118 BULLOCH COUNTY. 



Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, dated February 15, 1776, 

 the stern patriot says, " there are few righteous souls among 

 them ; a panic seems to have run among the people ; assist- 

 ance is wanted from Carolina to overawe such men as would 

 sell their birthright for a mess of pottage." This letter in- 

 duced Carolina to determine upon aiding the Georgia patriots. 

 On the 2d of February, 1776, he was again elected to Con- 

 gress, but his duties as President of the Executive Council 

 detained him at home. At the time when Mr. Bulloch was 

 elected President of the Executive Council, he delivered a 

 speech, every sentence of which proves him to have been a 

 firm champion of his country's rights. That speech is now 

 before us, and we give the following extracts, that the people 

 of Georgia may have an example of the spirit of their fore- 

 fathers : 



" The people of this province, in opposing the designs of a 

 cruel and corrupt ministry, have surmounted what appeared 

 insuperable difficulties, and notwithstanding the artifice and 

 address that for a long time were employed to divert their at- 

 tention from the common cause, they at length by impercepti- 

 ble degrees, succeeded, and declared their resolution to assert 

 their liberties, and to maintain them at all events in concur- 

 rence with the other associated colonies. For my part, I most 

 candidly declare, that from the origin of the unhappy disputes, 

 I heartily approved of the conduct of the Americans. My ap- 

 probation was not the result of prejudice or partiality, but 

 proceeded from a firm persuasion of their having acted 

 agreeably to constitutional principles and the dictates of an 

 upright disinterested conscience. This is no time to talk of 

 moderation; in the present instance it ceases to be a virtue. 

 An apfeal, an awful appeal is made to Heaven, and thousands 

 of lives are in jeopardy every hour. Our northern brethren 

 point to their wounds and call for our most vigorous exertions ; 

 and God forbid, that so noble a contest should end in an infa- 

 mous conclusion. Remember in all your deliberations that 

 you are engaged in a most arduous undertaking ; generations 

 yet unborn may owe their freedom and happiness to your de- 

 termination." 



When intelligence of the glorious events of the 4th of July, 



