USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume I > Part 12
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"This was signed by twelve of the grand jurors of whom three were constables and six more were tithingmen who consequently would have made a majority had the jury consisted, as it regularly should have done, of only fifteen members, viz., the four constables and eleven tithingmen.
"Oet. 7. I consulted my friends whether God did not call me to return to England ? The reason for which I left it had now no force, there being no possibility as yet of instructing the Indians; neither had I as yet found or heard of any Indians on the continent of America who had the least desire of being instructed. And as to Savannah, having never engaged myself, either by word or letter, to stay there a day longer than I should judge convenient, nor ever taken charge of the people any otherwise than as in my passage to the Heathens I looked upon myself to be fully discharged thereupon by the vacating of that design. Be- sides there was a good probability of doing more service to that unhappy people in England than I could do in Georgia by representing, without fear or favor, to the Trustees the real state the colony was in. After deeply considering these things they were unanimous 'That I ought to go; but not yet.' So I laid the thoughts of it aside for the moment, being persuaded that when the time was come God would 'make the way plain before my face.'
"Thu. Nov. 3. I appeared again at the court holden on that day. and again at the court held Tues. Nov. 22d, on which day Mr. Causton desired to speak with me. He then read me some affidavits which had been made Sept. 15th last past, in one of which is was affirmed that I had abused Mr. Canston in his own house. calling him a liar, villain. and so on. It was now likewise repeated before some persons, which, in- deed. I had forgot, that I had been reprimanded at the last court for an enemy to and hindrance of the public peace.
"I again consulted my friends who agreed with me that the time we
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looked for was now come. And the next morning, ealling on Mr. Caus- ton, I told him I designed to set out for England immediately. I set up an advertisement in the Great Square to the same effect, and quietly prepared for my journey.
"Fri. Dec. 2. I proposed to set out for Carolina about noon, the tide then serving. But abont ten the magistrates sent for me and told me I must not go out of the Province; for I had not answered the allegations laid against me. I replied . I have appeared at six or seven eourts suc- cessively, in order to answer them. But I was not suffered to do so, when I desired it time after time.' Then they said I must not go unless I would give them security to answer those allegations at. their court. I asked, 'What security ?' After consulting together about two hours, the recorder showed me a kind of bond engaging me. under a penalty of fifty pounds, to appear at their court when I should be required. He added, But Mr. Williamson too has desired of us that you should give bail to answer his aetion.' I then told him plainly. 'Sir, you use me very ill, and so you do the Trustees. I will give neither any bond nor any bail at all. You know your business and I know mine.'
"In the afternoon the magistrates published an order requiring all the offieers and centinels to prevent my going out of the Provinee, and forbidding any person to assist me so to do. Being now only a prisoner at large in a place where I knew by experience every day would give fresh opportunity to proeure evidenec of words I never said and actions I never did, I saw elearly the hour was come for leaving this place and as soon as evening prayers were over, about eight o'clock, the tide then serving, I shook off the dust of my feet, and left Georgia, after having preached the Gospel there (not as I ought, but as I was able) one year and nine months."
Mr. Wesley does not state in his journal who went with him, or how the journey was made, exeept that he landed at Purysburg the next morning and went thence to Beanfort on foot, and that there he took a boat which conveyed him to Charleston. William Stephens in his "Jour- nal of the Proceedings in Georgia," Vol. 1, pp. 41-47, relates that he had as companions from Savannah three men whose character was not good, named Coates, Gough and Campbell, but he seems to have been preju- diced against Mr. Wesley, and it is not likely that Wesley willingly asso- eiated, in this emergency, with dissolute persons. Stephens had little use for any clergyman who did not strictly conform to the rules and practice of the Church of England as demanded by the Book of Common Prayer, and he doubtless exaggerated somewhat the facts as they came to his knowledge.
