GEORGIA. 



tonftitution of Georgia was adopted and ratified by a con- 

 vention of delegates from the people, on the 6th of May, 

 1789, and is formed upon a plan fimilar to the federal con- 

 llitution of the United States. All legiflative power is 

 veiled in two dillinft branches, a fenate and lioufe of repre- 

 fentativcs, both chofen by the people at large, and llyled 

 the General AfTembly. Tlvc members of the ftnate are 

 chofen for the term of three years, and thofe of the houfe 

 of reprefentatives are chofen annually. The fenate coifills of 

 one member from each county, and the houfe of reprefentatives 

 of thirty-four members. The executive power is veiled in the 

 hands of a governor, who holds his office during two years. 

 Freedom of the prels and trial by jury fliall remain inviolate, 

 and all perfons ihall be entitled to the writ of " habeas cor- 

 pus." All perfons Ihall have the free exercife of their 

 religion, without being obliged to contriliute to the fupport 

 of.any religious profeliion but their own. In each county 

 a fuperior court is holden twice in every year, in which all 

 caufes, civil and criminal, (liuU be tried, thofe excepted, which 

 may be fubjeCl to the federal court, or fnch as may by law- 

 be referred to inferior jurifdidlions. The judges of the fupreme 

 court, and the attorney-general, (hall have a falary ellablilh- 

 ed by law ; and iiold their comsiiffion for three years. In 

 the adniiniilration of jullice, this ftate is divided into two 

 diltricts, called tlie upper and lower circuit ; and there are 

 only two judges appointed to fit in the fuperior court ; each 

 of thefe judges being appointed to try caufes in each circuit. 

 Befidej the iuperior court, there is an inferior court, a 

 court of common pleas eftabhftied in each county, which 

 iits twice in a year, with five judges, appointed by the le- 

 giflators. The county courts have a jurifdiftion of crimi- 

 nal cauies, which can be tried only in the fuperior court. 

 Befides thefe there are the fheriff 's court, and courts held by 

 the juftices of the peace, in every part of the ftate. The 

 literature of this ftate, which is yet in its infancy, is gra- 

 dually advancing towards higher degrees of improvement. 

 For this purpofe a college is inftituted at Louifville, with 

 liberal endowments ; and in fubordination to this it is propo- 

 pofed to found academies in every county of the ftate. 

 This inftitution is denominated the " Univerfity of Georgia." 

 The funds for its fupport confift of about 50,000 acres of 

 valuable land, together with nearly 6000/. fterling in bondr?, 

 houfes, and town lots in Augufta. Other property alio, to 

 the amount of 1000/., has been fet apart in each county for 

 erefting and furniftiing their refpetlive academies. The fund 

 originally defigncd to fupport the literary orphan fchool, 

 founded by the Rev. George Whitfield, a few miles S. of 

 Savannah, confift chiefly of rice plantations and negroes. 

 On the death of the countefs of Huntingdon, to wlujm Mr. 

 Whitfield bequeathed this property as trullce, the legiliature, 

 in the year 1792, paftcd a law, vefting it in thirteen com- 

 miflioners, witli power to carry Mr. Whitfield's original de- 

 fign into execution ; and in compliment to tlie counteff, the 

 feminary is denominated " Huntingdon college.'' 



The middle parts of this ftate are inhabited by the Miif- 

 kogee or Creek. Indians, the moil numerous tribe of Indians 

 within tlie United States. See Creek.s. 



Tile " Georgia Wcftern Territory" confifts of an ex- 

 tenfive tradl of land, a principal part of which belongs to, 

 and is inhabited by the Creek, Chaftaw, Chickafaw, and 

 Cherokee nations of Indians. It is waflied by the Miflifippi 

 river on the weft, and may be confidered as extending eail- 

 ward as far as the Appalachicola and Flint rivers. It is 

 interfecled by a great number of ftreams, which run in 

 every diredlion ; the principal are the Yazoo, and I^oofa 

 Chitto, which difcliarge thcmfelvos into the Miflifippi, 

 Pearl, Pafcagoula, Mobillc, Alibama,Tombeekkee, Efcam- 

 bia, and Chatta Hatcha, which fall iiito the gulf of Mexico ; 



Vol.. XVI. 



