the State,--men whose names seemed to be far
above suspicion. Some of the highest judges lent their aid to the land
grabbers. Members of Congress were concerned in the scheme. Generals
and other high officers of the militia took part in it. Nothing was left
undone that was calculated to win the support of men who, up to that
time, had enjoyed and deserved the confidence and respect of the
State. The extent of the bribery and corruption that existed would be
altogether beyond belief if the records were not left to show it. The
swindlers were both bold and cunning, and in one way or another sought
to win the support of all the leading men in the State. And they came
very close to succeeding.

The Legislature held its session in Augusta at that time; and while the
Yazoo land sale was up for discussion, the agents of the land grabbers
swarmed around it, coaxing, bribing, and bullying the people's
representatives. Among these agents was a judge of the Supreme Court of
the United States, from Pennsylvania, with twenty-five thousand dollars
in his hands. There was a judge of the United States District Court for
Georgia, paying shares in the land company for the votes of members. A
United States senator from Georgia, James Gunn, who had neglected to
return to his post of duty in Congress, was seen bullying members with a
loaded whip, to secure their support for the land-sale scheme. A judge
of the State courts was also present, with other prominent citizens,
buttonholing the members of the Legislature, offering them shares,
sub-shares, and half sub-shares to secure their votes. General James
Jackson, who was then a United States senator from Georgia, was told by
a prominent judge of the State that he might have any number of acres he
pleased up to half a million, without the payment of a dollar, if he
would use his influence in behalf of the corrupt schemes of the land
grabbers. In reply, General Jackson said he had fought for the people of
Georgia; that the land belonged to them and to their children; and that,
should the conspirators succeed, he, for one, would hold the sale to be
void. Many weak men in the Legislature were intimidated by threats; and
some who could not be persuaded to vote for the sale, were paid to go
home, and remain away from the Legislature.

In this way the representatives of the people were persuaded and bribed
to support the scheme of the land grabbers. In 1795 the bill was passed,
selling to four c