A colony now being planted in Georgia, the trustees proceeded to establish certain regulations. One of these regulations was that the lands should not be sold by the owners, but should descend to their male children only. On the termination of the male line, the wives of such persons as should survive them were to be, during their lives, entitled to the mansion-house and onehalf of the lands improved by their husbands. No man was permitted to depart from the colony without a license. If any of the lands granted by the trustees should not be cultivated, cleared and fenced about with a worm fence, or poles six feet high, within eighteen years, the grant respecting it to become void. The use of negroes was to be absolutely prohibited, and also the importation of rum. Some of these regulations proved quite detrimental to the colonists. Some of the settlers finding that they would procure more extensive tracts of lands in other colonies, and on better terms, were induced to

remove.

Beside the large sums of money the trustees had expended for the settlement of Georgia, parliament had also granted, during the last two years, thirty-six thousand pounds toward carrying into execution the humane purpose of the corporation. After the representations and memorials from the legislature of Carolina had reached Great Britain, the nation considered Georgia to be of the utmost importance to the British settlements in America, and began to make still more vigorous efforts for its speedy population.

The first embarkations of poor people from England, being collected from towns and cities, were found equally idle and useless members of society abroad as they had been at home. A hardy and bold race of men, inured to rural labor and fatigue, they were persuaded, would be much better adapted both for cultivation and defense. To find men possessed of these qualifications they turned their eyes to Germany and the Highlands of Scotland, and resolved to send over a number of Scotch and German laborers to their infant province. When they published their terms at Inverness, one hundred and thirty Highlanders immediately accepted them and were transported to Georgia.

The river Alatamaha was at this time considered as the boundary between the British and Spanish territories. A township on this river was allotted to the Highlanders, who built a town in this exposed situation, which they called New Inverness, now Darien. About the same time one hundred and seventy Germans embarked with Oglethorpe, and were fixed in another quarter, so that in the space of three years Georgia received above four hundred British subjects. Afterward several adventurers both from Scotland and Germany followed their countrymen into the province.

In 1736, John Wesley, the eminent founder of Methodism, made a visit to Georgia for the purpose of preaching to the colonists and converting the Indians. "He was then young and ardent; the people around him felt less ardor than himself, and his pious zeal soon brought him into collision with some of the principal settlers. He was accused of diverting the people from their labor to attend his religious meetings, and of exercising unwarranted ecclesiastical authority. Persecuted by his enemies, and finding he could render no further service to the cause of religion in the colony, he returned to England, and there for many years pursued a distinguished career of piety and usefulness."

In 1739, George Whitefield, the celebrated preacher, commenced his Orphan House, at a place he called Bethesda, about nine miles from Savannah. For the support of this institution he crossed the Atlantic several times, and

traversed Great Britain and America soliciting aid from the pious and charitable. Wherever he went he preached with such surpassing eloquence that great crowds attended his ministrations. Notwithstanding his exertions his orphan house during his lifetime did not flourish to any extent, and after his death was abandoned.

The trustees of the colony, in 1740, rendered an account of their administration. To that period, about 2,500 emigrants had arrived in the colony. The benefactions from individuals and the government, had amounted to nearly half a million of dollars; and it was computed that for every person transported and maintained by the trustees, more than 300 dollars had been expended. The hopes of the trustees, that their colony would become flourishing, were disappointed. Their injudicious regulations and restrictions, caused many complaints and insurrections. Notwithstanding all the expense bestowed upon the colony, it continued to languish, until 1752, when their charter was surrendered to the king.

In 1739, war being declared by Great Britain against Spain, Oglethorpe went into the Indian country, 500 miles distant from Frederica, to obtain the friendship and assistance of the natives. At Coweta he conferred with

the Chickasaws and other deputies. They declared, that by ancient right, that all the territories, lands, and islands, from the Savannah River to St. John's River, in Florida, belonged to the Creek nation, and they agreed that they would not suffer the Spaniards, or any persons, excepting the trustees of the Georgia colony, to settle on those lands.

Oglethorpe being promoted to the rank of general in the British army, collected a force of about 2,000 men, partly from Virginia and the Carolinas, for an expedition against Florida. Being assisted by a considerable party of Indians, he took two Spanish forts, and besieged St. Augustine. The Spaniards having received, by some means, a reinforcement of 700 men, and a supply of provisions, made such an obstinate resistance, that Gen. Oglethorpe was compelled to abandon the enterprise and return to Frederica.

In 1742, war continuing with the Spaniards, Gen. Oglethorpe fixed his head-quarters at Frederica, and waited in expectation of a reinforcement. from Carolina.

