his transactions with the Governor of St. Augustine, papers and depositions relating to Spanish settlements, treaties with the Spanish authorities-journals and letters descriptive of the siege of St. Augustine, the affair at Musa, the Spanish invasion of Georgia, and all the difficulties with these enemies of the colony. They contain also the minutes and memorials of the Trustees, journals of the upper and lower houses of Assembly, messages from and petitions to the Governor, correspondence of Martyn, Harman Verelst, Governor Wright, the Earl of Dartmouth, Duke of Bedford, Earl of Hilsborough, Alex. Heron, James Habersham, and closes with an abstract of proceedings in 1775. This portion of the records dates back from 1735, but there is a hiatus from the year 1750 to 1760 inclusive.

The twenty-second volume, derived from papers in the King's Library, contains first "A general description of Georgia, climate, productions, Indians, &c.," Governor Wright's letter to the Lords of Trade, Governor Wright's letter to the Earl of Shelburn, and lastly the Governor's answers at length to the queries of the Lords of Trade, which very fully and minutely detail all the principal facts relating to the Province. Such is a very cursory survey of the matter embraced in these invaluable records. They constitute an almost exhaustless mine, where not a shaft has been sunk, to recover its treasures, and give them the form and connection of History.

Next perhaps in value to these colonial documents, are several volumes of the original journal and correspondence, both private and official, of James Habersham; commencing as early as 1739, and continued with some intermissions down to the Revolution. Seldom has a richer collection of letters been found; they are in themselves an inestimable legacy, containing the fervent effusions of a pious heart, the sentiments of an intelligent and judicious mind, the experience of a man of business, the advice and counsel of high official station, and the glowing enthusiasm of the sincere patriot. In those dark and troublous times consequent on the illjudged measures of the Trustees, when ruin and despair brooded over the colony, he remained by her the firm friend, the able counsellor, the effective agent, to heal the wounds they had unwittingly made, and raise the settlement to that eminence which it had been the hope and desire of its friends

that it should attain. His letters during that period, portray in a graphic manner the distress and misery of the people; they shew him superior to the sordid and self-aggrandizing views which marked the conduct of many of its summer and sunshine friends; and they prove him to have been the bold and fearless advocate of the half depopulated and sinking province, when there were none to sustain her rights or truly exhibit her manifold grievances. A large number of the letters in one volume, and several in others, are written to his friend the eloquent Whitefield. On the establishment of the Georgia Orphan House by Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Habersham became its President, and his correspondence from Bethesda, detailing their operations from time to time, are particularly valuable, both as they relate to that celebrated divine, and to the first charitable institution founded in our borders.

In relation to the department of Indian History, a department so interesting in itself, and so intimately blended with the early settlement of this State; the Society has obtained some very rare and valuable manuscripts. These contain long and minute accounts of the manners and customs of the Indians. Proceedings of Indian agents, and treaties with several tribes, all greatly augmenting the materials of aboriginal history. Such in brief, (together with the usual amount of information to be gathered from the archives of the State) are some of the materials which the future historian of Georgia will have at his command. They are rich, abundant, satisfactory. In whatever light we view our beloved State, whether as a colony planted by, the benefactions of the philanthropist ; as a frontier settlement, exposed to the horrors of Spanish and Indian invasion; as the youngest of the old confederacy, and yet among the first to proclaim her rights, and demand redress; or as burdened, harassed, and almost eradicated by the war of the Revolution; she deserves a historian who shall do honor to her name, who shall justly exalt her character, who shall proclaim her deeds of valor, and who, finding the graves of her heroes, as Cicero found the tomb of Archimedes, "septum vepribus et dumetis," shall clear away the weeds and brambles, and retouch, like Old Mortality, the half-defaced memorials of their worth, so that future generations may read of their self-sacrificing devotion for the benefit of their country.

The Georgia Historical Society is yet in the infancy of its being. It has not seen one annual revolution. But the spirit which animates its members is one of enlightened zeal and persevering labor. It comes in as auxiliary to the many similar associations already existing; and offers this, its first tribute, to the general object. It is laboring in a distinct field for our common country, and aims to enrich American literature, by treasuring up, and publishing the memorials of this important member of the Union.