and the Tenneffce Bend, with Chuccamaga river, which fails 

 into it from the fouth-eaft, water its northern part. Twenty 

 millions of acres of this territory was fold in confequencc of 

 an aft of the legiflaturc, pafTed in 1 795, to certain companies ; 

 and the purchafe money, amountnig to 500,000 dollars, 

 was paid into the ftate treafury. This land was afterwards 

 fold at an advanced price, by the original purchafers, to 

 various perfons, principally of the middle and eaftern ftate* 

 This tranfadlion produced a great degree of difcoatent : 

 but the ferment has fince fubiided ; and the termination of 

 the dlfpute has been a generrl fatisfaftion on the part of 

 the purchafers, that the difcordant proceedings of the legif- 

 lature cannot affc6t their title, which they conceive to b& 

 good againlt all claims on the part of Georgia. Morfe. 



Georgia, New, or Soiilh Geoi'.oia, an ifland in the 

 South Atlantic ocean, difcovered by La Roche in 1675, 

 feenbyMr.Guyot, in the fliip Lion, in 1756, and more parti- 

 cularly defcribed by captain Cook, who explored it with atten- 

 tion in 1775, defcribed its extent and true pofition, and named 

 it Georgia, in honour of his majefty. It is fituated between 

 53' 57' and 54* 57' S. Iat.,and between 38 13' and 35" 34' 

 W. long. It extends S. E. by E. and N. W. by W., and 

 in that direction is 3 i leagues long, and its greateft breadth 

 is about 10 leagues. It feems to abound with bays and har- 

 bours, efpccially on the N.E. coaft ; but they arc rendered 

 inacccftible for the greateft part of the year bv the vait 

 quantity of ice ; or, at leaft, it mnft be dangerous lying 

 in them, on account of the breaking up of tlie ice-clifls, 

 by which the coall is bounded, and whieli rife up perpen- 

 dicularly in mafles of very confiderable elevation. When 

 thefe fall they float about in the fea like detached iflands, 

 and in falling make a noife like tliat of a difcharged can- 

 non. The inner parts of the country exhibit an appear- 

 ance no lefs favage and horrible than the coaft. The 

 rocks raifed th-ir lofty fummits, till they were loft in the 

 clouds, and the vaUies lay covered with cverlafting fnow. 

 The lands, or rather rocks, bordering on the fea coail, were 

 not covered with fnow like the inland parts. Tl-.e rocke 

 fecmcdto contain iron. They arc of blackiHi horizontal Hale, 

 probably approsehing to hornblende. Not a tree w;;» to be 

 feen,nor a (linib even big enough to make a tooth-pick. 

 The only vegetation that could be fecn was that cf a coarfe 

 iirong-biaded grrifs-growing in tufts, wild bni-net, and a plant 

 like mofs, whicli fprung fiom the rocks. SeaU cr fea-bcars 

 were num.eroua, but i'maller than thofe at Staten Land. Seve- 

 ral flocks of penguins of a large fi/.e were obferved, and be- 

 fides thefe, the oceanic birds were albatnjffes, coir.mon gulls, 

 and that fort called by Cook Port Egmont hens, tern;;, 

 fhags, divei-3, the new white Ijird, and a imall bird like 

 tliofe of the Cape of Good Hope, called yellow Ini-ds, 

 which were found to !>e moil delicious food. All the land 

 birds that were feen confitled of a few fmall larks; but our 

 navigators found no quadrupeds. Tlie dui;o- of one was 

 feen, fuppofjd to have belonged to a fox or an aniir.sl of that 

 kind. On the whele coaft our voyagers obfervcd neitl;er a 

 river nor a Oream uf frefti water. They lhoi;g*;t it I'.ighly 

 probable, t!;at liie country has no perennial iprings ; and 

 that the interior pans, as being much elevated, never enjoy 

 heat enough to melt tlie fiiow in fucii quantities as to pro- 

 duce a river or ft ream of water. The coaft alcnc receives 

 varmth fufTicient to melt the fnow, and this only on tlie 

 N. E. fide; for the other, befides being expofed to the cold 

 fouth winds, is in a great degree deprived of the fun's ravs 

 by tlie uncommon height of the mountains. On tl;e ap- 

 proach of our navigators to Georgia, they firfl difcovered 

 an ifland in S. lat. 54^ and W. long. 38^^ 23', which was 

 called " Willis's ifland," which was a high rock of no great 

 extent : caft of this, between it and the main^ thcr obferv- 



