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but no such mines were ever opened. The most profitable industry in the upper country was cattle raising. Orchards of peaches, apples and other fruits abounded.*

Many of the colonists were planters and some of them became rich through the production of rice, indigo and silk, and built handsome houses on the Ashley, Santee, Edisto, and other rivers. But trade soon became the chief interest of the people. The wealthy merchants erected houses usually facing the bay, most of which were of brick, two stories in height and beautifully furnished with mahogany and cherry bedsteads, sideboards, chairs and tables. Handsome coaches and carriages were also imported from across the sea. As early as 1698 a public library was founded;

in 1748 the Charles Town Library Society was formed; in 1762 a musical association, the St. Cecelia Society, was established, and in 1732 a weekly newspaper, The South Carolina Gazette, was founded. At the beginning of the Revolution a number of skilled physicians and about thirty-five lawyers were practising in Charleston and most of the ministers in charge of the churches there had received their education in England or at Harvard or Yale. In the middle and upper country, the houses were constructed of logs, the dishes were usually of wood or pewter, and there were few slaves or servants. The people built their own school houses and churches, and their ministers and leaders were men educated at Edinburgh or at Princeton.*

The year 1733, some years prior to the breaking out of the third intercolonial war, witnessed the planting of the colony of Georgia in that region of Carolina which lay between the Altamaha and Savannah rivers. * Ibid, pp. 22-23.

The land which was granted to the "trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America" had originally been granted to the Carolina proprietors, but as the right shore of the Savannah River had not been * Ibid, pp. 24-26.

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66

Majesty's charter to the said Trustees, by the name of the Province of Georgia, authorizing me to take and receive all such voluntary contributions as any of his Majesty's good subjects of this province shall voluntarily contribute towards so good and charitable a work as the relieving of poor and insolvent debtors, and settling, establishing and assisting poor Protestants of what nation soever as shall be willing to settle in the said colony." The charter itself gave the reasons as follows: Many of our poor subjects are, through misfortune and want of employment, reduced to great necessity, insomuch as by their labor they are not able to provide a maintenance for themselves and their families; and, if they had means to defray their charges of passage and the expenses incident to new settlements, they would be glad to settle in any of our provinces in America, where, by cultivating the lands at present waste and desolate, they might not only gain a comfortable subsistence for themselves and families, but also strengthen our colonies and increase trade, navigation and wealth of these, our realms."*

In the beginning the trustees made a great mistake in confining the emigration to that helpless, inefficient, querulous class of the community, who, having met with misfortune and ill success at home, were ill fitted to encounter the hardships and priva

The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. ii., pp. 123-124..

tions incident to settling in a new country. On the other hand, the sort of persons who were needed as pioneers, such as husbandmen, laborers, artificers, were excluded from the benefits of the territory by the plans of the trustees. But they did not long continue this course.* The originators of the colony took many wise precautions to ensure its success. It was their intention to create a number of small independent freeholders, who were forbidden to sell or mortgage their holdings save under special permission. The estates were not granted in fee simple but in tail male, reverting to the trustees upon failure of male issue, the trustees then regranting the lands but with special regards to sons-in-law or maternal descendants of original tenants. The importation of negroes was absolutely forbidden, and the colony was to be self-supported by its own industries. For the present, Oglethorpe was appointed governor with the powers of a magistrate and the judiciary was to be appointed by the trustees as the growth and needs of the colony required. At the end of twenty-one years Georgia was to become a crown colony, the sovereign appointing all legislative, executive, and judicial officers.†

Oglethorpe offered to conduct the expedition to be sent to Georgia to plant the colony. Accordingly, ac

*See Doyle, The Colonies Under the House of Hanover, p. 331 et seq. (1907). Doyle, pp. 333-335.

