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Show 76 THOMAS] GEORGIA'S POLICY TOWARD THE INDIANS 637 is entirely settled in peace. It is impossible to describe the joy they expressed at my arrival they met me forty miles in the woods and layd Provisions on tho roads in the woods.1 In 1757, or early in 1758, the following act was passed "to prevent private persons from purchasing lands from the Indians, and for preventing persons trading with them without licence:" Whereas the safety, welfare, and preservation of this province of Georgia doth, in great measure depend on the maintaining a good correspondence between his majesty's subjects and the several nations of Indians in amity with tho said province: And whereas many inconveniences have arisen, from private persons claiming lands, included in the charter granted to the late honorable trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia by his present majesty, and since reinvested in tho crown under pretense of certain purchases made of them from the Iudiaus, which have given occasion for disputes with those people; for remedy whereof, and for presenting any differences or disputes with the Indians for the future, and also for preventing persons trading with them without licence, P.e it enacted, That from and after the fifteenth day of February, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight, if any person or persons whatsoever shall attempt to purchase or contract for, or cause to be purchased or contracted for, or shall take or accept of a grant or conveyance of any lands, or tracts of land, from any Indian, or body of Indians, upon any pretense whatsoever, (except for the uso of the crown, arid that by permission for this purpose first had and obtained from his majesty, his heirs or successors, or his or their governor or commander in chief of the said province for the time being), every such purchase, contract, grant, and conveyance, shall be, and is and are hereby declared to be null and void, to all intents and purposes whatsoever; and all aud every person and persons so offending shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one thousand pounds sterling money of Great Britaiu, tho one half thereof to his majesty, his heirs and successors, for the use of the province, and the other half to him or them who shall sue for the same, by actiou of debt or information, in the general court of this province, in which no assoign, protection, privilege, or wager of law, or more than one imparlance shall be allowed.- In 1763, by a treaty held at Augusta, the boundary line between the settlements and the lands of the natives was fixed and afterward actually surveyed by De Brahm. The line as determined by this surveyor, whose field notes have been preserved,11 as shown on the following page; as but few copies of these notes exist, they are given in full. It would appear from Governor Wright's "Report on the condition of the Province of Georgia," made to the Earl of Dartmouth in 1773, that the amount of laud he obtained at this treaty was estimated at 2,110,298 acres, as he makes therein this statement: Answer to the third Quere. Tho exteut of the Province along tho Front or Sea Coast from Savannah River to St. Mary's River is computed to be about one hundred Miles as tho coast lyes, but less iu a direct line from Tybce Inlet. Tho distauce back up Savannah River and from the head of St. Mary's River is as far as His Majesty's Territories extend which it is impossible for me to determine, but the size and extent within the Boundary l.iues settled with the Indians is as abovo and has been computed by His Majesty's Surveyor General to contain about 6,095,429 Acres as follows Vi/r: Amount of Lands ceded iu tho timo of the Trustees to General Oglethorpe 1,152,000 Acres. 'Georgia Historical Society Collections, vol. in, p. 81. 'Digest of tho I.awx of tlie State of fioorgia from 17.r>r> to 1700 (18(10), p. 51, "In " nistory of tho Province Georgia," by Jobu Oorar William de Uralnn. Copra! Novoiobor 10 1894. V. H. l'a Arita. |