The Orphan House now really became Whitefield's parish. To watch over it, and to provide for its necessities, furnished him with as much work as he felt at liberty to undertake. He writes:—
"1740. Monday, December 29. Enjoyed a very comfortable Christmas at Bethesda. One woman, I trust, received Christ in a glorious manner; and several others were brought under strong convictions. Having appointed Mr. Barber,[410] who came with me from Rhode Island, to take care of the spiritual, and Mr. Habersham to superintend the outward affairs of the Orphan House, and settled all things to my satisfaction; and being called by Providence, on various accounts, to return to England, I, last night, took a sorrowful and affectionate leave of my family, and this day went to Savannah to take leave there. In the evening, I preached at Savannah, and took my final leave of the people, it being inconsistent with my other affairs to act as their pastor any longer. Another minister is not yet come, but is expected daily. I gave the trustees notice, in January last, of my design to give up the parsonage. Blessed be God! I am now more free to go whithersoever the Lord shall be pleased to call me. I yet hope well of Georgia, though, at present, it is in a very declining and piteous state. It will flourish, I believe, when settled upon a religious foundation. Glory be to God! I leave behind me some who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity."[411]
No doubt, Georgia was in a "piteous state." The Spaniards of Florida were harassing the province; and Oglethorpe was doing his utmost to resist and punish them. To some extent, he had succeeded, but certain malcontents, in Savannah, were as busy as the Spaniards in endeavouring to ruin the colony. These men, under the leadership of a Doctor Tailfer, formed themselves into a club, which met at the house of one Jenkins, where they concocted the vilest machinations against Oglethorpe. Their object was to reduce the colony into such weakness and insignificance as to compel the trustees to gratify their desires for slaves and spirituous liquors, so that they might indulge to the extent of their wishes in idleness and dissipation. Tailfer and Williamson—the successful rival of John Wesley—hoped, by their agitation, to obtain a monopoly of the trade in negroes; and, because they were disappointed in their expectation, resorted to the most malicious and revengeful acts. To disturb the quiet of Savannah, they instituted races within the town, from the gate of the Public Garden to the middle of Johnson's Square. They hired the most miserable hacks, and, by drink, obtained riders to contribute to their mischievous diversion;—the members of Tailfer's club being the principal betting men. Besides this, they published scurrilous pamphlets, one of which was sarcastically dedicated "To his Excellency James Oglethorpe." The writer, in his address to Oglethorpe, sneeringly remarks:—
"You have protected us from ourselves, by keeping all earthly comforts from us. You have afforded us the opportunity of arriving at the integrity of primitive times, by entailing a more than primitive poverty upon us. The valuable virtue of humanity is secured to us by your care to prevent our procuring, or so much as seeing, any negroes (the only creatures proper to improve the soil), lest our simplicity might mistake the poor Africans for greater slaves than ourselves. And, that we might fully receive the benefit of those wholesome austerities, you have denied us the use of spirituous liquors, which might at least divert our minds from the contemplation of our happy circumstances."
From an early period, Tailfer had been turbulent, and his daily employment had been to misrepresent the public measures, disperse scandal, and incite discontent. At length, a short time before Whitefield left, Tailfer's club was dissolved; and the doctor and his crew migrated to Charleston.[412] "The fear of the Spaniards," says Stephens, "was what drove them away."
This account conveys an unfavourable idea of the state of Whitefield's parish—a parish, however, to which he had devoted but little service. Three years had elapsed since Whitefield had first embarked for Savannah. Ever since, he had been the nominal incumbent; and yet, during this whole period, he had spent only twenty-nine weeks and two days in the province of Georgia; Savannah, Frederica, Bethesda, and other places all included. Perhaps, if the parson had been more with his people, the demagogues, Tailfer, Williamson, and their gang, might have been less mischievous than they were. At all events, the tie between Whitefield and Savannah had been so slender, that there could be no great wrench when the young incumbent relinquished his living.
Whitefield left Savannah on New Year's Day, 1741; and arrived at Charleston on Sunday, January 4. Here he spent nearly the next fortnight. He preached twice every day, besides expounding in the evenings; and, as usual when at Charleston, he got into trouble. A Mr. Hugh Bryan[413] had written a letter, "in which it was hinted that the clergy break their canons." At the writer's request, Whitefield revised the letter for the press. The letter was published. Immediately Mr. Bryan was arrested; and, on being questioned, confessed that Whitefield corrected the letter, and made alterations in it. Upon this, on Saturday, January 11, a constable came to Whitefield with a warrant addressed "To all and singular the Constables of Charleston," to the following effect:—
"Whereas I have received information upon oath, that George Whitefield, clerk, hath made and composed a false, malicious, scandalous, and infamous libel against the clergy of this province, in contempt of His Majesty and his laws, and against the King's peace;
"These are, therefore, in His Majesty's name, to charge and command you and each of you forthwith to apprehend the said George Whitefield, and to bring him before me to answer the premisses. Hereof fail not, at your peril. And for your so doing, this shall be your and each of your sufficient warrant.
"Given under my hand and seal this 10th day of January, in the fourteenth year of his Majesty's reign, Anno Domini, 1741.
"B—— W——."
On receiving such a formidably-worded document, Whitefield appeared before the magisterial magnates, confessed that he had corrected Mr. Bryan's letter for the press, and gave security to appear, by his attorney, at the next general quarter sessions, "under the penalty of £100 proclamation money."