to swear such evidence, as the grand jury shall offer, in order to their further inquiry into such matters and things, as are lying before them, will prevent them discharging that duty incumbent on them by their oath; whereby the greater offenders may escape the punishment due to their offences.

5thly. We humbly are of opinion, that if the matter now before us relating to Mr. Thomas Jones be put off till the next court, no witnesses being examined upon oath thereon, some unforeseen accident (as the death or absence of one, perhaps the chief evidence,) may happen, whereby a thorough inquiry into that matter by the next grand jury may be rendered ineffectual.

Lastly. We humbly beg leave of this court (if the aforesaid reasons shall not be allowed sufficient,) that it may be recorded, and laid before the honorable the trustees.

Extract of a Letter from Mr. William Ewen to Mr. Thomas

Stephens.

SAVANNAH, May 23, 1742. Mr. Thomas Jones was at the southward when he was indicted by the grand jury, and on the 3d of this instant there was a court to be holden at Savannah, and Mr. Jones came, in order to have taken his place on the bench; which thing would have been objected against by all the people in the town; neither would any* man serve as grand or petty jurors while Mr. Jones sat on the bench, till he had first

* Three persons were sent to jail for refusing to act on the grand jury while Jones sat on the bench without taking his trial, and were fined 13s. 4d. each.

taken his trial, and cleared himself of the charge laid against him. Mr. Jones told the General that there were Spanish emissaries at Savannah, and that he went in danger of his life. This was done under a false color, in order to introduce soldiers into the town and enslave the people. General Oglethorpe, in order to protect the civil power, (though the magistrates and other officers here, knew nothing of the matter, nor that there was any such occasion,) sent Lieutenant Hugh M'Kay, Anthony Willy, and William Finley with Mr. Jones. Lieutenant Hugh M'Kay had orders in writing, signed by the General, for to protect the civil power; and, for his assistants, he was to take all the forces that were at fort Argyle, Captain Matthews, and what men he had with him at Savannah; Captain Wiggan at Palachocolas, and his men, and if these were not sufficient, for to send to fort Frederick at Beaufort, to fetch Lieutenant Sterling and all the men under his command. I need not mention to you what concern the inhabitants were under, to find their liberties so closely attacked; it was reported that these forces were to assist Mr. Jones for to sit on the bench; but Mr. Parker and Mr. Fallowfield, in order to prevent any noise or disturbance, adjourned the court to the 17th following. Mr. Jones then went back to Frederica, and told Colonel Stephens that the General and himself would be at Savannah before the court sat again.

No. XXVI.

From Savannah.

The deposition of John Pye, recorder of the town of Savannah in Georgia, who being duly sworn, saith, that on Thursday, the tenth day of July, 1741, he, this deponent, was at the house of Colonel Stephens, secretary to the honorable the trustees for the establishment of this colony, Mr. Henry Parker, first bailiff of the said town being then present, the said Parker did say to Mr. Thomas Jones, another of the bailiffs, then also in company, that he (the said Henry Parker) understood that the grand jury (who were then sitting) were about to present the representation of the state of this

colony, sent home to the trustees by them, some time in the month of December last and this deponent further saith, that Mr. Thomas Jones said to Henry Parker, that the said grand jury ought by all means to be discharged; and the said Henry Parker replied to the said Jones, that the said grand jury had already concerned themselves in things they had nothing to do with, or words to that effect; and thereupon the said Henry Parker consented to discharge the said grand jury and this deponent further saith, that the members of the said grand jury were men of the best circumstances, characters, and fortune, that could be found within this county of Savannah, and summoned by virtue of a warrant for that purpose, issued by the said Henry Parker, and Mr. John Fallowfield, two of the bailiffs, in which said warrant the names of the said grand jurymen were expressly mentioned, and further this deponent saith not.

Sworn before me this 24th day of July, 1741.

JOHN FALLOWfield.

JOHN PYE.

No. XXVII.

Extract of a letter from Mr. Patrick McKay, to Mr. Thomas Stephens, December, 1741.