We trust that the efforts which have resulted in this volume, will be rightly appreciated, and hope to be enabled to follow it with others, which shall be equally valuable, in elucidating the past, and rendering permanent the fleeting memorials of Colonial History.

HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.

JUDGE LAW'S ORATION BEFORE THE GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

FEBRUARY 12, 1840. *

WHEN the great historic Poet of the Greeks derived his heroes from the gods, and ascribed their constant guidance and protection to some ethereal deity; when he sang of the renowned exploits of their ancestors combatting and vanquishing the fabled Centaurs, "rude dwellers on the mountain heights," he ministered to a taste and sentiment of his countrymen natural to the human heart, and common to the human family. Prompted by pride and vanity all nations have desired to increase the lustre of their origin, and the fame of their ancestry, by filling the "immense vacuity," which lies beyond the limits of well authenticated memorials, with the splendid inventions of fable. We delight to honor the memories and celebrate the virtues of our Forefathers. The existence of this inherent principle is attested and illustrated by universal example. To gratify its indulgence, the boundaries of truth have been exceeded, and the mysteries of obscure antiquity penetrated. To heighten its

* The Georgia Historical Society was not organized until Tuesday, the 4th of June, 1839. But the 12th of February, the day on which Oglethorpe landed in Georgia, has been selected as a more appropriate period for its anniversary.

The indulgence in extensive details, which characterizes the following sheets, may strike the public taste and judgment as unsuitable to a public address. The writer has been betrayed into this error, if so it be conceived, from an anxious desire to awaken an interest for his subject, and excite a spirit of research and inquiry into the events and incidents of our colonial history, by reviving the remembrance of facts almost lost sight of.

The older books furnishing sketches of the early history of Georgia are exceedingly rare, and are accessible only to a few; even McCall's History has not been republished; and is becoming scarce and not very generally read. It was supposed, too, that in this introductory address the public curiosity would be most gratified, and the expectations of the Association best fulfilled, by the course adopted. THE AUTHOR. + Cowper's Homer.

interest, eloquence has contributed the charm of its inimitable art, while poetry has aroused the fancy, and bewildered the imagination in the wild regions of fiction.

The proud Roman traced his genealogy from the gods, and claimed for the infancy and weakness of the eternal city, the guardian care of his imaginary deities. In their most refined day, the Greeks erected the "ostentatious fiction" that the gods alone were worthy to have reared the infancy of a people so distinguished in arts and so renowned in arms. To review the characters and actions of our ancestors, to look back upon the origin of our country, to trace her progress towards maturity, to cultivate a familiar acquaintance with, and to perpetuate the prominent events which have conduced to her establishment and the formation of the national character, is an exercise designed not merely to gratify even a laudable and well founded national pride, but one which opens a wide field for the indulgence alike of our curiosity and profoundest meditations, and replete with the most instructive admonitions.

There is a land, in relation to whose origin, all fiction vanishes and truth is realized; where the fable of the Greek and the Roman is converted into the fact at which her people rejoice, and for which their gratitude ascends to the throne of Goda land whose origin depends upon no legendary tales drawn from an obscure and remote antiquity, but is revealed with unerring accuracy, and recorded in the simplicity of uncolored truth. That land is our Country. There is a land, the settlement of which was the result of the power of religious principle of a desire to escape the persecutions of religious intolerance, to enjoy freedom of conscience in the worship of God, and to regulate the life and conduct by the light of the Gospel. The hand of an everfaithful God, whom its settlers had served, conducted, and his protecting providence preserved them during a long and perilous voyage, amidst the blasts of the ocean tempest, and the terrors of the winter's storm. The pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night moved not indeed before them. The age of miracles had passed away, prophecy and vision had ceased to be mediums of heavenly communications. The fulfilment of the most sublime of all prophecies had been accomplished, and the promised messenger had descended to enlighten and sanctify the world. Guided by his holy