GEORGIA, one of the provinces of the British empire in America, lying between South Carolina and Florida. It extends 120 miles upon the sea-coast, and 300 miles from thence to the Apalachian moun-
tains, and its boundaries to the north and south are the rivers Savannah and Alataamaha. The British ministry had been long desirous of erecting a colony on this tract of country, that was considered as dependent upon Carolina. One of those instances of benevolence, which liberty, the source of every patriotic virtue, renders more frequent in Britain than in any other country, served to determine the views of government with regard to this place. A rich and humane citizen, at his death, left the whole of his estate to set at liberty such insolvent debtors as were detained in prison by their creditors. Prudential reasons of policy concurred in the performance of this will dictated by humanity; and the government gave orders, that such unhappy prisoners as were released, should be transplanted into that desert country, which was now intended to be peopled. It was named Georgia, in honour of the reigning sovereign.
The parliament added 9,843 l. 15 s. to the estate left by the will of a citizen; and a voluntary subscription produced a much more considerable sum. General Oglethorpe was fixed upon to direct these public finances, and to carry into execution so excellent a project. He chose to conduct, himself, the first colonists that were sent to Georgia; where he arrived in January 1733, and fixed his people on a spot ten miles distant from the sea, in an agreeable and fertile plain on the banks of the Savannah. This rising settlement was called Savannah, from the name of the river; and inconsiderable as it was in its infant state, was, however, to become the capital of a flourishing colony. It consisted at first of no more than 100 persons; but before the end of the year the number was increased to 618, of whom 127 had emigrated at their own expence. Three hundred men, and 113 women, 102 lads, and 83 girls, formed the beginning of this new population, and the hopes of a numerous posterity.
This settlement was increased in 1735 by the arrival of some Scotch Highlanders. Their national courage induced them to accept an establishment offered them upon the borders of the Alataamaha, to defend the colony, if necessary, against the attacks of the neighbouring Spaniards. Here they built the towns of Darien and Frederica, and several of their countrymen came over to settle among them.
In the same year, a great number of Protestants driven out of Salzburg by a fanatical priest, embarked for Georgia to enjoy peace and liberty of conscience. At first they settled on a spot just above that of the infant colony; but they afterwards chose to be at a greater distance, and to go as far down as the mouth of the Savannah, where they built a town called Ebenezer.
Some Switzers followed the example of these wise Salzburghers, though they had not, like them, been persecuted. They also settled on the banks of the Savannah; but at the distance of 34 miles from the Germans. Their colony consisting of 100 habitations, was named Purysburgh, from Pury their founder; who having been at the expence of their settlement, was deservedly chosen their chief, in testimony of their gratitude to him.
In these four or five colonies, some men were found more inclined to trade than agriculture. These, therefore,
Georgia. fore, separated from the rest in order to build the city Augusta, 236 miles distant from the ocean. The goodness of the soil, though excellent in itself, was not the motive of their fixing upon this situation; but they were induced to it by the facility it afforded them of carrying on the peltry trade with the savages. Their project was so successful, that, as early as the year 1739, 600 people were employed in this commerce. The sale of these skins was carried on with the greater facility from the circumstance of the Savannah admitting the largest ships to sail upon it as far as the walls of Augusta.
The mother-country ought, one would imagine, to have formed great expectations from a colony, where she had sent near 5000 men, and laid out 64,968 l. exclusive of the voluntary contributions that had been raised by zealous patriots. But to her great surprise she received information in 1741, that there remained scarce a sixth part of that numerous colony sent to Georgia; who being now totally discouraged, seemed only desirous to fix in a more favourable situation. The reasons of these calamities were inquired into and discovered.
This colony, even in its infancy, brought with it the seeds of its decay. The government, together with the property of Georgia had been ceded to individuals. The first use that the proprietors of Georgia made of the unlimited power they were invested with was to establish a system of legislation, that made them entirely masters not only of the police, justice, and finances, of the country, but even of the lives and estates of its inhabitants. Every species of right was withdrawn from the people, who are the original possessors of them all. Obedience was required of the people, though contrary to their interest and knowledge; and it was considered here, as in other countries, as their duty and their fate.
As great inconveniences had been found to arise in other colonies from large possessions, it was thought proper in Georgia to allow each family only 50 acres of land; which they were not permitted to mortgage, or even to dispose of by will to their female issue. This last regulation of making only the male issue capable of inheritance, was soon abolished; but there still remained too many obstacles to excite a spirit of emulation. It seldom happens, that a man resolves to leave his country but upon the prospect of some great advantage that works strongly upon his imagination. All limits, therefore, prescribed to his industry, are so many checks which prevent him from engaging in any project. The boundaries assigned to every plantation must necessarily have produced this bad effect. Several other errors still affected the original plan of this country, and prevented its increase.
The taxes imposed upon the most fertile of the British colonies, are very inconsiderable; and even these are not levied till the settlements have acquired some degree of vigour and prosperity. From its infant state, Georgia had been subjected to the fines of a feudal government, with which it had been as it were fettered. The revenues raised by this kind of service increased prodigiously, in proportion as the colony extended itself. The founders of it, blinded by a spirit of avidity, did not perceive that the smallest duty imposed upon the trade of a populous and flourishing
province, would much sooner enrich them than the largest fines laid upon a barren and uncultivated country.
To this species of oppression was added another, which, however incredible it may appear, might arise from a spirit of benevolence. The planters in Georgia were not allowed the use of slaves. Carolina and some other colonies having been established without their assistance, it was thought that a country destined to be the bulwark of those American possessions ought not to be peopled by a set of slaves, who could not be in the least interested in the defence of their oppressors. But it was not at the same time foreseen, that colonists, who were less favoured than their neighbours by the mother-country, who were situated in a country less susceptible of tillage, and in a hotter climate, would want strength and spirit to undertake a cultivation that required greater encouragement.
The indolence which so many obstacles gave rise to, found a further excuse in another prohibition that had been imposed. The disturbances produced by the use of spirituous liquors over all the continent of North America, induced the founders of Georgia to forbid the importation of rum. This prohibition, though well intended, deprived the colonists of the only liquor that could correct the bad qualities of the waters of the country, which were generally unwholesome; and of the only means they had to restore the waste of strength and spirits that must be the consequence of incessant labour. Besides this, it prevented their commerce with the Antilles; as they could not go thither to barter their wood, corn, and cattle, that ought to have been their most valuable commodities, in return for the rum of those islands.
The mother-country at length perceived how much these defects in the political regulations and institutions had prevented the increase of the colony, and freed them from the restraints they had before been clogged with. The government in Georgia was settled upon the same plan as that which had rendered Carolina so flourishing; and, instead of being dependent on a few individuals, became one of the national possessions.