invade them, Mr. Horton, commander-in-chief, in the said Oglethorpe's absence, ordered them not to go out of sight of the town, which happening in February, 1736, hindered their planting any thing considerable, or raising twenty bushels of corn, within that tithing that year; nor did the crop of all the other inhabitants far exceed that quantity.

That the said people did employ themselves in cultivation and other improvements the next year, when their corn was so destroyed by the drought, that it was the opinion of every one, that the whole settlement did not raise one hundred bushels.

That the said inhabitants did still continue to plant with great pains and industry in the year 1739, when the best crop was raised of every sort, that was seen at the said Frederica from the first settling of it; and then complaints were universal among the said inhabitants, that it did not answer the expense of planting, and attending it.

That for the encouragement of planting this year, Mr. Thomas Hird and Samuel Davison went from house to house to acquaint the people, that General Oglethorpe said the trustees had always allowed one shilling per bushel for any sort of grain, &c. that was raised, and that he would allow two that year, but that these deponents did never receive any such bounty, nor hear of any that did.

That in the year 1740, being unable to support themselves by cultivation, and complaining of the restraints they were under, particularly the precarious titles of their lands, the public debts not being duly paid, finding themselves dependent on the trustees for a support, Falconer's lot being taken away, and a great, and the most valuable part of the common belonging to the town; that many things were promised by the General and trustees, whereof few were accomplished, particularly mulberry trees; and the General interfering with the magistrates, and obstructing the course of their proceedings, with many instances of injustice and oppression, to the great injury of the inhabitants, they began now to drop off, and many being engaged in the expedition against St. Augustine, very little planting was done this year, and their crop again complained of.

That in the spring 1741, arbitrary power having raged to a great degree, and the inhabitants in general having no hopes of redress, many of them left the colony, as most of

the others have done since, and are doing daily, there being not above twelve of the first settlers left, and none of them planting, but Mr. Hawkins and another or two at the most. That some of the lots of those gone off are filled with officers of the regiment, and the General's servants.

That on or about August 1740, Mr. Hawkins, first magistrate, being adjudged by the court to pay William Allen eight shillings six pence, the said Allen went to him to demand the same, when the said Hawkins gave him abusive language, which being returned by Allen, the said Hawkins ordered the constable to carry him to prison, for such his behavior; but the constable, as well as others, being wearied out with that trifling debt, (which the said Hawkins would not pay, though he acknowledged it in several courts to be due) loitered, and not punctually obeying the said Hawkins's command, where he was both judge and party, the said Hawkins then applied to Major Cook to send a party of soldiers, under pretence that the people were rising in a mob, and threatened to break open the store; and accordingly a party of soldiers, consisting of thirty and upwards, were sent by the said Cook, and quartered twenty-four hours at the houses of Samuel Davison and widow Bennet; for which the said Cook (finding that it was only a dispute arising from the ill conduct of the said Hawkins) was very angry, as was Ensign Sutherland, the officer sent with them. And further, that the said soldiers were posted sentinels, two at a time, at the door of the court, which was then held by the magistrates on affairs of the town.

That an order was made by the said Oglethorpe, and public notice given, that no hogs should come within the town after the first of March, 1739-40; and some hogs belonging to the inhabitants coming into the town afterwards, were shot by his own servants, who did so by the said Oglethorpe's order, notwithstanding they were a great part of the people's support; and farther, that by the said Oglethorpe's orders likewise, demanded of Mr. Francis Moore and others, who were proprietors of the said hogs, four-pence apiece for shooting them, and the money was paid by the said proprietors. That the only pretence of some of them for so destroying the people's stock was, that they spoilt the fortification, which was only a bank of sandy earth, with puncheons and facines, begun but never finished, and great part

of it fallen down again. That Major Cook, the engineer, gave it as his opinion that the hogs would do the fortification no damage, though it were completed, as once it was said to be intended. That the loss the people sustained hereby was considerable, though not to compare with that of the soldiers killing such as were in the woods. Daniel Cannon, who, it is well known had a large stock of them, having lost fifty and upwards, as have others in proportion, besides black cattle, some of which being proved to be shot by the soldiers, there is great reason to believe that all that were lost were so destroyed by them, because they were out with their guns; and though application has been made to the said Oglethorpe, even by Mr. Hawkins and others, he rather seemed inclined to justify than punish them, by saying, poor men! they must have the liberty of going out with their guns in this country; and farther, that the said Oglethorpe did say they had a title to come with their guns on any plantation fenced in.