THE TRUSTEES TREAT THE MATTER LIGHTLY
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The Trustees did not apparently consider the Williamson-Causton snit against Mr. Wesley a matter of serions import. In the minutes of that body on December 7, 1737. this record was made: "Read several letters from Mr. Williamson of Savannah, complaining of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley's having refused the sacrament to his wife. Mrs. Sophia Williamson, with Mr. Williamson's affidavit thereupon, and two pre- Vol. 1-6
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sentments of the Grand Jury of the Rev. Mr. Wesley for the said refusal, and for several other facts laid to his charge. Ordered, that copies of the said letters and affidavit be sent over to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, desiring him to return his answer for the same as soon as possible; and that a letter be sent to Mr. Williamson to acquaint him of the said copies being sent to Mr. Wesley : and that if he has anything new to lay. before the Trustees-he should show it first to Mr. Wesley and then send it over to them; and that the Trustees think he should not have made his application to the World by advertising his complaints before acquaint- ing the Trustees with them.
Not until February 22, 1738, did this matter again appear in the minutes of the Trustees. when it was recorded that "The Rev. Mr. John Wesley attended and delivered into the Board a Narrative of his own re- lating to the complaints of Mrs. Williamson and three certificates, one signed by James Burnside. dated Savannah, November 1, 1737, another, of the same date. signed by Margaret Burnside, and another signed by Charles Delamotte. dated Savannah. October 25. 1737."
And lastly, on the 26th of April, 1738, the final action of the Trustees in this matter is thus mentioned :
"The Rev'd Mr. John Wesley attended. and left the appointment of him by the Trustees to perform Ecclesiastical offices in Georgia :
"Resolved. That the authority granted to the Rev'd Mr. John Wesley to do and perform all religious and Ecclesiastical offices in Georgia, dated October 10, 1735. he revoked." .
CHARLES WESLEY DEPARTS FOR ENGLAND
Meanwhile Charles Wesley, the brother, who had accepted the posi- tion of secretary to General Oglethorpe, as also secretary of Indian Affairs for the colony of Georgia, and had made Frederica his home, had his own troubles and had, after a stay in Georgia of only five months and one week, departed for England. He landed on Georgia soil on the 19th of February. 1736, and after a short stay in Savannah he reached his new home on St. Simon's island on the 9th of March. His reception was not at all such as he had anticipated and his services were distasteful to the people. His biographer, Southey, says : "He attempted the doubly difficult task of reforming the gross improprieties and reconciling some of the petty jealousies and quarrels with each other; in which he effected little else than making them nite in opposing him, and caballing to get rid of him in any way." Those discontented persons complained to Oglethorpe, and on this point Southey adds: "The Governor, who had causes enough to disquiet him. arising from the precarious state of the colony, was teased and sonred by the complaints which were perpetually bronght against the two brothers, and soon began to wish that he had brought with him men of more practicable tempers." However, Ogle- thorpe did not long harbor a spirit of vexation, and felt that he had been unjust toward that godly man who, in his deep distress, wrote concerning the unfriendly conduct of Oglethorpe " I know not how to account for his increasing coldness." But the Christian spirit of the founder of Georgia asserted itself in this as in all other instances, and the reconciliation
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was as complete as either of the men could have wished. Writers who have touched upon this matter have referred to this reeoneiliation as happening at a time when Oglethorpe was "on the eve of setting out upon a dangerous expedition." This must have been the occasion described on his return in a letter to the Trustees, dated May 11, 1736: "I have been down to the Southward to quell a Mutiny among our Fron- tier Garrison. The Spaniards have, I apprehend, detained the persons I sent down to treat with them, contrary to faith, and I have sent up some launches to view us. I am foreed to set out immediately to throw sue- cour into the Frontier Garrison, who I expect will be attacked every hour." Charles Wesley describes the scene with his superior, saying that on that occasion General Oglethorpe sent for him and said to him; "You will soon see the reasons for my actions. I am going to death. You will see me no more. Take this ring and carry it from me to Mr. V- If there is a friend to be depended upon, he is one. His in- terest is next to Sir Robert's. Whatever you ask within his power he will do for you, your brother, and your family. I have expected death for some days. These letters show that the Spaniards have long been sedueing our allies, and intend to eut us off at a blow. I fall by my friends :- Gascoigne whom I have made, the Carolina people upon whom I depended to send their promised succour. But death is to me nothing. T- will pursue all my designs, and to him I recommend them and you." "He then gave me a diamond ring," continued Charles Wesley, in his journal, "I took it and said, 'If, as I believe, Postremum fato quod te alloquor, hoc cst, hear what you will quickly know to be true as soon as you are entered upon a separate state. This ring I shall never, make use of for myself. I have no worldly hopes. I have re- nounced the world. Life is bitterness to me. I came hither to lay it down. You have been deceived as well as I. I protest my innocence of the crimes I am charged with, and take myself to be now at liberty to tell you what I thought I should never have uttered.' [Cipher words in the manuscript.] When I finished this relation he seemed entirely changed and full of his old love and confidence in me. After some ex- pressions of kindness, I asked him .Are you satisfied?' He replied 'Yes, entirely.' 'Why then, sir, I desire nothing more upon earth, and
care not how soon I follow you.' *
* He then embraced and kissed me with the most cordial affection."
