Home of this Affair, is not known; but however, from what he wrote, the Trustees thought fit, at first, positively to deny their Request, in a Letter which came to their Hands in July, 1740, of which this is an exact Copy.

To Messrs. Grant, Douglass and Bailie, at Savannah, in Georgia.
Gentlemen,
Georgia Office, March 25, 1740.

THE Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia, have received and read your Letter of May 26, 1739, by which they find you have abandoned your Settlements upon the Ogeeche River, for the following Reasons; because you are not allow'd to have black Servants to cultivate your Lands, and because you dislik'd the Tenure of your Grants.

As to the First, you must have seen by the Trustees Answer to the Representation of some of the People, that they cannot, and will not break into the Constitution of the Province, by such an Introduction of Slavery in Blacks; and that upon the most mature Deliberation, and for the strongest Reasons; which indeed are obvious to every considering Man, and which they are confirm'd in by the Danger which has lately threatned SouthCarolina, by the Insurrection of the Negroes, and would be more imminent in Georgia, it being a Frontier.

As to the Last, relating to the Tenure of Lands, the Trustees suppose you may have seen the Alteration which they have made since the Writing of your Letter, and they have no doubt but you are satisfied therewith, as the rest of the Colony are.

The Trustees have likewise received and considered your Petition to General Oglethorpe, for a Settlement on Wilmington Island; and his Answers thereto, which they think are of great Force, and therefore they cannot make you a Grant there, but hope you will go on improving your Settlements on the Ogeeche River, which they perceive by your Letter May 26, that you had made a great Progress in.

I am, Gentlemen,

Your very Humble Servant,

Benj. Martyn, Secretary.

To this they returned the following Answer.

To the Honourable the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America, at their Office near Old Palace Yard, Westminister.

Honourable Gentlemen,

WE have received a Letter signed by your Secretary, of the

25th March last, owning the Receipt of ours to the Trustees

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for establishing the Colony of Georgia, dated the 26th May, 1739, in which we set forth the Expence we had been at in prosecuting our Settlement on the Ogeeche River, together 'with the Impossibility of carrying on any Settlement with Suc'cess in this Colony, according to the present Constitution; as 'an additional Confirmation of which, we then presented your 'Honours with an Accompt current, carried on from the Commencement of our Settlement on the Ogeeche, and continued 'till we were drove thence by the strongest Appearances of Destruction, arising from the having expended our ALL in the 'strenuous Prosecution of an impracticable Scheme: And here we must beg Leave to observe, That it appears to us, you have 'neither considered our Letter or Accompt; otherwise you never would have advis'd us to return to a Place on which we have already in vain consumed so much Time and Money.

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We have seen and seriously considered every Paragraph of a printed Paper, entitled, The Answer of the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America, to the Repre'sentation from the Inhabitants of Savannah; which, in our

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humble Opinion, is no Answer at all; but rather an absolute 'Refusal of Demands to which we are legally entitled, under the 'specious Pretences of Guardianship and Fatherly Care; with' out having answer'd one Sentence, or confuted by Strength of Argument, any part of our Assertions.

"Because our Neighbouring Province (of which you are pleas'd to take Notice) has by an Introduction of too great Numbers, 'abus'd the Use of Negroes; or, because an undoubted Proper❝ty in our Land Possessions might prove detrimental or hurtful 'to idle, profligate or abandon'd People; it does not at all follow, that we should be debarr'd the Use of Negroes for the Field, or the more laborious Parts of Culture, under prudent Limita'tions; or that sober and virtuous Men should be depriv'd of just Titles to their Properties.

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We are surprized that your Honours mention the Represen'tations of the People of the Darien, as a Confirmation of the 'Unreasonableness of our Demands: For did your Honours 'know the Motives by which these People were induced to 'present you with one or more Petitions, contradictory to our Representation, the Welfare of the Colony, and their own "Consciences; we are persuaded you never would have offer'd 'them as Reasons for rejecting the Representation from Savannah: They were bought with a Number of Cattle, and exten'sive Promises of future Rewards; a little present Interest made them forget or neglect their Posterity; whereas the People of this Place, duly sensible of the Miseries and Calamities they

́ have suffered, and do still labour under, freely and voluntarily 'put their Hands to the Representation of this Part of the Province: No artful Means were used to induce them to it; no artful Man or Men, Negro Merchants or others, persuaded 'them to it: Dismal Poverty and the most absolute Oppression were the true Fountains from whence our Complaints proceed'ed. But how miserably were these inconsiderate deluded 'Wretches rewarded? They were soon after carried against St. Augustine, placed on a dangerous Post, where they were all or 'most of them cut off or taken Prisoners by the Enemy; which ' has put a Period to the Settlement of Darien, of which so many great Things have been falsy reported.

With Regard to our Representation, we shall only beg Leave ' to make one Supposition, which it's almost impossible can have happen'd, viz. That this and all the other Representations, 'Letters, Suits or Petitions, made to the Trustees by private or a joint Number of Persons, have been entirely false and ground'less: What can have reduced the Colony to the Situation in ' which it now is? What can have reduc'd it's Inhabitants to one 'Sixth Part of the Number which we have known to reside ' here? Or, lastly, to what is the starving and despicable Condi'tion of the Few that are now left, owing? Is it not, as well as every other Matter which we have before urg'd, owing to and 'occasion'd by the unanswerable Reasons at different Times given and laid before your Honours, by honest Men (indepen'dent of you) who were and are the chief Sufferers in this Colony; and who could not be brib'd to conceal or terrify'd from declaring their Sentiments?

