As Oglethorpe's going along with this new Colony proceeded merely from his public spirit, and from a disinterested and generous view of contributing all that was in his power, towards the benefit of his country, and the relief of his distressed countrymen, it met with just and deserved applause. In one of the public prints of the day the following encomium was inserted.
"Whether it is owing to an affectation of being thought conversant with the ancients, or the narrowness of our minds, I know not, but we often pass over those actions in our contemporaries which would strike us with admiration in a Greek or a Roman. Their histories perhaps cannot produce a greater instance of public spirit than what appeared in an evening paper of Saturday, the 18th instant, that 'James Oglethorpe, Esq., one of the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia, is gone over with the first embarkation at his own expense.' To see a gentleman of his rank and fortune visiting a distant and uncultivated land, with no other society but the miserable whom he goes to assist; exposing himself freely to the same hardships to which they are subjected, in the prime of life, instead of pursuing his pleasures or ambition; on an improved and well concerted plan, from which his country must reap the profits; at his own expense, and without a view, or even a possibility of receiving any private advantage from it; this too, after having done and expended for it what many generous men would think sufficient to have done;—to see this, I say, must give every one who has approved and contributed to the undertaking, the highest satisfaction; must convince the world of the disinterested zeal with which the settlement is to be made, and entitle him to the truest honor he can gain, the perpetual love and applause of mankind.
"With how just an esteem do we look back on Sir Walter Raleigh for the expeditions which he made so beneficial to his country! And shall we refuse the same justice to the living which we pay to the dead, when by it we can raise a proper emulation in men of capacity, and divert them from those idle or selfish pursuits in which they are too generally engaged? How amiable is humanity when accompanied with so much industry! What an honor is such a man! How happy must he be! The benevolent man, says Epicurus, is like a river, which, if it had a rational soul, must have the highest delight to see so many corn fields and pastures flourish and smile, as it were, with plenty and verdure, and all by the overflowing of its bounty and diffusion of its streams upon them.
"I should not have written so much of this Gentleman, had he been present to read it. I hope to see every man as warm in praising him as I am, and as hearty to encourage the design he is promoting as I really think it deserves; a design that sets charity on a right foot, by relieving the indigent and unfortunate, and making them useful at the same time."[1]
[Footnote 1: Transcribed into the Political State of Great Britain, for February, 1733, Vol. XLV. p.181.]
XI.
On the 13th of January, 1732-3, the Governor of South Carolina published in their Gazette the following advertisement.
Whereas I have lately received a power from the Trustees for establishing a Colony in that part of Carolina between the rivers Alatamaha and Savannah, now granted by his 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 poor and insolvent debtors, and settling, establishing, and assisting any poor Protestants of what nation soever, as shall be willing to settle in the said Colony; and whereas the said intended settlement will, in all human appearance, be a great strengthening and security to this Province, as well as a charitable and pious work, and worthy to be encouraged and promoted by all pious and good Christians; I have, therefore, thought fit to publish and make known to all such pious and well disposed persons as are willing to promote so good a work, that I have ordered and directed Mr. Jesse Badenhop to receive all such subscriptions or sums of money as shall be by them subscribed or paid in for the uses and purposes aforesaid; which sums of money (be they great or small,) I promise them shall be faithfully remitted to the Trustees by the aforesaid charter appointed, together with the names of the subscribers, which will by them be published every year; or, (if they desire their names to be kept secret) the names of the persons by whom they make the said subscriptions.
The piety and charity of so good an undertaking, I hope will be a sufficient inducement to every person to contribute something to a work so acceptable to God, as well as so advantageous to this Province.