Briggs, Isaac, 1763-1825 to Benjamin Hawkins

Briggs opens his letter to Senator and Indian agent Hawkins with an allegory of a drunken servant beaten by master; other servants and lower types told the beaten man to commit suicide to escape his situation, others counseled patience, some wanted to take his goods, others to take his position. He was dosed with wormword and in delirium talks on. Briggs quotes his ravings at length. Briggs then shifts to Creek Treaty reception in Georgia: "But excuse the allegorical flight, and I will descend to a more plain, matter-of-fact stile. If, my dear sir, I were detailing the politics or describing the local circumstances of this state, for the public eye, I should think it my duty as a good citizen to endeavor to raise, not lessen, its respectability, but in a confidential letter, I think it my duty to adhere strictly to the truth." Briggs goes to explain that, "the late treaty has been violated, on the part of the Creek Indians, by several acts of hostility and depredation." He then affirms Georgia's commitment to the Union and believes Georgia should have the protection of the United States government against Indians, as the states expands in population and needs more room. The GA Assembly is completely out of sync with popular opinion and is corrupt and riven by party politics.