Page images
PDF
EPUB

In the infancy of the colony, the lands were to be granted in tail male, in preference to any other tenure, as the most likely to answer these purposes; for if the grants were to be made in tail general, it was thought that the strength of each township would soon be diminished, in as much as every female heir in tail, who was unmarried, would have been entitled to one lot, and consequently have taken from the garrison the portion of one soldier; and by intermarriages, several lots might have been united into one; and if such tenant in tail general, had several daughters, his lot must have been divided equally amongst them as coparceners. Other inconveniencies were thought likely to arise from estates in tail general: women being incapable of acting as soldiers, or serving on juries; these duties and many others, such as watchings, wardings, &c. would return so much oftener to each man, in proportion as the number of the men in the township was lessened, and by that means become very burthensome to the remaining male lot holders; and in case of an attack from an ene. my, the township would be less able to make a defence; and as it was not thought proper to grant estates in tail general, it appeared to be more inconvenient to grant them in fee simple, which estate would have been attended with all the objections before mentioned, incident to es tates in tail general. The right of alienation be ing inseparable from any estate in fee, the grantee

might have sold, mortgaged, or aliened his lands

to whomsoever he thought fit, er not to be intrusted with the for the following reasons:

which was a pow.

people sent over,

1st. From a consideration of their condition. - 2d. From a consideration of the purposes for

which they were sent.

3d. From a consideration of the persons to whom lands might be aliened.And

4th. From a consideration that it might occa. sion a monopoly of lands contrary to the true in. tent and meaning of the charter.

"As to the first; the persons to be sent over were poor indigent people, who had for the most part, so indiscreetly managed what they had previous ly been the owners of, that it did not seem safe or proper to entrust so absolute a property in their hands, at least in the infancy of the colony; until by a careful and industrious deportment, they had given some evidences to induce a belief that they would prove more judicious and dis creet managers for the future.

As to the second; they were sent over to inha bit, cultivate and secure by a personal residence, the lands granted to them within the province and they voluntarily engaging so to do, and in expectation that they would perform these en gagements, they were to be maintained at the expense of the public, or the trustees, during their voyage, and their passages paid, and were provid ed with tools, arms, seeds, and other necessaries,

and supported from the public store; for which reasons the public, may be said to have purchased these people, for a valuable consideration. Their personal residence and all the industry and la bor they would bestow in the cultivation of the province, for a considerable time, would not com. pensate the public and the proprietors for their

expenses.

As to the third; it was thought unsafe to grant them such an estate, as it might be the means of introducing such sort of people as would defeat what the trustees had always at heart, viz. the preservation of the protestant religion in that province, which was necessary to be taken care of, both on a political and religious account; the French lying on the west, and the Spaniards on the south of the province of Georgia.

As to the fourth; a monopoly of several lots into one hand would necessarily have been the consequence of a free liberty of buying and selling lands within the province, which would have been directly contrary to the objects, intent and meaning of the charter, whereby the grant of lands to any one person, is limited to five hun dred acres.

And a further inconvenience seemed likely to arise in every case, where the tenant in fee died without issue, or without having disposed of his lot by will; the heir general who might have the right to it, might not happen to be found out for many years after, especially if he was a foreign

protestant, and in that time the buildings and improvements might fall into ruins, to the great damage and inconvenience of the adjoining lotholders. These restraints were intended for the good of the whole, and whenever particular cases required it, they were to be taken off and dispensed with: and upon any application for leave to alienate lands, licences were always to be granted under certain restrictions for that pur pose; and when the succession of females became less dangerous to the province, by the growing strength and increase of the people, and by the security provided for it by his majesty's forces, the trustees resolved then, to enlarge the tenures of the lands to estates in tail general.

The tenures being thus settled, it was thought necessary to require of the inhabitants, that they should cultivate their lands within such given time as should be specified in their grants; and in order to raise raw silk, which was contemplated as one of the principal objects of attention, a certain proportion of white mulberry trees were to be planted, and in their respective grants, ten years were to be allowed for the cultivation, and one hundred white mulberry trees were to be planted on every ten acres of land when cleared; with a power vested in the trustees to re-enter such lands as should remain uncultivated. And as other persons applied to the trustees for grants of land, in order to come over and settle at their own expense, particular grants were made under

the same tenure, and on the following conditions; viz. that they should within twelve months from the date of their grants, go to and arrive in Georgia, with one man servant for every fifty acres granted them, and should with such servants abide, settle, inhabit and continue there for three years that they should within ten years, clear and cultivate one fifth part of the land granted them; and within the next ten years, clear and cultivate three fifth parts more of the said lands, and plant one thousand white mulberry trees upon every one hundred acres thereof when clear. ed; and that they should not at any time hire, keep, lodge, board or employ any negro within the colony of Georgia, on any conditions what. soever, without special leave from the trustees: which conditions were readily approved of, and counterparts executed by all such as chose to become adventurers; and to those who desired to name their successors on failure of male issue, special covenants were entered into by the trustees for that purpose, agreeable to their own propositions; and by way of encouragement to their male servants to behave well, like covenants were entered into, to grant to every such man servant, when requested thereunto by any writing under the hand and seal of the master, twenty acres of land under the same tenure.

In the execution of this laudable plan, the trus tees having first set the example themselves, by largely contributing towards the scheme, under

« PreviousContinue »