James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Aug. 6, 1768, Savannah, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 36, concerning the British Attorney General’s opinion of certain New Jersey laws. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Aug. 6, 1768, Savannah, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 37, concerning attempts to apprehend Mechisedeck Kinsmon, a suspected murderer. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Dec. 13, 1768, Savannah, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 38, concerning correspondence from the Secretary of State. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Dec. 14, 1768, Savannah, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 39, concerning the silk culture, boundary line in southern Georgia, and Alexander Wylly as speaker of the Commons House of Assembly. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

Order of the Lords Committee for Plantation Affairs, Dec. 22, 1768, Whitehall, received Jan. 10, read Feb. 7, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 24, concerning the legal status of slaves and enclosing an extract of a letter of James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Oct. 5, 1768, on the same subject. ⁶⁴

His Majesty having been pleased to refer unto this Committee, an Extract of a Letter from the Governor of Georgia to the Earl of Hillsborough one of His Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State, dated the 5th of October last, acknowledging His Majesty’s great goodness in permitting him to pass such a Law for regulating Slaves as he may think convenient, provided such Slaves be not thereby declared to be Chattels personal, and Expressing his apprehensions that difficulties may arise from such Proviso, and therefore desiring, for the particular Reasons contained in the said Extract of a Letter, that he may be instructed, whether he is at all Events to reject any Negro Law that may be framed, provided it does not declare Slaves to be real Estate, and descendible to the Heir with the Land, The Lords of the Committee in Obedience to His Majesty’s said order of Reference this day took the said Extract of a Letter into Consideration, and are hereby Pleased to refer the same (a Copy whereof is hereunto Annexed) to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, to consider thereof, and Report to this Committee what they Conceive adviseable for His Majesty to do therein.

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, with enclosures, Dec. 24, 1768, Savannah, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 40-42, concerning the assembly session just ended. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Dec. 26, 1768, Savannah, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 43, containing suggested changes in the governor’s royal instructions. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Jan. 14, 1769, Savannah, received and read March 7, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 32, concerning Georgia’s newly surveyed western boundary. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Jan. 30, 1769, Savannah, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 44, concerning colonial views of Parliamentary power and the birth of a royal princess. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Feb. 10, 1769, Savannah, received May 9, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 47, containing observations on several acts passed in Georgia in Dec. 1768.

My Lords

I have now the Honor to Transmit to your Lordships Copys of the Several Bills that I assented to on the 24th of December last with my Observations and Remarks thereon, or on Such of them as Seem to require any. Vizt. The Tax Bill for Granting to His Majesty the Sume of £3046. 16. 8 1/4 for the Support of the Government of this Province for the year 1769. In this Law your Lordships will See the Sume of £560. 0. 0 made Payable to Certain Gentlm. to be Applied in Defraying Such Expences as they Shall Judge really Necessary and Proper towards Settling a Township on the Branches of Ogechee River. On this Article my Lords I must Observe, that a Number of Families arrived here from Ireland depending upon the Encouragement given them by a Law of this Province Passed in March 1766. Which Law was disallowed by His Majesty in Consequence of your Lordships Report against it, But the Royal disallowance was not Transmitted to me, or Notified untill the 6th of March 1768. And before it was Possible for letters to be Sent to Ireland in Order to Countermand and Stop any Persons from Coming out in Consequence of the Encouragement given, Several People were actually Embark’t to the Number of 107 Men Women and Children. And therefore My Lords there was an absolute Necessity to make the above Provision for them, as they had come out on the Public Fairth and Credit of the Province, and I am very Certain that they will make Industrious good Inhabitants, and doubt not but that the beginning made by this Handfull of People will in a little time become a Considerable Settlement, as the Land is very Proper for Wheat, Hemp, Flax, Indico &c. &c. The Township I have Called Queensborough, and that your Lordships may the more Clearly See how this matter is Circumstanced and the Reason of my Concurring in this Article, I have Inclosed the Opinion of His Majesties Council on my Stating the matter to them, and hope your Lordships will approve of the Same.⁶⁵

An Act Intitled “An Act to Empower the Commissioners appointed in and by an Act of the General Assembly Intitled an Act for Laying a Duty upon Negroes and Other Slaves that have been above Six Months in any of the Islands or Colonies in America, and Imported for Sale in this Province and for appropriating the Same Towards the Repairing or Rebuilding the Light House on Tybee Island, and to Prevent Negro Convicts being Imported into and Sold in this Province, To Build a New Light House on any Part of the Land Reserved for the use thereof upon the Said Island, and also for Procuring an Accurate Survey and Chart of the Sea Coasts and Inlets of this Province and Publishing the Same, and for Granting to His Majesty the Sume of £2200 for the Said Purposes, and for appointing and Empowering Commissioners to Issue Certificates for that Sume, and for Sinking the Same and for Further Continuing the Acts herein after Mentioned. ”

The Building of a New Light House my Lords I Look’t upon as a thing of the Utmost Consequence to the Province, as our Trade is daily encreasing, and as our Coast is not Laid down, or so much as Mentioned in any of the Sea Charts, it also appeared to be very necessary to have an Accurate Survey of the Sea Coast and Inlets, and my Lords it being Impossible to Raise so large a Sume in the General Tax for one year, I have under the Power given me by His Majesties 23d Instruction, assented to this Bill for Issuing Certificates to defray the Expence of these very usefull and Necessary Services, taking Care at the Same time that these Certificates are not made a Tender in Law, and that if the Funds Established for Sinking them in three years, Shall Prove deficient, that then the Same Shall be Sunk by the general Tax. And as this Sume is very Sufficiently Secured by the Impost on Shipping, Duty on Seasoned Negroes, and Finally by the General Tax. I Trust this Law will appear unexceptionable to your Lordships.

“An Act to Prevent Fraudulent Mortgages and Conveyances, and for Making Valid all deeds and Conveyances heretofore Made, with Respect to any defect in the Form and Manner of Making thereof, with Certain Restrictions. ”

In April 1763 my Lords I assented to a Bill for the Same Purposes with this. But the then Lords of Trade on the Opinion of Sir M. Lamb, thought Proper to Report Against it, and it was disallowed by His Majesty. But my Lords finding it really to be a Most Necessary Law, I had this Framed in Such a Manner as to Avoid the Objections made by Sir Mathew, as Much as Possible, and hope it may now be Permitted to Remain in Force.

This Law my Lords is Certainly Founded on Equitable Principles, and I hope now not Subject to Legal objections. The Obvious design is, That Persons who become Purchasers or Mortgagees May be Safe in their Purchases and Mortgages, by Recording them as Soon as made, and not Run any Risque of Losing their Money and Estates, by Prior dormant deeds being Produced against them years afterwards, and often ante dated. Purchasers my Lords Cannot know of Prior Conveyances &c. unless Recorded, and if those who have them will not Record them, I Conceive they ought Rather to Suffer, for Vigilantibus non dormientibus jura Subveniunt.⁶⁶ And if they do Suffer it will be by their own Laches [neglect ] & Obstinacy, for now a very Sufficient time is Allowed all former Purchasers to Record their deeds in, and I have had the Law Printed in our Gazette, so that none can Plead Ignorance.

In Infant Colonies my Lords Such as this yet is, Credit is a very Material Article, and it is Consistent with my own Memory and knowledge my Lords that Credit given by the Negro Merchants to the Planters in Carolina has been a very great if not the Chief Means of that Province becoming so Opulent and Considerable as it is. For where an Industrious Man who has good Land can get Credit for a few Negroes, he will Soon be able to Pay for them, and Many tolerable Good Estates have been Made in Carolina without any Capital, or other Foundation than a Tract of good Land and Purchasing Negroes on Credit. And this is what must in a great Measure, and will Promote and increase the Settlement and Wealth of this Province, which is now making a Rapid Progress. But my Lords if their can be no Security had against Prior Mortgages &c. as Proposed by this Law, it will hurt Credit, and I fear Prove very injurious to the Province. And if all the Purchases made at the first Settlement of the Province are to be Set aside in the Courts of Law, (which I will know Many of them may be) for want of Livery and Seisin⁶⁷ or other Legal Formalities, when there was not a Man in the Province who knew what was Proper and Necessary to be done, (for the Trustees would not Suffer Lawyers in their time, or at least discountenanced them) I Say my Lords if this is to be the Case, it will be Productive of great inconveniences and Hardships if not Injustice.

In Carolina my Lords these matters are Provided for by two different Laws. That for Registring Deeds by a Law Passed the 8th of October 1698, and that for Confirming defective Titles by the 28th Section of the Quit Rent Law Passed the 20th of August 1731. And the benefit of which they Enjoy to this day. And therefore My Lords the People in this Province may rather hope they are Intitled to the Same Indulgence, all which is Submitted to Your Lordships great Wisdom and better Judgment.

“An Act for Encouraging the Cultivation of Hemp, Flax and Wheat, and for Regulating the Inspection of Hemp, Flax, and Wheat Flour. ”

The Giving Some Small Encouragement for Raising these Articles My Lords Seemed to be highly Necessary, for at Present we have our Flour and Bisket from the Northern Colonies, and as they take off little or Nothing of our Produce, its a Losing Pernicious Trade, and we have Lands here that will Produce as good wheat as can grow at the Northward, and we have also Exceeding fine Land for Flax and Hemp, the latter of which I have Long wanted to See Cultivated here, as I should hope that in a few years, Great Britain may be Supplied with Hemp from her own Colonies, without the aid of Foreigners.

“An Act for Amending an Act Intitled an Act to Prevent Frauds and deceits in Selling Beef, Pork, Pitch, Tar, Turpentine and fire Wood. ”

Some other Regulations than what were made by the former Law, Appeared Necessary, and which are Provided for by this.

“An Act to Amend and Continue an Act for the Establishing and Regulating Patrols, and for Preventing any Person from Purchasing Provisions or any Other Commodities from, or Selling Such to any Slave, unless Such Slave Shall Produce a Ticket from his or her owner Manager, or Employer. ”

The Several New Matters Provided for by this Law my Lords Seemed Extremely Proper and Necessary for our Internal Safety and Welfare. And upon the whole I am hopefull Nothing will appear Exceptionable in any of the Laws made in the last Short Session.

I also now Transmit the Journals of the Council as an upper House, and the Journals of the Assembly during the last Session.

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, March 8, 1769, Savannah, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 45, concerning laws passed in Georgia and the granting of large tracts of land. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

Order in Council, March 6, 1769, St. James, received Dec. 12, read Dec. 21, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 39, allowing Georgia to declare slaves chattels personal.

Whereas there was this Day read at the Board a Report from the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council for plantation Affairs Dated the 18th of last Month in the Words following Vizt.

His Majesty taking the said Report into Consideration, was pleased, with the advice of His privy Council, to approve of what is therein proposed, and doth hereby permit and allow the Governor or Commander in Chief of His Majestys said Province of Georgia to Give his Assent to An Act, whereby Slaves may be Declared to be Chattels personal; provided a Clause be inserted in such Act to prevent it’s taking Effect until His Majestys Royal Pleasure shall be known thereupon. And His Majesty doth hereby Order that the Right Honourable the Earl of Hillsborough, One of His Majestys principal Secretaries of State do Signify His Majestys said permission & Allowance to the said Governor or Commander in Chief of the Province of Georgia accordingly.

Grey Cooper, Secretary to the Lord Commissioners of the Treasury, to John Pownall, Secretary to the Board of Trade, April 14, 1769, received and read April 14, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 33, concerning a silk bounty on silk grown in the British colonies in America.

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of His Majestys Treasury to transmit to you the inclosed Copy of a Letter from Mr. Stanley Secretary to the Commissioners of the Customs; for the information of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations; and I am at the same time to desire you will move their Lordships to cause a proper Clause to be immediately prepared for granting Bounties on raw silk of the growth of, and imported from the British Colonies in America; in the manner proposed in the said Letter.⁶⁸

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, June 26, 1769, Savannah, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 46, concerning the calling of a new assembly, the silk culture, and recent proceedings of the Spaniards and Indians. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Board of Trade, July 5, 1769, Savannah, received Aug. 17, read Dec. 6, 1769, C.O. 5/650, G. 50, concerning payments from the contingent and Indian funds.

My Lords

I have the Honor to Acquaint your Lordships That on the 4th instant the Contingent & Indian Accounts from Midsummer 1768 to Midsummer 1769 were Examined by me in Council & Approved & Passed to the Amount of £261.5.4 Sterl and that I have given the following Certificates for the Sume Vizt. one to Mr. George Baillie for £111.5.4, one to him also for £100 and one to Mr. Nunes for £50.

The Account of Indian Expences is much higher than it has been for Several years, but this was Occasioned by the great Number of Indians that have been down with me in the Course of the last year, Relative to the Agreeing upon Settling & Marking the Boundary Line, and on which Occasion it was absolutely Necessary to Send them back in Good Humour. And besides this Expence, I Prevailed on the assembly to Pay an Account of Indian Expences on Marking the Line &c. £363. 8. 9 Sterl. as appears by the Estimate in the last Tax Law. The Certificate in favour of Mr. Nunes for £50 as Indian Interpreter My Lords Stands thus, Such an officer always was, now is, & will be as Long as we have any Connection with Indians absolutely Necessary, and Mr. Nunes acted as Such when I came to the Government, & has Continued to do so ever Since, but never had any Salary or Allowance from Government till June Say Midsummer 1767. He was appointed a Lieutenant in one of the Troops of Rangers, in Consideration of which he Undertook to Act as Indian Interpreter, and discharged that very Troublesome Office & duty Faithfully & to my Satisfaction. The Rangers were Broke the last of March 1767. And then Mr. Nunes Said he could not give up so much of his time without Some Pay for it, and it being Impossible for me to receive Indians (who frequently come to me at Savannah) and Transact business with them without an Interpreter I Consulted the Gentl. of the Council upon it, and who unanimously Advised me to Continue Mr. Nunes & Give him a Certificate for £50 per ann. to be Paid out of the Contingent Money. And which Sume I assure your Lordships he very Clearly Earns, and I Cannot therefore doubt but that your Lordships will be Pleased to Allow it to be Continued & Paid out of the Contingencies, it being for a Service of the Utmost Consequence & Indispensably Necessary.

I have also on the 3d. Instant Signed the Scout Boat Certificates Amounting to £355. 1. 8 1/2 Sterl. which Sume is Something higher than usual as the Boat wanted a Suit of New Sails & Many Repairs which were Represented to me as really Necessary. I have also given Messrs. Alexander Findley & James Seymour a Cert. for £26 Sterl. as Schoolmasters from June 1768, to June 1769.

I have Nothing further Material to Trouble your Lordships with at Present.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Sept. 28, 1769, Savannah, received May 3, read May 4, 1770, C.O. 5/650, G. 52, concerning Noble Jones’s acting as chief justice.

My Lords

I take the Liberty to Acquaint Your Lordships That Noble Jones Esqr. Senior Judge of the Courts here, has in every Respect done & Performed the Office & duty of Chief Justice from the 20th of October 1768 when Mr. Simpson dyed, to the arrival of Mr. Stokes on the 1st of this Instant Sepr.

And altho Mr. Jones was not bred to the Law yet I believe Justice was duely Administred during that time, & with integrity. And I have not heard any Complaint or fault found with his Conduct. I therefore Submit it to your Lordships whether it may not be Reasonable that Mr. Jones Should Receive the Salary from the death of Mr. Simpson to the appointment of Mr. Stokes, & half of it from the appointment of Mr. Stokes till his arrival here. I have given Mr. Jones 2 Certificates of his having done the duty.⁶⁹

Order of the Lords Committee for Plantation Affairs, Jan. 20, 1770, Whitehall, received and read Jan. 25, 1770, C.O. 5/650, G. 51, concerning petition of Henry Yonge for 5000 acres of land in Georgia. Petition attached.

His Majesty having been pleased by His Order in Council of the 5th of January last, to refer unto this Committee the petition of Henry Yonge His Majesty’s Surveyor General of the province of Georgia, humbly Praying for the reasons therein contained that His Majesty will be pleased to Grant him a Tract of Five thousand Acres of Land in the said Province of Georgia Subject to such Conditions as to His Majesty shall seem fitting; The Lords of the Committee in Obedience to His Majesty’s said Order of Reference this day took the said petition into Consideration, and are hereby pleased to refer the same, (a Copy whereof is hereunto annexed) to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations to consider thereof and Report their opinion thereupon to this Committee.⁷⁰

To the Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council.

The petition of Henry Yonge His Majestys Surveyor General of the province of Georgia in America.

Most humbly Sheweth

That your Majestys Petitioner having Obtained permission from Your Majestys Governor of Georgia to return for a Time to this Kingdom for the benefit of his Health, and for the transaction of his own Affairs and it not being within Your Majestys Instructions to the said Governor to Grant Lands to persons absent from the province, and your petitioner having resided many Years in America, and being desirous of continuing to Employ his property in the Additional Cultivation of Lands in Georgia where your petitioner has a numerous Family all well affected to your Majestys person and Government, and in which province he has taken all possible Pains to approve himself a dutiful Subject and a faithful Servant to Your Majesty.

And your petitioner will ever pray

Henry Yonge

29 Decr. 1769

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Aug. 15, 1769, Savannah, read Nov. 7, 1770, C.O. 5/651, H. 1, concerning relations between Britain and her colonies. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Aug. 15, 1769, Savannah, C.O. 5/651,⁷¹ concerning an act of Parliament to encourage silk culture in Georgia. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Nov. 2, 1769, Savannah, C.O. 5/651, concerning good relations with the assembly. [ To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Sept. 20, 1769, Savannah, C.O. 5/651, concerning the legislative session and opposition to the Townshend duties. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Jan. 20, 1770, Savannah, C.O. 5/651, concerning Gov. Wright’s leave and the character of James Habersham. [ To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Feb. 1, 1770, Savannah, C.O. 5/651, announcing the appointment of James Hume as attorney general. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, March 1, 1770, Savannah, C.O. 5/651, concerning Jonathan Bryan’s removal from the Council and objections to the Townshend duties. [ To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, April 12, 1770, Savannah, C.O. 5/651, concerning receipt of letters and quiet times in Georgia. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII. ]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, May 10, 1770, Savannah, C.O. 5/651, concerning action of the Commons House at late session and objections to Townshend duties. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, May 11, 1770, Savannah, C.O. 5/651, concerning Indian relations. [ To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, July 20, 1770, Savannah, C.O. 5/651, concerning Indian relations. [To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

James Wright to the Board of Trade, July 23, 1770, Savannah, received Nov. 1, read Nov. 7, 1770, C.O. 5/651, H. 2, concerning bills passed at the last session of the assembly.

My Lords

I have now the Honor to Transmit to your Lordships Copys of the Several Bills and Ordinances that I assented to on the 27th of February and 10th of May last, with my Observations and Remarks on Such of them as Seem to require any. Vizt.

“An Act to Prohibit for a Certain time the Exportation of Indian Corn. “ This my Lords Seemed very Necessary as there was a Prospect of a Scarcity of Corn, and it was well known that Great Quantities was buying up for Exportation.

“An Act to amend an Act for ascertaining the Qualification of Jurors, and for Establishing the Method of Balloting and Summoning Jurors in the Province of Georgia. “ This my Lords Seemed to be a very good amendment to the former Law, and I Presume will be found beneficial.

“An Act for the better Security of the Inhabitants by Obliging the Male white Persons to Carry fire arms to Places of Public Worship. “ This my Lords is a very Necessary Law on Account of our Blacks.

“An Ordinance Re-appointing B. Franklyn Esqr. Agent to Solicit the Affairs of this Province in Great Britain. “ This a Matter of Course.

“An Ordinance Appointing Inspectors of Hemp, Flax, and Wheat Flour, For the Ports of Savanah and Sunbury. “ This was Necessary my Lords for Carrying into Execution the Laws Passed the last Session for Giving a Bounty on those Articles and which was not then done on Account of the dissolution of the Assembly.

“An Ordinance For Appointing James Kitchin Collector and Comptroller of the Country dutys at the Port of Sunbury. “ This became Necessary, The Former Collector being dead.

The above Six My Lords I assented to on the 27th of February Last, and the following 12 Acts and Ordinances I assented to on the 10th of May, Vizt. “The Tax Bill For Granting to His Majesty the Sume of £3355. 9. 1 Sterl. For the Support of the Government for the year 1770. “ On this Bill my Lords I have Nothing Further to Observe than what I have Mentioned in my Letter to the Earl of Hillsborough of the 11th of May last No. 44. Relative to the Issuing of Writs to Elect Members in the 4 Southern Parishes, and with Respect to which, I hope I shall Soon receive His Majesties Royal Instructions, so that if Writs are to be Issued it may be done before we meet next Winter.

