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 Mary, were ob served with sullen countenances to march in a tumultuous manner through the streets, evidencing a hostile temper apparently determined on mischief: all the men being obliged to mount guard, the women and children were terrified and afraid to remain in the houses by themselves, expecting every moment to be murdered and scalped. During this confusion, a false rumor was circulated, that they had cut off president Stephens's head with a tomahawk, which so exasperated the inhabitants that it was with difficulty the officers could restrain the troops from firing upon the savages: perhaps the exercise of the greatest prudence was never more requisite to save the town from being deluged with blood. Orders were given to lay hold of Bosomworth, to whom it was insinuated that he was marked as the first victim of vengeance in case of extremities; and he was carried out of the way and closely confined, upon which Mary, his beloved queen, became outrageous and frantic, and threatened the thunder of her vengeance against the magistrates and the whole colony: she ordered all white persons to depart immediately from her territories, and at their peril to refuse; she cursed Oglethorpe and his fraudulent treaties, and furiously stamping her foot upon the earth, swore

by her Maker, that the whole globe should know that the ground she stood upon was her own. To prevent any ascendency by bribes over the chiefs and warriors, she kept the leading men constantly under her eye, and would not suffer them to utter a sentence on public affairs, but in her pre

sence.

The president finding that no peaceable agreement could be made with the Indians while under the baleful influence of their pretended queen, privately laid hold of her, and put her with her husband in confinement. This step was found necessary, before any reasonable terms of negociation would be heard. Having secured the royal family who were unquestionably the promoters of the conspiracy, the president employed men acquainted with the Indian tongue, to entertain the warriors in the most friendly and hospitable manner, and directed that explanations should be made to them, of the wicked designs of Bosomworth and his wife. Accordingly a feast was prepared for all the chiefs and leading warriors; at which they were informed, that Bosomworth had involved himself in debts which he was unable to pay, and that he wanted not only their lands, but a large share of the king's presents, which had been sent over for the chiefs and warriors; and his object was to satisfy his creditors in Carolina at their expense; that the king's presents were only intended for the Indians, as a compensation for their useful services and firm attachment to

him during the war against their common enemy, and that the lands adjoining the town were reserved for them to encamp upon, when they should come to visit their beloved friends in Savannah, and the three maritime islands to fish and hunt upon, when they should come to bathe in the salt waters: that neither Mary nor her husband, had any right to those lands, but that they were the common property of the whole nation: that the great king George, 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, and that the great king would suffer no one to molest or injure them; and had ordered these words to be left on record, that they might not be forgotten by their descendants, when they were dead and gone.

This policy produced a temporary effect, and many of the chiefs being convinced that Bosomworth had deceived them, declared they would no longer be governed by his advice; even Malatche, the leader of the lower Creeks, and the pretended relation of Mary, seemed satisfied, and was not a little pleased to hear that the king had sent them some valuable presents. 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 he was universally recognized as the great chief of the nation, and that too at the very time when the president and council were 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 herself, or one of her family, as had been done heretofore. The president by this answer, perceived more clearly the design of Bosomworth's family; and to lessen their influence and consequence, and show the Indians that he had power to divide the royal bounty among the chiefs, determined to take the task upon himself, and immediately dismiss them, on account of the growing expenses of the colony, and the hardships the inhabitants underwent in keeping guard night and day for the defence of

the town.

In the mean time Malatche, 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 claims. While the Indians were gathered together to receive their respective shares of the royal bounty, he stood up in the midst of them with a frowning countenance, and in violent agitation delivered a speech fraught with the most dangerous insinuations and threats; he declared that Mary possessed that country before general Oglethorpe; that all the lands belonged to her as queen and head of the Creeks; that it was by her consent Englishmen were at first permitted to settle on them; that they still held

the land as her tenants at will; that her words were the voice of the whole nation, consisting of three thousand warriors, and at her command every man would raise the hatchet in defence of her rightful claim then pulling 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 in the upper and lower Creeks, none of whom however, were present except two: the substance of the paper corresponded with Malatche's speech; styling Mary the rightful princess of the whole 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 relative to land and other things, with king George and his beloved men on both sides of the sea; and that whatever should be done by her, they would abide by as if done by themselves. Bosomworth probably did not intend that this paper should have been shown, nor was Malatche aware of the consequences of putting it in the hands of the president.

After reading this paper in council, the members were struck with astonishment; and Malatche, perceiving their uneasiness, begged to have it again, declaring he did not know it was a bad