companied by thirty-five families, a clergyman, a person to instruct the colonists in the cultivation of silk, and several officers of justice, Oglethorpe set sail in the Anne, from Deptford, November 17, 1732, and reached. Charleston January 13, 1733. There the new arrivals were hospitably received, but they remained only a short time and soon afterward landed on the shores of the new province. On ascending the river, Oglethorpe and his company came to Yamacraw Bluff, which he fixed upon as the seat of the capital.* It was then laid out in broad avenues and open squares, and named Savannah after the Indian name of the river. During these operations, Oglethorpe occupied a tent under a canopy of lofty pine trees. When he arrived, he found the spot occupied by a number of Creek Indians, but he easily induced them to surrender their claim to the territory and to grant a large tract of land. Steps were immediately taken for advancing the work of colonization and settlement. A small battery commanding the river was erected, a palisade was constructed, some wheat was sown, and a storehouse built.t

Shortly afterward the colony received an accession of a body of German Lutherans from the valley of the

For an account of the settlement at Savannah, see An Account Showing the Progress of the Colony of Georgia, published by order of the trustees in 1741, and reprinted in Force's Tracts, vol. i.

† Doyle, Colonies under Hanover, pp. 337–338.

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western Alps, within the archbishopric of Salzburg, who, having been exposed to persecution at home, applied to England for permission to settle within the new colony. They were not only given permission, but also furnished with means to enable them to emigrate, and, headed by their ministers, they walked to Rotterdam, whence they embarked. Touching at Dover they had an interview with their English patrons, and in April, 1734, reached Georgia. Just above Savannah they established a settlement called Ebenezer. Some time later they were joined by other members of their sect from home.* At about the same time another settlement was established by a body of forty destitute Jews, who had been furnished the means by the wealthier members of their nationality to emigrate to Georgia. While they were not encouraged by the trustees, they were allowed to establish themselves in peace.† In 1736 a number of Moravians, disciples of Count Zinzendorf, arrived in the colony.‡

In April, 1734, Oglethorpe returned to England, taking with him not only some specimens of silk made in Georgia, but also several several Creek chiefs. In England the Indians were treated with great attention, and were deeply impressed with the power and wealth of the English, and they were Bancroft, vol., ii., pp. 284-286; Doyle, pp.

340-341.

The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. ii., p. 126.

Doyle, p. 345.

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ready to promise perpetual fidelity.* Upon the earnest solicitation of Oglethorpe, Parliament made an additional grant of £26,000,† and steps were taken for occupying the region nearest to Florida. Early in 1736 a party of 180 Scotch Highlanders, including 50 women and children, founded New Inverness on the Altamaha. Oglethorpe himself returned to Georgia with these settlers, and in the company came John and Charles Wesley, afterward celebrated for their connection with the Methodist movement. Charles Wesley was appointed pastor for the new town on St. Simon's Island and Frederica. John was chosen parish minister of Savannah.|| Charles took upon himself the part of a moral dictator and therefore often came into conflict with the governor.§ At first John made himself very popular and was well liked by all classes in the community.

not quite up to the standard required by Wesley and his religious associates, and he therefore broke off the connection, the lady being married to another man. Wesley now accused her of becoming more worldly than she was before and went so far as to refuse her admission to the Lord's Supper, as being unfit to partake of that solemnity. Her husband thereupon brought suit against Wesley, claiming damages to the amount of £1,000. Wesley was also charged by others with a number of abuses of authority, and public feeling against him grew decidedly strong. In 1737, therefore, he "shook off the dust of his feet," as he phrased it, and left the colony, never afterward visiting America.*

Up to this time, the majority of the settlers had been well contented with

general conditions in the colony, particularly the Germans and Scotch, who were industrious and frugal. The other settlers soon became dissatisfied with their limited privileges and asked for rum to use and the

*Their presence in England furnished the subject for an ode, given in full in Jones, History of Georgia, vol. i., pp. 175-178.

See the Account in Force's Tracts, vol. i., p. 18.

Doyle, Colonies Under Hanover, pp. 343-344; The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. ii., p. 127.

See Southey, Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 75

et seq.

§ Doyle, pp. 348-349.

¶ Southey, Life of Wesley, vol. i., p. 96 et seq.;

Doyle, p. 364 et seq.

which from the first had been expressly forbidden by the trustees.† Though for some time these concessions were refused, by insistent signs of discontent on the part of the colonists, their wishes were

finally

Doyle, pp. 347-348, 358. See also the documents in Georgia Historical Society Collections, vol. iii.