it, from a conviction that increasing the number of courts and judges, only gives rise to increased litigation and increased expense to the suitors.

The maintenance of the poor is by a "poor-tax," levied on the inhabitants of each county in which any poor are found. But as the slave population perform almost all the laborious duties in agriculture, and as emigrants do not come here from Europe direct in any great numbers, the poor are so few that no returns are ever made of their numbers, or the cost of their subsistence.

Education is well provided for in Georgia. At Athens, in the interior of the State, is a college which has about 200 students. At Columbus, in the same State, is a female college, recently established, and containing an equal number of students; and in each county there is an academy for the higher branches of education. An act was passed, in January of the present year, to establish a general system of education by common schools, by which the academic and poor school funds are to be blended in one, and augmented by occasional grants from the State, to be applied to the promotion of education generally in all its branches. The whole of the schools, academies, and college, are under the superintendence of a board, called the Senatus Academicus, composed of the governor and senate of the State and fifteen trustees. These appoint a board of commissioners in each county, of which there are 39, to superintend the academy and common schools in each. In 1817, 200,000 dollars were appropriated by the State legislature, for the establishment of free

RELIGIOUS SECTS AND CHURCHES.

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schools, and there are now upwards of 100 academies in the State, besides common schools, increasing in number every year.

Religion is also well supported, and wholly by the voluntary system. There are upwards of 400 Baptist churches and 40,000 communicants. The Methodists have 80 ministers and about 30,000 members. The Presbyterians have 60 churches, the Episcopalians 6; and there are places of worship also for Universalists, Unitarians, Lutherans, Quakers, and Jews; but the last five are among the fewest in number of all the sects. The aggregate, however, makes nearly 600 churches to a population of 600,000 in round numbers; thus keeping up the usual ratio throughout the United States, of a place of worship to every 1000 inhabitants; a larger proportion, it is believed, than that of any other country on the globe; and itself, no doubt, a consequence of the larger proportion of schools and people educated, to the whole community, than anywhere else exists.

The banking capital of the State is considerable, exceeding, it is believed, at the present moment, ten millions of dollars. A large proportion of this, however, is employed in promoting internal improvement in railroads and canals; the result is, that these works are carried on with great vigour, and bid fair to place Georgia on a par with any of the northern States in these respects, within a few years from the present period.

CHAP. VIII.

Description of the city of Savannah-Plan of Savannah-Streets, squares, and public buildings-Private houses, shops, hotelsChurches - Monument to Pulaski - Population, white and coloured-Character and manners of private society-Public ball, social circles, hospitality-Ladies of Savannah-Union of piety and benevolence-Military spirit, volunteers, Washington's birth-day-Youths of the South, premature independenceEarly marriages-Contrast of the Old and New WorldDesirability of a better order of emigrants.

SAVANNAH, the principal city and sea-port of Georgia, is agreeably and advantageously situated; it was founded, and its plan laid out, by Governor Oglethorpe in 1733; and as his own description of the locality, and the reasons which induced him to select it, are remarkable for their clearness, and interesting from their precision, I transcribe them from an original letter of his writing, dated "From the camp near Savannah, the 10th of February, 1733," and addressed to the trustees who formed the proprietary government then in London.

"I gave you an account in my last of our arrival in Charleston. The governor and assembly have given us all possible encouragement. Our people arrived at Beaufort on the 20th of January, where I lodged them in some new barracks built for the soldiers, whilst I went myself to view the Savannah river. I fixed upon a healthy situation, about ten miles from the sea. The river here forms a half-moon, along the south side of which the banks are about forty feet high, and on the top a flat, which they call a bluff. The plain high ground extends into the country about five

or six miles, and along the river-side about a mile. Ships that draw twelve feet water can ride within ten yards of the bank. Upon the river-side, in the centre of this plain, I have laid out the town, opposite to which is an island of very rich pasturage, which I think should be kept for the trustees' cattle. The river is pretty wide, the water fresh, and from the key (quay) of the town you see its whole course to the sea, with the island of Tybee, which forms the mouth of the river. For about six miles up the river into the country, the landscape is very agreeable, the stream being wide, and bordered with woods on both sides. The whole people arrived here on the 1st of February; at night their tents were got up. Till the 10th, we were taken up in unloading and making a crane, which I then could not get finished, so I took off the hands; and set some to the fortification, and began to fell the woods. I have marked out the town and common; half of the former is already cleared, and the first house was begun yesterday in the afternoon."

It is not often, in the history of cities, that one can obtain such exact and minute information as this from the hands of their founders; but its very rarity increases its interest when it can be obtained, and therefore I venture to add the following, from a letter written soon after by the governor, dated February 20, 1733.

"Our people are all in perfect health; I chose the situation for the town upon an high ground, forty feet perpendicular above highwater mark; the soil dry and sandy, the water of the river fresh, and springs coming out of the side of the hill. I pitched upon this place, not only for the pleasantness of the situation, but because, from the above-mentioned and other signs, I thought it healthy; for it is sheltered from the western and southern winds by vast woods of pine-trees, many of which are an hundred, and few under seventy feet high. An Indian nation who knew the nature of this country chose the same spot for its healthiness.”

The city is laid out with the greatest regularity, the streets running in parallel lines with the river

from east to west, and these crossed by others at right angles running north and south. Philadelphia itself is not more perfect in its symmetry than Savannah; and the latter has this advantage over the former, that there are no less than eighteen large squares, with grass-plats and trees, in the very heart of the city, disposed at equal distances from each other in the greatest order; while every principal street is lined on each side with rows of trees, and some of the broader streets have also an avenue of trees running down their centre. These trees are called by some, the Pride of India, and by others, the Pride of China; they give out a beautiful lilac flower in the spring. There are others also, as the live-oak, and the wild cherry, both evergreens, and, when in full foliage, their aspect and their shade must be delightful. Even now, in February, when this is written, the prospect up and down every street in the city, intersected as it is by squares and rows of trees, is peculiarly pleasing, and gives the whole the most rural appearance imaginable.

Along the bank of the river, and on the edge of the bluff on which the city stands, is a long and broad street, having its front to the water, and built only on one side. The part nearest the water is planted with rows of trees, having seats placed between ; and this street, which is called "The Bay," is the principal resort for business. The counting-houses, warehouses, and best shops, are along this Bay; the Exchange and Post Office, as well as the city offices, are here; and underneath the bluff, or cliff, are the warehouses and wharfs, alongside which the vessels load with cotton, while the tops of their masts are a