In order to test the public mind, Messrs. Walton, Noble, Bullock, and Houston, over their proper signatures, published a notice for a meeting of their fellow citizens to be held at the Liberty Pole, Tondee’s tavern, Savannah, on the 27th of July, 1774, in order to take into consideration the constitutional rights and liberties of the American subjects of the British empire. This was the first liberty pole planted in that state; this was the first meeting that put the revolutionary ball in motion in Georgia. A large number of citizens assembled at the time and place appointed, and were eloquently addressed by Mr. Walton, who, from that time, became a prominent and able leader of the popular party. A committee was organized for the purpose of rousing the people to a sense of impending danger and to a vindication of their injured rights. Governor Wright, with the hireling phalanx of the crown, used great exertions to obtain from the inhabitants of every parish a written pledge to sustain them in executing the nefarious designs of the mother country, and to submit their necks more implicitly to the yoke of bondage. Fascinating promises of redress were held out, and the people were in a measure lulled into quietness by a renewal of their petitions to the throne for the repeal of the unconstitutional laws of parliament. But the fire of patriotism had commenced its insulating course. From Mr. Walton and his compatriots its holy flame continued to spread from heart to heart, from sire to son, from parish to parish, at first slowly, but finally illuminating the horizon of liberty with cheering refulgence. The struggle of many of the more timid patriots in that province, between policy and duty, was long suspended on the pivot of indecision. Present self-interest and self-preservation influenced many to remain inactive for a season, who subsequently became the bold advocates of liberal principles. In January, 1775, the members of the assembly were so equally divided upon the all-important subject of the revolution, then rolling upon them, that they adjourned without any definite action relative to it. The same wavering spirit was manifested at the public meetings and by the committee of safety. To restore the public mind from this political paralysis, was the province of Mr. Walton and a few other noble spirits. All the other colonies had united in the common cause against the common enemy and had sent delegates to the Congress convened at Philadelphia the previous year. That Georgia should be the last to hug the chains and kiss the rod of oppression, was to him a source of mortification and regret. But he determined not to desert his post. His exertions became equal to the herculean task before. His powers of mind rose with the magnitude of the occasion; his eloquence and logic bore down all opposition, and when the cry of blood—of murder—from the heights of Lexington was heard, the people started from their reverie, rose in the majesty of