The Negro Law My Lords is now by His Majesties Permission Framed in Such a Manner as I think will best Suit our Local Circumstances, and it Passed with a Saving Clause and Cannot take Effect till it receives His Majesties Royal Approbation. I am Earnestly to request that your Lordships will be Pleased to Promote this matter, that it may be done as Soon as Conveniently may be, For it is really a Matter of Great Consequence to the Province, and our Present Negroe Law under which we must act till we receive His Majesties Confirmation of the last, is very defective.

“An Act for Further Amending an Act Intitled an Act for the better Regulating the Town of Savanah, and for Ascertaining the Common thereunto belonging. “ This my Lords was found Necessary, their having been Some Mistake in the former Survey and Plot of the Town and Common.

“An Act For Empowering Commissioners to assess the Inhabitants of the Town of Savanah in the Sume of £200. 13.4 and also to Empower the Treasurer to Issue Certificates for the Sume of £100. 6. 8 to be Sunk by the next General Tax act, for Supporting a Watch in the Town of Savannah. ”

“An Act for Appointing Inspectors of Tobacco, and to Prevent the Exportation of bad and unmerchantable Tobacco. ”

“An Act to Amend an Act intitled an Act to Prevent the bringing into and Spreading of Malignant and Contagious distempers in this Province, to Oblige Masters or Commanders of Vessels going out of any Port within the Same, first to Produce a Passport from the Governor or Commander in Chief, To Prevent the Harbouring of Sick Sailors and Others, and for the Regulating and well ordering of the Lazaretto upon the Island of Tybee. ”

“An Act to Regulate and Ascertain the Rates of Wharfage of Shipping and Merchandize, and also to Ascertain the Rates of Storeage in the several Ports of this Province, and for the better Regulation of Wharfs and of Shipping in the Said Ports, and for ascertaining the duty of a Harbour Master for the Port of Savanah. ”

“An Act to Continue the Several Laws therein Mentioned. ”

“An Act for Raising a Number of Watchmen for Preserving good Order in and about the Town of Savanah. ”

“An Ordinance For Re-appointing B. Franklyn Esqr. Agent to Solicit the Affairs of this Province in Great Britain to Commence the first day of June next, and to Continue for one year. ”

“An Ordinance for Appointing Packers and Inspectors For the Ports of Savanah and Sunbury, and also Cullers and Inspectors of Lumber in the said Ports. ”

“An Ordinance appointing Andrew Elton Wells Harbor Master for the Port of Savanah. ”

All these My Lords Seemed Necessary and usefull for the better Regulation of the Several Matters for Which they are intended, and Such as I thought were Proper.

But I have one Observation to Make, Which is, That I can Perceive a disposition to Appoint every Petty Officer by an Ordinance of the General Assembly, how far your Lordships may approve of this I Can’t Say, it is Certainly taking away that Influence which the Governor would have, were all these Officers in his Appointment. And Allowing them to be Appointed by an Ordinance is Adding to the Power and Influence of the Assembly. If this Should be disapproved of, His Majesties disallowance of the Law for Ascertaining and Regulating the Rates of Wharfage of Shipping &c. and disallowing the Ordinance Appointing the Harbour Master, with directions not to Allow any more Such Appointments, would Effectually Prevent it for the Future.

I also Transmit your Lordships a Copy of the Bill Intitled “An Act to Amend An Act intitled an Act to Ascertain the Manner and form of Electing Members to Represent the Inhabitants of this Province in the Commons House of Assembly. “ Which Bill I Rejected, also The Address of both Houses of Assembly Relative to that Bill, together with my Answer thereto, and also a Copy of Our Present Election Law.

This Bill my Lords alters the former in Point of the Qualification of the Electors by Allowing the Proprietors of Lots in Town which pay Tax Equal to the Tax on 50 Acres of Land to Vote. Before it was Confined to 50 Acres of Land. It directs the Voting to be by Ballot, and before it was viva voce [by voice ]. The Qualification of the Elected is altered, and Persons who have to the Value of £300 in Houses, Buildings, Town Lots or other Lands in any Part of the Province are allowed to be Qualified to Serve. Whereas before it was confined to 500 Acres of Land.

And it Limits the duration of the assembly to 3 years whereas by the former Law there is no Limitation.

By my 17th Instruction My Lords I am Expressly ordered Not to Assent to any Bill Whereby the duration of the Assembly is to be ascertained, The Qualification of the Electors or Elected Altered, or by Which any Rules or Regulations are made Contrary to my Instructions. And this Bill being in every Part of it Contrary to the Above Instruction, I was Obliged to Reject it. But my Lords I am Nevertheless Clear in Opinion that all these Alterations are beneficial and will be Attended with good Consequences, and are what I my Self had Proposed in a letter I wrote to the Earl of Hillsborough on the 26th of december 1768. Except that Part which Limits the duration to 3 years which is a Matter His Majesty will be the Properest Judge of. I must beg leave to refer to the above letter, and Should hope for His Majesties Royal Permission to assent to a Bill for the Purposes aforesaid, or Such of them as His Majesty Shall be Graciously Pleased to Approve of.

I also now Transmit the Journals of the Council as an Upper House during the last Session, and the Journals of the Lower House.

P.S. I also now Transmit the Minutes of the Proceedings of the Governor in Council from the 4th of July 1769 to the 5th day of December 1769.

Address of both houses of the Georgia Assembly to Gov. James Wright and his reply thereto, May 10, 1770, Savannah, received Nov. 1, read Nov. 7, 1770, C.O. 5/651, H. 3, concerning an election bill for the Commons House of Assembly, disapproved by Wright. Enclosed in Wright to the Board of Trade, July 23, 1770.⁷²

Copy of a bill specifying the manner and form of electing members of the Commons House of Assembly, passed April, 1770, but rejected by Gov. Wright, May 10, 1770, Savannah, received Nov. 1, read Nov. 7, 1770, C.O. 5/651, H. 4.

An Act

To Amend an Act, intitled an Act to ascertain the manner and form of Electing Members, to represent the Inhabitants of this Province in the Commons House of Assembly.

Whereas the manner and form of Chusing Members of the Commons House of Assembly to represent the Inhabitants of this Province and the Qualification of the Electors and those Elected Members of the Commons House of Assembly agreeable to the Present Act is attended with many Inconveniences. We therefore pray your most sacred Majesty that it may be Enacted, And be it Enacted by his Excellency James Wright, Esquire, Captain General and Governor in Chief of this his Majesty’s Province of Georgia by and with the Advice and Consent of the Honourable Council and Commons House of Assembly of the said Province in General Assembly met, and 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 after the manner and form prescribed by this Act.

And be it further Enacted That every free white man and no other person who has attained to the age of Twenty One Years and hath been a resident and an Inhabitant in this Province for the Space of Six Months before the date of the Writs for the Election (he offers to give his Vote at) and hath a freehold of at least Fifty acres of Land, or proprietor of a Town Lot paying Tax Equal to Fifty acres of Land shall be deemed a Person Qualified to Vote for, and may be Capable of Electing a representative or representatives to serve as a Member or Members of the Commons House of Assembly for the Parish wherein he actually is a resident or in any other Parish where he hath the like Qualification.

And for the preventing of frauds in the Elections as much as possible It is hereby Enacted that the names of the Electors for Members of the Commons House of assembly shall be fairly entered in a Book for that purpose provided by the Provost Marshall, or any Person properly authorized by him to Manage an Election to prevent any Person Voting twice at the same Election, and the manner of their Voting, shall be as herein after is directed, that is to say, each Person Qualified to Vote shall put into a Box prepared for that purpose as is above directed a piece of paper Rolled up wherein is written the name of the Candidate or Candidates he Votes for and to which paper the Elector shall not be obliged to Subscribe his name and if upon the Sorting two or more papers with the names of the persons written thereon for Members of Assembly be found rolled 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 that those persons who after all the papers and Votes are delivered in and entered as aforesaid shall be found (upon the Sorting) to have the Majority of Votes are and shall be deemed and declared to be Members of the succeeding Commons House of Assembly, so as they be Qualified as hereinafter is directed.

And be it further Enacted That the said Elections shall not Continue longer than two days, and that the time for taking Votes at any Election shall be between the Hours of Nine of the Clock in the forenoon and five in the afternoon, and that at adjourning of the Poll, at convenient Hours, in the time of the aforesaid Elections, the said Provost Marshall or any Person properly authorized by him, to manage an Election as aforesaid, shall Seal up the said Box wherein are put all the Votes then delivered in and rolled up by the Electors as aforesaid, with their 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 in the presence of the said Electors, in order to proceed in the said Election.

And be it Enacted that every Person who shall be Elected and returned as is before directed by this Act, to serve as a Member in the Commons House of Assembly of this Province, shall be Qualified in the following manner, that is to say, that he shall be a free born Subject of Great Britain or of the Dominions thereunto belonging, or a foreign Person Naturalized, professing the Christian Religion and no other, and that hath arrived at the age of Twenty One Years, and hath been a resident in this Province for the Space of Twelve Months before the date of the said Writ, and being Legally possessed in his own right in this Province, of a Freehold Containing at least Five hundred Acres of Land or has in his own Right to the Value of Three hundred pounds in Houses, Buildings, Town Lots or other Lands in any part of this Province.

And be it further Enacted that if any person or persons appointed by this Act to manage any Election for a Member or Members of the Commons House of Assembly as aforesaid, shall willingly or knowingly Admit of or take the Vote of any Person not Qualified according to the purport of this Act, or after any Vote 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, each person so offending shall forfeit in each such Vote taken and admitted of opened or Suffered to be opened as aforesaid, the Sum of Fifty pounds to be recovered and disposed of in such manner and form as hereafter in this Act is directed.

And be it Enacted That if any returning Officer shall admit of or take the Vote of any person refusing at the request of one of the Candidates, or any two persons Qualified to Vote, to take the following Oath “I, A. B., do Swear (or if a Quaker do Affirm) in the Presence of Almight God that I am legally possessed in my own Right of a Freehold Estate of Fifty Acres of Land, or a Town Lot for which I pay Tax Equal to Fifty Acres of Land, that such Estate is legally in my own Right and not made over or granted to me purposely or fraudulently to intitle me to Vote at this Election, “ or at the request of any Candidate or two freeholders shall refuse to Administer the following Oath if so required “I, A. B., do Swear (or if a Quaker do Affirm) in the Presence of Almighty God that I am legally possessed in my own Right of a Freehold Estate of at least Five hundred Acres of Land or the Value of Three hundred pounds in Houses, Buildings, Town Lots or other Lands within this Province, and that the same is truly within myself and not fraudulently made over or granted to me for the purpose of Qualifying me to be a representative in the General Assembly, “ or if the Provost Marshall or any Person properly Authorized by him to manage an Election as aforesaid shall make any fraudulent return or shall influence or endeavour to influence or persuade any Voter not to Vote as he first designed shall forfeit for each and every such offence the Sum of One hundred pounds to be paid to his Majesty for defraying the Expence of the Sitting of the General Assembly and to be sued for and recovered in the General Court of this Province by Action of Debt, Bill, plaint or Information.

And be it further Enacted 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 That the Sitting and holding of General Assemblies shall not be discontinued or intermitted above six Months, but shall within that time from and after the determination of this, or any other General Assembly, or oftener if occasion require, new writs to be Issued out by the Governor for the time being for calling, Assembling, and holding of another General Assembly.

By Order of the Commons House of Assembly

N W. Jones, Speaker.

By Order of the upper House of Assembly

James Habersham, President.

James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Oct. 8, 1770, Savannah, read Aug. 22, 1771, C.O. 5/651, H. 10, concerning Indian relations. [ To be published in Vol. XXXVII.]

John Campbell to [John Pownall], Dec. 18, 1770, Queen Square [London], read Jan. 17, 1771, C.O. 5/651, H. 5, concerning the balance in his Georgia accounts.

Sir

I am honoured with your Letter of yesterday, desiring my Attendance at the Board of Trade to Morrow Morning, and that I do come prepared to state to their Lordships such Ballances as may be in my Hands of the Parliamentary Grants for the Service of Georgia.

In Answer to which I request you will be pleased to inform their Lordships that my Accounts, from the Day of my being appointed Agent to the said Province to Midsummer 1769, now lay before the Auditor for Examination, and therefore I presume the Ballance cannot be ascertained till after his final Liquidation. I hope Sir, the Board will do me the Justice to believe that I know not a greater Satisfaction than in obeying punctually the minutest of their Commands.

Richard Jackson⁷³ to the Board of Trade, Jan. 8, 1771, [ London], read March 8, 1771, C.O. 5/651, H. 8, containing his report on acts passed by the Georgia Assembly.

May it please your Lordships

In humble obedience to your Lordships Commands signified to me by Mr. Pownall I have perused and considered Six Acts passed by the Governor Council and Assembly of his Majestys Province of Georgia, in the Year 1768. Intitled

And I am humbly of Opinion that the said Acts of Assembly are proper in point of Law.

I have also perused and considered one other Act passed in the said Province in the same Year 1768. Intitled.

And I am humbly to submit to your Lordship on this Act, that it may be material in point of Policy to consider, how far it may be proper to give way to the Colonies laying Duties on the Exportation of Raw Materials of any kind which in many cases may obviously give a preference to the Manufacture of the Colony against that of Great Britain, in other respects this seems not improper in point of Law.

All which is humbly submitted.

Richard Jackson to the Board of Trade, Feb. 21, 1771 [London], received Feb. 22, read March 6, 1771, C.O. 5/651, H. 7, containing his report on an act passed by the Georgia Assembly.

May it please your Lordships

In humble obedience to your Lordships Commands signified to me by Mr. Pownall, I have perused and considered An Act passed by the Governor Council and Assembly of His Majestys Province of Georgia in May 1770. Intitled. “An Act for ordering and governing Slaves within this Province, and for establishing a Jurisdiction for the Trial of Offences committed by such Slaves and other Persons therein mentioned, and to prevent the Inveigling and Carrying away Slaves from their Master, Owners or Employers. ”

And I am humbly of Opinion that the same is proper in point of Law.

Which is humbly submitted.

Petition of Charles William Mackinnen, of Georgia, to the Board of Trade, received Feb. 28, read March 6, 1771, C.O. 5/651, H. 6, praying 5000 acres of land in Georgia.

Humbly showeth that your Petitioner went three years ago from the Island of Antigua, to the Province of Georgia where he now is, with a considerable number of Negroes, and is desirous of settling Land in the said Province; that he is Heir at Law of Robert Mackinnen Esquire deceased late Captain in General Otway’s Regiment, who served during the two last Wars in America, but died at Pensacola, before he could take up the Land he was entitled to by his Majesty’s Proclamation; your Petitioner humbly prays that your Lordships would grant him five thousand Acres of Land in the said Province of Georgia not already located, and your Petitioner shall ever pray &c.

Order in Council, March 1, 1771, St. James, appointing Henry Yonge and Anthony Stokes to the Governor’s Council in Georgia.

Whereas there was this day read at the Board, a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, dated the 27th of last Month, Setting forth, that there are only Ten Councillors under His Majesty’s appointment in the Colony of Georgia and that Henry Yonge and Anthony Stokes Esquires have been recommended to the said Lords Commissioners as Persons well qualified to serve His Majesty in that Station, and therefore humbly proposing that these Gentlemen may be appointed of His Majesty’s said Council accordingly. His Majesty in Council approving thereof, is pleased to Order, as it is hereby Ordered, that the said Henry Yonge and Anthony Stokes Esquires, be constituted and appointed, Members of His Majesty’s said Council in the Colony of Georgia; And that the Right Honourable the Earl of Hillsborough One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, do cause the Usual Warrants to be prepared, for His Majesty’s Royal Signature accordingly.

Order in Council, May 1, 1771, St. James, received Nov. 21, read Dec. 18, 1771, C.O. 5/651, H. 17, referring petition for defense of land titles in Georgia to the Board of Trade. A copy of the petition enclosed.

Upon reading this Day at the Board, the humble Petition of several Inhabitants of the province of Georgia, Setting forth, amongst other things, that they are owners and possessors of several Tracts of Land in the said province which the Trustees for Establishing the said province under the Charter of the 9th of June 1732 Allotted to them or their Ancestors as a recompence for their Services, and to others of the petitioners or their Ancestors, who were Soldiers in General Oglethorpes Regiment, disbanded in the said province in the years 1748 and 1749, who had each a Tract of fifty Acres ordered them in Consequence of His Majestys Instructions, at the reduction of that Regiment; That Sir William Baker claimed the same under pretence of a prior Grant of twelve thousand Acres of Land from the Lords Proprietors, and that the Heirs of the said Sir William Baker have lately proposed to relinquish their said Claim, on the petitioners paying them such Sums of Money as shall be agreed on; That the petitioners Apprehend they have a Legal and Equitable Title to the premises in Question. Yet by Reason of their poverty and Indigence, they are not able to defend their Titles thereto, and in regard they derive the same under His Majesty, the petitioners therefore humbly pray His Majesty to order His Attorney General of the said province to defend their Titles both in Law and Equity to the premises in question at His Majestys Expence, or that His Majesty will make such other Order in the premises for the relief of the petitioners, by directing a Grant to be made to the said Sir William Bakers Heirs or Assigns of Land in some of His Majestys new Colonies, as to His Majesty in his great wisdom shall seem meet. It is ordered by His Majesty in Council that the said Petition (a Copy whereof is hereunto annexed) be, and it is hereby referred to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations to consider the same, and Report their Opinion thereupon to a Committee of the Lords of His Majestys most Honourable Privy Council for Plantation Affairs.

To the Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council

The humble petition of several Inhabitants of the Province of Georgia.

Sheweth

That your petitioners are owners and possessors of several Tracts of Land in the said Province which the Trustees for establishing the said province under your Majestys Charter bearing date the 9th day of June 1732 Allotted to some of Your petitioners or their Ancestors as a recompence for their Services in the said province and to others of Your Petitioners or their Ancestors who were Soldiers in General Oglethorpes Regiment disbanded in the said province in the years 1748 and 1749 who had each a Tract of 50 Acres Ordered them in Consequence of Your Majestys Instructions at the Reduction of that Regiment.

That Your Petitioners or their Ancestors severally Obtained Grants of their said Lands according to the said Allotments and have ever since remained in the possession of the same.

That Sir William Baker claimed the same under pretence of a Grant alledged to be made to him of Twelve thousand Acres of Land by the Lords proprietors of South Carolina prior to the Date of the Georgia Charter.

That the said Lands have been cultivated and improved at the hard manual Labour and Expence of Your Petitioners and their Ancestors and the dispossessing Your petitioners of the said Lands would be attended with the utter ruin of the greatest part of them as they depend on the same chiefly for their Suport.

That the Heirs or Assigns of the said Sir William Baker have lately proposed to Your Petitioners to relinquish the said Claim on Your Petitioners paying to them such Sums of Money as shall be agreed on that Behalf.

That Your Petitioners were entire Strangers to Sir William Bakers Claim and had they known the same at the time of obtaining the said Grants they would not have accepted the same or cultivated the Lands in the manner they have done but would have fixed upon some other part of the said province upon which there was no prior Claim and Your petitioners are therefore entirely innocent of the Incroachment (if any) on the said Sir William Bakers Grant.

That Your Petitioners humbly apprehend that they have a good legal and quitable Title to the Premises in Question from the length of their several possessions and the Expences they have been at in the Improvement and Cultivation of the same before they had any Notice of the said Sir William Bakers Claim And as it would be a very great hardship on Your Petitioners to pay to Sir William Bakers Heirs or Assigns any Sum of Money to relinquish the said Claim. And as many of them from their poverty and Indigence are not able so to do nor to bear and defray the Costs and Expences of Defending their Titles in Courts of Law and Equity and otherwise and in regard Your Petitioners deliver their sd. Titles under Your Majesty as aforesaid.

And Your petitioners shall ever pray &c. &c.

Order in Council, June 7, 1771, St. James, received Dec. 12, read Dec. 21, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 41, confirming an act for ordering and governing slaves in Georgia.

Whereas by Commission under the Great Seal of Great Britain the Governor Council and Assembly of His Majesty’s province of Georgia are authorized and Empowered to make Constitute and Ordain Laws Statutes and Ordinances for the public 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 Statues of this Kingdom and are to be Transmitted for His Majestys Royal approbation or disallowance. And Whereas in pursuance of the said powers an Act was passed in the said province in May 1770 and transmitted intitled as follows Vizt.

