MEMORIAL
OF
; CHARLES (TJoNES, JR,; L.L, D,/
WITH REGARD TO A SUBSCRIPTION ON THE PART OF THE STATE .To His HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
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CHARLES C, JONES, JK., Augusta, Georgia.
MEMORIAL.
To THE HONORABLE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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OF THE STATE OF &EOSGIA:
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The memorial of CHARLES C. JONES, Jr., of the. county of Bich-
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mond, and State of Georgia, respectfully shows:
That, in the execution of a long cherished purpose to write a his-
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tory of Georgia from the earliest times down to a period within the
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memory of the living, he has completed, and now holds ready for the printer, two volumes embracing the aboriginal epoch, a narative of
discovery and primal exploration, schemes of colonization, the settle-
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ment under Oglethorpe, and the life of the Province under the guid-
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ance of the Trustees, under the control of a President and assistants,
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under the supervision of Royal Governors, and during the Eevolu-
tionary War.
They conclude with the erection of Georgia into an independent
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State. All available sources of information have been utilized. That
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the relation should respond to the genuine circumstance and true phi-
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losophy of the action, has been the authors care. Wherever the
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faithful record and a lively recital of facts could best be presented
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in the language of contemporaneous documents of admitted authen-
ticity, they have been reproduced. The two concluding volumes,
which will deal with Georgia as a commonwealth, are in course of
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preparation.
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Before proceeding further with this labor, it is the earnest desire
of the author to see these first two volumes, which unfold the Abo-
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riginal, Colonial, and Kevolutionary life of Georgia, in type and in the hands of the public. In the collection of the requisite materials, in
their orderly arrangement, and in the composition of this history,
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designed especially for the edification of the people of Georgia and
the perpetuation of the noble memories which appertain to our pe
culiar annals, much time and money have been expended. The bur-
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then of publication will be great, and beyond the means of one not
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blessed with an ample fortune. Undertakings of this nature, possessing a general^
chronicling events aad characters which impart
"V
ereignties claiming honorable positions in the sisterhood of nations,
States have always regarded with favor. To those assuming their
conduct, have they generously extended countenance and a helping
hand.
?
With scarcely an exception, the original thirteen States, and many
of those younger in the National Confederation, have adopted meas
ures and fostered schemes for the publication of their annals at
the general charge.
It has been well said that the most substantial glory of a country
concentres about her great and virtuous sons. Her prosperity,
dignity, and elevation will largely depend upon the loyalty with which
succeeding generations perpetuate the remembrance of their acts
and examples, and the docility with which they obey their exalted
precepts. Power and wealth are mutable. They often pass away
leaving only ruins which are a mockery. But the philosophy of great
events and the influence of splendid examples, once properly inter
preted and recorded, are as eternal as truth.
It is the duty of the State to ordain and to provide that the
memory of her distinguished citizens, and the recollection of events
which have made her annals illustrious, perish not amid the revolu
tion of years.
In this age of printing, to History belongs a duration which out
lives empires and outwears the hardest marble.
This memcesial contemplates and solicits simply a subscription on
the part of the State for five hundred copies of the History of Geor
gia, to which we have alluded, at a cost of not more than five dollars
per volume payment to be made upon delivery at the Capitol of
bound copies as the work is published. This subscription will facili
tate the author in securing the services of a competent publisher,
and the copies subscribed for may, at the pleasure of the General
Assembly, be distributed among the Ordinaries of the respective
counties, and be utilized in the augmentation of the State Library.
As indicating the views of some of the leading citizens of Georgia
with regard to the need of a general History of our State, and the
propriety of encouragement on the part of the General Assembly, I
have the honor to submit the following communications.
Eespectfully, CHAELES C. JONES, Jr.
AUGUSTA, GA., November 6th, 1882.
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SITMMERVILLE, November 4, 1880.
COL. C. C. JONES, Jr., My Dear Sir: The perusal of your letter of the 2d instant, and of the enclosed draft of bill proposed to be offered to the present Legislature of Georgia providing for the preparation and publication of a history of Georgia, has given rne
unalloyed pleasure. Every sovereign people who can review their past with honest
pride owe it to themselves, their ancestors, and their posterity to have made, from time to time, a true and permanent historical record of their political existence.
Most if not all of the original thirteen States of our Union, and many of their younger sisters, have recognized the importance of so
doing, and have adopted measures to that end. Georgia, one of the original sisterhood, now ranking for enterprise and progress among the foremost, may be said to have no condensed written history. Even the fragmentary efforts in that way are very far from reaching our own times, and, for general edification, are out of print.