SIR, Of the state of Ebenezer, it is my opinion they scarcely raise provisions to supply their own necessities and wants, were they not supported by the charities of the pious in Europe: it confirms me much in this opinion, that Mr. Boltzius, even in May last, asked to buy corn and rice of me; which, as I had not to spare, he commissioned me to buy for him at Charleston, for the supply of Ebenezer; though Gen. Oglethrope told me in February preceding, that Mr. Boltzius had sent him fine Indian corn flour, and told his Excellency that he would supply his regiment with what quantities he pleased; and withal, that he thanked God he could now subsist five hundred more of his brethren, if they should be imported into Georgia. I mentioned this to Mr. Boltzius, when he wanted to buy corn and rice of me, but he absolutely denied that he had ever said or wrote so to the

General. Whether the General or the parson is to be believed, I leave it with you to determine.

You have yourself seen most of the settlements in Georgia this year, and what great matters are done there; in a word, laying aside Augusta, where planting is carried on by negroes, I dare affirm I have raised more provisions on my plantation in the township of Purysburg, with twenty slaves only, than all the colony of Georgia has done; including Ebenezer and the General's own farm, which, after an expense (as I am told) of sixty or seventy pounds sterling, returned him ten or fifteen bushels of corn, no pease or potatoes. I am, sir, your very humble servant,

PATRICK MACKAY.

No. XXVIII.

Charleston, South Carolina, Oct. 12, 1741.

Dear Brother,—I take this opportunity of acquainting you that I have left Georgia, and come to Charleston, South Carolina, where I am settled in my own business. I have been here about four months, and (I thank God) am got into very good trade.

Georgia is very much deviated from what it was when I first went there, especially in the government of affairs. I have told you that at my first arrival I was appointed a magistrate, in which office I continued till it was a crime to do justice; upon which, I begged leave of our General to be excused, for that I would act no more, since to act according to my oath and conscience was displeasing to him; upon which he made one of his waiting boys a magistrate in my stead; a boy that was not nineteen years of age: after which the General turned my utter enemy, hindering me, in every shape, of getting my livelihood, which he has not only done by me but by all those who will not consent to wash their hands in such water as he thinks proper. I left but two people behind me that were of my disposition, and they are both coming away, and then, at Frederica, they will be like my Lord Thomound's cocks. In short, his magistrates durst not decide a cause without first going to him to ask which party is to suffer; and those that happen to be

most in his favor at that time, are sure to get the better on it, right or wrong. There is also a set of people now left, that, if any paper is drawn up, and contains the greatest of falsities, (in order to keep still in darkness the parliament, the trustees, and the people of England) are all ready to sign, nay even to make oath to the truth of it; and those that cannot digest those hard pills, must not stay there.

I have also an account of one hundred thirty-nine pounds. sterling, which, when settled, there will be due to me between ninety and one hundred pounds. "He swore the account should not be settled, neither would he ever pay me a farthing." But I intend to send my case home by a gentleman who is now gathering up the true state of Georgia (much against his Excellency's inclinations), in order to lay it before this next sitting of the parliament, who, the whole colony expects, will relieve them from tyranny and oppression, and arbitrary government, which is too much practised there, and consequently very disagreeable to so young a settlement. However strange these things may appear to you people of England, I do assure you they are nothing but truth. Nay, a whole volume might be filled with worse relations of that place than I have mentioned; which made me think sometimes we had lost our way, and come to the wrong Georgia, and had not got to that fine place so much. talked of in England some years ago. Neither law nor gospel find any encouragement there; our minister (who is a very worthy gentleman), was obliged, (through ill treatment from the General), to leave the place, and return home. You may perhaps wonder why I did not give you so just an account of these proceedings before; the answer to which is, that it is too common a practice to open all letters that are sent from thence; and such as speak well of the place may perhaps get a passage according to their superscriptions, and those that speak ill of the place are committed to the mercy of the flames. What emboldens me now to speak the truth is my being arrived in a land of liberty; but there (if it please God to keep me in my right senses) they never shall get me again, unless there is an alteration in the government, not even to view of my estate, which is now let for fifteen pounds a year sterling. When I left England, I intended (if it pleased God) to have returned in ten years; but making my first voyage to the mistaken Georgia, where I lost a