The “Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America” resolved to surrender their charter and relieve themselves from the further execution of a trust which had grown quite beyond their management. For twenty years they had supported its provisions with an earnest solicitude, a philanthropic zeal, a disinterested purpose, and a loyal devotion worthy of every commendation. They had seen a feeble plantation upon Yamacraw Bluff expand year by year, until it now assumed the proportions of a permanent colony and disclosed the potentialities of a future nation. The English drum-beat on the banks of the Savannah is answered by the Highland bagpipe on the Alatamaha, and the protecting guns of Frederica are supplemented by the sentinel field-pieces at Augusta. At every stage of progress and in every act, whether trivial or important, these Trustees, capable and worthy, evinced a clear conception of duty, a patience of labor, a singleness of purpose, an unselfish dedication of time and energy, and a rigid adherence to all that was pure, elevated, and humanizing, which become quite conspicuous when their proceedings are minutely and intelligently scanned. That they erred in their judgment in regard to the best method of utilizing many of these marish lands, smitten by sun and storms and pregnant with fevers and fluxes, may not now be doubted; that the theory upon which they administered the trust was in some respects narrow and retarding in its influences, is equally certain; that they were unfortunate in the selection of some of their agents excites no surprise,—but that they were upright, conscientious, observant, and most anxious to promote the best interests of the colony, as they comprehended them, will be freely admitted.
The surrender of the charter was formally concluded on the 23d of June, 1752; and Georgia, no longer the ward of the Trustees, passed into the hands of the Crown. Until clothed with the attributes of State sovereignty by the successful issue of the American Revolution, she was recognized as one of the daughters of England under the special charge of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. By the terms of the surrender, her integrity as an independent province, separate from South Carolina, was fully assured, and all grants of land, hitherto made to the inhabitants, were recognized and respected.
Upon the death of Mr. Parker, Patrick Graham succeeded to the presidency of Georgia. Until a plan for establishing a civil government could be perfected, all officers, both civil and military, holding appointments from the Trustees, were continued in their respective places of trust, with such emoluments, salaries, and fees as were incident thereto. The population of the colony now consisted of two thousand three hundred and eighty-one whites, and one thousand and sixty-six negro slaves. This estimate did not include His Majesty’s troops and boatmen, or a congregation of two hundred and eighty whites, with negro slaves aggregating five hundred and thirty-six, coming from South Carolina and partially settled in the Midway District, or Butler’s Colony with sixty slaves.
The plan suggested by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations for the establishment of a civil government in Georgia contemplated the appointment of a governor, by commission under the Great Seal, with the title of Captain-General and Governor-in-chief of His Majesty’s Province of Georgia, and Vice-Admiral of the same. He was to be addressed as Your Excellency, and was, within the colony, to be respected as the immediate and highest representative of His Majesty. His functions, as well as those of the two Houses of the Assembly, were well defined.[843]
The plan thus submitted for the government of the Province of Georgia received royal sanction; and His Majesty, upon the nomination of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, was pleased, on the 6th of August, 1754, to appoint Captain John Reynolds governor of the Province of Georgia; William Clifton, Esq., attorney-general; James Habersham, Esq., secretary and register; Alexander Kellet, Esq., provost-marshal; William Russel, Esq., naval officer; Henry Yonge and William De Brahm joint surveyors; Sir Patrick Houstoun, Bart., register of grants and receiver of quit rents; and Patrick Graham, Sir Patrick Houstoun, James Habersham, Alexander Kellet, William Clifton, Noble Jones, Pickering Robinson, Francis Harris, Jonathan Bryan, William Russell, and Clement Martin members of Council.
When during the same year (1754) the other English colonies sent delegates to represent them at the Congress of Albany, in order to draft a plan of union against the French, Georgia filled so narrow a space in the regard of the other colonies that her failure to join in the proposed league was hardly remarked.
Only three Royal Governors did Georgia have. The terms of service of Captain Reynolds and of Henry Ellis were short. Assuming the reins of government in 1760, the third and last Royal Governor, Sir James Wright, encountered the storms of the Revolution, and in a brave adherence to the cause of his royal master suffered arrest, mortification, and loss. It was his lot to preside at an epoch full of doubt and trouble. During his administration the political ties which united Georgia to the mother country were violently sundered, and a union of American colonies was formed, which in after years developed into the great Republic. The rapid development of Georgia under the conduct of these royal governors will be admitted when it is remembered that in 1754 her exports did not amount to £30,000 a year; while, at the opening of the Revolutionary War, they did not fall short of £200,000 sterling.
[CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION.]
GEORGIA was named in honor of the reigning king of England, George II., who graciously sanctioned a charter, liberal in its provisions, and who granted to the Trustees a territory, extensive and valuable, for the plantation.