It is time, high time, that our beloved State had awakened to this imperative duty. Time, the relentless destroyer of mans works and the records of them, is fast obliterating the materials of which such a
work must needs be constructed. Tt has been .too long delayed. Every years further delay will be a superadded sin against Georgia.
The importance of the work being conceded in a public point of view, it will scarcely be denied that the State should contribute liber ally, by legislative appropriation, to its accomplishment. It will be the States history, for the people of the State, in honor of their an cestors, and to their own edification. It will occupy nearly the whole of the authors time whilst in progress. It will necessitate consider able expenditure, from time to time, while in preparation. Few, very few Georgians are financially able, unaided, to bear the expense in cident to the work. Of these few a very small number, if any, would be found both willing and competent to execute it properly.
I say again, I am rejoiced that the subject is to be brought before the Legislature; and, as a Georgian, I am delighted to find your name associated, as it is, with the enterprise.
If it will not shock your modesty, I will add that long acquaintance, present close neighborhood, personal intimacy, and almost daily inter course for two or three years past, have made me familiar with your high scholarship, your large acquirement of knowledge, your untir ing industry, your fondness for historical research, and especially for all that appertains to Georgia. I am, as you know, not given to flattery, or to going out of the way to bestow compliments ; but I say, in all sincerity, if the work were ordered, the appropriations made, and the appointment of historian given ,to me, with the whole
State to choose from, I would set you to work to-morrow. I know it would be to you a labor of love of love to good old Georgia.
Very truly, yours,
C. J. JENKINS.
NATIONAL HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D. C., 16th Nov., 1880.
COL. CHAELES C. JONES, Jr., Augusta, Ga. My Dear Sir: You must excuse the delay of my reply to your last letter.. It was oc casioned by a press of business, private as well as public, just before leaving home for this city, and a like press of business soon after my arrival here last Saturday.
Be assured I do most heartily approve your proposed history of Georgia. Such a work is exceedingly needed in vindication of the character of our ancestors and for the transmission to posterity of a true record of the virtues and deeds of those patriots and heroes who have made Georgia that noble Commonwealth of which her sons and daughters are proud.
I mean no flattery when I say that I know of no one so competent to perform this great work as yourself.
At first, you know, I doubted the power of the Legislature, under the State Constitution of 1877, to aid in such an undertaking by appropriation from the public treasury. I am now satisfied that the view taken by me of this subject which gave rise to those doubts, was erroneous. The clauses of the Constitution to which I refer, and to which I called your attention in a previous letter, are in Arti cle 7, section 1, paragraph 1, and are in these words : " The powers of taxation over the whole State shall be exercised by the General Assembly for the following purposes only :
" For the support of the State Government and the public insti tutions.
" For educational purposes, for instructing children in the element ary branches of an English education only.
" To pay the interest on the public debt. " To suppress insurrection, to repel invasion, and defend the State in time of war. ",To supply the soldiers who lost a limb or limbs in the military service of the Confederate States .with artificial limbs during life." With these strict limitations upon the power of taxation, at first I doubted whether the General Assembly could use any money in the treasury, raised by taxation, for the purpose named. I never doubted, however, that they might appropriate for this object any money in the treasury accruing from any source other than that of taxation, such as receipts from the United States in payment of claims against the Federal Government. Money so accruing, I thought was now in the treasury and might be so used by the General Assembly, and so advised you. But, upon mature reflection, it is now clear to my mind that the construction at first entertained by me of those clauses of the Con stitution quoted would be worse than " sticking in the bark." If under these clauses the Legislature has power, as all admit, to tax and appropriate taxes for the support of our established uni versities and asylums, as public institutions, how much more clearly have they the power to do the sama in behalf of the greatest of all th3 public institutions in the land, that is the Commonwealth itself,
and from which all the minor and subordinate ones are but emana
tions and agencies created by the sovereignty of the State for its own
preservation, development and advancement in everything tending to
a higher order of civilization in physical, moral, intellectual and po
litical progress.
I do trust, my dear sir, that your proposition will receive favorable
consideration and action by the General Assembly.
Yours, truly,
ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.
ATLANTA, GA., November 1, 1880.
