years, to commence from the date of these our letters patent, have full power and authority to nominate, make, constitute, commission, ordain and appoint, by such name or names, style or styles, as to them shall seem meet and fitting, all and singular such governors, judges, magistrates, ministers and officers, civil and military, both by sea and land, within the said districts, as shall by them be thought fit and needful to be made or used for the said government of the said colony; save always and except such officers only as shall by us, our heirs and successors, be from time to time constituted and appointed, for the managing, collecting and receiving such revenues as shall from time to time arise within the said province of Georgia, and become due to us, our heirs and successors. Provided always, and it is our will and pleasure, that every governor of the said province of Georgia, to be appointed by the common council of the said corporation, before he shall enter upon or execute the said office of governor, shall be approved by us, our heirs, or successors, and shall take such oaths and shall qualify himself in such manner in all respects, as any governor or commander in chief of any of our colonies or plantations in America, are by law required to do; and shall give good and sufficient security for observing the several acts of Parliament relating to trade and navigation, and to observe and obey all instructions that shall be sent to him by us, our heirs and successors, or any acting under our or their authority, pursuant to the said acts, or any of them. And we do, by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, will, grant and ordain, that the said corporation and their successors, shall have full power for and during and until the full end and term of twenty-one years, to commence from the date of these our letters patent, by any commander or other officer or officers by them for that purpose from time to time appointed, to train, instruct, exercise and govern a militia for the special defence and safety of our said colony, to assemble in martial array the inhabitants of the said colony, and to lead and conduct them, and with them to encounter, expulse, repel, resist and pursue, by force of arms, as well by sea as by land, within or without the limits of our said colony; and also to kill, slay and destroy, and conquer, by all fighting ways, enterprises and means whatsoever, all and every such person or persons as shall at any time hereafter in any hostile manner attempt or enterprise the de struction, invasion, detriment or annoyance, of our said colony; and to use and exercise the martial law in time of actual war and invasion or rebellion, in such cases where by law the same may be used or exercised; and also from time to time to erect forts and fortify any place or places within our said colony, and the same to furnish with all necessary ammunition, provisions and stores of war, for offence and defence, and to commit from time to time the custody or government of the same to such person or persons as to them shall seem meet; and the said forts and fortifications to demolish at their pleasure; and to take and surprise, by all ways and means, all and every such person or persons, with their ships, arms, ammunition and other goods, as shall in an hostile manner invade or attempt the invading, conquering or annoying of our said colony. And our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby, for us, our heirs and successors, declare and grant, that the gov ernor and commander in chief of the province of South Carolina, of us our heirs and successors, for the time being, shall at all times hereafter have the chief command of the militia of our said province, hereby erected and established; and that such militia shall observe and obey all orders and directions that shall from time to time be given or sent them by the said governor or commander in chief, any thing in these presents before contained to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding. And, of our more special grace, certain knowledge and mere motion, we have given and granted, and by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, do give and grant unto the said corporation and their successors, full power and authority to import and export their goods at and from any port or ports that shall be appointed by us, our heirs and successors, within the said province of Georgia for that purpose, without being obliged to touch at any other port in South Carolina. And we do, by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, will and declare, that from and after the determination of the said term of one and twenty years such form of government and method of making laws, statutes and ordinances, for the better governing and ordering the said province of Georgia, and the inhabitants thereof, shall be established and observed within the same, as we, our heirs and successors, shall hereafter ordain and appoint, and shall be agreeable to law; and that from and after the determination of the said term of one and twenty years, the governor of our said province of Georgia, and all officers, civil and military, within the same, shall from time to time be nominated and constituted and appointed by us, our heirs and successors. And lastly, we do hereby, for us, our heirs and successors, grant unto the said corporation and their successors, that these our letters patent, or the enrollments or exemplification thereof, shall be in and by all things, good, firm, valid, sufficient and effectual in the Law, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, and shall be taken, construed and adjudged in all courts and elsewhere, in the most favorable and beneficial sense, and for the best advantage of the said corporation and their successors, any omission, imperfection, defect, matter or cause or thing whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. In witness we have caused these our letters to be made patent. Witness ourself at Westminster, the ninth day of June, in the fifth year of our reign. The gracious purposes and