The republicans of Georgia had become numerous in 1773, and committees of correspondence were early formed, and acted efficiently. A meeting of the friends of liberty was called in Savannah in the autumn of that year, but Sir James Wright, supported by a train of civil officers, prevented the proposed public expression of opinion. The wealthy feared loss of property by revolutionary movements, while the timid trembled at the thought of resistance to royal government. Selfishness and fear kept the people comparatively quiet for a while. In the mean time, a powerful Tory party was organizing in South Carolina and in Georgia, and emissaries were sent by the governors of these provinces among the Indians on the frontiers, to prepare them to lift the hatchet and go out upon the war-path against the white people, if rebellion should ensue. Such was the condition of Georgia when called upon to appoint representatives in the Continental Congress, to be held at Philadelphia in 1774. Half encircled by fierce savages, and pressed down by the heel of strongly-supported royal power in their midst, the Republicans needed stout hearts and unbending resolution. These they possessed; and in the midst of difficulties they were bold, and adopted measures of co-operation with the other colonies in resistance to tyranny.
On the fourteenth of July,1774 the Sons of Liberty were requested to assemble at the liberty pole at Tondee's tavern, ** in Savannah, on Wednesday, the twenty-seventh instant, in order that publie matters may be taken under consideration, and such other constitutional measures pursued as may then appear most eligible." *** The call was signed by Noble W. Jones (who in 1780 was a prisoner in Charleston), Archibald Bullock, John Houstoun, and George Walton. A meeting was accordingly held at the watch-house in Savannah.July 27, 1774 where letters from Northern committees were read, and a committee to draft resolutions was appointed. **** These proceedings were published, and the governor, alarmed at the progress of rebellion around him, issued a countervailing proclamation.August He called upon the people to discountenance these seditious men and measures, and menaced the disobedient with the penalties of stern British law.
On the tenth of August another meeting was held, when it was resolved to concur with their sister colonies in acts of resistance to oppression. After strongly condemning the Boston Port Bill, they appointed a committee to receive subscriptions for the suffering peo-
* A proviso of this act, as we have elsewhere noticed, required the colonists to provide various necessaries lor soldiers that might be quartered among them.
** The first liberty-pole was erected in Savannah, on the fifth of June, 1775, in front of Peter Tondee's tavern. His house stood upon the spot now (1849) occupied by Smet's new stores.
*** M'Call, ii., 16.
**** John Glenn was chosen chairman of the meeting. The following-named gentlemen were appointed the committee to prepare the resolutions: John Glenn, John Smith, Joseph Clay, John Houstoun, Noble W. Jones, Lyman Hall, William Young, Edward Telfair, Samuel Farley, George Walton, Joseph Habersham, Jonathan Bryan, Jonathan Cochran, George M'Intosh, Sutton Banks, William Gibbons, Benjamin Andrew, John Winn, John Stirle, Archibald Bullock, James Seriven, David Zubley, Henry Davis Bourguin, Elisha Butler, William Baker, Parminus Way, John Baker, John Mann, John Benefield, John Stacey, and John Morel. These were the leading Sons of Liberty at Savannah in 1774.
Contributions for Boston.—Tory Influence.—Whig Boldness.—Spiking of Cannon.—Tar and Feathers.
ple of that city, and within a few hours after the adjournment of the meeting, five hundred and seventy-five barrels of rice were contributed and shipped for Massachusetts. The governor assembled his friends at the court-house a few days afterward, and their disapprobation of the conduct of the Republicans was expressed in strong terms. Agents were sent throughout the province to obtain the signatures of the people to a printed denunciation of the Whigs; and by means of menaces and promises, an apparent majority of the inhabitants declared in favor of royal rule. * So powerfully did the tide of opposition against the Whigs flow for a while, that they did not appoint delegates to the Continental Congress, which convened in Philadelphia in September, and Georgia was not represented in that first Federal Republican council, ** yet they heartily approved of the measure, and by words and actions nobly responded to that first great resolution, adopted by the Continental Congress on the eighth of October, 1774, *** which approved of the resistance of Massachusetts.
The Republicans continued to assemble during the winter of 1774—5, and in May following they determined to anticipate an act on the part of Governor Wright similar to that of Gage at Boston. Accordingly, on the night of the eleventh of May,1775 six of the members of the Council of Safety, **** and others, broke open the magazine, (v) took out the powder, sent a portion of it to Beaufort, South Carolina, and concealed the remainder in their garrets and cellars. The governor offered a reward of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling for the apprehension of the offenders, but the secret was never revealed till the patriots used the powder in defense of their liberties.