Which Act together with a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and plantations thereupon having been referred to the Consideration of a Committee of the Lords of His Majesty’s most Honorable privy Council for Plantation Affairs the said Lords of the Committee did this Report as their opinion to His Majesty that the said Act was proper to be approved. His Majesty taking the same into Consideration, was pleased with the advice of His Privy Council to declare His approbation of the said Act and pursuant to His Majesty’s Royal pleasure thereupon Expressed the said Act is hereby Confirmed finally Enacted and ratified accordingly. Whereof the Governor or Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s said province of Georgia for the time being, and all others whom it may concern are to take Notice and Govern themselves accordingly.

Order in Council, June 7, 1771, St. James, received Dec. 12, read Dec. 21, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 42, disallowing an act imposing a duty upon raw neat hides exported from Georgia.

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 are to be transmitted for His Majestys Royal Approbation or Disallowance; And Whereas in pursuance of the said Powers An Act was passed in the said province in March 1768 and transmitted intituled as follows. Vizt.

Which Act together with a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations thereupon having been referred to the Consideration of a Committee of the Lords of His Majestys most Honourable Privy Council for plantation Affairs; The said Lords of the Committee did this Day Report as their opinion to His Majesty that the said Act ought to be disallowed; His Majesty taking the same into Consideration, was pleased, with the Advice of His Privy Council to Declare his Disallowance of the said Act; and pursuant to His Majestys Royal pleasure thereupon Expressed the said Act is hereby disallowed, Declared Void and of none Effect. Whereof the Governor or Commander in Chief of His Majestys said province of Georgia for the time being and all others whom it may concern are to take Notice and Govern themselves accordingly.

Richard Jackson to the Board of Trade, June 20, 1771, [London], received June 21, read June 27, 1771, C.O. 5/651, H. 9, containing his report on acts passed by the Georgia Assembly.

May it please your Lordships

In humble obedience to your Lordships Commands signified to me by Mr. Pownall, I have perused and considered Fifteen Acts passed by the Governor Council and Assembly of His Majestys Province of Georgia in the Year 1770. Intitled.

And I am humbly of Opinion, that the same are proper in point of Law.

I have also perused and considered one other Act passed in the same Year 1770. Intitled.

Which is liable as well as the following Act to objections in point of Policy necessary to be taken Notice of. It imposes a Tax of four Shillings and Six pence on every hundred pounds Value of Merchandize imported into the Province for Sale, without excepting the Manufacture & Produce of this Kingdom. It is true the Tax is small, transient Persons, (and among them British Supracargoes and Masters of Ships when they are the Consignees) are excepted, and the Tax therefore must almost always fall on the Inhabitants consumers only. Yet the Precedent is bad and such as has always been discountenanced by your Lordships and your Predecessors; The Tax on Money at Interest is likewise impolitic and may prove a Burthen on the Inhabitants of Great Britain without finally benefiting the Debtor in Georgia.

There seems too an Incongruity in the two Clauses one of which directs the Governor and Council to give an Order to the Treasurer to pay several Sums Specified, and the other of which requires the Treasurer alone to issue Certificates for the same sums, which Certificates are afterwards to be received in discharge of the Public Tax.

But I think the last Clause is liable to a much more Material Objection as it seems to be void within the fourth of George the third. Cap: 34. which enacts that every Clause declaring Bills of Credit of any kind or Denomination to be a legal Tender in payment of any Debts Dues or Demands whatsoever, shall be void, perhaps this is a rigid Construction yet it seems conformable to an Order of his Majesty in Council upon the Subject of a late Act passed by the Assembly of New York, for remitting £ 120,000 in Bills of Credit on Loan.

The Certificates mentioned in this Act are not the original Object of the Act of Parliament, yet certainly come within the largest Description of Bills of Credit. It is however obvious that it will be of little Utility to declare the Law void, as it must have had its full effect before this time, and there are other Objections to such a Declaration.

I have likewise perused and considered another Act passed in the same Year 1770 Intitled, “An Act for impowering Commissioners to assess the Inhabitants of the Town of Savannah in the sum of two hundred pounds thirteen Shillings and four pence, and also to empower the Treasurer to Issue Certificates for the sum of One hundred pounds six shillings and Eight pence to be sunk by the next General Tax Act for supporting a Watch in the Town of Savannah. ”

Which is liable to the first Objection I made to the former Act.

Memorial of James Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough, Dec. 12, 1771, [London], received and read Dec. 12, 1771, C.O. 5/651, H. 11, concerning Indian affairs and proposing an Indian land cession to Georgia, with numerous enclosures. ⁷⁴

Humbly Sheweth

That Whereas His Majesty’s very flourishing Province of Georgia, from the present small number of Inhabitants, who from the Nature of their Settlements and Improvements are, and must be Scattered over a great face of Country, and which from its Vicinity to the several Indian Countrys and Settlements lyes greatly exposed to the Invasions of the said Indians, who often Rob and Plunder His Majesty’s Subjects of their Property, and sometimes Murder them. And Whereas although by the several Treatys now subsisting between His Majesty and the said Indians and particularly by that entered into at Augusta the 10th of November 1763, They did in the most solemn Manner engage for themselves and their several Nations and Tribes “That they would in all Cases and upon all Occasions, do full and ample Justice to the English, and use their utmost Endeavours to prevent any of their People from giving any disturbance, or doing any damage to them in the Settlements or elsewhere, either by stealing their Horses, killing their Cattle or otherwise, or by doing them any personal Hurt or Injury; and that if any damage should be done as aforesaid, satisfaction should be made to the Party injured. And that if any Indian or Indians whatever, should thereafter Murder or Kill a White Man, the Offender or Offenders should without any delay, excuse or pretence whatever, be immediately put to death, in a publick manner, in the presence of at least two of the English who may be in the neighbourhood where the Offence is committed. ”

That notwithstanding the said Treatys and solemn Engagements entered into as aforesaid, yet the Creek Indians have frequently stol’n great numbers of Horses and Cattle from many of His Majestys Subjects and have also committed several Murders since that time; the last of which was in August 1770, when some of the said Indians in Cool Blood, and without any Cause or Reason whatever, barbarously murdered Thomas Jackson and George Beeck two of the Inhabitants of Wrightsborough Township, and that notwithstanding a Complaint was made and Satisfaction regularly demanded by Your Memorialist agreeable to the Treaty aforesaid, yet no Satisfaction has been given by the said Indians. And although not possitively denyed, yet the same is evaded by them, and none intended to be made or given on Account of the said Murders.

That Crimes of this nature having been so often committed and suffered to pass with Impunity, on the one hand gives great encouragement to the ill disposed part of the Indians to commit Robberies and Murders and on the other hand is cruelly distressing to His Majestys good Subjects who live in constant fear, and has, and must continue very much to impede the further Peopling and Settling of the Province, when they see that from its weak and defenceless State they cannot be protected even in their Lives, but are liable at all times to be Robbed and Murdered by the Indians.

That at present it is out of the Power of the Province by force of Arms to enforce the Treatys, by compelling the Indians to make Satisfaction, which if they could once do, would intirely prevent any thing further of that kind in future, as they would be very carefull not to Offend when they knew Satisfaction must be made; But as they well know that there is not a single Soldier in His Majestys Pay in the Province, nor has been since April 1767, that the Inhabitants of Georgia are not in a Condition to take Satisfaction, and that the Trade with them is on such a general and very improper footing that neither the Province of Georgia nor any other can have any Influence over them in that respect. So that as things are now circumstanced, there is no kind of Power or Controul whatever over the said Indians; all which they are too sensible of, also that they are Powerfull enough, and can whenever they please, greatly distress if not totally Ruin that most flourishing Province.

And Your Memorialist further shews that from the present Mode of carrying on the Trade with the Indians, they have arrived at the height of Mischievous Wantonness and Insolence, and from the Frauds and Abuses committed by those who go amongst them, and their natural Propensity and Thirst after Blood, Your Memorialist conceives ‘tis highly probable that a Rupture with the Creek Indians would have happened ere now had they not been engaged in a War with the Chactaw Indians. And that Your Memorialist has had great difficulty in restraining the injured Partys from taking their own satisfaction, which he conceives would at once have plunged the Province into an Indian War.

And from this true and undisguised State of the Situation of Affairs with the Creek Indians in particular, Your Memorialist apprehends it will appear to be absolutely necessary that some Steps be speedily taken in Order to support His Majestys Honour and Authority with them, to Compel them to do Justice and Observe the Treatys, and to Protect the Lives and Properties of His Majesty’s Subjects, and Promote the Peopling of so Valuable a Province.

To do this My Lord by Force of Arms, tho probably the most honourable Way, yet for many obvious Reasons, it may be wished to avoid. Your Memorialist therefore begs leave to Point out other means of reducing the Indians to Reason, keeping them within Bounds, and of obtaining Justice and Security to His Majesty’s Subjects. And first a Regulation of the Trade with them, that is by dividing the several Nations or Tribes of Indians into Districts, and alotting to each Province contiguous to them a particular District and leaving it in the Power of that Province to Settle the Mode of Regulating the Trade and limiting the number of Traders who shall go there. And by an Instruction restraining the different Governors from granting Licences to trade out of their own District or Interfering with each other. By this means it is conceived many Abuses, Grievances and Inconveniences may be prevented and avoided, and which in a great measure depends on the number and conduct of the Persons licensed to trade amongst them. And if Power is lodged in the Hands of those who from their Situation and Knowledge of People and things there, must be the most Competent Judges, care may be taken that none are concerned, or Suffered to go amongst them, but Men of Property and Character, who can be confided in; And that the Indians are Supplied with Goods sparingly, or otherwise according to their Conduct and Behaviour. For it is well known my Lord to those conversant in Indian Affairs, that an over Supply of Goods makes them Wanton, Insolent and Ripe for every kind of Mischief, And that a moderate Supply keeps them within decent Bounds and makes them observe a Submissive, Proper Behaviour. And that as they have no Supply or can have any of any Consequence but from the English, they may be reduced at any time to comply withall reasonable Demands, and do full Justice by a Stoppage of the Trade, or even by a Stoppage of Arms and Ammunition, as Occasion may require. But my Lord upon the Footing the Trade is now Carried on, agreeable to His Majesty’s Proclamation of October 1763, it is impossible to Effect any good Purpose for His Majesty’s Service or the Safety and Welfare of His Subjects. On the contrary the Trade has been and still is productive of every bad consequence, for such an unlimited vast number of People now go amongst them, that they are over Supplied with Goods, got greatly indebted, and grown Wanton and Insolent. And as the Traders are rather of the worst sort of People, and commit every kind of Fraud and Abuse towards the Indians, so it disposes them to resent it by Robbing and Murdering His Majesty’s Innocent Subjects. All which Grievances and Distresses it is Humbly conceived might be in a great measure prevented and avoided by a proper Regulation of the Trade, And an Instruction to the several Governors to Unite and Co-operate in a partial, or total Stoppage of the whole Trade, as the Conduct and Behaviour of the Indians in any Particular Province may require.

Your Lordship will see the necessity of such an Instruction, as a Stoppage by one or two Provinces can Answer no effectual Purpose, whilst the Indians can get a Supply from any other Province or Colony, or from Indians trading with any Province or Colony. And it is hardly to be supposed that the Governors of Four or Five different Provinces will Concur in a Measure of that kind without an Instruction from His Majesty so to do.

Your Memorialist well knows and is aware of the objection against making a kind of Monopoly of the Indian Trade, but my Lord if it were really so, yet if the necessity of the Case, or times require it, it seems better that an Inconvenience of that sort should be submitted to for a few Years, than that great numbers of His Majestys Subjects should be Cruelly Murdered and a flourishing Province reduced to the greatest Distress and Ruin. And my Lord such a Regulation is what the most sensible and discreet among the Indians themselves wish for, and have often applied to me to settle for them, And in which Case it is conceived that the Trade would be carried on by a fair settled Tariff and the Indians Relieved from the Frauds and Abuses they now suffer and which cannot possibly be prevented, whilst the Trade remains on the Footing it now is.

And now my Lord give me leave to Propose a Matter which I have long had in view as a thing I conceive greatly for His Majesty’s Interest and of the utmost Consequence to His Province of Georgia.

There is my Lord a very considerable Body of Land which lyes between our Present Boundary Line with the Indians and a River called Broad River to the North West, which empties itself into Savannah River about fourty Miles above Little River as it is supposed or computed and another River called the Oconee River to the Westward and Southward and which empties itself into the Alatamaha River about 50 or 55 Miles above where our present Boundary crosses that River, as it is supposed or computed. The Branches at the Heads or Sources of Broad River and the Oconee River nearly meet or interlock, and if this Tract of Land could be obtained from the Indians, it would undoubtedly in a few years make Georgia as considerable if not the most considerable Province on the whole Continent of North America, as I hope I shall clearly shew.

Great Part of this Land my Lord is of the richest and best Quality and very fit for Tobacco, Indigo, Hemp, Flax, Wheat and every kind of Grain. The whole Tract of Land my Lord that lyes between our present Line and the aforesaid two Rivers, is supposed to contain at least five Millions of Acres. And that Part of this Land which lyes on Savannah River, to the amount of between two and three Millions of Acres is Claimed by the Cherokee Indians and who in order to Pay the Debts they owe to the Indian Traders, have Voluntarily offered to Cede the same to His Majesty for the Payment of their Debts, as your Lordships will see by the several Applications made by the Indians to Your Memorialist herewith presented. But Your Memorialist must not omit to Observe that the Creek Indians also Claim these Lands as well as the Cherokees; the Claim of each he conceives to be much the same Viz. by Right of Conquest at different times. But the Cherokees are determined to assert and support their Right as Your Lordship will see by their Talks and Messages on the Subject.

And now my Lord I shall beg leave to State this matter in the Light it strikes me, with such Observations and Propositions thereon as have occurred which are humbly submitted to Your Lordships superior Wisdom and Judgment.

Suppose then that the Tract of Land which the Cherokee Indians desire to Cede to His Majesty contains 2,500,000 Acres, as this Part of it is all exceeding rich fine Land; I would Propose that it should not be granted as His Majesty’s other Lands are granted, but that it should be sold in small Tracts, at the most not exceeding 1000 Acres to one Person or Family, and who should bring into the Province and forthwith Settle the same either with Whites or Blacks at the Rate of one Person for every 50 Acres of Land and at the same time pay, Suppose only at the Rate of 6d per acre, the Purchase money would amount to £62,500. sterling and likewise Subject to the Quit Rents and Taxes as usual. The Debts due from the Cherokee Indians to their Traders are supposed to amount to, from £40, to £50,000 sterling. Say 45,000. and if the Land is sold only at 6d per acre it will be, say £62,500.0.0 sterling

And Your Memorialist would Humbly Propose that a Troop of Rangers should be raised consisting of a Captain two Lieutenants a Quarter Master, Surgeon four Corporals, two Drummers and One Hundred Private Men or rather two Troops of Fifty Men each, the expence of which it is supposed would amount to about £3100 sterling per Annum to be paid out of the above Sum, and the Residue to be applied to the Building of such Stockade Forts as may be thought necessary, and Churches, School Houses and Goals and for the support of Clergymen and School Masters &ca. &ca. or otherwise as His Majesty may be graciously pleased to Order and Direct.

Your Memorialist will now proceed to mention some of the many Advantages which he apprehends would result to the Crown and Province, in case the Scheme now Proposed shall be approved of and take effect.

And first the Quit Rents arising upon 2,500,000 Acres of Land at 2s/ per 100 acres will amount to £2500 per Annum; and the Provincial Taxes is generally the same £2500 per Annum, besides the Taxes arising on the number of Negroes that may be brought into the Province by the Settlers. Suppose only one Negro to every Family, will be 10,000 Negroes at 2s/Say £1000 per Annum. And it is hoped there will not be more Negroes, as it is conceived that the Settling these Lands with Industrious White People, say Farmers and Planters, will be much more for the good of the Province. 2,500,000 Acres of Land at 50 Acres per Head will accommodate 10,000 Families of 5 in each Family, and if there is only one effective Man in each Family, that will be an addition of 10,000 to the Militia; but it is rather supposed the number of effective Men, say from 16 to 60 in 10,000 Families will amount to 15,000 on the Militia Muster Rolls, and my Lord what a vast additional Strength would that be to the Province. Sufficient it is conceived to give it intire Security against the Indians without having recourse to Arms or putting Great Britain to any Expence on that Account. Whereas at present should there be a Rupture with the Indians, the Province of Georgia would certainly be ruined, without the Immediate Aid and Assistance of some of His Majesty’s Troops.

And my Lord as it is Proposed that no Persons should have any of these Lands but those who Purchase, they will of course be something better than the common sort of Back Country People, and having Purchased their Property they will naturally be more Industrious and better disposed to protect it. But as there is always some scattering Partys of runnagate Indians lurking about all new Settlements and who it is well known Rob, Plunder and Murder &c. &c. it will certainly be necessary that there be Two Troops of 100 Men, Say 50 each, as before mentioned kept on foot for at least two or three Years or for such a Time as it may appear to be necessary for the Protection and Support of the Inhabitants and to be so Posted and Ordered as may best Answer the End Proposed.

And my Lord it may very fairly be presumed that each Family after being two or three Years settled will send to Market Produce to the Amount of £10. Sterling per annum, an Increase of Produce after three Years of £100,000 Sterling per annum and which will undoubtedly increase greatly every year and soon become very considerable and of great importance to the Mother Country, as well as the Province.

And Your Memorialist begs leave further to observe that these Lands are in general so rich and good that there is no doubt of People Coming in to Purchase and Settle; and Your Memorialist is well informed that great Numbers of very well disposed and industrious White People are now ready to Remove from Virginia and the rest of the Northern Colonys and only wait ‘till it be known Whether His Majesty shall be graciously pleased to approve of and direct this matter to be carried into execution. And if so there will soon be a considerable number of Tobacco Plantations settled, as this Plant has been already tryed and found to come to the greatest Degree of Perfection on some of those Lands.

The above Calculation is on a Supposition that only the Lands proposed to be ceded by the Cherokee Indians is obtained and sell at 6d/ per acre, but if it should be thought proper to grant them Free of Quit Rents for ten Years and to send an Instruction for passing a Law to exempt them also from Taxes for five or seven Years, and to exempt the Settlers there from attending at Savannah on Jurys and all other Dutys except in the Militia and such as their Local Circumstances and Security may require. In such Case instead of 6d per acre the Purchasers may very well afford and I am certain will cheerfully Pay at the Rate of 10d per acre, and then the Purchase Money will amount to £104,166 sterling. And if the Creek Indians can be prevailed upon not only to join with the Cherokees, but also to cede the Residue of the Lands cross to the Oconee River and down that to the Alatamaha River, in Satisfaction of their Debts, in that Case the Advantages resulting therefrom, in a few years would probably far, very far, exceed what is above mentioned. And Your Memorialist has no doubt but if the above exemptions take place the Lands will sell at lOd or 12d per acre, as they have the great advantage and convenience of three fine Rivers to carry their Produce to Market, Vizt. Savannah River, Ogechee River and down the Oconee and Alatamaha Rivers to the proposed new Town of Brunswick.

And if His Majesty shall be graciously pleased to approve of the matters herein mentioned, Your Memorialist would Humbly Propose, That an Instruction should be sent to Mr. Stuart the Superintendant to call a meeting or Congress of the Creek and Cherokee Indians at Augusta or some other convenient Place, to be held by the Governor of Georgia and the Superintendant with the said Indians, in order to settle and agree upon every thing that may be necessary on this occasion and to Receive a formal Surrender and Cession of the same to His Majesty, his Heirs and Successors.

And Your Memorialist apprehends that it would be very proper, That all Persons who have any demands on any of the said Indians should Liquidate and Prove the reality of their Debts and Demands before the Governor in Council and in such manner as may be required and appear altogether satisfactory to them; and the same to be paid in Proportion or Dividends, as money may be received, first deducting thereout what may be sufficient for the Pay and Support of the Troops of Rangers aforesaid which is absolutely necessary for the Reasons above mentioned and without which Men would be afraid to bring in their Families and to trust their Wives and Children there.

And for the more easy and better conducting and managing this matter, it might be usefull to have certain Commissioners appointed, who should give Security for the faithfull discharge of their Duty, and be paid a reasonable sum for their Time and Trouble, out of the Monies arising by the sale of the said Lands. And who in order to make it easy and less expensive to the People, should reside at Augusta or in Wrightsborough, and receive applications for Lands and swear them to the amount of their number in Family &ca. &ca. all which to be certified by such Commissioners and transmitted by them to the Governor in Council that Grants may be ordered for the Land.

