ with great inconvenience & hazard to myself; however I will do the best I can & then I will hope to engage your Lordships good Offices in obtaining my recal for I cannot in justice to the Public to your Lordships recommendation or my own character attempt continuing here a moment longer than I may be of service.
Some late accounts from the back parts of Carolina inform us that the Cherokees had committed several murders there and that they are greatly provoked with the treatment they met with to the Northward. It is certain General Forbes must have been ill advised or he could not have disarmed & dismissed those Savages in so ignominious a manner as we are told he did. I hope the Creeks will continue firm in our Interests since their neutrality has hitherto been the greatest check upon the Cherokees.