That the Trustees might have a just view of their condition, the Georgians stated before them their grievances, and renewed their application for redress. They judged that the British constitution, zealous for the rights and liberties of mankind, could not permit subjects who had voluntarily risked their lives, and spent their substance on the public faith, to effect a settlement in the most dangerous frontiers of the British empire, to be deprived of the common privileges of all colonists. They complained that the land-holders in Georgia were prohibited from selling or leasing their possessions; that a tract containing fifty acres of the best lands was too small an allowance for the maintenance of a family, and much more so when they were refused the freedom to chuse it; that a much higher quit-rent was exacted from them than was paid for the best lands in America; that the importation of negroes was prohibited, and white people were utterly unequal to the labours requisite; that the public money granted yearly by parliament, for the relief of settlers and the improvement of the province, was misapplied, and therefore the wise purposes for which it was granted were by no means answered. That these inconveniencies and hardships kept them in a state of poverty and misery, and that the chief cause of all their calamities was the strict adherence of the Trustees to their chimerical and impracticable scheme of settlement, by which the people were refused the obvious means of subsistence, and cut off from all prospects of success.
We have already observed, that the laws and regulations even of the wisest men, founded on principles of speculation, have often proved to be foreign and impracticable. The Trustees had an example of this in the fundamental constitutions of John Locke. Instead of prescribing narrower limits to the industry and ambition of the Georgians, they ought to have learned wisdom from the case of the Proprietors of Carolina, and enlarged their plan with respect to both liberty and property. By such indulgence alone they could encourage emigrations, and animate the inhabitants to diligence and perseverance. The lands in Georgia, especially such as were first occupied, were sandy and barren; the hardships of clearing and cultivating them were great, the climate was unfavourable for labourers, and dangerous to European constitutions. The greater the difficulties were with which the settlers had to struggle, the more encouragement was requisite to surmount them. The plan of settlement ought to have arisen from the nature of the climate, country, and soil, and the circumstances of the settlers, and been the result of experience and not of speculation.
Hitherto Georgia had not only made small improvement in agriculture and trade, but her government was feeble and contemptible. At this time, by the avarice and ambition of a single family, the whole colony was brought to the very brink of destruction. As the concerns of these settlements are closely connected and interwoven with the affairs of Indian nations, it is impossible to attain proper views of the circumstances and situation of the people, without frequently taking notice of the relation in which they stood to their savage neighbours. A considerable branch of provincial commerce, as well as the safety of the colonists, depended on their friendship with Indians; and, to avoid all danger from their savage temper, no small share of prudence and courage was often requisite. This will appear more obvious from the following occurrence, which, because it is somewhat remarkable, we shall the more circumstantially relate.
[Sidenote] Troubles excited by Thomas Bosomworth.
I have already observed, that during the time General Oglethorpe had the direction of public affairs in Georgia, he had, from maxims of policy, treated an Indian woman, called Mary, with particular kindness and generosity. Finding that she had great influence among the Creeks, and understood their language, he made use of her as an interpreter, in order the more easily to form treaties of alliance with them, allowing her for her services an hundred pounds sterling a-year. This woman Thomas Bosomworth, who was chaplain to Oglethorpe's regiment, had married, and among the rest had accepted a track of land from the crown, and settled in the province. Finding that his wife laid claim to some islands on the sea-coast, which, by treaty, had been allotted the Indians as part of their hunting lands; to stock them he had purchased cattle from the planters of Carolina, from whom he obtained credit to a considerable amount. However, this plan not proving so successful as the proud and ambitious clergyman expected, he took to audacious methods of supporting his credit, and acquiring a fortune. His wife pretended to be descended in a maternal line from an Indian king, who held from nature the territories of the Creeks, and Bosomworth now persuaded her to assert her right to them, as superior not only to that of the Trustees, but also to that of the King. Accordingly Mary immediately assumed the title of an independent empress, disavowing all subjection or allegiance to the King of Great Britain, otherwise than by way of treaty and alliance, such as one independent sovereign might make with another. A meeting of all the Creeks was summoned, to whom Mary made a speech, setting forth the justice of her claim, and the great injury done to her and them by taking possession of their ancient territories, and stirring them up to defend their property by force of arms. The Indians immediately took fire, and to a man declared they would stand by her to the last drop of their blood in defence of their lands. In consequence of which Mary, with a large body of savages at her back, set out for Savanna, to demand a formal surrender of them from the president of the province. A messenger was despatched before hand, to acquaint him that Mary had assumed her right of sovereignty over the whole territories of the upper and lower Creeks, and to demand that all lands belonging to them be instantly relinquished; for as she was the hereditary and rightful queen of both nations, and could command every man of them to follow her, in case of refusal, she had determined to extirpate the settlement.