And Your Memorialist further Proposes that if any of the Lands ceded, shall remain unsold or disposed of in the manner aforesaid for the Space of three Years, that then at the end of three Years, the same be immediately put up at Publick Sale and the whole Matter brought to a final Settlement.

All which Matters and Things herein beforementioned and Proposed, are most humbly submitted to Your Lordships Consideration.

1st. The Original Deed of Sale of Certain Lands in Georgia made by the Cherokee Indians to the Indian Traders to whom they are Indebted, in satisfaction of their Debts, Dated 27th February 1771.

As I have Long had it in View to Obtain an Extension of the Indian Boundary to the Westward and Southwestward, and having heard that the Cherokee Indians with the Approbation and assistance of Mr. Stuart, had Sold or given up a Tract of Land to one Mr. Wilkinson of South Carolina in Payment of their Debts to the Traders in that Province, and knowing that the Cherokee Indians Claim the Lands in Georgia above little River and Cross towards the Oconee River, I Judged it to be a Favourable Opportunity to Come at these Lands, and that the Sale &c to Wilkinson (if True) was a very good Precedent for it. And the Matter was Set on Foot, which Produced the Above Deed Number 1.

2nd. A Copy of Judds Friends Talk in answer to Capt. Stuarts Talk, given out by his Deputy Mr. Cameron against the Indians Selling their Land to the Traders.

I was Informed that Mr. Stuart on hearing of the above, Disapproved of it, and Wrote to his Deputy Cameron to Oppose it, and get the Deed Cancelled, on which there was a grand Meeting of the Indians, Which Produced the above Talk Number 2.

3d. The Original Talk from the Cherokees to me about the Sale of their Lands to the Traders, and Requesting that I would Represent the Matter to the King, and that His Majesty will Accept of the Same.

On the Above Deed of Sale, and Judds Friends Talk being sent to me by the Cherokee Indians, I Immediately Sent ‘em Word that they could not give or Sell their Lands to the Traders, nor were the Traders at Liberty to take them, That it was against the Kings Orders, and our Laws, and Could not be Allowed of. But if they Really Wanted to do any thing of that Sort, and thought Proper to Apply to me, I Should Represent the Matter Home to the Great King, and this Message Produced the Talk and Application Number 3.

4th. A Copy of My Talk to the Cherokees in Answer to theirs of the 3rd. of May 1771.

As they in their Talk No. 3 Mention giving other Lands in Case the Creeks don’t agree to their giving those in Georgia, I thought it necessary to confine the Matter to the Georgia Lands, and to Declare that I would have Nothing to do with any Lands out of the Province, and also to tell ‘em that they must Settle the affair of the Creek Claim, and get ‘em to Join in the Surrender &c. This I Judged Proper in Order to Avoid any Dispute with the Creek Indians about it. And as the Cherokees had Sent me Word, that they were coming Down to Run or Mark the Line, & give Possession of the Land, I thought it was best to Prevent them untill the Creeks were Clearly acquainted with the Matter, and had been Applied to by the Cherokees, least it should have alarmed the Creeks & C and Drawn us into an altercation with them.

5th. Copy of a Talk from the Creeks about the Murders Committed on the Oconee River, and about the Cherokees Cession of the Lands above little River. 1st. May 1771.

This Talk is a Pack of Stuff, Calculated to Amuse and gloss over and Avoid Making Satisfaction for the Murder of the Two Men at the Oconee River.

6th. A Copy of My Answer to the Creek Talk of the 1st of May 1771.

I did not Choose to tell the Creek Indians that I had any thing to do with the affair of the Land, but that it had Proceeded intirely from the Cherokees, and that they had applied to me about it, and not I to them, and Indeed this is True. And on the Strictest Inquiry and best Account I Could get as to the Creek Indian they Pretend was Murdered near Augusta, the Matter Appeared to me as I have Stated it to them in My Answer to their Talk.

7th. A Copy of the Cherokee Talks with Respect to the Sale of their Lands, 8th. June 1771, after they had Received Mine of the 23rd. of May.

This is a Serious Strong Talk, and the Cherokees Seem Determined to Support their Claim Against the Creeks, in Case the Creeks Should be Disposed to Dispute the Matter with them.

N.B. I have given Directions that the Creek Indians be Properly Talk’t to about this affair, and also to Sound them, and Propose their not only Joining With the Cherokees in their Cession, but also Ceding all the Rest of the Land from Where the Cherokees Claim, and are Desirous to give up — Quite Cross to the Oconee River, and down that, to the Alatamaha River, and our Present Boundary Line.

Ja. Wright.

Know all Men by these Presents, that we Warriours & Sachems ware assemblet at our beloved Town Chote, & there we Considered, the State of our Debts Justly due to our Traders, & out of Consideration of their forwarthness to Supply us with our Necessary goods. We therefore out of gratidute as we ware not able to pay them off all, at once, & the Deer growing Scarcer every year Considering the danger of our Enemies who are Surrounding us every where, We have therefore unanimosly agreed, with the Consent of our young Men to give our Traders a tract of Land to be enabled to Support us farther with our Necessarys.

Therefore we Sachems & Warriours do deliver to you Traders residing amongst us Since the last Peace in the Whole Cherokee Nation a certain tract of Land upon Broad River Georgia Side, beginning at the Mouth of the Kayugas extending five Mesures up Savannah River & running five Mesures extending towarth the Oconis. Viz. five Mesures long & five Mesures Broad or sixty miles Square. Which Said Land, We, our Heirs & Executors, do & will Warrant & Defend forever against any Claim that may here or after be made, & that you Traders Shall posess the Said Land with all the Rivers Creeks & Mines Whatsoever, or any Person or Persons you Should think proper to deliver it to.

Witness our hand & Seals, given in Chote febry. the twenty Second in the Eleventh year of the Reign of our Father Lord George the III by the Grace of God, of great Britain France & Ireland, King, & in the year of our Lord one Thousand Seven Hundred & Seventy one.

Judd’s Friend Speaks

Brother Scotehie, I am glad to meet you here I thanck the Great Man above, who has brought you and us as well as our Traders, whom I love, together.

I Stand up to Speak in vindication of what you objected against in your talk to us three days ago, concerning of our granting Lands to our Traders, The Great Man above made Lands over the Great Water and Land on this Side; he gave the former to White people and the latter to us to posess. I therefore look upon them to be mine and that I am at Liberty to dispose of my property as I please.

It was with the unanimous Consent of our young Men & Warriors that we parted with the Land, to discharge our Debts; which Burthen we think it a great happiness to be eased of. I pittied our Traders who were greatly involv’d with their Merchands on our Account and it was not in our Power to pay them otherwise for being engaged these many years in War we had little time to hunt. Therefore I intreat our Father Capt. Stuart to use his best Endeavours with the great King to induce him, to confirm to our Traders the grant we made them.

You Said we acted in this affair contrary to the great Kings Talk (Proclamation) read to us at Augusta at the General congress. I remember that Talk & I remember that part of its Contents was, that we should give some of our Lands to our Brethren the English. We did so, and made their Boundarys very High. Another part of it likewise recolect, Prohibiting the White Hunters from killing our Game; your young Men are deaf to what he said on that Head. I wish the King woud make that part of his Talk Stronger and oblige your young Men to hear it. I expect my Father the King will be informed of what I have Said.

a True Copy Ja. Wright.

Friend & Brother

We the Headmen Warriors and beloved men of the Cherokee Nation deputed by all our People, and Assembled at our beloved Town Chotee, having long heard and now taken into Consideration the many Complaints of the Traders Residing amongst us of the great Debts due by our People to them and finding that it is out of our Power to Pay these our Debts by Hunting, the Deer being Scarce and far from our Nation, and we being long engag’d in a War with the Nations of Indians living to the Westward of our Country who are greatly Superior in Number to us and have much distress’d us by which means our Traders are Reduc’d So low as not to be able to Supply us any longer with Goods to Cloath us, our Women & Children but are now become Poor like our Selves, which lays us under the Necessity of Applying to you to lay this our Sincere Request before the Great King our Father, which is that, We are willing and do hereby for our Selves and with the full Consent and approbation of all our People, Grant to our Father King George the Third all that Tract of Land Reaching from Little River (The Present Boundry of Your Province of Georgia) up the River Savannah for Sixty Miles, and Sixty Miles back every way, so as to make an Addition of a Square Tract of Sixty Miles, to Your Said Province of Georgia and in Case any Part of this Land Should be Claim’d by the Creek Indians we will use all our endeavours to get them to join with us in Consenting to give up their Claims. But Should we not be able to Accomplish this, we will Engage to make up the full Quantity on the Frontiers of South Carolina, or elsewhere. Where we have Lands, Praying that our Father King George will Consider our Motive for So doing, And that He will out of his Great Goodness (which we have often experienced) appropriate the Said Land to the use and for the advantage of this Misfortunate People who have been Trading amongst us Since the Years One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty One and to whome we stand so justly Indebted, by Granting this Land amongst them, or Paying our Debts for us and disposing of the Land as he Shall think fitting which we intirely Submit to his Superior judgment and Pleasure.

We again Repeat to You our Friend & Brother, Requesting your Friendship in this affair, and Begging that you will loose no time in Laying this our Desire before the Great King, and Representing to him the Distress that we, our Women & Children must be under untill our Traders are Enabled to Furnish us with Goods as formerly.

We have also made Application to our Friend and Brother Captn. Stuart entreating that he will use his best endeavours to induce the Great King to take into Consideration our Present Situation and grant our desire.

Sign’d by us in behalf of all our People by their full Consent

To Ocunnastota, Willanawa, Judds Friend and Atta kulla kulla

Friends and Brothers

I have Receiv’d your Talk in which you Aquaint me of the distresses of your Country Men and their inability to pay their Debts and to Purchase Necessaries for their Wives and Children. And that you are Willing to give up to your Father the Great King George all that Tract of Land Reaching from Little River the Present Indian Boundary of this Province up the River Savannah for Sixty Miles and Sixty Miles back so as to make in the whole a Tract of Land Sixty Miles Square in order that the Same may be appropriated to Satisfy your Creditors. And you request that I will Represent this matter to the Great King and intercede in your behalf That he will be graciously Pleased to receive and Admit of the Same So that the Traders may be Enabled to Furnish you with Goods as formerly.

And you also in your Talk mention that if the above Land Should be Claimed by the Creek Indians you will use your Endeavours to get them to join & Consent to give up their Claim and that if you cannot Prevail on the Creeks to Join that then you will give other Lands in South Carolina or Elsewhere in lieu of those Proposed to be Surrendred and given up to the Great King as aforesaid.

In Answer to which I am to Inform you that I well know your Situation and the Distress you are in and therefore will Comply with your request as to the Lands in this Province but no other and as I am very soon Going to England where the Great King Lives I will take care that your Case shall be Properly Represented to him, and hope he will be so Gracious as to Grant your request. But as our Friends & Brothers the Creek Indians Claim these Lands as well as you I must acquaint you that it will be necessary for you in the mean time to use all your Interest with them and Prevail on them to Join in the Surrender so that there may be no dispute with them about the matter and this will lye with you to get Settled. And as I have been Informed that some of your People intend to come down with some of the Traders the beginning of July in Order to mark out the Tract of Land above mentioned, I must desire that this may not be done untill the Great King is acquainted with your request and gives his Answer to it. I Expect that you will observe this for the Great King may not be Pleased if any Line is Mark’t or Run before he is acquainted with the matter and agrees to it. And you may depend upon it I will do all I can to Serve you in this Affair.

James Wright

Augusta, June 6th. 1771

Sir

Being desired by Emestisigo and other Chiefs of the Upper Creek Nation to act as their Scribe at a Talk that was given out 1st. of May last, I accordingly attended & send it you Verbatim as it was deliver’d to me by the Interpreter. I have the honor to be with the truest respect,

Philemon Kemp

Clerk to Messrs. Robert Mackay & Co.

To the Governor of Georgia.

This is a Talk from his Friends and Brothers the Head Men and Warriors of the Upper Creek Nation to let him know that they have not forgot their good Talks and to keep their Path that leads from the Sun rising always white and clean. Its true there are a great many mad young people amongst us, but notwithstanding we mean to continue the said Path white and clean. We very well remember that the former Talks of their old Friends the white People were that no small Breach betweeen them and us, should spoil this old white Path, that the white People were always told by us, that we were a Mad sort of People, but that nevertheless there were some sensible People amongst us, that would take care to keep the Path white and clean; and that this Path was to lead from Charles Town to the Cowities, from thence to the Juck-abatchies from thence thro’ the Abuccas and from thence to the Chickasaws, which Path should be always free for their friends the Indians to pass and repass upon.

We are pretty sure, that the Governor of Charles Town has not forgot the Talk, that came from the Great King over the great Water to the different Nations of Indians behind. We did not know the contents of that Talk before it was given out, but we then approved of it very much. We remember that at that time the Cussaty King put all the different Nations of Indians behind him, he being their Elder Brother. We therefore consented to every thing he proposed. The Cussaty King then said that our Land is like our Flesh, but that we could not cover the whole Land ourselves, and that when any Person died they could only rot on one spot of it. He nevertheless cautioned us to take care of granting too much, and told us, that according to former treaties between the Indians and their old Friends the white People, the Boundaries were fixed to the Center of the Savanna River but now he had removed that line so far from Augusta, as the firing of a small Gun might be heard; but immediately the white people made a large Step from that Line, which, tho’ it was not by our consent we are willing to have continue so. At the fixing the aforesaid Boundary it was concluded by both Parties, that if any Blood was spilt on either side Man for Man must be given up. Mr. John Stuart also said that we should be paid One Gun and three Blankets for taking up and delivering to him any Negroe that we might catch beyond the Boundaries. We have not forgot the Talk respecting one Party murdering the other, espessially as we have lately received three Messages on that head. We are very sensible it is as it is represented in the Talks, and that by our repeated delays to give satisfaction, it is plain there are some amongst us who want to prolong the days of the Murderers. We are informed that an Indian was lately killed by the white people upon Savannah River, but we were not there to see it. We understand that the great King over the Great Water is of the Tyger Family. So was the Man that was murdered. He also took up Arms in defence of his Relations. He is the first Man which you have killed, and we and all the head Men of the Tyger Family, now send to assure you that they look upon that matter as taking proper satisfaction and hope the Trade will not be stopped on that Account. At the Congress held by the four Governours and the Superintendant, they gave out a Talk which we have not forgot and hope you will never forget. In former times the white Path that came into our Nation was for the use of the Packhorses to bring goods into our Towns. At that time the Corvity King told the Governours and Superintendant that if from that time we should find any Persons trading in the Woods, either with or without Packhorses we should consider them as French or Spaniards, and should plunder them of every thing they might have; and they also told us, that if we found any white Person settling beyond the Boundaries then fixed we should seize all their Effects but not hurt their Persons which they would take care should be severely punished. They also told us that they thought we had given them a great deal of Land and thanked us for it; and that if any white Peoples Cattle should Stray over the Boundaries, their Owners should take care to drive them back again. We have not forgot what Mr. Stuart then told us, That he should ask no more Land from us and that he was appointed by the great King to settle all disputes which might happen between us.

We are informed by the Mountains Indians, that the white People have sent Cattle to the head of the Coosy River. We imagine Mr. Stuart has not acquainted them with his promise to us, or they would not do so. We had also a Talk with the Governor of Georgia and we will presently repeat it. When the Boundary for the Province of Georgia was fixed an Indian of the Tyger Family lived within the Boundary but the white people were going to drive him out; we thought proper to insist upon his continuing there, because he was an Old and a Sensible Man, who might thereby give us speedy intelligence of any Ruptures that might happen between the white People and us; and forward the Talks from the Governor to us. But we have never received any Talks by the said Indian. At the same time we desired of the Governor that if any Indian happened to travel in the Land we had granted to the white People they might be supplied with such provisions as they should stand in need of. At the same time it was promised that no more Cattle should be drove tho’ our Nation but that the Path should be always kept Green and we hope it will remain so. Mr. McGillivray too, then told us the Governor said the Savannah River should be the Boundary to keep in all bad Talks from your Nation, and that your Cattle should go no farther than your own yards. That he (Mr. McGillivray) came very young to our Nation and knew well how we lived, and that the white people was obliged to be satisfied with the same coarse food that we used. The Governor of Georgia also told us that 60 Chalks should be paid us for every run away Negroe we should catch and deliver to him. At the Congress at Pensacola we gave the white People a little Land but have not run the Line yet for Reasons you are well acquainted with. However the Days for running the Line are not all gone.

We are informed that the white People have encroached two Days March over the Land that was given them. We suppose that these People by coming over the great Water have not seen the Path, which Mr. Stuart and the Governor said should be like a Mountain — not to be passed, or they certainly would not have done so. We are pretty sure that they have not lost the Talk as Mr. Charles Stuart was the Man that wrote it and we were told that our giving them that Land would fix our friendship for each other as firm as a Chain that cannot be broken. We also told them that we were poor and could give no other Token of our Friendship which we consider as a Vine springing up and clinging round a great Tree, that would so nourish the Vine as to bring it to its full growth in the space of four years. We do not blame the Governors for their People settling beyond the Line and we suppose the People know no better, but we are informed there is a very substantial Man settled beyond the Line with 40 Negroes. The Indians have plundered others of some of their Effects, but did not hurt their Persons. We mean to acquaint Mr. Stuart of this immediately. We hope you will not blame us for this application for redress as it was always the intentions of both Parties to make known their grievances to each other. The things taken from the white People were two pieces of small Gold about 6 Dollars, some Pewter and one Rifle Gun. We mention these particulars, to convince you that it was not done with a view to Rob but only to assert our native rights as we will make more fully appear when we see Mr. Stuart which we hope will be soon. We do not think it necessary to say more on this Subject.

We have heard that the Cherokees have given a body of Land at the head of the Oconis to the White People in payment of their Debts to their Traders and that they are to have no more Credit from them. Thomas Grierson confirmed this report and said it was true.

We also heard that Mr. James Grierson carried an Indian down with him to Augusta and that this Indian saw the other who was murdered. We wonder much that an account of the murder was not sent to us, as the said Indian brought Letters from Mr. James Grierson to his Brother Tom Grierson. We hear that the Man who committed the murder has a Scar upon his Eylid and as we apprehend you may think of punishing him we send this to prevent it and to tell you that we are very willing to give up the said Indian by way of Satisfaction.

We have had no Talks from the Northern Nations, but have received some white ones from the Mountains, which acquaint us that they expect the Northern Nations will send us a Talk. When it comes, will certainly communicate it to Mr. Stuart. A Young King from this Nation is expected to bring it.

Thus far Emestisigo in behalf of himself and the other head Men and Warriors. The Gun Merchant now acquaints you that as an old friend both to his Country and the white People is very glad that the abovementioned Murder was committed as he hopes the Cloud which has been for some time hovering over our Heads will thereby be dispelled and the Sky become once more clear and serene. That to prevent any mischief arising from the murder he had called a council of all the head Men together as early as possible which he hopes will convince you and all their Mad young People that we desire to keep the Sky clear.

He hopes also that now the Governor Merchants & Traders are sensible of our desire to hold fast the chain of friendship and that they will supply Us with more Ammunition than they did last year, which nevertheless he cannot blame them for as there was a Jealousy subsisting between us. Also with plenty of other Articles, as the Mad young People will be ready to listen to his friendly Talks and decline breaking open the white Peoples Houses.

Friends and Brothers

I received your Talk sent to me by Mr. Kemp, and find you have not forgot the Talks that Passed at Augusta and with me at Savanah, tho’ in some things you are Mistaken. It is my desire to keep the Path Strait and White and I hope it will continue so but we cannot allow your Mad People to Rob our Settlers of their Horses, and Murder them when they Please. This is not the way to keep the Path Strait and White, and to be well Supplied with Ammunition and Goods. I have not heard of any Indian being killed upon Savannah River. I was Informed that two Indians were found with Stol’n Horses, and detained some days at or near Augusta, that one of them had been so much Beat and hurt by some Chickesaw Indians, that he was not able to walk and begged the white People to carry him by water to the Place where he wanted to go, that he was help’t into a Canoe and a White Man sent to Paddle the Boat to the Place. That in going the Boat Run against a Logg and overset, & The Indian not being able to Swim was drowned. This is the Account I had of it and look’t upon it to be an Accident which happens amongst the White People very often, even here by the Town, therefore ought not to be put upon the Footing of Satisfaction for the People who were Actually Murdered by the Indians, because this was only an Accidental thing. But if it was to be considered as Satisfaction, it is but one Man and your People have killed upwards of Ten Since the Treaty at Augusta.

