Proprietary government discontinued.

on us, and instruct us how we may come to obtain everlasting happiness."

The proprietary government was continued until near the commencement of the Revolution, when a new constitution was adopted by the people, which excluded the proprietary from all share in the government. The sum of five hundred and seventy thousand dollars was accepted in discharge of all quitrents due from the inhabitants.

Charter granted.

CHAPTER XVII.

GEORGIA.

Oglethorpe embarks.

1732

THE last settled of the original thirteen colonies was Georgia. The Spaniards continued to regard with a jealous eye the spreading of the British colonies toward the Savannah river. They claimed as their territory the country as far north as St. Helena Sound, and had dispersed the Scottish settlers on the Island of Port Royal.

But England now resolved to extend her settlements still farther south. The sympathies of James Oglethorpe, a member of Parliament, and a man of benevolent feelings, had been enlisted, on account of the large number of debtors confined in the prisons of England, as well as with the poor, who for petty thefts were immured there, perhaps for life. For this class of British subjects, and for all Protestants who were denied the free exercise of their religion at home, he planned an asylum in America.

In 1732, a charter was granted by George II, constituting the province of Georgia, to comprise the territory between the Savannah and the Altamaha rivers, and extending due west from their sources to the Pacific Ocean. The province was placed for twenty-one years under the control of the corporation, Oglethorpe being the most prominent member. Parliament contributed ten thousand pounds.

In the fall of the same year Oglethorpe embarked with one hundred and twenty emigrants. Arriving off Charleston,

Treaty with the Indians.

they did not remain there, but proceeded to Port Royal, and after examining the country selected a bluff on the Savannah river for their infant settlement, the town of Savannah.

One of the first subjects which claimed the attention 1733 of Oglethorpe, was the establishment of a treaty with the Indians. In the immediate neighborhood dwelt the Yamacraws, a branch of the Creeks. A delegation from them met the English, and after an interchange of presents, and mutual promises of love and good-will, it was agreed that Oglethorpe should be allowed to purchase as much land as was required for the use of the colony. Tomo-chichi, the chief, addressed him as he offered a buffalo skin, with the head and feathers of an eagle painted on the inside. "Here is a little present. The feathers of the eagle are soft, and signify love; the buffalo skin is warm, and is the emblem of protection. Therefore love and protect our little families.”

Soon afterward a treaty with the Creeks was signed, which gave the English the control of the land as far south as the river St. Johns. Friendly relations were also established with the Cherokees and Choctaws, and a trade with them was commenced. Meantime favorable offers being made to the persecuted Moravians of Germany, a large number of them prepared to emigrate, and early in 1734 set sail for their new 1734 homes. Oglethorpe accompanied them in the selection of a suitable place for their settlement, and on the Savannah river they commenced a village which they called Ebenezer.

The wisdom and prudence of Oglethorpe were the means of the rapid advancement of the colony. The governor of South Carolina said of him, "He nobly devotes all his powers to serve the poor." After spending about fifteen months in the colony, Oglethorpe returned to England, taking with him Tomo-chichi and his queen, with several

Wesley and Whitefield in America.

Slavery prohibited.

other Indians. They received much attention at court, and after a visit of about four months, returned to their native country, where it is probable that their influence contributed to the good understanding which continued to prevail between the colonists and the native tribes. The town of Augusta was one of the oldest in the province.

In 1735, a company of mountaineers from the Highlands of Scotland established Darien. The following year, Oglethorpe again arrived in the colony, with about three hundred 1736 emigrants. They were accompanied by John Wesley, the founder of the Society of Methodists, who, after remaining nearly two years, engaged in preaching to the colonists and Indians, returned to England. Soon afterward the celebrated George Whitefield arrived in the colony. He travelled over England and the colonies, soliciting subscriptions for the establishment and maintenance of an Orphan House at Savannah, which is still in existence.

An early law of the colony forbade the introduction of slaves, slavery being, in the opinion of Oglethorpe, "against the gospel, as well as against the fundamental law of England." It was also said that as the colony was an asylum for the distressed, it was necessary to prohibit slavery, "for slaves starve the poor laborer; and in 1738, when the request was made for the use of slave labor, Oglethorpe rejected it, declaring that if negroes should be introduced, he would have nothing further to do with the province.

The Moravians demonstrated that whites could labor in that southern clime, and sternly remonstrated against the introduction of slavery. The value of raw silk raised by them, soon amounted to ten thousand pounds a year. Indigo was a staple production.

But Oglethorpe, with his many good qualities, was in favor

Contentions with the Spanish colonies.

Slavery introduced.

settle the rights of

of the law of force, and was willing to
property by the destruction of human life. Forts were built
in various places for the protection of the colony, and the
boundaries of Georgia not being settled, he resolved to sus-
tain the claims of the English to the territory as far south as
the St. Johns. In the dissensions which ensued during the
war between England and Spain, the English were indebted
to their friendship with the Indians for the preservation
of their settlements, and the St. Mary's river became the
boundary of the colony of Georgia.

In 1740, St. Augustine was besieged by Oglethorpe, who was soon obliged to withdraw without effecting his object; and in 1742, the Spaniards in retaliation sent a large land and naval force to break up the settlements in Georgia. The number of Oglethorpe's men was much smaller than the 1742 Spanish force. By an ingenious stratagem, he succeeded in discouraging and alarming the Spaniards, so far that they entirely withdrew from the English territory. After one year of tranquillity, Oglethorpe returned to England, and never revisited Georgia.

After the connection of Oglethorpe with the colony had ceased, slavery was soon introduced; even the Moravians began to think that slaves "might be employed in a Christian spirit."

In 1752 the charter was surrendered to the king, and Georgia became a royal colony.