COL. C. C. JONES, Jr., Augusta, Ga Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your communication informing me.of your intention, if suitable en couragement should be offered by the Legislature, to prepare a com plete history of the State of Georgia. Such a work would be of very great value to the State. It is our misfortune to have no general history of the State. The earlier works of Hewitt and McCall were published a long time a;?o; arid that published, by Stevens, at a later period, does not even reach into the present century. Under these circumstances it is certainly very desirable that we should have a comprehensive, carefully prepared, and well written history of the State, coming down to the present time, and I think it the duty of the General Assembly of our State to give suitable encouragement to a person well qualified, who will undertake this great work. I be lieve the intelligence of the State would generally sustain the action of the General Assembly in making liberal provision to secure the preparation and publication of such a work. It should embrace our Colonial history and all the chief periods down to the present date.
Now a word in reference to the proper person to prepare it. From my knowledge of the public men and of the literary men of Georgia, I can think of no one better qualified than yourself. And when we take into the count the large collection of material you have on hand for the work, and your peculiar fitness for it, I doubt whether there is another gentleman in the State as well qualified as you are.
I therefore sincerely hope the necessary encouragement may be given, and that the work may be undertaken by you and pushed for ward to completion as fast as circumstances will permit.
Very truly, your friend and obedient servant, JOSEPH E. BROWN.
ATLANTA, GA., November 11, 1880.
HON. C. C. JONES, Jr. My Dear Sir: You may remember that I urged you to write a complete history of Georgia some years ago when you did me the honor to compliment me with a copy of your beautiful sketches of the "Dead Towns" of oar beloved State.
I beg. to say that I am rejoiced to learn from your letter, as well as from the newspapers, and the bill introduced by Judge Twiggs in the House of Representatives, that it is your purpose to devote your time and talents to the enterprise.
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In the letter to which I refer you may remember that I said I
thought you were the only citizen of Georgia, known to me, whose
antiquarian research, close study, accurate information, facile pen,
and, above all, love for the work, combine to make a historian fit to
rescue the past of Georgia from the death of forgetfulness and
oblivion.
I do hope that the General Assembly will do something handsome
to aid you. I feel that it can do nothing better for the real interests
of the State. Love of country is a great stimulus to enterprise.
State pride is the corner stone of State prosperity. Pride in the names
which Georgia has given to the country, at the bar, in medicine, in
the senate, in the pulpit, on the farm, in railroad enterprises, and
manufacturing efforts though in its youth among us the last may
be will stimulate effort to excell in these pursuits among the youth
of the State. It will attach them to a soil rich in the production of
such men in the past, and arrest their search in the west for new
homes and fanciful expectations. The new Georgia of to-day should
reverence the old Georgia of years gone by. So far from detracting
from the vigor of her advancing tread, this knowledge of her good
and great of "auld lang syne," love of their memories, and the stim
ulus of their example, will invigorate to a nobler and grander stride.
The subject is rich in material. That you have gathered gems to
crown the diadem of our State which otherwise would have been hid
forever, I have no doubt; that you will set them on her brow with
simplicity and taste, I feel as well assured ; and that the State may
reward, and God bless you in the patriotic endeavor, is my humble
prayer.
Respectfully, your friend,
JAMES JACKSON. .
WASHINGTON, GA., February 4th, 1881.
COL. C. C. JONES, Jr. Dear Sir: I notice with great pleasure the efforts now being made to obtain Legislative aid for the preparation of a general history of the State of Georgia. I hope the bill now pending before the Legislature, or one not less efficient for the publi cation of such a work, will pass during the session of the present Legislature. Such a work, well executed, would be of great utility to the Commonwealth, besides the useful knowledge and the pleasure it would contribute to the present and future generations of her children. It ought not longer to be delayed. We have closed the old and entered upon the new era in our political history. Let the past go upon the record as soon as possible. Many of the materials for its full, complete, and truthful jaistory have already passed away. Time is still at work in the destruction of others. The present is daily making up its own record.
I know of no person in the State who is better qualified to perform this great task, and most earnestly hope you may be appointed to execute it. I am very sincerily and truly, your Iriend,
R. TOOMBS.
ATLANTA, GA., November 22(3, 1880.
My Dear Sir: I much regret that my absence from the State pre vented me from expressing to you, at an earlier date, mv cordial
endorsement of the proposition to publish a connected and reliable history of Georgia.
I am glad you are willing to undertake this work, and I greatly
hope the present session of the General Assembly will not fail to au thorize the work on the liberal terms suggested.
With high regard, I am yours very truly,
CHARLES C. JONES, Jr., Esq., Augusta, Ga.
BENJAMIN H. HILL.
SAVANNAH, November 1st, 1880.