As to your Land you know I told you we do not want any more. What the Mountain Indians have done was unknown to me, and done between them and the Traders before I knew any thing bout it, and they have now applied to me to write to the Great King, and beg of him to agree that they may pay their Debts by Giving him a Tract of Land and then he to pay the Traders what the Indians owe them, and that they will Apply to you to give up any Claim you have to those Lands. And I have told them I will write home about it, but that they must Settle the Right to the Land with you and this you must agree upon between your Selves as we have nothing to do with that. The Indian of the Tyger Family I suppose is St. Jago whose Land I have ordered to be Run or Mark’t out for him. He is a very Good Fellow and comes to see me some times and we are very Good Friends and I have no Objection to his Continuing there. I have not had Occasion to send many Talks and as there is always Traders Going from Augusta I thought that was the easiest way of sending them, but if you choose that St. Jago should forward them it may be so. As to any Encroachment by the white People beyond the Line I dont know nor have heard of any such thing in this Province. And rather believe it is a False Report, however I shall order it to be inquired into for I dont want any of them to go and settle beyond the Line. And I shall remember all our Talks and shall take care to observe them in every Particular as far as I can, and which I have always done, and hope the Red People will do so too. You should have mentioned the Place where the white Man is Settled beyond the Line with 40 Negroes. Perhaps it may be in East or West Florida, for I think its Impossible it could be done in this Province without my hearing of it which I never did till now. Nor did I hear of the things being taken away from the White People. And when you get your Talk from the Northern Indians I desire you will let me know what it is as well as Capt. Stuart. I shall always be ready to pay for any Run away Negroes as I agreed to do. And if the Indians take care to observe the Talks and Treatys they may depend on being Supplied with Plenty of Ammunition and Goods. But I dont know what the Great King will say when he is Informed that no Satisfaction is Offered but only that of One Indian who the White People say was not killed or hurt by them but drowned by Accident.

Ja. Wright.

At a Meeting of the Cherookee Indians chiefly head Men and Rulers of their Nation and most of the Cherokee Traders near Fort Chariot 8 June 1771

Ustonaco or Judds Friend (the Indian Chief who was in England in the Year stood up holding a belt of Beads in his hand and said

I am going to Speak to you remember what I say mind this ⁷⁵

Talk and do not let it be lost.

We had a meeting at Chotee our beloved Town. I am still of the same mind and so are we all. The Great Man above made all the Land. I have been with the Great King. He told me our Land was like his, the one was his and the other ours. He told me White and Red People should live together like Brothers, and all his Talks are good. He said the Land he lived upon was his own and he could do what he pleased with it, that there should be a Line drawn to seperate between our Lands and that we might do what we pleased with ours. I allow what is doing to be right. What I hold in my hand is a sure token of it. What we give is given freely. Let your People settle upon the Land we give you and raise their Children. I spoke to my People at Chotee and here they are hearing me again. The first Talk came from the Traders and we all liked it. What we do now is for ever to stand and never to be contradicted. We came here for nothing else but to talk of this Land and to shew it to you. It will last for ever. Its true the goods we had of you are wore out but we could not do without them and we have no other way to pay you. What was proposed we have agreed to, and will do any thing to make it good. The Land is ours and not the Creeks they know it well. The Talk that I give is good and all my People like it and I hope all my Brothers do. The Great King must hear it and we hope he will approve of it. I am clear in what I say as the Sun in a bright Sky when you look up at him. I hold this belt in my hand as a token that we give this Land as already agreed upon and hope there will be no more Talks about it. I will make a Path upon it that is never to be removed. We have already told you where it is to Run and it shall be so. It is for the Payment of our Debts and you shall have it. We acknowledge our debts to be just and they must be paid and we beg the Great King whom we own to be all our Father, to confirm this for us. It is honest and fair and fully consented to by all our People and we hope the Great King will not object to it when he hears our reasons for it. We must all live like brothers and love one another. This was my Fathers talk to me and I have not forgot it. He told me he would send his People to our Country with Cloaths and Ammunition for us and they came and now we want to pay them for it. He delivered the belt and ended his Speech.

The Great Warrior Oconna Stota Stood up holding in his hand a String of white Wampum & said

I am come. The great Man above was pleased it should be so. I lived in our beloved Town Chotee and I am come to hear and see every thing that passes. The talk that is past is right and good and is the talk of all our People. I like it very well. The Great King and our Father every where must hear it. I am the head Warrior of all my Nation. I speak for them all. I listened to all their Talks about the Land they agreed to give for their Debts and they are all Strait. If their is any misunderstanding between us and the Creeks about the Land, it shall be settled amongst ourselves. That is left to me, and I will settle it. We are here mixed like Brothers. I say in the presence of you all that this Talk shall go to the Creek Nation and my Talk is always heared there. The Land is now given to you and you shall have it. In our Town house there is a White Seat and from it all the Talks on this matter came and they are the same here as there. I have already appointed one of my People to go to the Creeks with a Talk. I will send him off from the first of our Towns that we come to as we are going home. It will not be long before he returns. This we do on purpose to satisfie you. For their is no doubt with ourselves, after that the white People shall not be hurt in settling upon the Land nor need be affraid. Every thing will be made Strait. We hope the Great King will like what we are doing and beg he will hear our Talk and assist us in this affair as it is the earnest desire of us all. He delivered the belt and said I have Spoken and Sat down.

After a Short pause Judds Friend got up again and Spoke as follows

All the Talks to Day confirm the former Talks and are the same. When I was in England the Great King told me not to forget his Talks and he would not forget mine. He said to me, hold it fast it is never to be broken and he told me if any thing went wrong to go to England again and acquaint him of it. I have the Great King George’s Talk in this Strong Box, a Tin Case, that holds it roll’d up, in my hand. I shew it to you all and will never let it go. You see how well I take care of of it. You White Men that were at Chotee and are now present, you hear that every thing is the same here as it was there. If you have any thing to say against it speak now. You see that we want to do everything that is right as we before told you and we expect everything will go right with you. I have no more to Say.

a True Copy Ja. Wright.

Sheweth

That Your Memorialists have traded unto the Creek & Cherokee Indian Nations for upwards of Ten Years, in which Time they have acquired a Confidence with them, and, as far as it was possible for men circumstanced as they were, have adhered to the rules & regulations laid down to them from time to time; but from various causes according to the exigences of the different Nations, or as unforseen Incidents entervened, they have been under an Indespensable Necessity of deviating, so far as respected the trusting Indians, & purchasing from them Skins in the Hair.

With respect to the Cherokee Indians, That in the year 1761 when peace was concluded between His Majestys Subject in South Carolina & them, the Cherokees had suffred so much during the course of the War, particularly by two Expeditions carried into their Country by His Majestys Troops, that they were reduced to nakedness & extreame poverty. Therefore it became necessary to trust them not only with amunition, but with Guns & Cloathing also, before they could go out to hunt even for a bare subsistence. That to add to the miserys which that war subjected them to, the Northern & Western Indians soon after fell upon them in Swarms, & harrassed them in their own Hunting Grounds for several years, so much, that their Debts, with their necessitys increased annually. And with respect to the Creek Indians, who are a turbulent, as well as numerous, bold, & warlike people.

That the Traders to the Creek Nations before the year 1760 when several of His Majestys Subjects were plundered & Murdered by them in their Towns, were few in Comparison to the present Number, & generally consulted together for their mutual benefit. That the apparent Fortunes made by Sundrys in that Trade, who died or declined business about that time, tempted so many others to become adventurers, that they were too numerous, & their Interests too widely dispersed & dissunited to act with unanimity for the common good. And each endeavouring to acquire to himself as great a Share of the Trade as possible, carried a greater quantity of goods into the Nation than was necessary for the general Trade of it. That those goods being once in the Nation, the Creeks who for a long Time have scorned controul, look upon them as effects that they had an Interest in, and unless they had been trusted with them, the Traders would have been in constant alarms for the safety of their persons as well as property.

That a War between them & the Chactaws for Five years past has greatly prevented them from hunting. Nevertheless being used to large Supplys, they could not be curtailed without giving up the prospect of ever recovering what was already in their hands, & what contributed to the Loss & dissapointement of the Traders, was, that the Creek Indians could not be prevailed on, for several years past, to dress their Skins so that if the usual quantity of hides had been taken they were not equal in Value to what they would have been dressed, altho the Indians obliged them to take them at the Same rate.

That a General agreement among the Traders to Stop the Importation of goods to these two Nations for a Season, had it taken place might have produced fatal consequences, and been regarded by these Savages in the same light as a declaration of War against them, which they would have the more readily interpreted it into, as they are of oppinion that a War rubbs off all Scores, therefore, & from a Natural reluctance to sitt down with a certain known Loss, & in hopes of retrieving their Losses from year to year. Your Memorialists continued their Supplys to these Indians, untill they have insensibly involved with themselves, their Creditors, in their Misfortunes.

That at last seeing no other way of averting the impending ruin, & enabling them to continue in the Trade, Your Memorialists proposed a Mode of extricating themselves & their Debtors both from a burthen too intolerable to both partys, which the Cherokees partly from a Motive of Justice & partly to encourage an ample Supply in future, adopted with eagerness & earnestly persist in as your Excellency will have seen by the Talks addressed to you on this occasion, namely a Cession of Land on Savannah River to the Crown to be disposed of as His Majesty shall think fitt for the purpose of paying off their Debts contracted since the conclusion of the war with them in the year 1761.

That the Lands proposed to be ceded are claimed by both Nations, not occupied by either of them, nor of any use to them as a hunting Ground,, being so near to our settlements, that the upper Line will reach no higher on the South Side Savannah River, than the Carolina Settlements on the North side already do.

That this Tract contains upwards of three Millions of Acres of as fine Lands & as fit for the Culture of Indico, Tobacco, Hemp, Flax, Wheat, & other valueable produce as any in America, having the advantage of the Savannah, Okony [Oconee] & Great Ogetchy [Ogeechee] Rivers, bounding or running thro it.

That the Lands to the Norward, are much Worn out, & very Insufficient for the increase of Population in those parts, as appears by the Number of emigrants that flock from thence into the upper parts of So. Carolina & Georgia, where they are obliged to remain, being unable thro poverty to transport their Familys by Water to the Floridas, and prevented them from Journeying by Land by the several Nations of Indians they have to pass thro.

That if the Lands proposed to be ceded are exposed to Sale, or otherwise granted in Small Tracts, for a moderate or even a Small consideration per Acre, a Sum much more than sufficient to discharge all the Indian Debts & every expence attending it, would be presently raised, & they would be settled with a great Number of Industrious poor white Familys that would cover the more opulent plantations nearer the Sea Coast, and prove an aquisition of the Utmost importance to His Majestys Province of Georgia in particular.

Your Memorialists then confiding in your Equity, & readiness to assist them as innocent Sufferers, as well as your discernment in seeing the Necessity of relieving the Indians from a load of Debt that is grown Irksome to them, most earnestly entreat, that you will be pleased to lay their Distressfull & indeed ruinous Situation at the feet of our Good & Gracious Sovereign, in whose Wisdom, & paternall care of his most distant Subjects they firmly & humbly hope for relief.

George Galphin

James Jackson & Co.

Robert Mackay & Co for Martin Campbell & Son Woodgion

Rae, Whitefield & Compy

Edwd Barnard

Waters

Jas. Grierson

James Spalding & Co.

Ed. Keating

Petition of Lewis Dumesnil de St. Pierre to the Board of Trade, Nov. 15, 1771, London, received Nov. 26, read Dec. 12, 1771, C.O. 5/651, H. 12, praying for a grant of 20,000 acres in Georgia. ⁷⁷

My Lords

Lewis Dumesnil de St. Pierre, Your humble Petioner, One of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for Granville County South Carolina & Captain of the Militia of the Company of the French Colony at new Bourdeaux in the said Province did obtain of his Majesty a promise of a Grant of 40,000 Acres of Land in Nova Scotia under the Ministry of MiLord Shelburne in the Year 1767, intended to be Settled by French & German Protestants. Your humble Peitioner did leave London with the Said Colony the 26th of September in the same Year, in Order to perform his Agreement, but having been beaten by contrary Winds, untill the Latitude 41 North, his Ship being very leaky & his Colonists reduced to three Pounds of Bread for Nine Days, & very Sick of the Scurvy, they did oblige him the 1st of Jany. 1768 to bear, and he put into the harbour of Charles Town the 10 of Feby. 1768, after having been 138 Days at Sea, in the greatest Distress, 10 of his People being Buried over board, and the remainder in danger. Then MiLords your humble Petitioner was oblig’d to accept the offers made unto him by Lord Charles Montagu the Governor of the Province to stay & settle there, and the Legislature granted him the Usual Bounty for his People, who refused him to take the Sea again for any consideration. By that he was prevented to go to take Possession of his 40,000 Acres of Land, and went immediately to take Possession of the Land granted unto him at New Bourdeaux Hilsborough Township, where he made his application to View the Lands of his District, which he found intirely adapted & Calculated for the Vines, Silk & Indigo Agriculture whose produces will succeed in a plentiful manner if Your Lordships will be so kind to encourage your humble Petitioner, he being unable by himself to carry to the highest the first Branches of Agriculture without help from the Publick.

Your humble Petitioner takes the Liberty to shew to your Honours that he expended above £2000 Sterling for his Colony & that he has never had any Lands in Nova Scotia nor in Carolina, but a small Tract for himself, and he most humbly begs, that your Lordships will be pleas’d to grant to him 20,000 Acres in the Province of Georgia, which is the half of what he was intitled to in Nova Scotia, intending to promote the above branches of Agriculture, as well in that Province as in Carolina, of which he is separated only by the River Savannah.

Your most humble Petitioner is in hopes that Your Lordships will throw a favourable Eye upon this Memorandum, and to consider that he is very much in a hurry to proceed to provide for some Plants of Vines from Abroad, it being now the very time for to buy the Slips, and to carry them into Carolina. Your most humble Petitioner as in Duty bound shall ever pray for Your Preservation.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Dec. 27, 1771, Berners Street [London], received Jan. 2, read March 28, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 23, concerning his opposition to large grants of land in the back parts of American colonies.

My Lords

I lately took the Liberty to Communicate my Sentiments to your Lordships against granting Large Tracts or Bodys of Land to Individuals, or to a Man and his Associates within or Bordering Upon the Settlements in the Province of Georgia, and had the Honor to offer Some Reasons in Support of my Opinion, Which I Flatter myself Will have due Weight with your Lordships, and hope may Prevent any Grants or Orders for Grants to Persons here, or indeed to any Persons whatever for Large Tracts of Land in that Province.

And now my Lords I begg your Patience a Moment while I consider this matter in a more Extensive Point of View, and go a little further in Declaring my Sentiments and Opinion with Respect to the Granting of large Bodys of Land in the Back Parts of the Province of Georgia, or in any other of His Majesty’s Northern Colonys at a Distance from the Sea Coast, or from Such Parts of any Province as is already Settled and Inhabited.

And this matter my Lords appears to me in a very Serious and Alarming Light, and I humbly Conceive may be Attended With the greatest and Worst of Consequences. For my Lords if a Vast Territory be Granted to any Set of Gentlemen, Who Really Mean to People it, and actually do so, it must Draw and Carry out a great Number of People from Great Britain, and I apprehend they will Soon become a kind of Separate and Independent People, and Who Will Set up for themselves. That they Will Soon have manufacturers of their own. That they will Neither take Supplys from the Mother Country, or from the Provinces at the Back of Which they are Settled. That being at a Distance from the Seat of Government, Courts, Magistrates &c &c they will be out of the Reach and Controul of Law and Government. That it will become a Receptacle and Kind of Asylum for Offenders Who Will fly from Justice, to Such new Country or Colony, and therefore Crimes and offences Will be Committed not only by the Inhabitants of Such New Settlement, but Elsewhere and Pass with Impunity. And that in Process of time (and Perhaps at no great Distance) they will become Formidable Enough to Oppose His Majestys Authority, Distrub Government, and even give Law to the other, or first Settled Part of the Country, and throw every thing into Confusion.

My Lords I hope I Shall not be thought Impertinent when I give my Opinion Freely on a Matter of so great Consequence as I Conceive this to be. And my Lords I apprehend that in all the American Colonys, great care Should be taken that the Lands on the Sea Coast, Should be thick Settled with Inhabitants and well Cultivated and Improved and that the Settlements Should be gradually Extended Back into the Province, and as much Connected as Possible to keep the People together, in as Narrow a Compass, as the Nature of the Lands and State of things Will admit of, and by which Means there would Probably become only one General View, and Interest amongst them. And the Power of Government and Law would of Course Naturally and Easily go with them. And matters thereby Properly Regulated and kept in due order and Obedience and they would have no Idea of Resisting or Transgressing either, without being amenable to Justice, and Subject to Punishment for any offences they may Commit.

But my Lords to Suffer a kind of Province within a Province, and one that may, indeed must in Process of time become Superior and too bigg for the Head, or original Settlement or Seat of Government, to me Conveys with it, many Ideas of Consequences of Such a Nature, as I Apprehend are Extremely Dangerous and Improper, and it would be the Policy of Government to Avoid and Prevent whilst in their Power to do so.

My Ideas my Lords are not Chimerical. I know Something of the Situation and State of things in America, and from Some little Occurrences or instances that have already Really happened, I can very Easily Figure to mySelf what may, and in short what will Certainly happen, if not Prevented in time.

And from your Lordships great knowledge in American affairs, and Superior Penetration and Judgment, I doubt not but my Imperfect Attempts Will Suggest to your Lordships many more Cogent Reasons than have Occur’d to me.

Order in Council, Jan. 15, 1772, St. James, received Jan. 22, read Jan. 30, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 21, disallowing several ordinances passed by the Georgia Assembly appointing officials in that colony.

Whereas there was this Day read at the Board a Report from the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs Dated the 10th of this Instant in the Words following. Vizt.

“Your Majesty having been pleased by Your order in Council of the 19th of July 1771 to refer unto this Committee a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations upon considering several Laws and Ordinances passed in the two last Sessions of Assembly in Georgia, intituled -

His Majesty taking the said Report into Consideration, was pleased with the advice of His Privy Council to Approve thereof, and accordingly to Disallow the said Laws and ordinances. And His Majesty doth hereby Order, that the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, do prepare and lay before His Majesty at this Board, a Draft of an Additional Instruction to the Governor or Commander in Chief for the time being of the said Province of Georgia, not to give his Assent for the future to any Laws of the like nature.

Memorial of the Merchants trading to Georgia to the Board of Trade, [London], received and read March 25, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 22, urging approval of a cession of land to Georgia by the Indians.

Humbly Sheweth

That Your Memorialists are considerably interested in the welfare and prosperity of the Province of Georgia; having large sums of Money and great Property there, not only as Merchants, but also from their having purchased valuable Tracts of Land and settled many Plantations.

That from the present State and situation of Affairs, with the Indians, there may be some apprehension of danger, should an Indian War unhappily ensue, as your Memorialists are humbly of opinion that the Inhabitants of that valuable Province are by no means equal to them in strength.

That Your Memorialists further beg leave to observe that nothing can so effectually give strength and security to that growing Province as an increase of Inhabitants. This desirable acquisition, it is their opinion as well as the opinion of all their Friends in Georgia, will be greatly promoted by a Plan or Measure which, they are informed, has been laid before Your Lordships by Governour Wright respecting Lands proposed to be ceded to His Majesty by the Indians. Which Plan if adopted and properly carried into execution will be attended with the most beneficial and salutary consequences to the said Province and will also very considerably increase the demand for British Manufactures. And the Correspondents of your Memorialist have in all their late letters represented to them in the strongest and most pressing manner that the said Measure is of the utmost importance to the security and prosperity of the said Province as well as for His Majesty’s service and have earnestly requested them to sollicit Your Lordships’ kind interposition in support of Governour Wright’s Proposition.

Therefore Your Memorialists beg leave to represent it to Your Lordships’ Favour and Protection as a matter of the greatest consequence and humbly request that Your Lordships will be pleased to adopt the said Measure respecting the Lands to be ceded by the Indians and hope that the same will be finally approved by His most gracious Majesty and ordered to be carried into execution.

And Your Memorialists shall every pray &c.