The president and council, alarmed at her high pretensions and bold threats, and sensible of her great power and influence with the savages, were not a little embarrassed what steps to take for the public safety. They determined to use soft and healing measures until an opportunity might offer of privately laying hold of her, and shipping her off to England. But, in the mean time, orders were sent to all the captains of the militia, to hold themselves in readiness to march to Savanna at an hour's warning. The town was put in the best posture of defence, but the whole militia in it amounted to no more than one hundred and seventy men, able to bear arms. A messenger was sent to Mary at the head of the Creeks, while several miles distant from town, to know whether she was serious in such wild pretensions, and to try to persuade her to dismiss her followers, and drop her audacious design. But finding her inflexible and resolute, the president resolved to put on a bold countenance, and receive the savages with firmness and resolution. The militia was ordered under arms, to overawe them as much as possible, and as the Indians entered the town, Captain Jones, at the head of his company of horse, stopped them, and demanded whether they came with hostile or friendly intentions? But receiving no satisfactory answer, he told them they must there ground their arms, for he had orders not to suffer a man of them armed to set his foot within the town. The savages with great reluctance submitted, and accordingly Thomas Bosomworth, in his canonical robes, with his queen by his side, followed by the various chiefs according to their rank, marched into town, making a formidable appearance. All the inhabitants were struck with terror at the sight of the fierce and mighty host. When they advanced to the parade, they found the militia drawn up under arms to receive them, who saluted them with fifteen cannon, and conducted them to the president's house. There Thomas and Adam Bosomworth being ordered to withdraw, the Indian chiefs, in a friendly manner, were called upon to declare their intention of visiting the town in so large a body, without being sent for by any person in lawful authority. The warriors, as they had been previously instructed, answered, that Mary was to speak for them, and that they would abide by her words. They had heard, they said, that she was to be sent like a captive over the great waters, and they were come to know on what account they were to lose their queen. They assured the president they intended no harm, and begged their arms might be restored; and, after consulting with Bosomworth and his wife, they would return and settle all public affairs. To please them their muskets were accordingly given back, but strict orders were issued to allow them no ammunition, until the council should see more clearly into their dark designs.
On the day following, the Indians having had some private conferences with their queen, began to be very surly, and to run in a mad and tumultuous manner up and down the streets, seemingly bent on some mischief. All the men being obliged to mount guard, the women were terrified to remain by themselves in their houses, expecting every moment to be murdered or scalped. During this confusion, a false rumour was spread, that they had cut off the president's head with a tomahawk, which so exasperated the inhabitants, that it was with difficulty the officers could prevent them from firing on the savages. To save a town from destruction, never was greater prudence requisite. Orders were given to the militia to lay hold of Bosomworth, and carry him out of the way into close confinement. Upon which Mary became outrageous and frantic, and insolently threatened vengeance against the magistrates and whole colony. She ordered every man of them to depart from her territories, and at their peril to refuse. She cursed General Oglethorpe and his fraudulent treaties, and, furiously stamping with her feet upon the ground, swore by her Maker that the whole earth on which she trode was her own. To prevent bribery, which she knew to have great weight with her warriors, she kept the leading men constantly in her eye, and would not suffer them to speak a word respecting public affairs but in her presence.
The president finding that no peaceable agreement could be made with the Indians while under the baleful eye and influence of their pretended queen privately laid hold of her, and put her under confinement with her husband. This step was necessary, before any terms of negotiation could be proposed. Having secured the chief promoters of the conspiracy, he then employed men acquainted with the Indian tongue to entertain the warriors in the most friendly and hospitable manner, and explain to them the wicked designs of Bosomworth and his wife. Accordingly a feast was prepared for all the chief leaders; at which they were informed, that Mr. Bosomworth had involved himself in debt, and wanted not only their lands, but also a large share of the royal bounty, to satisfy his creditors in Carolina: that the King's presents were only intended for Indians, on account of their useful services and firm attachment to him during the former wars: that the lands adjoining the town were reserved for them to encamp upon, when they should come to visit their beloved friends at Savanna, and the three maritime islands to hunt upon, when they should come to bathe in the salt waters: that neither Mary nor her husband had any right to those lands, which were the common property of the Creek nations: that the great King had ordered the president to defend their right to them, and expected that all his subjects, both white and red, would live together like brethren; in short that he would suffer no man or woman to molest or injure them, and had ordered these words to be left on record, that their children might know them when they were dead and gone.
Such policy produced the desired effect, and many of the chieftains being convinced that Bosomworth had deceived them, declared they would trust him no more. Even Malatchee, the leader of the Lower Creeks, and a relation to their pretended empress, seemed satisfied, and was not a little pleased to hear, that the great King had sent them some valuable present. Being asked why he acknowledged Mary as the Empress of the great nation of Creeks, and resigned his power and possessions to a despicable old woman, while all Georgia owned him as a chief of the nation, and the president and council were now to give him many rich clothes and medals for his services? He replied, that the whole nation acknowledged her as their Queen, and none could distribute the royal presents but one of her family. The president by this answer perceiving more clearly the design of the family of Bosomworth, to lessen their influence, and shew the Indians that he had power to divide the royal bounty among the chiefs, determined to do it immediately, and dismiss them, and the hardships the inhabitants underwent, in keeping guard night and day for the defence of the town.
In the mean time Malatchee, whom the Indians compared to the wind, because of his fickle and variable temper, having, at his own request, obtained access to Bosomworth and his wife, was again seduced and drawn over to support their chimerical claim. While the Indians were gathered together to receive their respective shares of the royal bounty; he stood up in the midst of them, and with a frowning countenance, and in violent agitation of spirit, delivered a speech fraught with the most dangerous insinuations. He protested, that Mary possessed that country before General Oglethorpe; and that all the lands belonged to her as Queen, and head of the Creeks; that it was by her permission Englishmen were at first allowed to set their foot on them; that they still held them of her as the original proprietor; that her words were the voice of the whole nation, consisting of above three thousand warriors, and at her command every one of them would take up the hatchet in defence of her right; and then pulling out a paper out of his pocket, he delivered it to the president in confirmation of what he had said. This was evidently the production of Bosomworth, and served to discover in the plainest manner, his ambitious views and wicked intrigues. The preamble was filled with the names of Indians, called kings, of all the towns of the Upper and Lower Creeks, none of whom, however, were present, excepting two. The substance of it corresponded with Malatchee's speech; styling Mary the rightful princess and chief of their nation, descended in a maternal line from the emperor, and invested with full power and authority from them to settle and finally determine all public affairs and causes, relating to lands and other things, with King George and his beloved men on both sides of the sea, and whatever should be said or done by her, they would abide by, as if said or done by themselves.