Page images
PDF
EPUB

The men were born and at this time living in America who were to solve this intricate problem. Sporting on the shores of the Rappahannock was a little boy, trundling his wagon, or riding his cane for a prancing horse, prattling in his joyous childhood, who was the coming Moses to lead his people out of the bondage of kingcraft into the glorious light of liberty and freedom.

Great minds, the product of the new world, were growing which would teach all Europe lessons in good government of the people, for the people and by the people.

Mr. Elmer Stevens and his son still lived near Mr. Washington. Noah little dreamed that the bright little boy who daily frolicked on his father's lawn, pulled the ears of Mr. Stevens' hounds and hurled stones at the pigs and chickens, would one day lead armies to victory, and build up a nation.

In 1736, Noah Stevens learned that his friend Colonel Oglethorpe had returned from England and he prevailed on his father to allow him to make a visit to Georgia.

On his arrival in Georgia, Noah early formed the acquaintance of a man named John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley. They were religious enthusiasts, clergymen of the Church of England, who came to make war upon the invisible foe of righteousness. John Wesley was then thirty-three

years of age, and came as a missionary of the gospel among the settlers and surrounding pagans. Charles came as an assistant to his brother in this warfare, and as secretary to Governor Oglethorpe. They had begun a course of independence in England quite contrary to the church, and the pulpits of their church were closed against them.

"You have come as a missionary to the new world, and I hope your work may bear fruit," said Noah. The divine shook his head and said:

66

They object to our method of serving God. I believe one should be converted before he should preach. I came to convert the heathen and found I was not converted myself."

John Wesley was fervent in spirit and eloquent in speech. A large congregation attended his ministration at Savannah at first; but the austerity of his maxims, his fearless denunciation of vice and even foibles, and his rigid exercise of ecclesiastical authority soon involved him in serious disputes with the settlers, who were a peculiarly mixed people. Without really knowing it himself, he was a pioneer in thought and the founder of a new creed, and as every exponent of new thought must run counter to established ideas, Wesley became unpopular and was sorely vexed and irritated by opponents on every side. At last he became involved in a difficulty with a woman, whom he

refused to admit to the communion, and left the province in disgust after a two years' ministry "shaking the dust off his feet," as he expressed it, and believing his mission in Georgia a failure.

The Wesleys were succeeded by George Whitefield, who, being more practical than they, succeeded very well in the new colony. He established an orphan asylum in Georgia, which for years was supported by voluntary subscriptions from England.

Oglethorpe, not invasion, sent a invite the comAs soon as the

The Spaniards at St. Augustine became jealous of the rapid growth of Georgia. being fully prepared to resist an messenger to St. Augustine to mander to a friendly conference. messenger departed, he set out in a ship with fifty Highlanders exploring the islands along the coast of Georgia. On St. Simon's Island, he founded the town of Frederica and built a fort there. In the Altamaha Sound, he visited New Invernes (now Darien), where he found a few Scotch Highlanders, who greeted him warmly. Here he marked out a small fort which was constructed, and a few cannon were planted.

When Oglethorpe returned to Savannah, it was warm spring weather; but his messenger to St. Augstine had not yet returned, and he proceeded to manifest the intentions of Great Britain to sus

tain its claims to the country as far south as the St. John's River. On Cumberland Island he built a fort which he called St. Andrew's, which would command the mouth of the St. Mary's, the stream which finally became the southern boundary of Georgia. At the southern extremity of an island at the entrance of St. John's River, he also planned a small military work, which he called Fort St. George. He also founded Augusta far up the Savannah River, and erected a stockade there as a defence against the Indians from the west who might be under the influence of the French or Spanish traders.

These preparations for defence irritated the Spaniards at St. Augustine, who detained Oglethorpe's messengers as prisoners and threatened war. The news spread among the friendly Indians, and old To-mo-chi-chi came with painted warriors to offer his aid. The Chickasaws sent a delegation to bear assurances of friendship and fidelity to the English. With such allies as these, Oglethorpe felt strong enough to cope with the Spaniards.

These alliances so alarmed the governor of St. Augustine that he expressed a willingness to treat for a settlement of all disputes, and an honorable treaty was made. The messengers were released, and the Georgians abandoned Fort St. George.

The home government at Spain disapproved of

the treaty; and Oglethorpe was notified to meet a commission from Cuba at Frederica. This conference resulted in nothing. The Spaniards peremptorily demanded the evacuation of all Georgia by the British, and of all South Carolinia below the parallel of Port Royal, claiming all of that region as a part of the dominions of Spain.

Oglethorpe hastened to England to consult the trustees and secure military aid. The Spaniards. had three regiments of soldiers at St. Augustine. He was commissioned brigadier-general over all the military in Georgia and South Carolinia, and authorized to raise troops in England to serve in America. In the summer of 1738, he returned to Georgia with some troops.

The colony was not prosperous, for many of the emigrants were gentlemen unfit to build up a great province where muscle and brain were demanded. The use of slave labor, so productive in other colonies, was forbidden in Georgia, and tillage was neglected. The Scotch, Swiss and German settlers were inadequate to give that vitality to industrial pursuits necessary for the development of the resources of the virgin soil.

English merchants were boldly carrying on a system of smuggling on the coasts of Spanish America at the expense of Spanish commerce, which was fostered by the English ministry, who

« PreviousContinue »