Mr. Wesley then describes the departure of Oglethorpe from Fred- erica, and how they met again on his return from the South. Returning the ring he said to the general "I need not, sir, and indeed I can not tell you how joyfully and thoughtfully I return this." To this Ogle- thorpe replied "When I gave it to you I never expected to receive it again, but thought it would be of service to your brother and you. I had many omens of my death, particularly their bringing me my mourn- ing sword,t but God has been pleased to preserve a life which was never valuable to me, and yet in the continuance of it, I thank God, I can re-
* History of Georgia, by Chas. C. Jones, Jr., Vol. I, pp. 277-278.
t Which had been handed to him twice while he was preparing for his going south- ward and which he refused, taking finally his own sword that had belonged to his father, with which he asserted he had never been unsuccessful.
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joice." Wesley answered "I am now glad of all that has happened here, since without it I could never have had such a proof of your affection as that you gave me when you looked upon me as the most ungrateful of villains."
Charles Wesley fully resolved in the month of June to resign his commission and when he left Georgia he believed another would shortly take his place. He and General Oglethorpe were as good friends as ever, and he was the bearer of important papers from the latter to the trustees. His intention, however, was not made known to the board at that time. and on this subjeet Mr. Wesley wrote what Oglethorpe said to him as follows: "I would not let the trustees know your resolution of resigning. There are many hungry fellows ready to catch at the office. and, in my absenee, I eannot put in one of my own choosing. The best I can hope for is an honest Presbyterian, as many of the trustees are such. Perhaps they may send me a bad man, and how far such a one may influence the traders and obstruct the recep- tion of the Gospel among the heathen, you know. I shall be in England before you leave it. Then you may either put in a deputy or resign." He retained his offiee until the month of April, 1738, at which time Oglethorpe, who said he was "unwilling to lose so honest and faithful an officer." still tried to persuade him to hold on to the work; but Charles Wesley felt that it was time to let some other man take his place, and his resignation was aceepted in May. Thus the service of Charles eame to an end in a shorter time than did that of his more famous brother John. although his troubles were really small compared with those of the latter. The only record in the minutes of the trustees bearing on the subject of the resignation appears in the journal of the common eouneil of that body of May 3, 1738, when it was "resolved that Mr. John Clarke be appointed secretary for the Indian Affairs in the room of the Rev. Mr. Charles Wesley."
WHITEFIELD SUCCEEDS JOHN WESLEY
In recording the ineidents connected with the life of John Wesley in Georgia some writers have used language which may be termed harsh and even bitter. How they eould apply to him some of the expressions employed in eriticising his eonduet, with all the evidence before them. seems incredible. That he was indiscreet in some instances cannot be denied ; but that he was the tyrant that some of his enemies would have us believe is utterly untrue. Let these facts not be lost sight of: that his most implacable enemy, Thomas Causton, himself a man of high ambition with the determination at all times of showing his anthority and unceasingly endeavoring to assert and enforee it, was a bad man, and, as his subsequent career shows, was at the very time he was perse- enting Mr. Wesley far exceeding that authority in many respects and held under his lash many who, but for fear of him. would have sided with the latter: that William Stephens, whose journal is made the basis of the worst attacks on Mr. Wesley's character. did not reach Savannah until the matters complained of were the subject of the town talk, and that he persistently opposed all departures from the forms and enstoms
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of the Church of England; that Causton was, for the time being, what is now termed a "political boss" in the district in which he lived, abso- lutely controlling the officers of the court and seeing to it that a major- ity of the jurors drawn for the trial would render a verdict such as would please him; and finally that the incident which led to the abrupt departure of Mr. Wesley was one which should never have had pub- licity and that it was made publie just because Mr. Causton wanted to humiliate him for his daring to assert authority, even eeclesiastieal authority, over one of his household.
