| CHAPTER V. |
1732—1754.
FOUNDING AND PROGRESS OF GEORGIA.
Origin of Georgia—James Edward Oglethorpe—His character and merits—Object of the colony—Error of judgment at the first—Oglethorpe at the head of the colony—Founding of Savannah—Emigration of Lutherans from Salzburg—Moravians—Jews—Highlanders—Charles and John Wesley in Georgia—Discontent among some of the colonists—Slavery desired—When introduced—Spanish claims to the territory—Oglethorpe's plans—Resists Spanish pretensions—Attack on St. Augustine—Unsuccessful—Spanish expedition against Georgia and Carolina—Oglethorpe's trial—Charges against him—His complete vindication—Whitfield in America—The great revival—Changes in the government—Slow progress of Georgia—Expensiveness of the colony—Royal governor appointed—The people hospitable—Value of the land not yet known.
Some years before the breaking out of the third intercolonial war, the colony of Georgia was planted in that waste and unproductive portion of Carolina, between the Savannah and the Alatamaha rivers. Its origin was due to kindly and benevolent motives and desires, notwithstanding the errors of judgment into which its founders fell; and the name of James Edward Oglethorpe will always be held in deserved honor and esteem. This philanthropic man was earnestly intent upon mitigating the evils connected with imprisonment for debt, and hoped also to provide seasonable relief for the struggling poor of England, who might desire to live soberly and industriously, and reap the fruits of their efforts. In conjunction with Lord Percival and other noblemen and gentlemen, Oglethorpe obtained a charter[1] from parliament of a part of Carolina, south of the Savannah, to be settled for the purpose just named. Liberal contributions were made by the nobility and clergy; parliament also made a grant; and the warmest interest was excited in favor of the plan. They who thought of political advantages, favored the project because of the service Georgia was likely to prove as a barrier on the south against the Spaniards; merchants were attracted by promises of wine and silk as staples for the new colony; Protestants looked hitherward as a refuge for their persecuted brethren on the continent; those who desired to labor for the conversion of the Indians, had here opened to them a wide field; everything, in short, seemed to favor the undertaking. And the official seal had on one of its faces a group of silkworms with the motto, "non sibi, sed aliis,"—"not for themselves, but for others."
The great error of judgment at the beginning was in confining the emigration to that helpless, inefficient, querulous class of the community, who by
- ↑ See the "Historical Collections of Georgia," by Rev. Geo. White, for the Charter of the Colony.