"About the last of June, the Spanish fleet, amounting to 32 sail, and carrying above 3,000 men, under the command of Don Manuel de Monteano, came to anchor off St. Simon's bar; and, after sounding the channel, passed through Jekyl Sound, received a fire from Oglethorpe at Fort Simons, and proceeded up the Alatamaha, beyond the reach of his guns. Here the enemy landed, and erected a battery with 20 18 pounders mounted on it. Oglethorpe, judging his situation at Fort Simons to be dangerous, spiked up the guns; burst the bombs and cohorns; destroyed the stores; and retreated to Frederica. With a force amounting to little more than 700 men, exclusive of Indians, he could not hope to act but on the defensive, until the arrival of reinforcements from Carolina. He, however, employed his Indians, and occasionally his Highlanders, in scouring the woods, harassing the outposts of the enemy, and throwing every impediment in their marches. In the attempts of the Spaniards to penetrate through the woods and morasses to reach Frederica, several rencounters took place; in one of which they lost a captain and two lieutenants killed, and above 100 men taken prisoners. Oglethorpe at length, learning, by an English prisoner who escaped from the Spanish camp, that a difference subsisted between the troops from Cuba and those from St. Augustine, occasioning a separate encampment, resolved to attack the enemy while thus divided. Taking advantage of his knowledge of the woods, he marched. out in the night with 300 chosen men, the Highland company and some rangers, with the intention of surprising the enemy. Having advanced within two miles of the Spanish camp, he halted his troops, and went forward himself with a select

corps, to reconnoiter the enemy's situation. While he was endeavoring cautiously to conceal his approach, a French soldier of his party discharged his musket, and ran into the Spanish lines.

The general now returned to Frederica, and endeavored to effect, by stratagem, what could not be achieved by surprise. Apprehensive that the deserter would discover to the enemy his weakness, he wrote to him a letter, desiring him to ac quaint the Spaniards with the defenseless state of Frederica, and the ease with which his small garrison might be cut to pieces. He pressed him to bring forward the Spaniards to an attack; but, if he could not prevail thus far, to use all his art and influence to persuade them to stay at least three days more at Fort Simons; for within that time, according to advices just received from Carolina, he should have a reinforcement of 2,000 land forces, with six British ships-of-war. The letter concluded with a caution to the deserter against dropping the least hint of Admiral Vernon's meditated attack upon St. Augustine, and with assurance, that for his service he should be amply rewarded by the British king. Oglethorpe gave it to the Spanish prisoner, who, for a small reward together with his liberty, promised to deliver it to the French deserter. On his arrival, however, at the Spanish camp, he gave the letter, as Oglethorpe expected, to the commander-inchief, who instantly put the deserter in irons. This letter perplexed and confounded the Spaniards; some suspecting it to be a stratagem to prevent an attack on Frederica, and others believing it to contain serious instructions to direct the conduct of a spy. While the Spanish officers were deliberating what measures to adopt, an incident, not within the calculation of military skill, or the control of human power, decided their counsels. Three ships of force, which the governor of South Carolina had sent out to Oglethorpe's aid, appeared at this juncture off the coast. The agreement of this discovery with the contents of the letter, convinced the Spanish commander of its real intention. The whole army, siezed with an instant panic, set fire to the fort, and precipitately embarked, leaving several cannon, with a quantity of provisions and military stores; and thus, in the moment of threatened conquest, was the infant colony providentially saved." From the time Georgia became a royal government, in 1752, until the peace of Paris, in 1763, she struggled with many difficulties arising from the want of credit, and the frequent molestations of enemies. After the peace, the colony began to flourish under the fatherly care of Gov. Wright. In the year 1763, the exports of Georgia consisted only of 7,500 barrels of rice, 9,633 pounds of indigo, 1,250 bushels of Indian corn, which, together with deer and beaver skins, naval stores, provisions, timber, etc., amounted to no more than £27,021 sterling. Ten years afterward, in 1773, it exported commodities to the value of £121,677 sterling.

During the revolutionary war, Georgia was overrun by the British troops, and many of the inhabitants were obliged to flee into the neighboring states for safety. The sufferings and losses of her citizens were as great, in proportion to her numbers, as in the sister states. In Dec. 1778, Savannah was taken by the British, and in October following, Count Pulaski, a Polish officer in the American service, was mortally wounded in an unsuccessful assault on this place. The first state constitution was formed in 1777, the second in 1785, and the present in 1798, and amended in 1839.

