OGLETHORPE.
(See a Note on the Portraits of Oglethorpe on a later page.)
While he was chairman of the committee raised by the House of Commons to visit the prisons, examine into the condition of the inmates, and suggest measures of reform, the idea had occurred to Oglethorpe,—whose “strong benevolence of soul” has been eulogized by Pope,—that not a few of these unfortunate individuals confined for debt, of respectable connections, guilty of no crime, and the victims of a legal thraldom most vile and afflictive, might be greatly benefited by compromising the claims for the non-payment of which they were suffering the penalty of hopeless incarceration, upon the condition that when liberated they would become colonists in America. Thus would opportunity be afforded them of retrieving their fortunes; thus would England be relieved of the shame and the expense of their imprisonment, and thus would her dominion in the New World be enlarged and confirmed. Not the depraved, not felons who awaited the approach of darker days when graver sentences were to be endured, not the dishonest who hoped by submitting to temporary imprisonment to exhaust the patience of creditors and emerge with fraudulently acquired gains still concealed, but the honestly unfortunate were to be the beneficiaries of this benevolent and patriotic scheme. Those also in the United Kingdom who through want of occupation and lack of means were most exposed to the penalties of poverty, were to be influenced in behalf of the contemplated colonization. It was believed that others, energetic, ambitious of preferment, and possessing some means, could be enlisted in aid of the enterprise. The anxiety of the Carolinians for the establishment of a plantation to the South which would serve as a shield against the incursions of the Spaniards, the attacks of the Indians, and the depredations of fugitive slaves was great. This scheme of colonization soon embraced within its benevolent designs not only the unfortunate of Great Britain, but also the oppressed and persecuted Protestants of Europe. Charity for, and the relief of, human distress were to be inscribed upon the foundations of the dwellings which Oglethorpe proposed to erect amid the Southern forests. Their walls were to be advanced bulwarks for the protection of the Carolina plantations, and their aspiring roofs were to proclaim the honor and the dominion of the British nation. In the whole affair there lingered no hope of personal gain, no ambition of a sordid character, no secret reservation of private benefit. The entire project was open, disinterested, charitable, loyal, and patriotic. Such was its distinguishing peculiarity. Thus was it recognized by all; and Robert Southey did but echo the general sentiment when he affirmed that no colony was ever projected or established upon principles more honorable to its founders.
As the accomplishment of his purpose demanded a larger expenditure than his means justified, and as the administration of the affairs of the plantation would involve “a broader basis of managing power” than a single individual could well maintain, Oglethorpe sought and secured the co-operation of wealthy and influential personages in the development of his beneficent enterprise.
That proper authority, ample cession, and royal sanction might be obtained, in association with Lord Percival and other noblemen and gentlemen of repute he addressed a memorial to the Privy Council, in which, among other things, it was stated that the cities of London and Westminster, and the adjacent region, abounded with indigent persons so reduced in circumstances as to become burdensome to the public, who would willingly seek a livelihood in any of His Majesty’s plantations in America if they were provided with transportation and the means of settling there. In behalf of themselves and their associates the petitioners engaged, without pecuniary recompense, to take charge of the colonization, and to erect the plantation into a proprietary government, if the Crown would be pleased to grant them lands lying south of the Savannah River, empower them to receive and administer all contributions and benefactions which they might influence in encouragement of so good a design, and clothe them with authority suitable for the enforcement of law and order within the limits of the province. After the customary reference, this petition met with a favorable report, and by His Majesty’s direction a charter was prepared which received the royal sanction on the 9th of June, 1732.
By this charter, Lord John, Viscount Percival, Edward Digby, George Carpenter, James Oglethorpe, George Heathcote, Thomas Tower, Robert Moor, Robert Hucks, Roger Holland, William Sloper, Francis Eyles, John Laroche, James Vernon, William Beletha, John Burton, Richard Bundy, Arthur Beaford, Samuel Smith, Adam Anderson, and Thomas Coram and their successors were constituted a body politic and corporate by the name of “The Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America.” Ample were the powers with which this corporation was vested. Seven eighths “of all those lands lying and being in that part of South Carolina in America which lies from the most northern part of a stream or river there commonly called the Savannah, all along the sea-coast to the southward unto the most southern stream of a certain other great water or river called the Alatamaha, and westerly from the heads of the said rivers respectively in direct lines to the South Seas,” were conveyed to the trustees for the purposes of the plantation. The province was named Georgia, and was declared separate and distinct from South Carolina. To all, save Papists, was accorded a free exercise of religious thought and worship. For a period of twenty-one years were these corporators and their successors authorized to administer the affairs of the province. At the expiration of that time it was provided that such form of government would then be adopted, and such laws promulgated for the regulation of the colony and the observance of its inhabitants, as the Crown should ordain. Thereafter the governor of the province and all its officers, civil and military, were to be nominated and commissioned by the home government.
MAP OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA, 1773.
[Fac-simile of a map in Some Account of the Design of the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America, 1733, in Harvard College Library [Tract vol. 536]. This tract is appended to Smith’s Sermon (1733). This map also appeared the same year in Reasonsf for Establishing the Colony of Georgia, etc. Cf. also the “New Map of Georgia” in the French version of Martyn’s tracts published in the Recueil de Voyages au Nord, Amsterdam, 1737; Harvard College Library, shelf-no. 3621. 9, vol. ix.—Ed.]
In July, 1732, the corporators convened, accepted the charter, and perfected an organization in accordance with its provisions.[841] Commissions were issued to leading citizens and charitable corporations empowering them to solicit contributions in aid of the trust. Generously did the Trustees subscribe. To prevent any misappropriation of funds, an account was opened with the Bank of England. There a register was kept of the names of all benefactors and of the amounts of their several donations. Liberal responses were received in furtherance of the charitable scheme both from individuals and from corporations; and, as an honorable indorsement of the project and its managers, Parliament gave the sum of £10,000. Tracts commending the colonization to the favorable notice of the public were prepared,—notably by Oglethorpe, and by Benjamin Martyn, secretary to the Trustees,—and widely circulated.