Order in Council, Jan. 15, 1772, St. James, received Dec. 12, read Dec. 21, 1772, C. O. 5/651, H. 44, disallowing ordinances appointing Georgia officials.

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 agreeable to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom and are to be transmitted for His Majestys Royal Approbation or Disallowance; And Whereas in Pursuance of the said powers An Act and four Ordinances were passed in the said province in February and May 1770 and transmitted intituled as follows. Vizt.

Which Act and Ordinances, together with a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations thereupon, having been referred to the Consideration of a Committee of the Lords of His Majestys most Honble Privy Council, the said Lords of the Committee did this Day Report as their Opinion to His Majesty that the said Act and Ordinances ought to be Disallowed. His Majesty taking the same into Consideration was pleased with the Advice of His Privy Council to Declare his Disallowance of the said Act and Ordinances, and pursuant to His Majestys Royal Pleasure thereupon Expressed the said Act and Ordinances are hereby Disallowed, Declared Void and of none Effect. Whereof the Governor or Commander in Chief of His Majestys said Province of Georgia for the time being and all others whom it may concern are to take Notice and govern themselves accordingly.

Order in Council, Feb. 3, 1772, St. James, received Dec. 12, read Dec. 21, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 43, approving additional instructions for the Governor of Georgia.

Whereas there was this Day read at the Board a Report from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations together with a Draught of An Additional Instruction to James Wright Esquire Governor of His Majestys Colony of Georgia (Prepared by the said Lords Commissioners in pursuance of His Majestys Order in Council of the 15th of last Month), restraining him from giving his Assent for the future to any Law or Ordinance by which Persons shall be appointed to the Executive Offices of Government. His Majesty taking the same into consideration, was pleased, with the Advice of His Privy Council, to Approve of the said Draught of Additional Instruction (which is hereunto annexed) and to Order, as it is hereby Ordered, that the Right Honourable the Earl of Hillsborough, One of His Majestys Principal Secretaries of State do cause the same to be prepared for His Majestys Royal Signature.

Order in Council, March 16, 1772, St. James, received Dec. 12, read Dec. 21, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 45, appointing James Hume to the Council in Georgia.

Whereas there was this day read at the Board, a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and plantations, dated the 4th of this Instant, Setting forth, That Francis Harris Esquire, One of His Majesty’s Council for the Colony of Georgia is dead, and that James Hume Esquire hath been recommended to the said Lord Commissioners as a person well qualified to serve His Majesty in that Station, They therefore humbly propose that he may be appointed of His Majesty’s said Council in the room of the said Francis Harris deceased. His Majesty in Council approving thereof, is pleased to Order, as it is hereby Ordered, that the said James Hume Esquire, be constituted and appointed a Member of His Majesty’s said Council for the Colony of Georgia, in the room of the said Francis Harris Esquire deceased; And that the Right Honourable the Earl of Hillsborough One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State do cause the usual Warrant to be prepared for His Majesty’s Royal Signature.

James Habersham to the Board of Trade, June 16, 1772, Savannah, received Aug. 28, read Nov. 2, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 36, concerning acts passed to emit Treasurer’s certificates and assessing the inhabitants of Savannah.

My Lords

I had the Honor of receiving your Lordships Letter of the 1st February last, which enclosed an Extract of Counsellor Jacksons report on two Acts of Assembly passed in the Year 1770; one for granting to His Majesty the Sum of £3355.9.0 1/4 for the Support of this Government, and the other for assessing the Inhabitants of Savannah for the Support of a Watch in the said Town.

In regard to your Lordships Objection to the former Act, I have long seen the Impropriety of empowering the Treasurer to issue his Certificates, without a proper Check, for the payment of the Public Debts, and I know Governor Wright was clearly against suffering that Mode to take place again, and had I gone upon Business with the Assembly, I lately called, and was obliged to dissolve, I should not have suffered any Clause in the customary Tax Act to give the Treasurer any such Power, which may be perverted to bad Purposes, and I intended to recommend it in the strongest Terms to the Assembly to examine the Treasurers Accounts, and in particular to have these Certificates called in and destroyed; but as we cannot possibly carry on Business without some circulating Medium, and I had not been acquainted with your Lordships Objections, I should probably not have objected to Certificates being issued to the Public Creditors, after the Treasurer had paid the Ballance of any Funds, that appeared to be in his Hands, as hath been practised in South Carolina, provided there had been a Clause inserted in the Act for positively calling in, and sinking at a certain day, the outstanding Certificates, that have been provided for. I have now before me the Tax Act passed in South Carolina in April 1768, and I think there has been none since, which empowers the Treasurer to give Certificates to the Creditors provided for, agreable to the Estimate annexed to the Act, after being countersigned by two or more of five Persons therein named, who are directed to keep an Account in a Book of such Certificates, they may respectively sign, which by the Tenor of them are to be carried to the Treasurer to be exchanged before a limittedday, otherwise the Act declares the Public shall not be made liable to make Provision for the same. This Method is a sufficient Check on the Treasurer, as he can take Credit for no more, than he can produce to be so countersigned, and if any of them should be lost or destroyed, the Public will have the Benefit of them, and I do not understand, that any Inconvenience has arose from this Proceedure, either to His Majestys Service or the Province, but on the contrary has been highly beneficial, and their Current Money is now £5 per ct. better, than indisputably good Bills of Exchange at 30 days sight on London.

My Lords, I have taken the Liberty of being thus particular, because I know not how the Business of this Colony can be carried on, or the necessary Taxes paid without some temporary Medium. Governor Wright can inform your Lordships, that the Gold and Silver, that finds its way into this Province is trifling, and that I am no Friend to the Emission of Paper Medium, that is not well funded and regularly sunk, or indeed to the Emission of any, if we had, or there was a possibility of getting, Specie to supply it’s place. But with the utmost Deference to your Lordships, it appears to me, that we cannot do without some substitute to carry on Commerce and Business, and if the Treasurers Accounts are annually settled, and the Certificates provided for regularly sunk, which certainly ought to be done, I cannot see any Inconvenience can arise, especially as it is always in the Power of the Kings representative to prevent any Abuse, or improper Emissions of them, and as I think, I am not unacquainted with the local Circumstances of this Province, I hope your Lordships will not be displeased at my offering my thoughts on this Subject.

With regard to the Objection made by Mr. Jackson to the Law to empower Commissioners to assess the Inhabitants of Savannah for supporting a Watch, it was undoubtedly intended as an equal Assessment upon Property of every kind, and therefore it not only imposed a Tax on Goods, Wares and Merchandize imported for Sale, but upon the value of Houses, Wharfes, Lotts, Negroes &ca. &ca., and if I should be directed to call another Assembly, I shall advert to your Lordships Observation, that any future Law of this Nature shall clearly express the Assessment to be ad Valorem upon Stock in Trade, and not upon Goods and Merchandize imported.

Order in Council, June 19, 1772, St. James, received Dec. 12, read Dec. 21, 1772, C.O. 5/651, H. 46, rejecting the petition of sundry Georgians asking for royal help in defending their land titles.

Whereas there was this day read at the Board a Report from the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, Dated the 17th day of this Instant in the words following Vizt.

His Majesty taking the said Report into consideration was pleased, with the advice of His Privy Council to approve thereof, and to Order, as it is, hereby Ordered, that the said petition of several Inhabitants of Georgia, be, and it is hereby Dismissed this Board.

James Habersham to the Board of Trade, Dec. 5, 1772, Savannah, received Feb. 23, read April 22, 1773, C.O. 5/652,I. 1, concerning a clause on idiots and lunatics proposed to be inserted in governor’s commissions.

My Lords

I have the Honor of receiving your Lordships Letter of the 29th July last, enclosing a Draught of a Clause proposed to be inserted in the Commissions for Governors of His Majestys Plantations in America, respecting the Care and Custody of Ideots and Lunaticks, agreable to the Usage and Practice in England, which I referred to the Chief Justice and Attorney General, to enquire into the Laws and Usage of this Colony to see, whether there is anything, that will furnish any Objection against the Clause proposed, and report the same to me. Accordingly they have made their Report, a Copy of which is herewith enclosed, and I am humbly of Opinion with them, that it woud be highly expedient to insert the Clause in the Commission for the Governor of this Province.

Anthony Stokes and James Hume to James Habersham, Oct. 31, 1772, C.O. 5/652, I. 2, concerning a clause on idiots and lunatics proposed to be inserted in governor’s commissions. Enclosed in Habersham to the Board of Trade, Dec. 5, 1772.

May it please your Honor

In Obedience to your Direction, signifyed to us by your Letter of the 7th Instant, desiring us to inquire into the Laws and Usage of this Colony to see whether there is anything that will furnish any Objection against a Clause proposed to be inserted in the Commissions to Governors in His Majestys Plantations in America, respecting the Commitment of Ideots and Lunaticks, which you enclosed us.

We have attentively considered the Matters thereby referred to us, and do humbly Certify to your Honor, that we know of no Law or Usage in this Province, which will furnish any Objection to the Clause proposed to be inserted in the Commission of the Governor of this Province.

As by the Laws of England the Care of Ideots and Lunaticks doth belong to the Crown, and the Lord Chancellor on his Appointment is impowered by the Kings Royal Sign Manual to give Order and Direction for the Custody of the Estates of Ideots and Lunaticks.

We humbly conceive, that the Clause proposed to be inserted in the Commission to the Governor of this Province would be highly advisable. All which we humbly Certify, and Submit to your Honor.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Dec. 30, 1773, Savannah, received Marh 14, read Oct. 25, 1774, C.O. 5/652, I. 3, containing remarks on acts passed by the assembly in September last.

My Lords.

I have now the Honor to Transmit to your Lordships, Copys of the Several Bills which I assented to, on the 29th of September last, with my Observations, on such as I think require any, and my Reasons for Passing them. Vizt.

A Bill for Granting to His Majesty the Sum of Five Thousand One hundred and Seventy One pounds, fifteen Shillings and ten-pence half penny for the use and Support of the Government of Georgia for the Year 1773 to be Raised at Certain Rates, and after the Method therein mentioned, and for the more Effectual Collecting of Arrears. And on this I shall only Observe, that altho it says for the use and Support of the Government for the Year 1773, yet the Publick Debts and Expences of the Years Seventy One and Two, are also Provided for, as no Tax Bills were Passed in those Years.

A Bill for Granting to His Majesty the Sum of Four Thousand Two hundred and Ninety Nine pounds, and for Empowering the Commissioners therein Named, to Stamp, Imprint, Sign and Issue Paper Certificates to the Amount of the said Sum, for the Uses and Purposes therein mentioned. My Lords, altho this Bill at first View, may seem as tho’ I had given my Assent, to the Issuing a very large Sum, and making a Great Addition and increase to Our Paper Money, yet not one Shilling more is Issued than was Circulateing before. But the Fact is, that on my return here, and looking Minutely into the State of Our Finances and Circulating Currency or Paper Bills, I found there remain’d outstanding of different Denominations and Issu’d at different times to the above Amount, and that the Funds for Sinking some of them had failed, and that the time for Sinking great part, was already Elapsed, and that in Short it was Impossible to Call them in, and Sink them all at once. I therefore Determined on this Method, whereby all the outstanding Certificates, of every kind, will be call’d in and Burn’t, and these New Certificates Issued, or given in exchange for the Old Ones. And now Provision is made, for Sinking the whole of the New Certificates, by the General Tax, in the time and Proportions mentioned in the Law. And on my Proposeing and Explaining this to some of the Members of the Council and Assembly, they highly Approved of the Method, and it was readily Adopted by both Houses. And as particular Care is taken, both in wording of the Law & the Certificates that they are only a Tender to, or to be recived by the Publick Treasurer, I Trust Your Lordships will also approve of what I have done to settle a Confussed difficult matter, on a clear safe and Sure Footing; And for a further Explanation I beg leave to refer to the Preamble and Recitals in the Law.

A Bill to Prevent the Mischiefs ariseing from the Practice of Hunting and killing Deer by Fire Light, in the Night time.

This is for Preventing a matter, that was found to be very hurtfull to the Country People in General, who frequently had their Cattle and Horses Shot in the Night, under Pretence of Hunting and killing Deer.

A Bill to Empower Commissioners or Surveyors, to lay out, make, and Repair the Roads already laid out, or as may hereafter be Necessary, and also, to Clear the Rivers and Creeks, within their Respective Divissions.

Some further Provision and Additions being Necessary to be made to the former Road Law It was thought more Adviseable, to make a New One and which I think is a very Material and usefull Law.

A Bill to Empower the Commissioners therein Named, to Lease to the Thirty first of December next, and then to put up to Sale for the benefit of the Publick, The Ferry over Great Ogechee River for a Term of years; And to Authorize the said Commissrs to Inspect and Regulate the said Ferry. A former Law for this Purpose, and the Lease of the Ferry being nearly Expired, it became Necessary to Pass a new one.

A Bill to Prevent the Stealing of Horses and Neat Cattle, & unlawfully Branding, Marking, Killing or Driving the Same.

This Bill my Lords, I thought really might have a good Effect, on Considering the Local Circumstances here, and the Great difference, between the Nature and Offence of Horse Stealing in Great Britain and this Province, but yet I doubted whether I ought to Assent to the Bill, as not Consonant, but rather Repugnant to the Laws of Great Britain. Wherefore I Stated the Case to the Council whose Opinion on the Matter, I herewith Inclose.⁷⁸ And I know a Bill somewhat of the same Sort was Passed Four or five Years ago in South Carolina, to which I never heard any Objection was made by Yr Lordships, and for these Reasons I assented to it. And the Same is Submitted to Yr Lordships Superior Judgment.

A Bill for the Settling and Ascertaining the Fees to be taken by the several Publick Officers, and Persons herein after Named.

The Fees allowed to be taken, have always hitherto been Regulated and Established by the Governor in Council, agreable to His Majestys Thirty Eighth Instruction, but Inconveniences having been found to Attend it. And Persons Offending by taking Exorbitant Fees, or Fees not allowed, being only Subject to a troublesome and difficult Prosecution at Common Law, which prevented People injured from Seeking Redress. And a Saving or Suspending Clause being Inserted in the Bill I readily assented thereto. And am really of opinion that a Provincial Law, is the properest Method of Establishing & Regulating Publick Officers & all other Fees.

A Bill to Empower the Commissioners of the general Loan to Stamp, Reimprint, Sign and Issue Paper Bills of Credit to the Amount of Five hundred and Twenty pounds Sterl, being in Lieu of that Sum received by them as Interest Money unappropriated (the Bills of which are Obliterated and decayed) by Virtue of an Act, Intitled an Act for Stamping, Imprinting, Issuing and making Current the Sum of Seven thousand Four hundred and Ten pounds in Paper Bills of Credit, and for applying and sinking the Same, and for appropriating the said Sum of Five hundred and Twenty pounds in Aid of the General Tax for the Service of the Year 1773. And Also to Reimprint Sign & Issue the further Sum of Seventy three pounds for other Purposes therein mentioned.

The Fact my Lords, appeared Clearly to be, that the Sum of £520 for Interest Money unappropriated, had been received by the Commissioners, and put into a Drawer, which by accident had got wet, and the Bills were so Rotten & Stuck together, in such manner, that they were totally useless, and the Other losses by Fire, were clearly and Sufficiently Proved. So that your Lordships, will see that this is not adding One Sixpence to Our Money or Currency, but only replaceing what was totally and absolutely Lost and distroyed. And which appearing to me to be just and Equitable I assented to the Bill.

A Bill to Oblige Masters of Vessels and other Transient Persons, Importing Negroes, and other Slaves, Goods, Wares, & Merchandize to pay Tax for the same, and to Compel the Persons directed to receive the same, to give Security for the due Performance of their Office, and for Monies that may be recivd by them, by Virtue of any act of this Province.

This Bill my Lords, I judg’d to be a very Usefull & Necessary Law, and as Care is taken, in the wording of it, to Explain it, so as to Avoid an Objection made by your Lordships to a former Law, I am hopefull it will meet with your Lordships Approbation.

A Bill to Continue the Several Laws therein mentioned, and for Vesting Several Ferrys in the Persons mentioned in an Act Intitled an Act for Establishing Several Ferries in this Province, in the Persons therein mentioned.

This needs no Remark.

A Bill to prevent Counterfeiting the Paper Money of other his Majestys Colonies or Provinces in America.

This Seemed very Proper.

A Bill for the better Ordering of the Militia.

This is a Most Material Bill.

A Bill for Granting to His Majesty a Duty upon Raw Neat Hides, Exported from this Province, and for Preventing the Exportation of Unmerchantable Tanned Leather.

A former Bill of this Sort was Passed some Years ago, but Hides &ca. Exported to Great Britain (by Mistake) not being Excepted, it was disallowed by His Majesty. And as such an Exception is made in this Law and it appearing to be a usefull one, I have Assented to it.

A Bill to Prevent Damages ariseing from Dams or Banks and for Preventing Persons from Stoping the Natural Course or Courses of water to the Injury of their Neighbours.

This my Lords is a very usefull Law amongst Planters. There was One formerly which is near Expiring, and this is put on a more Extensive and better footing than the former.

A Bill to Enforce the Payment of Arrears of Taxes due in this Province from Persons holding or Claiming to hold Lands by Virtue of and under Grants Signed by the Governor of South Carolina in the Year of Our Lord 1763.

This my Lords appear’d to be a very Necessary Law, for in the Year 1763 the then Governor of South Carolina Granted to Several of the Inhabitants of that Province upwards of 90,000 Acres of Extraordinary fine Land lying within this Province to the Southward of the River Alatamaha; and there is not to this day, above Three Settled Plantations on all those Lands, nor have they (some, very few Excepted) Paid One Shilling of either Quit Rents or Provincial Taxes. I shall not now trouble Your Lordships further on this Subject, but to Observe that the vast Injury to this Province which I Pointed out in my Letters to the Lords of Trade in 1763 is now felt and Evident to Every One. The Carolinians my Lords cannot Complain of any Hardship or Injustice, in Obliging them to do what every Settler in this Province must Comply with. And the Last Tax Law that was Passed in South Carolina, I am well Informed, goes further than this Law does, & therefore, we have only followed their Own Example, to Compell those to pay their Tax, who will not do it without.

An Ordinance for Reappointing Benjamin Franklyn Esqr. Agent for this Province was presented, which for Several Reasons I thought proper to refuse my Assent to. But assented to an Ordinance Appointing Mr. Elliott a kind of Conditional Agent; But there being Several Conditions and restrictions in the Bill or rather Absurdities which render it Void or useless. I believe no Letter has yet been wrote by the Committee, and understand none is like to be. And it is most Probable, that a New Ordinance will be brought in, when we meet next Month.

All which is Humbly Submitted to Your Lordships Superior Judgement.

Richard Jackson to the Board of Trade, June 11, 1774, [London] received June 13, read Oct. 25, 1774, C.O. 5/652, I. 5, reporting upon acts passed by the Georgia assembly.

May it please your Lordships.

In obedience to your Lordships Commands Signified to me by Mr. Pownall, I have perused and considered, An Act passed by the Governor Council and Assembly of His Majestys Province of Georgia, in September 1773. Intitled.

And am of Opinion, that although this Act might have been proper had the provisions of it extended to all Cases, or to all Cases where the Owner of the Lands reside out of the Province; Yet inasmuch as it is confined Singly to the Owners of Land under the Grants of the Governor of Carolina, it carrys an appearance of Partiality, which may be Mischievous by its example if not by its own Effect.

I have also perused and considered one other Act passed by the said Governor Council and Assembly in the said Year 1773 Intitled.

And am of Opinion that the same is improper, in that it charges the Goods of Transient Persons with a Duty of Two and a half per Cent. This Impropriety is by no means Cured by the Declaration of the Assembly, that it is intended by this Act not to lay a Duty, but only to compelí Transient Persons to contribute to the support of the Government of Georgia. As it appears to me by no means equitable or Politick to call on such Persons to support the Government of a Country they trade to (unless under very Special Circumstances), and least of all to the Support of Government in Georgia, so great a part which is defrayed out of the Revenue of Great Britain.

I have likewise perused and considered Fourteen other Acts passed by the said Governor Council and Assembly in the same Year 1773 Intitled.

An Ordinance appointing the Honourable Grey Elliott Esqr. Agent to Sollicit the Affairs of this Province in Great Britain, in case of the absence of Benjamin Franklin Esqr. from Great Britain.

And I am of Opinion that the said Acts are proper in point of Law.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Aug. 13, 1774, Savannah, read Oct. 25, 1774, C.O. 5/652, I. 4, transmitting an act passed June 20.