During the early history of Georgia, as a state, its growth was impeded by the hostile irruptions of the Creek Indians. The final settlement of all difficulties with this tribe, was accomplished at Wetumpka, in 1828, by a treaty, when all their lands, in the state of Georgia, were ceded to the United States. The last difficulty with the Indians was that with the Cherokees, who occupied the entire north-western part of Georgia, still known as Cherokee Georgia. This tribe was considerably advanced in civilization, and had their own printed constitution, and a code of laws by which they had declared themselves an independent state. These acts of sovereignty, by the Indians,

conflicted with the jurisdiction exercised by Georgia within her state limits, and occasioned much difficulty. A treaty was finally concluded at New Echota, in May 1836, with some of the principal chiefs of the nation, whereby all their lands which they claimed east of the Mississippi River, were ceded to the United States.

Georgia is bounded N. by parts of Tennessee and North Carolina, E. by South Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean, S. by Florida, and W. by the Alabama. It extends 300 miles from north to south, with an average breadth of 200 miles, and includes an area of 58,000 square miles, Lat. 30° 22′, to 35 N.: Long. 80° 50', to 85° 40′ W. Georgia has every variety of surface, from the mountain of the north, to the alluvial flats on the sea coast. From the ocean, for a distance of seven miles, there is a series of islands intersected by rivers, creeks, and inlets, communicating with each other and forming an inland navigation for steamboats along the whole coast. These islands produce cotton of a superior quality. The coast on the main land, from three to five miles in width, is a salt marsh. Back of this, the land continues level, and the pine barrens reach from 60 to 90 miles from the coast. Beyond these is the country of sand-hills, 30 to 40 miles wide, interspersed with fertile tracts. The "Upper Country" is that part of the state above the falls of the rivers, and is generally a strong and fertile soil, producing cotton, Indian corn, wheat, etc. The northern part of the state is rich in mineral wealth, gold, iron, coal, copper, etc. Georgia is rich in the natural elements of wealth; and in the enterprise of her citizens, she stands first among the states of the south: also in the number and extent of her railways. In the production of sweet potatoes, Georgia is first, and in cotton and rice, the second state in the Union.

Population of Georgia in 1790, was 82,548; in 1840, 691,392; in 1850, 906,185, of whom 381,682 were slaves.; in 1860, 1.075,977.

SAVANNAH, the largest city in Georgia, and one of the most thriving in the state, is situated on the south-east bank of Savannah River, on a sandy bluff 40 feet above low-water mark, 12 miles in a direct line from the Atlantic Ocean, and 18 miles by the course of the river. It is 90 miles from Charleston; 120 from Augusta, and 158 from Milledgeville. The safety of the channel, in entering the harbor, much enhances its commercial importance; vessels requiring 13 feet of water can load at the wharves of the city. Population is about 28,000.

Savannah was founded by James Oglethorpe, who landed here with about 40 families of emigrants, Feb. 1, 1733; on that day four large tents were erected on shore sufficient to hold all the people, who, the ensuing night, slept on land. The first week was spent in making a crane and unlading their goods, after which Mr. Oglethorpe divided the people; employing part in clearing the land for seed, part in beginning the palisade, and the remainder in felling trees. The first house was begun on the 9th; on this day Mr. Oglethorpe and Col. Bull marked out the square, the streets and 40 lots for houses of the town, and the settlement, after the Indian name of the river which ran by it, was called Savannah.

"On the 7th of July, the settlers assembled on the strand (the bay), for the purpose of designating the lots. In a devotional service they united in thanksgiving to God, 'that the lines had fallen to them in a pleasant place, and that they were about to have a goodly heritage.' The wards and tithings were then named; each ward consisting of four tithings, and each tithing

of ten houses, and a house and lot were given to each freeholder. After a dinner provided by the governor, the grant of a court of record was read, and the officers appointed. The session of the magistrates was then held, a jury impanneled, and a case tried. This jury was the first impanneled in Georgia.

The above is copied from a large engraving published, it is believed, in London, at the time of the first settlement of Savannah. The following is conspicuously engraved upon the plate. "To the Hon. the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia, in America, this view of the town of Savannah is humbly dedicated by their Honours obliged and most obedient Servant, Peter Gordon.

"The town was governed by the three bailiffs, and had a recorder, register, and a town court holden every six weeks, where all matters civil and criminal were decided by grand and petit juries, as in England. No lawyers were allowed to plead for hire, or attorneys to take money, but (as in old times in England) each could plead his own cause. In October, 1741, the government of the colony was changed from that of the bailiffs to trustees. In 1750, the number of white persons in Georgia was computed at about 1,500. The first royal governor, John Reynolds, Esq., arrived in Savannah in October, 1754. The first printing press was established in 1763, and the 'Georgia Gazette printed on the 7th of April of that year. In 1766, the city consisted of four hundred dwelling-houses, a church, an Independent meeting-house, a council-house, a court-house, and a filature. In 1770, the city extended on