and upon Oyster Point, at the junction of Ashley and Cooper Rivers,' nearer the sea, they founded the present city of Charleston.' Immigrants came from various parts of Europe; and many Dutch families, dissatisfied with the English rule at New York,' went to South Carolina, where lands were freely given them; and soon, along the Santee and the Edisto, the wilderness began to blossom under the hand of culture. The people would have nothing to do with a government scheme prepared by Shaftesbury and Locke, but preferred simple organic laws of their own making. Then were laid the foundations of the commonwealth of SOUTH CAROLINA, although the history of the two States, under the same proprietors, is inseparable, until the period of their dismemberment, in 1729.5 CIIAPTER X. GEORGIA. [1733] GEORGIA was the latest settled of the thirteen original English colonies in America. When the proprietors of the Carolinas surrendered their charter" to the crown in 1729, the whole country southward of the Savannah River, to the vicinity of St. Augustine, was a wilderness peopled by native tribes,' and claimed by the Spaniards as part of their territory of Florida. The English disputed this claim, and South Carolina townships were ordered to be marked out as far south as the Alatamaha. The dispute grew warm and warlike, and the Indians, instigated by the Spaniards, depredated upon the frontier English settlements. But, while the clouds of hostility were gathering in the firmament, and grew darker every hour, it was lighted up by a bright beam of benevolence, which proved the harbinger of a glorious day. It came from England, where, at that time, poverty was often considered a crime, and at least four thousand unfortunate debtors were yearly consigned to loathsome prisons. The honest and true, the noble and the educated, as well as the ignorant and the vile, groaned within prison walls. Their wailings at length reached the cars of benevolent men. Foremost among these was James Edward Oglethorpe," a brave soldier and stanch loyalist, whose voice had been heard often in Parliament against imprisonment for debt. A committee of inquiry into the subject of such imprisonments, was ap 'These were so called in honor of Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. The Indian name of the former was Ke-a-wah, and of the latter E-ti-wan. * Charleston was laid out in 1680 by John Culpepper, who had been surveyor-general for North Carolina. See page 166. 3 Page 164. 4 8 Page 144. 9 Page 171. Page 171. 7 Page 29. "See portrait, page 104. General Oglethorpe was born in Surrey, England, on the 21st of December, 1698. He was a soldier by profession. In 1745, he was made a brigadier-general, and fought against Charles Edward, the Pretender, who was a grandson of James the Second, and claimed rightful heirship to the throne of England. Oglethorpe refused the supreme command of the British army destined for America în 1775. He died, June 30, 1785, aged eighty-seven years. pointed by Parliament, and General Oglethorpe was made chairman of it. His report, embodying a noble scheme of benevolence, attracted attention and admiration. He proposed to open the prison doors to all virtuous men within, who would accept the conditions, and with these and other sufferers from poverty and oppression, to go to the wilderness of America, and there establish a colony of freemen, and open an asylum for persecuted Protestants' of all lands. The plan met warm responses in Parliament, and received the hearty approval of George the Second, then [1730] on the English throne. A royal charter for twenty-one years was granted [June 9, 1732] to a corporation "in trust for the poor," to establish a colony within the disputed territory south of the Savannah, to be called Georgia, in honor of the king. Individuals subscribed large sums to defray the expenses of emigrants hither; and within two years after the issuing of the patent, Parliament had appropriated one hundred and eighty thousand dollars for the same purpose.3 He The sagacious and brave Oglethorpe was a practical philanthropist. offered to accompany the first settlers to the wilderness, and to act as governor of the new province. With one hundred and twenty emigrants he left England [Nov., 1732], and after a passage of fifty-seven days, touched at Charleston [Jan., 1733], where he was received with great joy by the inhabitants, as one who was about to plant a barrier between them and the hostile Indians and Spaniards. Proceeding to Port Royal, Oglethorpe landed a large portion of his followers there, and with a few others, he coasted to the Savannah River. Sailing up that stream as far as Yamacraw Bluff, he landed, and chose the spot whereon to lay the foundation of the capital of a future State." On the 12th of February, 1733, the remainder of the