COL. CHARLES C. JONES, Jr., Augusta, Ga. My Dear Sir: I learn
with sincere pleasure that you are willing to prepare a general history
of Georgia from its colonization to the present time, if a suitable ap
propriation is made by the Legislature to defray the expenses inci
dent to preparation, publication, etc., and to properly compensate for
the labor which the undertaking must involve.
No complete history of Georgia has yet been written, and her peo
ple should not rest content until we have one. It cannot be accom
plished without assistance from the State. Most of tne older States
have secured complete histories, and have borne the necessary ex
penses and made compensation for the time and labor involved.
Georgia should not remain behind her sisters ; and this is the mo
ment to inaugurate the movement, since there are now large sums of
money in the Treasury not raised by taxation.
My long and intimate personal acquaintance with you, with your
methods, and habit of study and research, with your thorough prepa
ration for such a work by extensive collections of materials almost
regardless of expense, and the bestowal upon the subject of much
time and thought, and above all, with the filial love and earnest zeal
which would accompany you in all such labor for your native State,
enables me to say with emphasis that Georgia can find no man so
well fitted to write her history.
I trust suitable action will be taken to accomplish a result so desir
able.
Very truly yours,
A. E. LAWTOX.
GRAND HOTEL, N. Y., November 2, 1880.
My Dear Colonel: The receipt of your favor of the 27th ultimo has been delayed for several days because of the fact that my New York address had been changed some three weeks ago. I chanced to step into Mr. Plants office yesterday afternoon and found it lying there.
I lose no time in replying, and, assuming that you are correct in attributing force to an expression of opinion from me, will write briefly to enable you to use it at the earliest practicable moment for the patriotic object you have in view.
I have no hesitancy in saying that the history of Georgia, which
you contemplate writing, is demanded by many of the highest con
siderations which can appeal to the enlightened Legislator. It is a
melancholy fact to use your own expressive language, that "greatest"
have died and have left "no enduring sign." How significant does
this fact become when we remember that, had no historic pen re
corded the achievements of Hannibal, Carthage would have been
simply a name! Can any one doubt that the peculiar position
now held by Boston in the literary world is to be ascribed not less to
those who have recorded in historic form the triumphs of her great
intellectual men, than to the original genius which achieved them ?
If we desire to stimulate our youth of the present and future gener
ations to honorable emulation with the youth of other States and
countries in the fields of intellectual and heroic efforts, we must not
fail to indicate a proper appreciation of those who have acted well
their parts in the generations that are gone.
This, however, is far from being the only reason which would
prompt me to give all possible aid to your laudable undertaking.
Nor am I expressing for the first time my conviction, of all living
men, you are the best fitted for its successful accomplishment. That
you bring to it the fruits of twenty years devotion to study, and the
collection of the requisite material, is certainly a prime and peculiar
qualification ; but above all your many qualifications, in my judg
ment, is the fact that the writing of the history of Georgia will be
to you emphatically a labor of love.
I am very truly, your friend,
HENKY E. JACKSON.
COL. CHAELES C. JONES, Jr., Augusta, Ga.
CINCINNATI, November 16th, 1880.
COL. C. C. JONES, Jr., Augusta, Ga. My Dear Colonel: I am grati
fied to see that an effort is to be made to induce the Georgia Legis
lature to select you as the proper person to write a full history of our
State. I am gratified both at the fact that the effort is to be made
now to have a complete history of Georgia written, and that you are
to be the writer and compiler of that history. This work has been
already too long neglected, and I do not believe there is any man
living who is better qualified in every respect for this important work
than yourself.
I hope the Legislature will pass same such bill as the one I see
suggested.
Yours truly,
J. B. GORDON.
ATLANTA, GA., November 5th, 1880.
My Dear Colonel: I have just read with very great pleasure the ad mirable letter of Judge Hook concerning the needed history of Georgia, and your unquestionable fitness to undertake the work. It expresses the views I have for some time very frequently expressed
in private, particularly in regard to an appropriation by the State
to meet all the expenses, and in regard to yourself as the person
most suitable to place at the head of the undertaking. My desire
now is that Judge Hook shall lead off in the movement, and that we
may have a bill introduced at once. I am fully satisfied that the
measure will pass. Yours as ever,
CLEMENT A. EVANS.
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PEBBY, GA., November 5, 1880.