ample privileges contained in the foregoing charter, are so obvious to every reader, that we need only say, they were suitable to a most generous and humane British monarch; and had the settlement of the colony of Georgia been carried on conformable thereto, and no other restrictions or reservations made, than what are therein mentioned, then would the colony at this time have been in a flourishing condition, answerable to all those glorious ends that were proposed and expected from it. But on the contrary, laws and restrictions being made, such as were never heard of in any British settlement, the colony is brought to the present melancholy situation. But we shall say no more at present on this head, than what Mr. Oglethorpe said in Parliament relating to the charitable corporation, viz.:* The better the design was, the more those deserve to be punished who have disappointed the public of reaping the benefits that might have accrued from it. Inhabitants of all sorts, Roman Catholics only excepted, from all parts of the world, were invited to possess this promised land; and large sums of money from the Parliament, as * Vide Lond. Mag. p. 379. well as contributions from private and public charity, were collected; the county was laid out as an earthly paradise; the soil far surpassing that of England; the air healthy, always serene, pleasant and temperate, never subject to excessive heat or cold, nor to sudden changes. It was particularly set forth, and with a show of reason, enough, that this proposed settlement could not fail of succeeding, when the nation was so bountiful; the King so gracious; the trustees so disinterested and honorable, who had, for the benefit of mankind, given up that ease and indolence to which they were entitled by their fortunes and the too prevalent custom of their native country; and withal, being able, by seeing the mistakes and failures of other colonies, both to avoid and rectify them; and lastly, the universal report of Mr. Oglethorpe's matchless humanity and generosity, who was to conduct the first embarkation, and who was, in all appearance, to undergo the greatest hardships, without any other view than to succor the distressed; and despising interest or riches, was to venture his life, his all, in establishing the intended settlement. Glorious presages of the future happiness of that colony! Irresistible temptations to those whose genius or circumstances led them to leave their native country! No wonder then, that great numbers of poor subjects, who lay under a cloud of misfortunes, embraced the opportunity of once more tasting liberty and happiness; that Jews, attracted by the temptation of inheritances, flocked over; that Germans, oppressed and dissatisfied at home, willingly joined in the adventure, some as settlers, and others as servants to the trustees; and lastly, that great numbers of gentlemen of some stock and fortune, willingly expended part of the same, in purchasing servants, tools, commodities and other necessaries, to entitle them to such respective proportions of land, as the trustees had thought proper to determine, and such liberties and properties as they had reason to expect from his majesty's most gracious charter: but how much they were all disappointed the sequel will show. The first thing that was done, was the circumscribing the rights and titles given by his majesty, and making many other various restrictions, services and conditions, impossible for any human person to * Vide a pamphlet, entitled, A New and Accurate Account of the Provinces of South Carolina and Georgia. perform; a few of which we shall here enumerate: In the first place, there was an excessive quit-rent laid upon the land, being a great deal more than his majesty's subjects in the other British colonies pay, viz.: twenty shillings sterling for every hundred acres, to be paid yearly; and if it, or any part thereof, should be behind and unpaid by the space of six calendar months next after any day of payment on which the same became due, then the land was forfeited and returned to the trustees; as it likewise did upon failure in any of the following conditions, viz.: one thousand mulberry trees always to be growing on every hundred acres; no partnership or company to be entered into for making pot-ash; not to assign or transfer the land, or any part or parcel thereof, or any estate or interest in the same, for any term of years; not to hire, keep, lodge, board or employ, within the limits of the province, any black or negro; and if the person holding land should die without issue male, or his heirs at any time should die without issue male, in that case likewise, the whole land was forfeited and reverted to the trustees; and if any part or parcel of any of the five hundred acre tracts, should remain not cultivated, cleared, planted and improved after the space of eighteen years, such part to return to the trustees. These were the chief restrictions in all the grants of lands, which appeared very hard even to strangers, who had not yet felt them, and who were ignorant of the climate and nature of the place; but when any one complained of the hardships of them, to palliate the matter, it was given out, that negroes were entirely useless and unprofitable; wine, silk, olives, gardens and manufactures for women and children, were the intended improvements of the colony; that the restriction of the rights of lands, were only temporary, to prevent the bartering or selling them by the unthinking people, at an undervalue; and concerning the want of male issue, it was asserted, that the trustees being duly petitioned, would grant continuation of the land to the eldest daughter, if any, &c., upon their good behavior: that the laws of England, and the administration of justice, in the most impartial manner, and most adapted to the nature of a free British government, should be ever secured to the inhabitants. The first of February, 1732-3, Mr. Oglethorpe arrived at How precarious must this security be to such unfortunate persons, when their behavior must be judged of by information and representation? |