My Lords

I have now the Honor to Transmit to your Lordships a Copy of an Act assented to by me on the 20th day of June last, and hope the Same will be Approved of, also Copys of the Minutes or Journals of both Houses during their Sitting at that time. ⁷⁹

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Jan. 20, 1775, Savannah, received March 29, read Nov. 21, 1775, C.O. 5/652, I. 8, transmitting bills passed March 12, 1774.

My Lords

I have the Honor to Transmit to your Lordships Five Bills Assented to by me the 12th of March 1774, and which (till very lately) I really thought had been Transmitted last Summer as they Ought to have been. And Which Omission I hope your Lordships will be so good as to excuse. The Truth is, I ordered the Secretary to Prepare them, but he was Soon after taken very ill & did not do it, and it Slip’t my Recollection.

The 1st. is a Bill for Granting to His Majesty £800. and for Issuing Certificates to that amount; & Sinking the Same. And as things were then Circumstanced with the Indians, it was absolutely necessary to Raise Some Money: for we had None, and Could not do without. And I Conceive this to be Agreeable to His Majestys 23d Instruction to me.

2nd. The Bill for Regulating Wharffs and Shipping, Seems to be a very Necessary Bill, and I think will be usefull & have a Good Effect.

3rd. The Bill for Regulating the Hyre of Porters, and Labour of Negroes. This was Certainly much wanted, and I think will be very usefull.

4th. The Bill for Settling the Line of Jurisdiction of the two Courts of Conscience in St. Georges Parish, was very necessary, for Preventing the disputes and inconveniencies which had frequently happened amongst the Inhabitants there for want of the Jurisdiction of Each Court, being Clearly Established and known.

5th. The Bill for Burying or destroying Indico Weed Seemed also Necessary, for that Weed after being Steeped Breeds Such a Prodigious Quantity of Files and Insects, that the Cattle Horses & Other Stock are nearly destroyed by them, and they are Otherwise very Offensive.

I hope Nothing Exceptionable will appear to your Lordships in any of these Bills.

Richard Jackson to the Board of Trade, March 23, 1775, [London], received April 6, 1775, C.O. 5/652, I. 6, concerning an act passed in Georgia.

May it please your Lordships.

In obedience to your Lordships Commands, Signified to me by Mr. Pownall I have perused and considered, An Act passed by the Governor Council and Assembly of Georgia in June 1744, Intitled.

And I am of opinion that the same is proper in point of Law.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, April 20, 1775, Savannah, received June 26, read Nov. 21, 1775, C.O. 5/652, I. 9, listing The Governor’s Council in Georgia.

My Lords

I have the Honor to Transmit your Lordships a list of the Names of His Majesty’s Council of this Province, Noting Such as are Absent, and by what Leave, and for what time. Vizt. James Habersham, Noble Jones, James Mackay, James Edward Powell, Grey Elliott, Clement Martin, John Graham, Lewis Johnson, James Read, Henry Yonge, Anthony Stokes, and James Hume. None of which are Absent but Mr. Elliott, to whom I gave leave of Absence on the 11th day of August 1773 for twelve Months.

Richard Jackson to the Board of Trade, May 25, 1775, [London], received May 26, read Nov. 21, 1775, C.O. 5/652, I. 7, concerning acts passed in Georgia.

May it please your Lordships.

In obedience to your Lordships Commands Signified to me by Mr. Pownall, I have perused & considered Five Acts passed by the Governor Council and Assembly of His Majestys Province of Georgia in March 1774. Intitled.

And I am of Opinion that the said Acts are proper in point of Law.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Nov. 3, 1775, Savannah, read March 5, 1776, C.O. 5/652, I. 12, concerning deaths of Council members.

My Lords

Since I did my Self the Honor to write to your Lordships last, Mr. James Habersham, Mr. Clement Martin and Mr. Noble Jones, three of His Majesty’s Council of this Province, have dyed. And Mr. Grey Elliott being in England on Leave of Absence, as Mentioned in my last, there now remains here only James Mackey, James Edward Powell, John Graham, Lewis Johnson, James Read, Henry Yonge, Anthony Stokes, and James Hume.

John Robinson, Secretary to the Commissioners of the Treasury, to John Pownall, Secretary to the Board of Trade, Dec. 22, 1775, London, received Dec. 23, 1775, read Feb. 6, 1776, C.O. 5/652, I. 11, concerning payment for a general Creek Indian Congress.

Sir!

Upon reading to My Lords Commrs. of his Majesty’s Treasury a letter from Dr. John Campbell Agent for the Province of Georgia desiring My Lords directions respecting the payment of a bill of Exchange for the sum of £459. 16. 8 drawn upon him by Sir James Wright Governor of that Province to defray the expences of a General Congress of the Creek Indians on the 24th of October last; I am ordered by their Lordships to transmit the same to you, with their desire that you take the Opinion of the Board of Trade thereupon, and communicate the same to My Lords.

Memorial of John Graham, Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, to Lord George Germaine, [London], read Jan. 17, 1777, C.O. 5/652, I. 13, praying that his salary continue to be allowed him.

Shewith

That your Memorialist has had the honor of being one of His Majestys Council in Georgia, since the year 1763, and has with Zeal for the Kings Service, ever faithfully discharged his Duty on that Station, and humbly hopes, his Services were acceptable to his Majesty, having been lately honored with his Commission of Lieutenant Governor of the said Province.

That Your Memorialist, having from his steady and Uniform Opposition to the Measures pursued for involving the Province of Georgia in the present unnatural Rebellion, rendered himself particularly obnoxious to the Leaders of that Party, he was pointed out by them as an Object for the resentment of the People. And on the 19th of Januy. last, was made a Prisoner by the Rebels with Sir James Wright his Majestys Governor in Chief, and tho’ he was with him released, yet in a few days afterwards, he received private information, that it was again determined to confine him, upon which he was obliged to conceal himself Night and day in Swamps for a considerable time, exposed to all the inclemencies of the Weather, untill he fortunately made his escape on board the Kings Ships, where he remained till they were ready to sail for Boston. During which time Captain Barkley of his Majestys Ship Scarborough and Major Grant Commanding a Detachmment of the Kings Troops, having in the course of their Operations, taken three Prisoners who were deemed by the Rebels, of consequence to their Party, A Negotiation was set on foot for their Release, which on certain conditions was agreed to and amongst other things, it was an express Stipulation made that Your Memorialist should on giving seven days Notice to their Committees, be allowed to bring away his Family, and are at a great expence obliged to freight a Vessel for that purpose. And on the 13th of May last, he was in consequence of the Stipulation before mentioned, permitted to leave the Province with his Family, being Twelve in number (exclusive of Servants) but was absolutely prevented from bringing any part of his property.

That before your Memorialist left the Province, the Rebels had wantonly burnt four Hundred Barrells of Rice, part of his last years Crop, had also in a great Measure destroyed a valuable Dwelling House in the Town of Savannah, and otherwise greatly injured his Property.

Your Lordships Memorialist having from Principle and attachment to his Majestys Person and Government, ever approved himself a loyal Subject, and faithful Servant of the Crown claims no Merit from his having done, what he thinks was no more than his indispensible Duty, but nevertheless, humbly hopes such his Conduct, may be the more favorably received, when it is considered, that it was at a Period, when he well knew, he was thereby risquing his all, and has in consequence thereof been actually obliged to leave at the Mercy of the Rebels, a Fortune of Fifty thousand pounds Sterling value, which consisting chiefly in Negroe Slaves, will in all probability be disposed of by the Rebels so, as to be forever lost to him & his Family.

Your Memorialist being thus cut off, from all prospect of Supplies from his own Estates, and being necessarly Subjected to a great expence, for the support of his Family here (hitherto accustomed to live in the greatest Affluence) is laid under the very disagreable Necessity of making this Application, and humbly hopes your Lordship, from a consideration of the heavy Losses which he has already sustained, his present embarrassed Situation, and the peculiar circumstances attending his case, be pleased to recommend that a Sallary be allowed him as Lieutenant Governor of Georgia from the time of his appointment as some Relief and Assistance. And Your Memorialist as in Duty bound Shall ever Pray &c. &c.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, May 1, 1781, Savannah, read Nov. 17, 1781, C.O. 5/652, I. 18, relative to correspondence with the Board of Trade.

My Lords

On the 24th of Last Month I had the Honor to receive a duplicate of your Lordships letter of the 13th of December last Relative to my Correspondence with Your Lordships Board which will duely Attended to.

William Knox to Grey Elliott,⁸⁰ June 8, 1781, Whitehall, received June 9, read June 12, 1781, concerning Georgia act imposing duties on exports.

Sir,

I send you herewith by Lord George Germain’s directions an Act passed by the Governor, Council, and Assembly of Georgia, granting to His Majesty certain Duties upon the Products of that Province exported therefrom, together with Extract of the Governor’s Letter to his Lordship accompanying the said Act which you will be pleased to lay before the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations for their Lordships Consideration.

Extract of a letter from James Wright to Lord George Germaine, April 9, 1781, Savannah, received June 9, read June 12, 1781, C.O. 5/652, I. 15, relative to duties granted to the King on all exported Georgia products. Enclosed in William Knox to Grey Elliott, June 8, 1781.

I have now the Honor to transmit to your Lordship a Copy of the Act “For Granting to His Majesty Certain Duties upon all Goods, Wares, and Merchandize, of the Growth, or Production, of this Province, which may be exported from hence, as the Contribution of Georgia, to the General Charge of the British Empire. ”

These Duties my Lord His Majesty’s Loyal Subjects in this Province, have most Freely and Chearfully given and granted And humbly hope His Majesty will be Graciously pleased to condescend to accept of the same, as a small token of their gratitude to His Majesty, and Affection for the Mother Country. A Duty of 5 per Cent was proposed, but the greatly distressed, reduced, and exhausted State of the Province, it was thought would not admit of laying on too large a Duty at present, and therefore it is only Two and an half per Cent. But my Lord the Example, the Precedent I looked upon as the principal Object, and which was opposed by some for awhile, but at length, the Measure was Unanimously agreed to, And as the Foundation is now laid, I presume it will be no difficult matter to raise the Duty, when the Province is at full Peace, and begins to People again, and recover its Produce and Trade.

On my coming out to this Province, your Lordship was pleased to Authorize me to declare to the Legislature, that the Net Produce of Duties imposed by Parliament for the Regulation of Commerce, would be applied to the Use of the Province. And that His Majesty in Order to ease His Loyal Subjects here, graciously intended to Remit all Arrears of Quit Rents, and proposed that all such as may become due hereafter shall also be appropriated to the use of the Province. And that all Fines and Forfeitures which shall happen, Arise or become due to His Majesty, shall likewise be applied in the same manner.

All which I represented to them as Matters of Special Grace and Favor of the Crown, and which deserved their warmest Acknowledgments.

Wherefore I must beg leave to remind your Lordship of these Things, and that I have not yet received any Authority from His Majesty for carrying His most Gracious Intentions into Execution.

Richard Jackson to the Board of Trade, June 11, 1781, [London], received and read June 12, 1781, C.O. 5/652, I. 16, concerning act granting the King export duties on Georgia produce.

In Obedience to your Lordships Commands signified to me by Mr. Elliot I have perused & considered an Act of Assembly passed in the Colony of Georgia in February last intituled.

An Act for granting to his Majesty certain Duties upon all Goods Wares & Merchandize of the Growth or Production of this Province, which may be exported from hence; as the Contribution of Georgia to the General Charge of the British Empire.

And I think that the Intention of the same is so laudable & so sufficiently intelligible, that your Lordships will not deem it unfit to continue in force, notwithstanding some Inaccuracies to be attributed perhaps to the Haste with which the Assembly wished to testify their Loyalty.

In the 2d enacting Claim, towards the bottom of the first page, instead of No Person shall ship on board on pain or if any Person shall ship on board & C. such Goods & C shall be forfeited it stands If any Person shall ship on board on pain that all such Goods & shall be forfeited.

There seem to be some other Faults in the Execution of this well founded Design particularly that it seems too much to intrust the Condemnation of the Goods to a single Justice of the Peace. It may be therefore adviseable to recommend to the Governor to obtain an Act to obviate Doubts & to explain & amend this Act.

I think it would be proper in some future case to enact that in case of Seisure, the Proof of Payment should lye on the owner or claimer of ye. Goods seised.

Memorial of the Merchants of London trading to South Carolina and Georgia to the Board of Trade, [London], received and read July 6, 1781, C.O. 5/652, I. 17, concerning laws in these colonies on debt and attachment for debt.

Most Humbly Sheweth

That the Extensive Credit given by your Memorialists, in their Trade to the Said Provinces, encouraging the Industry of the Inhabitants, and opening Markets for the Sale of their Produce, was the Means of their Attaining to that State of Wealth and ease, in which they actually stood when the present unhappy disputes began; and that in consequence of that Credit, very considerable Sums were then due and still are owing to your Memorialists, from their Correspondents in those Provinces.

That your Memorialists have now the satisfaction to see the said Provinces again under the Protection of His Majesty, and the appearance that Good Government and Order will speedily take place therein, and of course the usual intercourse of Commerce be again resumed, to the mutual Benefit of both Countries. Your Memorialists therfore humbly conceive, that in return for the Confidence which they must place in those with whom they are Engaged in Trade, and through whose Medium the Credit they have from Your Memorialists is extended in some degree to every Individual in the said Provinces, They ought to be in respect to their Property, upon an equal footing with the Inhabitants thereof, in every Act of the respective Legislatures, by which they can in any ways be Affected therein.

Your Memorialists beg leave to Represent to Your Lordships, that the Acts in force in the said Provinces for Subjecting to Attachments the Estates and Effects of Absent Debtors, and for the relief of those who are Insolvent contain Provisions which operate in many Instances to the great loss of your Memorialists, and by which they are put on a worse footing than the Inhabitants with respect to their Property in those Provinces. The Acts for the first of those Purposes are Objectionable on the following ground.

1st. Upon frivolous or unfounded pretences the Debts due and Effects belonging to your Memorialists are liable to be Attached, and a malevolent Person by doing it at a time when the usual and annual Remittance is upon the point of being made., May thereby Shake the Credit of the best Established Character in Trade.

2dly. In Cases of Persons Indebted to Your Memorialists absconding, the Creditors upon the Spot by an immediate Attachment Obtain a preferance, and receive the whole of their Debts in exclusion of Your Memorialists, who in many Instances have lost the whole of their Demands.

Indeed with respect to the first of these Objections Your Memorialists must with Gratitude acknowledge that His Majesty was graciously pleased in the Year 1772 by a Circular Additional Instruction to His Governors of the Colonies, to direct, that in future No Act of Attachment should receive the Assent of the said Governors, in which an Exception was not made as to the Effects of Persons who had not Resided in the said Colonies. But Your Memorialists humbly conceive that the said Instruction was not effectual to the Relief intended.

1st. Because in some Instances it happens that Your Memorialist have heretofore Resided within those Provinces, and are thereby not within the Exception made in the Instruction, And

2dly. Because altho it applied to the Acts to be passed in future, Yet the Acts then in actual Operation in the Colonies, were not Affected thereby, and more particularly those in force in the Provinces of South Carolina and Georgia being perpetual, His Majesty’s Gracious Intentions could not take effect.

With respect to the Acts for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, Your Memorialists are by their Provisions liable to many Losses and Inconveniences. The distance they are from the Debtor, the consequent want of knowledge of any Change that may happen in the situation of his Affairs, and the advantage a Creditor upon the Spot naturally has in inforceing or Securing the Payment of his Debt, are Circumstances greatly against Your Memorialists, but in Addition to these, they beg leave to state to Your Lordships, That unjust Preferences have been given to their prejudice, fraudulent Sales, Mortgages and Settlements have been set up against their just Demands. A temporary Security has been given for Persons to enable them to obtain an extensive Credit from Your Memorialists, by which means the Security has first Indemnified himself, and other Creditors have been paid, out of the Property Intrusted by them; And it frequently has happened that before Your Memorialists could possibly be apprized of the Insolvency of a Debtor, the Act being complied with on his part, has fully operated to his Relief, and their great and partial Loss.

Your Memorialists, that the Property they now have, and what they may hereafter Intrust in the said Provinces may be rendered the more Secure, humbly beg leave to Submit to Your Lordships Attention the facts they have now Stated, and whether this is not a proper time to relieve them in the Premises, which in the latter Instance they presume may be in some measure done by an Extention of the Laws relating to Bankrupts to those Provinces, if it shall be thought expedient so to do.

And as those Acts which are now in force in the said Provinces, Namely.

“An Act for the better securing the Payment and more easy recovery of Debts due from any Person or Persons Inhabiting, residing, or being beyond the Seas or elsewhere, without the limits of this Province, by Attaching the Moneys Goods Chattels Debts and Books of Account of such Person or Persons, if any he, she, or they shall have within this Province. And to impower and enable a Feme Covert,⁸¹ that is a Sole Trader, to sue for and recover such Debts as shall be Contracted with her as a Sole Trader, and. to subject such Feme Covert to be arrested and sued for any Debt contracted by her as a Sole Trader. Passed in the Province of So. Carolina the 29th. May 1744.

“An Act for the more effectual Relief of Insolvent Debtors, and for the purpose of putting in force, and effectually carrying into Execution in this Province such part of an Act made in the Parliament of Great Britain in the Second year of his present Majesty’s Reign. Intitled an Act for the Relief of Debtors with respect to the Imprisonment of their Persons as is hereafter mentioned and to Repeal the several Acts of Assembly now in force in this Province for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, passed in the Province of South Carolina the 7th. April 1759, Continued further and declared to be in force by several subsequent Acts of the General Assembly of the said Province.

“An Act for Subjecting and making liable to Attachment the Estate Real and Personal of Absent Debtors in the Custody or Power of any Person or Persons within this Province, passed in the Province of Georgia on the 9th June 1761.

“An Act for the Relief of Debtors who may be confined in Goal and are unable to Support themselves during such confinement passed in the Province of Georgia the 6th. March 1766 and further continued by several subsequent Acts of the General Assembly of the said Province” have not received His Majesty’s Royal Allowance. They presume to hope that Your Lordships will think it necessary not only to advise His Majesty to Signify His Royal Pleasure that so much of the said first mentioned Act as relates to Attaching the Effects of Absent Debtors, and the other three after mentioned Acts be disallowed but also that Instructions may be given to His Majesty’s Governors in the said Province, as soon as it shall appear Expedient to propose such Regulations to the Respective General Assembly’s, as will effectually remove the Disadvantages Your Memorialists have hitherto experienced.

Your Memorialists beg leave further to Represent to Your Lordships that in Cases of the death of Persons indebted to them in the said Provinces, they are often injured by the Advantage Creditors upon the Spot have, either by obtaining Bonds from the Debtor before his decease, or by immediately suing the Executors or Administrators, and thereby obtaining Judgments, and of course a preference to the Debts owing to Your Memorialists; before they can in some Instances be ever acquainted with the death of the Debtor. Your Memorialists must here observe, that the Act of 5th Geo. 2d. having made real Estates in the Plantations liable to simple Contract Debts due in Great Britain, it should seem expedient in order to pursue the line of Equity intended to be established by the said Act, that in every Instance, Simple Contract Debts due in Great Britain, should be put upon the footing of Specialities, and the Statute of Distributions which Operates in the said Provinces be in that respect Amended, or some Act for the Purpose be passed.

Greenwood & Higginson

John Nutt

Davis Strachan & Co.

Clark & Milligan

Graham & Simpson

Shubrick & Clempson

Mr. West⁸² to Richard Cumberland,⁸³ Jan [?] 1782, London, received Feb. 4, read Feb. 15, 1782, C.O. 5/652, I. 19, concerning Georgia funds in the hands of Dr. John Campbell.

Mr. West presents his Compliments to Mr. Cumberland begs him to inform the Board that he has frequently applied to Mrs. Campbell (Executrix to the late Dr. Campbell Agent for Georgia) but has not been able to get any Information with regard to the Ballance.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Jan. 23, 1782, Savannah, received June 1782, C.O. 5/652, I. 20, transmitting laws and journal of the Commons House of Assembly and giving the military situation in Georgia.

My Lords

I have now the Honor to Transmit Your Lordships by the Ship Georgia Packet, Copys of 33 Laws assented to by me at different times from July 1780, to August 1781. And Several Others have been Passed Since, but the distresses of the times have Prevented the due Course of Proceedings from being observed, which I hope will Plead an Excuse for the Officers.

I also Transmit Copys of the Journals of the Lower House of Assembly, from the 5th of May 1780 to the 19th of December 1781.