My Dear Sir : I thank you for yours of the 2d instant. The history of Georgia ought by all means to be written, and written fully and without further delay. It is due to the present and future generations that it should be done faithfully done, as I am sure it will be if accomplished by you. I am approaching my four score year. -I shall be eighty in February next if I live to the 27th of that month, and I want to live to see the history of Georgia written and published. I am sure others now living want it, and those who come after us will need it and ought to have it. I sincerely hope the present Legislature will make suitable and ample provision to enable you to perform the work with the least possible delay.
I will write to the Senator from this district and to the Representative from this county and endeavor to secure to you their aid in your laudable undertaking to write and publish the history of Georgia my native State. I was born in the county of Burke on the 27th of February, 1801. Tours very truly, ELI WARBES.
COL. C. C. JONES, JK., Augusta, Ga.
AUGUSTA, November 5, 1880.
Editors Atlanta Constitution : I will thank you for a place in your columns to urge upon the attention of the General Assembly, to be convened at the capital this week, the importance of making suitable provision for the preparation and publication, at an early day, of a correct and complete general history of the State of Georgia. It is felt, on every hand, to be a great need at this time. It is impossible, as the facts now exist, for our people to get anything like an accurate history of our great State. Such a history is essential to the proper instruction of our children. A brief reference to the histories of our State heretofore compiled will suffice to prove the present great need in this regard.
The Rev. Mr. Hewitt, a Presbyterian divine, who had for many years been a resident of Charleston, S. C., but who had left that city for England upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, published in London, in 1779, " An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia." While in these two small octavo volumes the colonial history of Georgia is nar-
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rated at some length, the work is chiefly occupied with a recital of events connected with the establishment and development of the colony of South Carolina. Mr. Hewitts labors ended prior to the revolution ; and his work, long since out of print, and limited in its scope, has, for very many years, been inaccessible to the general reader.
Shortly after the formation of the general government, Mr. Edward Langworthy conceived the design of writing a history of Georgia. After collecting some materials for the accomplishment of his proposed task, he removed to Maryland, and there died. His purposed history was never written, and all efforts to recover such documents and memoranda as he had accumulated have utterly failed
McCalls history of Georgia, in two octavo volumes, published in Savannah in 1811 and 1816, is chiefly valued on account of the traditions it embodies relating to the revolutionary period of the Slate. It concludes with the termination of the Revolution. But few copies of the work can now be found, and access to its pages is practically denied to the public.
Many years ago the Legislature of Georgia extended aid to Mr. Joseph V. Bevan, and authorized him to collect, arrange and publish all documents in the Executive Office and the office of the Secretary of State. He died, however, at the commencement of his labors, and no publication was made.
In pursuance of a resolution of the General Assembly, the Governor appointed the Rev. Charles Wallace Howard, an agent on the part of the State,to proceed to London, and there obtain copies of all records in the colonial departments of Great Britain relating to the settle ment and early history of Georgia. He brought back with him, as the fruit of his mission, twenty-two folio volumes, copied from original documents in the office of the Board of Trade, in the State Paper office, and in the Kings library. This material has been but partially utilized, and for the most part lies dormant to the present time.
The "Statistics of Georgia" and the "Historical Collections of Georgia," by the Rev. Mr. White, while possessing no little interest, cannot be reckoned as histories. They may properly be regarded as gazetteers. They contain food for the historian.
Of the two octavo volumes of the Rev. Win. Bacon Stevens, published, one of them in New York in 1847, and the other in Philadelphia in 1859, it may be fairly stated that they are faulty, and that they have never passed into general circulation. In them the history of Georgia is essayed only down to the adoption of the
Constitution of 179.8. The history of Georgia for the past eighty years and more has
never been attempted, and remains wholly unwritten. Strange as it may seem, we have literally no history of Georgia as a State. The narratives of her hopes, acts, perils, aspirations and achievements during that period must be sought from newspaper files, fragmentary and occasional publications, and from the failing memories of some, still in life, whose recollections of men and events extend backward
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perhaps fifty years. These in turn must be supplemented by a careful and tedious search amidst the dust-covered records in the departments in Atlanta, and by a recourse to such documents as may perhaps still live in the hands of the descendants of the illustrious
dead. The preparation of a general history of Georgia, from the settle
ment of the colony to the present time, is an undertaking which will necessarily involve much expense and exhaust years of patient toil and laborious investigation. Year by year the fulfillment of such a, task becomes more and more difficult. Ink fades, moths invade, traditions are forgotten, and our great men grow old and die, leaving no enduring sign.
Most of the older States of the Union, and not a few of the younger, appreciating the importance of such publications, have already provided for and borne the charge of their respective State histories.
