Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

in future to venerate them as a symbol of liberty. A stately staff supporting the verdant cap of freedom should be our crest; and liberty, happiness and smiling plenty will I hope, attend every Emigrant who may in any way be induced to remove to this country by my statement.

This Short Geographical Sketch was commenced at the solicitation of some of my friends who had read and approved my Plan of Emigration, and Notes on the Pine Land of Georgia.

I have had but a few days to accomplish it, and when I inform my friends that it has been mostly compiled from notes, which I have hastily made since my residence in this State, they will excuse the language in which it is written, when they find that the information now conveyed to them is accurate.

W

ADVICE TO EUROPEAN EMIGRANTS.

The Season for PLANTING and SOWING in this State
is as follows:

HEAT may be sown in October, November, or December, Oats and Barley in February, Cotton, Indian Corn and Potatoes may be planted in March or April, Pease, March to June, Garden Roots and Vegetables may be sown in every month of the year. Emigrants ought to arrive here in the Fall or Winter, from about the 15th October to the first February, by arriving at that season they will have time to prepare their land and sow or plant a crop which they can reap immediate benefit from; at that season they can always find Waggons and Boats in the Sea Ports, by which they can be conveyed to any part of the State; in the Fall and Winter provisions are plenty, which is not the case in Summer, as those who have provisions to spare generally carry it

with no inconvenience to those living in the State, as everybody makes their own provisions, and there is no class of people who depend on purchasing from day to day: having no Ice in our rivers in any Month, and the weather in January being no colder than the Northern States and many parts of Europe in October, Emigrants may approach our coast in safety in any Month in the Winter without experiencing cold, a tempestuous Sea, or Ice; whereas if they land in Summer, they have every inconvenience to combat; this has been severely felt by the Emigrants who have landed to the Northward, where they either remain in Towns till their money is expended, or if they go into the Woods to begin a settlement, in Summer, are exposed to the heat of the Sun by day, and the dew by night, for some time, before they can prepare a cabin to shelter them.

S'

CIRCULAR ADDRESS.

HOULD the foregoing work, or any part thereof, attract the attention of any of the Printers in the United States, 'tis at their service. My object has been to make it useful. I have therefore not secured the copyright. Self-interested as I appear, I appeal to the candid and discerning Planter to determine how far my statements are accurate. In my notes and observations on the Pine Land, candor has been my guide. My Plan of Emigration has been carefully balanced by the scale of Justice; and truth has been my Pilot through my Geographical, descriptive and historical sketch of the state: Supported by candor, justice and truth, what have I to fear? Not the sneer of the sceptic, the ignorant or the uninformed, who think of nothing beyond the business in which they are engaged, many of whom are no way attached to the soil they inhabit. Not the Miser; not those whose penuriousness of soul would shrink from an act of benevolence, and who therefore believe it impossible for a man to possess a sufficiency of humanity to make him wish to serve his fellowNo, my object has been equally to serve myself, the State I live

men.

in, and the poor Emigrant, who may be driven to our shores-seeking an asylum from the ills of life, the oppression of the old world, or the miseries of war and its too frequent attendant famine. In doing this I should think my labour illy applied, if I conceived I had made a wilful mistatement of any thing in this work. I therefore shall close it, as I would wish to close my life, by reflecting that I had done some good, and had never intentionally done evil. From the common lot of human nature, I may have erred, but I trust those who know me will attribute all error to its proper source─As for myself, I feel a consolation in the integrity of my intentions.

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, 1801.

GEORGE SIBBALD.

POSTSCRIPT.

H

AVING ushered my Notes and Observations on the Pine Lands of Georgia into the world some months past, I waited with that anxiety which is natural on such an occasion, particularly when interest is at stake, for an answer to my appeal to the candor of my country, for the accuracy of the opinions and observations contained in my pamphlet. What pleasure then must result to me to find, that the work was not only well received, but met the decided approbation of every intelligent person who read it? Upon the Legislature commencing their late session, I presented the members composing both branches, with a pamphlet which I had the satisfaction to find met their approbation, all viewing my plan of emigration as productive of general good if carried into effect, as every emigrant that I shall land, or that is induced by my exertions to emigrate to the state, adds riches to it. It is obvious that in effecting an undertaking so extensive, the resources of an individual, whether of his wealth or his wisdom, must be inadequate. I subjoin, therefore, with satisfaction, the proceedings of the Legislature on a petition presented by me, at once

The prayer of my petition was, to obtain a suspension of the payment of all taxes due, or which should become due on my lands until the year 1805. My petition was referred to the committee on finance, who unanimously reported in my favour, and recommended the following resolution which received the approbation of both branches of the Legislature, and was sanctioned by the executive:

IN SENATE, 1st DECEMBER, 1801.

The committee on finance further report-the committee taking under consideration the petition of George Sibbald, and viewing the matter as of the utmost importance, and if carried into effect highly beneficial, as tending to encrease the wealth and population of the state, are of opinion he ought to receive the fostering aid of the Legislature, and therefore recommend the following resolution:

"RESOLVED, that if George Sibbald does and shall within twelve months from this day, leave the state for the purpose of bringing into the same emigrants for settlement, he be indulged with a suspension of the payment of any taxes, which are now due and owing by him to the state, or which may become due, and owing until the meeting of the General Assembly in the year 1805. JOHN JONES, President of the Senate, pro tempore.

Teste, WILLIAM ROBERTSON, Secretary.

In the house of Representatives, read and concurred,

Teste, HINES HOLT, Clerk.

DAVID MERIWETHER,
Speaker.

Executive Department, 4th December, 1801.
Presented and Approved of.

JOSIAH TATTNALL, Junior, GOVERNOR.

Teste, GEORGE R. CLAYTON, Secretary."

The obligation I owe to my country for this concurred resolution, cannot ever be forgotten, and I should do injustice to my feelings did I not record it with my publication, in order that the Emigrants who may be landed on our shores by my exertions, may see that they owe a debt of gratitude to the state of Georgia for assisting in giving them a peaceful home.

May they prove by their good conduct that they are deserving of the comforts enjoyed by all classes in America! Let the happiness they find the people in the enjoyment of be a lesson to them, to be peaceable and industrious.

During the late session of the assembly a law passed to divide the county of Montgomery, from the eastern part of which a county has been made, and called TATTNALL in compliment to our present worthy Governor. This county commences at the mouth of Limestone Creek on the Oconee River, thence in a direct line to the mouth of Wolf Creek on Great Canuchee, thence down Canuchee to the mouth of Cedar Creek, thence keeping the late-established line between Liberty County and Montgomery to the mouth of Beard's Creek on the Alatamaha, thence up the middle of the Alatamaha and Oconee to the beginning. The temporary seat of justice is fixed at the Ohoopie mills, which are near the center of the county. The land contained in my Asylum plan, that when surveyed was in the county of Washington, and by a division fell into Montgomery, now lies in the County of Tattnall. A law also passed dividing the county of Jackson, from the lower part of which a county has been made and called Clarke. This throws Athens, the seat of our University, into Clarke County. The present Court-House will be near the line dividing those counties, and is to be made use of for an Academy for the two counties.

The Goddess of Peace having once more stretched forth her olive branch and relieved Europe from the horrors of war, the in

« AnteriorContinuar »