TO I.K. TEFFT, ESQ., WILLIAM B. STEVENS, M.D., AND A.A. SMETS, ESQ., OF SAVANNAH;

WITH A LIVELY SENSE OF THE INTEREST WHICH THEY HAVE TAKEN IN THE PUBLICATION OF THIS WORK, THIS PAGE IS INSCRIBED BY THEIR OBLIGED AND GRATEFUL FRIEND,

THADDEUS MASON HARRIS.

"Thy great example will in glory shine,
A favorite theme with Poet and Divine;
Posterity thy merits shall proclaim,
And add new honor to thy deathless fame."

On his return from Georgia, 1735.

[Illustration: GEN. JAMES OGLETHORPE. _This sketch was taken in February preceding his decease when he was reading without spectacles at the sale of the library of Dr. S. Johnson.

PREFACE

Having visited the South for the benefit of my health, I arrived at Savannah, in Georgia, on the 10th of February, 1834; and, indulging the common inquisitiveness of a stranger about the place, was informed that just one hundred and one years had elapsed since the first settlers were landed there, and the city laid out. Replies to other inquiries, and especially a perusal of McCall's History of the State, excited a lively interest in the character of General OGLETHORPE, who was the founder of the Colony, and in the measures which he pursued for its advancement, defence, and prosperity. I was, however, surprised to learn that no biography had been published of the man who projected an undertaking of such magnitude and importance; engaged in it on principles the most benevolent and disinterested; persevered till its accomplishment, under circumstances exceedingly arduous, and often discouraging; and lived to see "a few become a thousand," and a weak one "the flourishing part of a strong nation."