RICHMOND COUNTY. 499 



RICHMOND. 



Boundaries, Name, Extent. — This county is bounded 

 N. W. by Columbia, N. E. by the Savannah river, S. by 

 Burke and a part of Jefferson, and W, by Jefferson. Ac- 

 cording to the Act of the House of Assembly, passed in 1758, 

 " for constituting and dividing the several districts and divisions 

 of this province into parishes, and for establishing religious 

 vv^orship therein, according to the rites and ceremonies of the 

 Church of England," the district of Augusta (as it was then 

 called) vv^as constituted the parish of St. Paul. It retained 

 this name until 1777, when the Legislature declared the name to 

 be changed to that of Richmond county, in honour of the Duke 

 of Richmond — a warm friend of American liberty. No mem- 

 ber of the British Parliament opposed with more zeal the unjust 

 conduct of the ministry towards the colonies, than Charles Le- 

 nox, third Duke of Richmond. He was born on the 22d day of 

 February, 1735, and entered the House of Lords in 1756 ; at- 

 tached himself to the Whigs, of which party the Duke of New- 

 castle was the leader. At the coronation of George III. he car- 

 ried the sceptre and dove. In 1765, he was appointed Ambassa- 

 dor Extraordinary to the King of France. In the commence- 

 ment of the reign of George the Third, he was made Colonel 

 of the Sixteenth Regiment of Infantry, and received much 

 praise for his military skill in the battle of Minden from the 

 Prince of Brunswick. His political career dates from 1763, 

 when he rendered himself conspicuous by the freedom and 

 ability with which he spoke against the measures of Lord 

 Bute. Whilst Secretary of State, to which he was appointed 

 in 1766, he gave proof that he possessed every qualification 

 necessary for so important an office. Whenever an opportu- 

 nity presented, he showed himself to be a zealous supporter 

 of civil and religious liberty. When the subject of Ame- 

 rican affairs-, occupied the attention of the Grand Committee 

 of Inquiry of the British Parliament, 7th of April, 1778, he 

 took a firm stand in favour of the colonies. On this occa- 

 sion he moved an address to the King on the state of the 

 nation, in which he distinctly avowed his belief that the 