I wish it were in my Power to give your Lordships any agreeable Accounts of our Situation here, but that from a Variety of Unfortunate Events, I Cannot do. We are now Confined almost to our Lines round the Town, & are Expecting a Powerfull attack every day, & Probably a Siege. And thus is this Most Valuable Province Ruined, & I fear lost, for Want of that Protection, & attention, which I Conceive the Loyalty of the Inhabitants, Intitled them to.

William Selwyn⁸⁴ to Secretary of State Thomas Townshend, Dec. 7, 1782, Lincoln’s Inn, C.O. 5/652, I. 21, reporting on acts passed by the provincial government in Georgia in 1780 and 1781.⁸⁵

Sir

In Obedience to your Commands Signified to me by Mr. Elliott I have perused and considered Thirty One Acts passed by the Governor Upper House and Commons House of Assembly of the province of Georgia in the Years 1780 and 1781, Intituled,

No. 162. An Act to disqualify and render incapable the several persons hereinafter names from holding or exercising any Office of Trust Honour or Profit in the province of Georgia for a certain time and for other purposes therein mentioned.

No. 163. An Act for the Relief of such of His Majesty’s Loyal Subjects as are Inhabitants of the province of Georgia or have any property or Intercourse therein.

No. 164. An Act to explain amend and reduce into one Act the several Laws now in being relative to the regulating the Town and Common of Savannah and for other purposes therein mentioned.

No. 165. An Act for the Limitation of Actions and avoiding Suits at Law and to repeal An Act heretofore made for that purpose and for other purposes herein after mentioned.

No. 166. An Act to continue the several Laws therein mentioned.

No. 167. An Act for the Relief of such of His Majesty’s Loyal Subjects as have any Real or personal property in the province of Georgia and whose Title Deeds Bonds Notes Specialties and other Evidences Vouchers and Writings have been either lost destroyed or carried off during the time herein after mentioned.

No. 168. An Act for the Regulation of Auctions laying a Duty on Goods Wares and Merchandize Sold at Auction, and for empowering the Governor or Commander in Chief to Licence Auctioneers.

No. 169. An Act to explain amend and reduce into one Act of Assembly the several Laws now in being relating to the Ascertaining the Qualifications of Jurors and for establishing the Method of Ballotting and Summoning of Jurors in the province of Georgia.

No. 170. An Act for further Amending an Act for regulating the pilotage of Vessels into the several ports of this province.

No. 171. An Act for the Amendment of an Act for the better regulating Taverns Punch-houses and Retailers of Spirituous Liquors.

No. 173. An Act to explain amend and reduce into one Act of Assembly the several Laws and parts of Laws now in being relating to the erecting and keeping in Repair Fortifications and other works of Defence in this province and for other purposes herein after mentioned.

No. 174. An Act for Supplying the Loss of such of the Bonds and Mortgages that were executed by the Debtors of the publick to the Commissioners of the General Loan Office of the province of Georgia as are now unsatisfied and for making the Ledger or Account Book of the said Commissioners beginning the 17th Day of February 1769 and ending the 17th Day of September 1775 Evidence in all Courts of Law and Equity in this province for the purpose of recovering the Monies due to the publick and for other purposes herein mentioned.

No. 175. An Act for the Relief of the people called Quakers.

No. 176. An Act for Securing His Majesty’s Government and the peace of this province and for the more effectual protection of the King’s Loyal Subjects here against the Wicked Attempts and Designs of Rebels and other disaffected persons and for other purposes hereinafter mentioned.

No. 177. An Act to appoint Commissioners in each parish throughout this province to take into their Care and under their Management all deserted property Idle and runaway Slaves found in their respective parishes and for other purposes herein after mentioned.

No. 178. An Act for regulating the internal Trade of this province and for other purposes therein mentioned.

No. 179. An Act to attaint of High Treason the several persons herein after named if they do not render themselves to Justice by a certain Day and for other purposes therein mentioned.

No. 180. An Act for the more easy and effectual proceeding upon Distresses to be made by Warrants of Justices of the peace.

No. 181. An Act to amend an Act to direct Executors and Administrators in the manner and Method of returning Inventories and Accounts of their Testators and Interstates Estates And for allowing them and all other persons who shall or may be entrusted with the Care and Management of Minors and other Estates to charge Commissions thereon.

No. 182. An Act to empower certain Comissioners therein named to sell and dispose of certain Tracts and Lotts of Land and premisses therein mentioned and to execute Conveyances for the same and for other purposes therein mentioned.

No. 183. An Act to prevent fraud and deceit in selling Beef pork Tar Pitch Turpentine Lumber Firewood and Tobacco and for other purposes therein mentioned.

No. 184. An Act for the further preventing Robbery Burglary and other Felonies and for the Transportation of Felons.

No. 185. An Act to amend an Act, intituled, An Act to Attaint of High Treason the several persons therein named if they do not render themselves to Justice by a certain Day and for other purposes therein after mentioned.

No. 186. An Act to amend an Act for the better regulating Taverns Punch-houses and Retailers of Spirituous Liquors.

No. 187. An Act for dividing into three Parishes the Parish of Saint Paul and all the Lands lying to the Westward of it and to the North of the River Great Ogeechee that have been ceded by the Indians to His Majesty for establishing Courts of Conscience in the said Parishes respectively and a Circuit Court for the whole of the said three Parishes and for other Purposes herein after mentioned.

No. 188. An Act to empower the Governor or the Commander in Chief of this province for the time being with the advice and Consent of His Majesty’s Council by Proclamation to lay an Embargo on all Shipping in this province or in any port or place thereof in case of any or either of the Emergencies herein after mentioned.

No. 189. An Act to explain amend and reduce into one Act of Assembly the several Laws now in being for the better ordering of the Militia of this province and for other purposes therein mentioned and for repealing all other Laws now in Force for regulating and ordering the Militia.

No. 191. An Act intituled An Act for further amending an Act for constituting and dividing the several Districts and Divisions of this province into parishes and for establishing of Religious Worship therein according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England and also for impowering the Churchwardens and Vestrymen of the respective parishes to Assess Rates for the Repair of the Churches the Relief of the poor and other parochial Services and for enlarging the public Burial Ground at Savannah and inclosing the same.

No. 192. An Act intitled An Act to impower the public Treasurer for the time being to Sue for and recover all Debts which now are or hereafter may become due to the public of this province and for other purposes therein mentioned.

No. 193. An Act to amend An Act intituled An Act to explain amend and reduce into one Act the several Laws now in being for the better Ordering of the Militia and for other purposes therein mentioned and for repealing all other Laws now in force for regulating and ordering the said Militia.

No. 194. An Act to amend an Act for the Regulation of Auctions laying a Duty on Goods Wares and Merchandize and for empowering the Governor or Commander in Chief to licence Auctioneers.

And I observe many clerical errors in all these Acts but am of Opinion, that there is not any Objection to them in point of Law. I think it however my Duty to observe that many of these Acts had their Effect in the Province before such Acts were transmitted to England, and that the other Acts are by Subsequent Events become at present useless and possibly may not hereafter be adapted to the future State and Condition of the Province.

I have also perused and considered two other Acts passed by the like Authority, the one on the 28th February 1781, Intituled,

No. 172. An Act to protect bona fide Creditors against Judgments confessed by Fraud and Covin⁸⁶ to enable persons who have received Wrongs and injuries between the 1st day of January 1775 and the 1st day of January 1781 to maintain Actions against the Executors and Administrators of the Wrongdoers and to disable persons who hitherto have been or now are in Rebellion against His Majesty to commence or prosecute any Action or to act as Executors Administrators on Attornies untill they have returned to their Allegiance and taken the Oaths appointed for the Security of His Majesty’s Person and Government.

and the other Act passed by the like Authority on the 6th June 1781, Intituled,

No. 190. An Act to explain amend and reduce into one Act of Assembly the several Laws now in being relating to the subjecting and making liable to Attachment the Estates real and personal of absent Debtors in the Custody or Power of any person or persons within this Province where the Cause of Action exceeds the Sum of Eight Pounds and for other purposes hereinafter mentioned.

I disapprove of that part of the first mentioned Act No. 172 whereby certain persons are enabled to maintain Actions against the Exors. or Admors. of Wrongdoers as contrary to a principle of Law. And the circumstance of the King’s Courts having been Shut for a Short period of time ought not to be a Sufficient Reason for dispensing with the Rule of the Common Law vizt. that all Actions and Remedies for mere personal Injuries arising ex delicto die⁸⁷ with the person of the Wrong-doer.

The other Act No. 190 not being correspondent with his Majesty’s Instructions is exceptionable on that Account.

1. This is the Treaty of Augusta of Nov. 9, 1763, printed in Kenneth Coleman and Milton Ready, eds., Colonial Records of the State of Georgia, XXVIII, Part I, (Athens, 19 76), 456-460.

2. This affidavit is in CRG, IX, 113-114.

3. This talk is in CRG, IX, 115-116.

4. Two earlier petitions of Rolle are in CRG, XXVIII, Part I, 448-449, 452-453.

5. Rolle got no property in Georgia but was given 20,000 acres of land on the St. Johns River in East Florida where he established a plantation in 1765.

6. This refers to huge purchases of land made in East Florida by John Gordon, Jessie Fish, and others from departing Spaniards, and included much of the most desirable land near St. Augustine. See Lawrence Henry Gipson, The British Empire Before the American Revolution, (New York, 1956), IX, 183-189.

7. British commander in chief in America, Governor of North Carolina, and Governor of Virginia respectively.

8. A copy of this letter was also sent to John Pownall, Secretary to the Board of Trade.

9. These letters are given above pp. 19-23.

10. These minutes, C.O. 5/649, F. 6 and F. 9, are printed in CRG, IX, 168-173.

11. This extract is not mentioned in the letter of March 27 nor filed with it.

12. The memorial is not filed with this letter.

13. Breed is a name sometimes used for the Cherokees. See John R. Swanton, The Indians of the Southeastern United States (Washington, 1940), 223-224.

14. This session of the Assembly passed two acts: one to prevent the spread of smallpox, and the other to continue several laws, including the militia act and the Negro law. Only the second act is in CRG, XVIII, 619-623.

15. Naval Officer accounts of vessels entered and cleared from Georgia ports are filed in the British Public Record Office, C.O. 5/709-710.

16. This reference is to the British colonies of East Florida and West Florida, created by the proclamation of 1763.

17. This address is in CRG, XVII, 145-146. Governor Wright’s letter of Dec. 21, 1764, has not been found.

18. Filed in C.O. 5/709-710.

19. Filed in C.O. 5/709-710.

20. This petition was acted upon favorably by the Board of Trade and the Privy Council, and Governor Wright signed the grant in Savannah on Jan. 6, 1767. See CRG, IX, 494, 538, and X, 40.

21. Filed in C.O. 5/709-710.

22. Filed in C.O. 5/709-710.

23. Lords of Treasury is evidently an error for Lords of Trade.

24. Filed in C.O. 5/709-710.

25. For this abstract see below

26. There are three excerpts from Minutes of the Council enclosed with this letter. They are for Oct. 31 (F. 25), CRG, IX, 435; Nov. 12 (F. 26), ibid., 438-439; and Nov. 22 (F. 27), ibid., 439-440.

27. The first of these, Dec. 2, 1765, is given above, but the second has not been found.

28. Enclosure is the South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, for Jan. 14, 1766.

29. These enclosures are printed copies of correspondence of Feb. 2 and 3, 1766, between Lt. Gov. William Bull of South Carolina and Peter Randolph, royal surveyor general of customs for the southern district (F. 72); printed resolutions of the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly of Nov. 29, 1765, relative to the Stamp Act (F. 73); printed proceedings of the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly for Jan. 22, 23, 24, 25, and 28, 1766, relative to the Stamp Act (F. 74); and a copy of a resolution of March 1, 1776 (St. David’s Day) of the Fire Company of Charles Town relative to the Stamp Act (F. 75).

30. The Board of Trade Journal lists the letter as read June 27, hence the date of receipt endorsed on the letter must be in error.

31. This document is printed below pp. 142-153.

32. April is evidently an error for May.

33. This proposal was referred by the Board of Trade to Governor Wright, and his reaction is given below pp. 165-172.

34. This abstract of grants was evidently not sent until Feb. 12, 1767, and is given below

35. After this letter was read by the Board of Trade no more was heard of Kennan’s proposal.

36. Black’s Law Dictionary gives this as, “The law aids those who are vigilant, not those who sleep. ”

37. A legal term meaning neglect.

38. Sir Mathew Lamb’s report, dated May 20, 1765, is given above pp. 95-97.

39. The Feb. 20, 1762, letter of transmittal is in C.O. 5/648, E. 42 (printed in CRG, XXVIII, Part I, 354), but no copy of the answers is filed there, nor has one been found elsewhere.

40. The royal proclamation of 1763 moved Georgia’s southern boundary south to the St. Marys River.

41. The symbol given here and on the next several pages as “H” is impossible to read in the original. It most probably stands for “Hogshead,” but could stand for “Hundred” or “Barrel. ”

42. Filed in C.O. 5/709-710.

43. The original of this letter is in C.O. 5/658, ff. 207-238 and should be published in Vol. XXXVII of this series.

44. Filed in C.O. 5/710.

45. This is in CRG, XIV, 423-424, 428-429.

46. This is in CRG, X, 81-82.

47. Extracts of Wright’s correspondence with General Thomas Gage on this subject, here enclosed, should be printed as enclosures of Wright to the Earl of Shelburne, Aug. 15, 1767, in Vol. XXXVII of this series.

48. Filed in C.O. 5/709-710.

49. The Board of Trade reported favorably on this petition on Nov. 20, 1767, but no record has been found that Pigott ever applied for land in Georgia.

50. This petition is a part of Levy’s long attempt (1758-1768) before the Board of Trade and other agencies to secure compensation for the half interest in the islands of St. Catherine, Ossabaw, and Sapelo which the Bosomworths agreed to deed him on Oct. 14, 1754, for furnishing financial backing to develop these islands once they were deeded to the Bosomworths. See this agreement in CRG, XXVIII, Part I, 94-98. The Board of Trade always refused to grant Levy any relief on the grounds that this was a matter for a court of law. No evidence has been discovered that Levy ever got a settlement from the Georgia government, the British government, or the Bosomworths.

51. Depositions of William Clark, Oct. 21, 1767, and of James Lemon, Oct. 15, 1767, here enclosed, should be printed as enclosures of Wright to the Earl of Shelburne, Oct. 24, 1767, in Vol. XXXVII of this series.

52. Enclosed with this letter is an extract of a letter from Wright to the Earl of Shelburne, June 15, 1767, which should be published in Vol. XXXVII of this series. It includes the act for erecting the lazaretto which is in CRG, XVIII, 792-794.

53. On Levy’s case see footnote 50 above.

54. Naval lists are filed in C.O. 5/709-710. The Council Minutes are in CRG, DC and X.

55. The Board of Trade had replied to Levy’s memorial read July 21 that papers might be compared in its files but that no general search of its papers might be made.

56. Printed in CRG, X, 433.

57. The Council Minutes show this grant as dated June 2, 1767, CRG, X, 217.

58. This abstract and the one printed immediately before it were both sent at the same time but were filed in separate Board of Trade volumes. The one filed in C.O. 5/675 is misdated on the title page but correctly dated on the first page of the abstract.

59. The Council Minutes show this grant as dated Nov. 3, 1767, CRG, X, 352.

60. In 1768 the office of Secretary of State for the Colonies was created in London and held by the same person who was president of the Board of Trade. Under the Earl of Hillsborough, the first holder of these dual offices, many letters addressed to the Secretary of State were considered by the Board of Trade. These letters were usually filed in both the Board of Trade Papers (C.O. 5/650-652) and the Secretary of State Papers (C.O. 5/619-622). These letters generally will be published with the Secretary of State’s correspondence with Governor Wright in Vol. XXXVII of this series. Only the heading for each letter, including the date and subjects, will be included in this volume.

61. On Feb. 1, 1769, the Board of Trade recommended that bounties be paid on silk produced in Georgia for at least twenty-one years. Yet the bounties were ended and with this any hopes of further expansion of silk production in Georgia ended.

62. John Campbell, LL. D. (1708-1775), was an author and editor of history, biography, travel accounts, and other types of literature. Campbell was appointed crown or Board of Trade agent for Georgia in March 1765, following the death of long-time agent Benjamin Martyn in 1763. Campbell held the office for the rest of his life but appears in the Journal of the Board of Trade only for this memorial on silk culture and with a mention of his death.

63. An Italian province northeast of the city of Venice.

64. This letter should be published in Vol. XXXVII of this series.

65. The minute which follows this letter is C.O. 5/650, G. 48, and is published in CRC, X, 671-672.

66. Black’s Law Dictionary gives this term as, “The law aids those who are vigilant, not those who sleep. ”

67. A ceremonial conveyance of land.

68. In 1768 Parliament enacted a law to pay bounties upon silk produced in the American colonies upon importation into Britain. The bounty was to begin at £25 for £100 value of silk and decrease at regular intervals (Statutes at Large, XXVIII, Part I, 227-231). This law would take the place of the old bounty paid to producers in Georgia.

Evidently the Board of Trade wanted to salvage some of the old system. On April 14 the Board conferred with silk expert John Dalmar and Georgia crown agent John Campbell (see their memorials above pp. 303-308) and desired Board members George Rice and Thomas Robinson to conduct this business in the House of Commons. But Parliament did not change the 1768 law.

69. The Board of Trade agreed on May 4, 1770, that it was reasonable that Jones should have the allowances according to Governor Wright’s certificate and so ordered.

70. On Jan. 25, 1770, the Board of Trade approved this petition because of Yonge’s long and faithful service. The grant for the land in St. George’s Parish was signed by Governor Wright on April 2, 1771.

71. In 1769 copies of many letters sent to the Secretary of State for the Colonies were also presented to the Board of Trade without their writer, dates, or subjects being specified in the Board ‘s journal. Hence it is not possible to know when a specific letter was presented. This letter and the next nine fall into this category. They are all filed in C.O. 5/651 between H. 1 and H. 2 but are given no folio numbers themselves.

72. Published in CRG, XVII, 595-596.

73. Richard Jackson was a member of the House of Commons, agent for several colonies, something of a colonial expert and friend to the colonies, a bencher at the Inner Temple, and a law officer for the Board of Trade. Sir Matthew Lamb, who had been examining Georgia statutes for the Board of Trade and whose reports are found in these volumes, died in 1768.

74. This document, addressed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, would ordinarily be published in Vol. XXXVII of this series. However the only copy found by the editors is in the Board of Trade papers and was the basis for a representative of the Board to the Privy Council of Nov. 9, 1772.

75. Ustonaco, Usteneku, Ostonaco, or Judd’s-Friend had been to England in 1762 as a result of his efforts for Cherokee peace in late 1761.

76. This undated memorial is not numbered as the other enclosures to Wright’s memorial are nor is it listed in Wright’s list of documents attached. (Enclosure No. 1, pp. 358 above). But it is obviously an enclosure to the memorial.

77. The Board of Trade recommended that St. Pierre have 5,000 acres in South Carolina.

78. This opinion is not filed with the letter, but it is in CRG, XII, 386-389.

79. While the journals of this session of the assembly have not been found, one act is listed in a manuscript list of acts in the State Archives. This act, concerning the murder of friendly Indians, is in CRG, XIX, Part II, 3 6-37.

80. Grey Elliott was appointed Clerk of Reports for the Board of Trade Dec. 27, 1777.

81. Married woman.

82. Unidentified Board of Trade agent for Georgia who replaced Dr. John Campbell after his death in 1775. The balance referred to is what Georgia funds remained in Campbell’s hands at his death.

83. Richard Cumberland, the dramatist, became Secretary to the Board of Trade after John Pownall’s resignation on Jan. 23, 1776.

84. William Selwyn, of Lincoln’s Inn, was a legal counsellor to the Board of Trade.

85. These acts, all filed in C.O. 5/680, are not published in CRG, XIX, Part II, where one might expect to find them. Nos. 162, 179, and 185 are in The Revolutionary Records of the State of Georgia, 3 vols. (Atlanta, 1908), I, 348-372. This letter was addressed to the Secretary of State rather than the Board of Trade as it had ceased to function in May 1782 and its colonial duties were assumed by the Secretary of State.

86. Collusion or conspiracy.

87. This Latin phrase should probably read “ex delicti die, “ which may be translated “from the day of the wrong” or “from the day of the crime.”