Is it not high time that Georgia was moving by her proper Representatives in this important matter ? Her need for a reliable, comprehensive history of her own times, acts, and children, will not be disputed. It appears eminently proper that she should facilitate the consummation of a labor which will have for its object the intelligent consolidation of her illustrious memories, the exhibition of the true philosophy of events which have dignified her annals, the portrayal of the characters which have shed lustre upon their day, and the certification to the present generation, and to those which will come after, of the reasons why they should love and cherish this noble Commonwealth.
As a Georgian, proud of the record of my noble State, I most earnestly desire to see a truthful, accurate general history (which does not now exist) placed in our libraries, and made accessible to our people. The same pride animates me also in wishing, as I do, to see the work consigned to able hands. It was, therefore, with singular pleasure I noticed a few days ago a public suggestion of the name of Col. Charles C. Jones, Jr., as the proper man to undertake and perform the important work.
Who is better or even half so well prepared as he, for the efficient and successful performance of the great task? His fame as a historian of immense research and resources, and of high scholarly attainments, is not limited to the State of Georgia, or the United States. His eminence in letters, classic lore, history and science, has won for him honorable distinction in other lands. It is the pride of Georgia to know that such is his fame in historical and archaeological research that his works and writings are often cited as high authority by other literary and scientific authors and writers.
I know that it has been the aim and worthy ambition of Colonel Jones for many years to prepare a history of Georgia that would be accurate, full, and satisfactory ; and that, with this object in view, he has, during the past twenty years and more, with much cost and labor, acquired all original tracts descriptive of the settlement and early life of the Colony, and all matter, printed or written, which he
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could procure bearing upon the history of the State. To gentlemen who have enjoyed access to Colonel Jones library it is well known that the collection is more extensive and valuable than any other outside of the British Museum.
As already stated, the proper composition of such a history has been the ruling ambition of his life, and if the Legislature will only offer suitable encouragement to enable him to devote his whole time to the work, he would doubtless bring to its accomplishment a zeal and real love that would result in a history of our grand old Empire State of the South alike worthy of his high reputation and gratifying to our people. He has already done much excellent work in this line, fully indicating his eminent fitness for the suggested task.
In his large octavo work, entitled, "Antiquities of the Southern Indians, particularly of the Georgia Tribes," published in 1873, the aboriginal history of the region embraced within the present territorial limits of Georgia is fully considered. In his "Historical Sketch of Tomo Chi Chi," and in his "Dead Towns of Georgia" the colonial history of Georgia is largely considered and revived. In his "Historical Sketch of the Chatham Artillery," and his "Narrative of the Siege of Savannah in 1864, and of the Confederate Operations in Georgia and the Third Military District of South Carolina, during General Shermans March from Atlanta to the Sea," the Confederate war memories of Georgia have been in a large measure preserved. These works have been supplemented by his "Life of Commo dore Josiah Tattnall," the noblest naval hero, and one of the most distinguished sons Georgia ever gave to battle and the seas. In some of his smaller contributions, auch as the "Siege of Savannah in 1779," "The Life and Death of Count Pulaski," and the "Historical Sketch of Sergeant Jasper," some of the Revolutionary annals of Georgia have received careful study. No one who has read these books, sketches, and contributions of Colonel Jones could have failed to be impressed both with the labor and research, as well as the ability they display, and the great need there is for a more extended work from his master hand, developing a complete history of Georgia.
Will not our Legislature, recognizing his vast and important labors and great outlay in this direction already, as well as his unquestioned fitness and preparation for the task, assign him the duty and give him the proper aid to accomplish it ? It is impossible he can complete the work unaided. A history cf Georgia by Col. Charles C. Jones, Jr., thus authorized and sustained, will be a work of which every Georgian will be justly proud. It will abound in facts, events, and incidents full of interest to all our people; while the style in which it will be written will rival the grace and perspicuity of Addison and the fascinating diction and eloquence of Macauley. Those who have read after Colonel Jones will agree with me that the State has never produced a more elegant or attractive writer.
In every way I can, I desire to serve my State, and I feel that if I can at all aid in eliciting prompt and favorable action by the General Assembly in this matter, I will to that extent have rendered her a
13 great service. And now when there is much money in the State Treasury, obtained from outside sources it is a most opportune time for the Legislature to give to the people, by a proper appropria tion to that end, a true, comprehensive and admirably written, general history of the State they love.
JAMES S. HOOK.
i LIBRARIES OF GEORG\