That complaints of grievances were universal and intolerable, or these deponents would not have left their improvements which have never answered the expense; nor, if they are not seized by the General or trustees, they apprehend will never be of any value to them now, unless his Majesty would be graciously pleased to save his subjects from the severities of the said Oglethorpe, and a multitude of evils arising from a misconduct throughout the whole, by taking them under his princely care.

JOHN ROBERSON.
JOSEPH CANNON.

From Frederica.

Samuel Davison, late of Frederica, in Georgia, aged forty years and upwards, maketh oath and saith, that whereas there was a fort built on St. George's island, about the time. that Frederica was first settled, and (the said fort being then

garrisoned with twenty men and upwards,) that within ten days after settling the said fort, which was on or about April 1736, Captain Ferguson, master of the scout-boat, employed by James Oglethorpe, Esq., being sent by the said Oglethorpe to visit the said garrison, did, conjunctly with Captain Harmsdorff, commander of the said garrison, withdraw the said men therefrom, and bring them to the island of Amelia, it being thought all the said men were in danger of their lives, and therefore it was their request so to do, as this deponent was by some of them informed; as he was, that the said fort was so near the Spanish look-out, on St. Juan's river, where the Spaniards were much more in number than the said garrison, and that the two sentinels could see each other from the said fort, to the said look-out. That the said Oglethorpe being angry with the said Ferguson for having so done, he did send for this deponent, then constable, to warn the people at Frederica, and give them notice of the danger they were in; and did then say to this deponent, that the said Ferguson was quite to blame, "For what are a hundred men's lives to my honor."

That the said Oglethorpe did employ Henry Manly last spring, as his overseer, at fifty pounds per annum, and fourteen servants or more, besides him, to plough a piece of the common belonging to the inhabitants of Frederica, and which he, the said Oglethorpe, did take from them in the year 1739. And that the said piece so ploughed, being planted with corn, pease and potatoes, and attended by the said men the whole summer, did not produce twenty bushels of any sort of corn or grain that was planted.

That a small time before he left the said Frederica, which was in October last, the inhabitants thereof (who never did raise their own provisions, and not being able to plant so much this year as the two or three preceding years for want of servants, and through other discouragements,) had nothing to feed on but rice, brought from Carolina, which was sold dear till a supply of eight steers and eight or nine barrels of flour (which was sold at twenty-six shillings sterling per hundred,) was brought thence and sold to the inhabitants.

MEMORANDUM, on the twenty-sixth day of November, one thousand seven hundred and forty-one, before me, Abraham Croft, notary public, in the province of South Carolina, by lawful authority, admitted and sworn, personally appeared

Mr. Samuel Davison, and did on his oath declare, that the foregoing affidavit was just and true.

John Roberson, late bricklayer in Frederica, in Georgia, maketh oath and saith, that on or about the ninth of August last, being at work on Mr. Davison's house, adjoining to Mr. Hawkins's, at the said Frederica, on which the said Davison was putting a new roof, he did propose to the said Hawkins, to take up a few shingles, and a gutter belonging to the said Hawkins's house, and put the said gutter on the party-wall, to which the said Hawkins agreed; saying that it would be a benefit to him, because he must be obliged to alter the roof of his own house soon; and the said Davison being to lay down a new gutter at his own expense, it would serve for both houses, and which must save one half the expense of the said gutter to the said Hawkins. But the said Hawkins being out of town, a day or two after General Oglethorpe sent to the said Davison, to forbid him to touch anything belonging to the said Hawkins's house, though the said gutter encroached fourteen inches on the said Davison's ground, and the said Oglethorpe's own carpenter said it might be done in a few hours, and without harm to the Doctor.* That the said Oglethorpe did soon after, on the same day, stand on the sill of the said Hawkins's window, and put his head up betwixt the joists of the said Davison's house, and ordered Mr. Cannon to build the said joists six inches lower; when the said Cannon told the said Oglethorpe they were but six inches deep; when the said Oglethorpe replied, he did not care, they might take it down, and build the house six inches lower; when the said Cannon said, that one roof would fall lower than the other, and that therefore it would be impossi

* Hawkins.