Not having the slightest suspicion of the trouble in store for him, and with the anticipation of having a hearty co-worker with him in the good work he expected to do in Georgia, John Wesley, some time between the 3d and the 22d of December, 1736, wrote a letter from Savannah to George Whitefield, who had been ordained to the ministry in the June previous, saying: "Only Mr. Delamotte is with me, till God shall stir up the hearts of some of His servants who, putting their lives in His hands, shall come over and help us, when the harvest is so great, and the labourers so few. What if thou art the man, Mr. Whitefield ?" We are told by Mr. Whitefield himself that in another letter Wesley said: "Do you ask me what you shall have? Food to eat, and raiment to put on ; a house to lay your head in, such as your Lord had not ; and a erown of glory which fadeth not away ;" and Whitefield adds "Upon reading this my heart leaped within me, and, as it were, echoed to the eall. Many things concurred to make my way elear. *
* These things being thoroughly weighed, I at length resolved to embark for Georgia." He was, indeed, the man, as Wesley predieted, but it so happened that the two men were destined not to work together in the same field. Be- fore Whitefield sailed from England the clouds began to gather about Wesley, and his way was changed so abruptly that at the time he was entering the port of Deal. England, in February, 1738, as he states it "on the anniversary festival in Georgia, for Mr. Oglethorpe's landing there," Whitefield departed from the same point, as the Rev. Dr. T. M. Harris said "on a mission ; not to be his coadjutor, as he expected, but, as it proved, his successor." #
The strength of John Wesley's influence and the growth of the power- ful church with which his name is indissolubly associated are both at- tested by the building of that most suitable monument in the form of an eeelesiastieal edifiee in the heart of the city which was his home and which once spurned his labors and rejoiced in his speedy departure from her borders, but now rejoices in the fact that he did live in her midst and walk her streets.
* Memorials of Oglethorpe, p. 170.
CHAPTER X
DARK COLONIAL CHAPTER
OGLETHORPE'S ADMINISTRATION APPROVED BY ENGLISHI TRUSTEES-FORTI- FYING GEORGIA'S SOUTHERN FRONTIER-PROMOTED TO "GENERAL" OGLETHORPE-CAUSTON'S FINANCES GO WRONG -- OGLETHORPE'S SELF- SACRIFICE-THE FALL OF CAUSTON.
Closely following the events recorded in the last chapter eame the downfall of Thomas Causton. Oglethorpe, believing that he had placed the southern boundary of the colony in a position of seeurity against the attaeks of the Spaniards, left Georgia in the month of November, 1736, to lay before the British ministers an account of the attitude of that people towards the provinee, and to urge that he be authorized to resort to sueh measures as would place Georgia in a stronger condition to re- ceive the attacks which he was sure would come from the enemy.
OGLETHORPE'S ADMINISTRATION APPROVED BY ENGLISH TRUSTEES
Arriving in England at the elose of the year, Oglethorpe received the unanimous thanks of the trustees, at a meeting of the board held January 19, 1737. . The minutes of the trustees show that James Ogle- thorpe was present at a meeting held on the 12th of January, 1737, and "made a report to the Board of his proceedings in Georgia from the time of his landing there in February last, and of the present state of the colony ; and likewise laid before them two treaties of peace between the people settled at Georgia and the Spaniards at St. Augustine concluded and ratified, the first by Charles Dempsey. Esq., (appointed by Mr. Oglethorpe for that purpose) and the Couneil of War at St. Augustine ; the other by the said Charles Dempsey, Esq., and Don Francisco Del Moral Sanehez, governor of St. Augustine, dated October 26th." and following that record this important item was adopted: "Resolved that James Oglethorpe, Esq., be congratulated on his safe return to England, and that the thanks of the Trustees be given to him for the many and important services done by him for the Colony of Georgia."