immigrants arrived from Port Royal. The winter air was genial, and with cheerful hearts and willing hands they constructed a rude fortification, and commenced the erection of a town, which they called Savannah, the Indian name of the river. For almost a year the governor dwelt under a tent, and there he often held friendly intercourse with the chiefs of neighboring tribes. At length, when he had mounted cannons upon the fort, and safety was thus secured, Oglethorpe met Note 14, page 62. The domain granted by the charter extended along the coast from the Savannah to the Alatamaha, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. The trustees appointed by the crown, possessed all legislative and executive power; and, therefore, while one side of the seal of the new province expressed the benevolent character of the scheme, by the device of a group of toiling silkworms, and the motto, Non sibi, sed aliis; the other side, bearing, between two urns the genius of "Georgia Augusta," with a cap of liberty on her head, a spear, and a horn of plenty, was a false emblem. There was no political liberty for the people. 4 3 Brilliant visions of vast vintages, immense productions of silk for British looms, and all the wealth of a fertile tropical region, were presented for the contemplation of the commercial acumen of the business men of England. These considerations, as well as 'the promptings of pure benevolence, made donations liberal and numerous. Page 99. Some historians believe that Sir Walter Raleigh, while on his way to South America, in 1595, went up the Savannah River, and held a conference with the Indians on this very spot. This, probably, is an error, for nothing appears in the writings of Raleigh or his cotemporaries to warrant the inference that he ever saw the North American continent. • The streets were laid out with great regularity; public squares were reserved; and the houses were all built on one model-twenty-four by sixteen feet, on the ground. fifty chiefs in council [May, 1733], with To-mo-chi-chi,' the principal sachem of the lower Cree's confederacy." at their head, to treat for the purchase of lands. Satisfactory arrangements were made, and the English obtained sovereignty over the whole domain [June 1, 1733] along the Atlantic from the Savannah to the St. John's, and westward to the Flint and the head waters of the Chattahoochee. The provisions of the charter formed the constitution of government for the people; and there, upon Yamacraw Bluff, where the flourishing city of Savannah now stands, was laid the foundation of the commonwealth of GEORGIA, in the summer of 1733. Immigration flowed thither in a strong and continuous stream, for all were free in religious matters; yet for many years the colony did not flourish.' Wonderful, indeed, were the events connected with the permanent settlements in the New World. Never in the history of the race was greater heroism displayed than the seaboard of the domain of the United States exhibited during the period of settlements, and the development of colonies. Hardihood, faith, courage, indomitable perseverance, and untiring energy, were requisite to accomplish all that was done in so short a time, and under such unfavorable circumstances. While many of the early immigrants were mere adventurers, and sleep in deserved oblivion, because they were recreant to the great duty which they had self-imposed, there are thousands whose names ought to be perpetuated in brass and marble, because of their faithful performance of the mighty task assigned them. They came here as sowers of the prolific seed of human liberty; and during the colonizing period, many of them carefully nurtured the tender plant, while it was bursting into vigorous life. We, who are the reapers, ought to reverence the sowers and the cultivators hearts. with grateful To-mo-chi-chi was then an aged man, and at his first interview with Oglethorpe, he presented him with a buffalo skin, ornamented with the picture of an eagle. Here," said the chief, "is a little present: I give you a buffalo's skin, adorned on the inside with the head and feathers of an eagle, which I desire you to accept, because the eagle is an emblem of speed, and the buffalo of strength. The English are swift as the bird, and strong as the beast, since, like the former, they flew over vast seas to the uttermost parts of the earth; and like the latter, they are so strong that nothing can withstand them. The feathers of an eagle are soft, and signify love; the buffalo's skin is warm, and signifies protection;-therefore I hope the English will protect and love our little families." Alas! the wishes of the venerable To-mo-chi-chi were never realized, for the white people more often plundered and destroyed, than loved and protected the Indians. Page 30. 2 Pages 171 and 173. |