'Your Honours may readily and safely join issue with us in our Appeal to Posterity, who were their best Friends, &c. for 'it's certain and obvious, that if the Trustees are resolved to 'adhere to their present Constitution, they or their Successors are in no great Danger of being called to any Account by our 'Posterity in Georgia.

'We have likewise seen and read the Alterations Mr. Martyn ' mentions to have been made by your Honours, with regard to the Tenure of Lands; together with a fictious Abridgement ' of the same affix'd to the most publick Places at Savannah.

Mr. Martyn in his Letter is pleas'd to tell us, That your Honours imagine we are satisfied therewith, as the rest of the Colony are? Some few perhaps may have express'd themselves satisfied; but we will say no worse of such few, than that your 'Honours will soon be sensible, that even they are Deceivers.

* Vide Answer to the Representation.

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It's true, such Alterations, and the Paper, entitled, An Answer to our Representation, above mentioned, are artfully penn'd, and will doubtless for a Time, amuse even Men of the best Sense in Europe, or elsewhere, who are Strangers to the Colony of Georgia; but any Man of common Understanding, or the least Penetration, who by an unfortunate Experience, has been well acquainted with that Colony, can easily demonstrate, that those very Papers are further Snares to increase our 'Miseries; as it's impossible we can be enabled by these Alter'ations to subsist ourselves and Families any more than before, far less to put us in a Capacity of recovering our already sunk 'Fortunes and Loss of Time. Some Time in the Summer 1739, (whilst we still expected agreeable Alterations to have succeed'ed our Representation) we applied more than once to General Oglethorpe, as one of the Trustees, for the same Tract of Land which we have since been refused by your Honours: But our Petitions and Applications were rejected; and for what Reason? Because indeed we refused to contradict what we had before set forth in our Representation, so and become Villians, as (we ' have to much Reason to believe) some others on the same 'Occasion were: We wou'd not accept of Settlements, Sums of Money, Horses, Cattle and other valuable Considerations, at the Expence of Betraying our Country, and Contradicting our Consciences, by signing a Paper, which was prepared and offered to us, purporting a Repentence of the Measures we had 'taken for our own and the Relief of other distress'd British Subjects; and consequently an Approbation of a Scheme which, by all Appearance, seems to have been calculated and prepared to form a Colony of Vassals, whose Properties and 'Liberties were at all Times, to have been dispos'd of at the Discretion or Option of their Superiors.

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'Such and many other Methods of Corruption have been too often practised in this Colony; but we refus'd and scorn'd such 'Actions, from Principles of which every honest Man ought to 'be possessed..,

'We are not surprized to find, That we have in vain applied to your Honours in several Affairs, when we see you have been ' hitherto prepossessed by a Gentleman of superiour Interest, with Informations and Assertions full of Resentment, and which 'we well know cannot stand the Test of an impartial Examina'tion; but we are amazed and sorry to find, That he has had for 'so many Years together, the Interest of Nominating Those, who have been appointed from Time to Time, for the Administration of Justice, and making an impartial Enquiry into and informing your Honours of the real Situation of the Colony of Georgia;

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we say, such who have been implicity obedient in carrying on his arbitrary Schemes of Government, and oppressing the Inhabitants, as well an conniving at the Deceiving your Honours ' and the Nation!

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Gentlemen, As we have no Favours to ask, or Resentments to fear, we may with the greater Freedom observe, That we are in full Hopes, that all we can justly ask, will be granted us by a British Parliament, who we doubt not, will soon make an Enquiry into the Grievances of oppressed Subjects, which have formerly inhabited, or do now inhabit the Colony of Georgia; That Colony which has cost so great an Expence to the Nation, and from which so great Benefits, were promis'd and ' expected!

We are sensible of the Freedoms which have been used with our respective Characters, in the Misrepresentation sent your Honours by partial Men: Nor are we less sensible, that the Majority of the Trustees have been kept in the Dark, with regard to our just Complaints and Representations; or that such Complaints have been communicated to them in Lights 'distant from Truth; insomuch that, we have Reason to believe, two Thirds of the Honourable Board are either misinform'd of or are entire Strangers to the barbarous and destructive Schemes 'carried on in this miserable Colony.

We hope it will e'er long appear to your Honours and the 'World (whatever has been advanced to the contrary) That we are honest Men, free from any base Design, free from any mutinous Spirit; who have only stood firm for the Recovery of our lost Privileges, which have been secretly and under the most specious Pretences withdrawn from us by some designing and self-interested Men.

We should be sorry to write disrespectfully of any one of the Trustees; but when distressed and oppressed People arrive at the last Extremities, it must be supposed, they will neither be asham'd to publish their Misfortunes, or affraid of imputing their Calamities to the Fountain from whence they spring.

Far be it from us in any Shape to reflect in general on the 'Honourable Board, who we still believe are Gentlemen of Honour and Reputation, who would not be accessary to any sinister or base Designs; but we can't help thinking, that they are deluded, and brought to pursue Measures inconsistent with the · Welfare and Prosperity of the Colony, by some who of the whole Corporation are only acquainted with the particular Situation of it; and who must therefore wilfully and from Design, form * and prepare destructive Schemes for the perishing Inhabitants of Georgia; and by unfair Representations of Persons and