Oglethorpe remained in England until July, 1738, and on the 5th of that month he sailed from Portsmouth, arriving at JJekyll sound on the 18th of September. The following day he addressed a letter to Sir Joseph Jekyll, for whom he had on a former trip to the southward named both the sound and the island. He began the letter by saying "I am
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now got to an anchor in a harbour and near an island that bears your name. God has given me the greatest marks of His visible protection to this colony." Proceeding on his course he landed on the south end of St. Simon's island, and, on the 21st, arrived at Frederica. This place was chosen as a settlement by Oglethorpe when he determined, in 1734, to choose a place which would be of the greatest advantage in protecting the southern border of the colony against the Spaniards and other enemies. It was on the 26th that he and his comrades, Captain Ferguson and sixteen others who started on the trip on the 23d of January, landed on that spot, and "lay all night under the shelter of a large live-oak tree and kept themselves dry." Seeing the importance of having a military station in that portion of his territory, he decided that a fort should be erected there. The plans were matured, and the fort, built of tabby, was finished in April, and a town was laid out which he named Frederica, after the Prince of Wales. Here the people who were to possess the place assembled and took possession of the lots assigned to them on the 19th.
FORTIFYING GEORGIA'S SOUTHERN FRONTIER
The statement is frequently made that Oglethorpe spent too much of his time while in Georgia at Frederica, and that consequently he neg- lected to look with proper care over the affairs in the town of Savannah. The malcontents in their "True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia in America" made this statement: * "In February, 1735-36, Mr. Oglethorpe arrived in Georgia, for the second time, with great numbers of people, in order to settle to the southward. where he soon after carried them. Upon the Island of St. Simon's he settled a town, which he called Frederica; and about five miles distance from thence, towards the sea, he placed the independent company which he removed from Port Royal in Carolina, their former station. On one of the branches of the Altamaha he settled the Highlanders in a village which was called Darien. Then he settled a fort on Cumberland, which he named St. Andrews; and some time after he caused a garrison of about fifty men to be placed upon a sandy island (without fresh water) in the mouth of St. John's river, opposite to a Spanish lookout, where pos- session was kept for about six months, and several fortifications built; but at last he was obliged to abandon it, after several people had lost their lives by the inconveniences of the place, besides great sums of money thrown away in vain;" and, further on,t "Mr. Oglethorpe staid not long at Savannah, his common residence being at Frederica, where they had, in imitation of us, built a few houses, and cleared some land ; but finding planting not answer, they left it off, and as soon as the regiment came, almost everybody betook themselves to the keeping public houses ; and in this manner do the few that now remain live."
In this way Oglethorpe has been often charged with the offense of turning his attention too much to places outside of Savannah ; but those who have taken that position do not seem to have directed their atten-
* Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. II, p. 206.
t Ibid., p. 216.
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tion to the importance of fortifying the southern frontier against the troublesome Spaniards. Had Oglethorpe neglected that one serious feature of his work as he saw it from a military point of view. there is no reason to donbt that advantage of that laek of judgment would have been taken by the commander at St. Augustine, and disaster would have overtaken the young colony of Georgia. His training as a soldier clearly . pointed out the necessity of having a force of troops stationed at a well- fortified post in that neighborhood, and he communicated his views to the Trustees with such telling effect that we find this record in their minutes of August 10, 1737: "Read a memorial to his Majesty setting forth that the Colony of Georgia being very much exposed to the power of the Spaniards and become an object of their envy by having valu- able posts upon the homeward passage from the West Indies, and the Spanish having inereased their forees in the neighborhood thereof: that the Trustees in consequence of the great trust reposed in them find them- selves obliged to lay before his Majesty their inability sufficiently to proteet his Majesty's charter against this late increase of forees; and therefore become humble supplicants to his Majesty on behalf of his Majesty's subjeets settled in the Province of Georgia, that by a neces- sary supply of forces the province may be protected against the great dangers that seem immediately to threaten it."
PROMOTED TO "GENERAL" OGLETHORPE
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