Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-12-04
Rp ,,,proN Cr1FF DuION PO.
HENRY c. WAYNE,
Secretary.

BRAHPTON CLIFF, DILLON p. o.,
WALKER Co, GA, November p, 1922
Gen. II. c. Wayne, Secretary SeSqm-Cen-
tenntdI Society, SdUdnndh:
DEAR SIR-Enclosed / send you an eX-
tract from lecture entitled "Christian
Benovelence as Illustrated in the Early
History of Georgia" delivered by my
ather, the late Charles Wallace Howard,
in1S60. As it will be remembered that Mr..
Howard was sent to England by the State
to collect the colonial documents of GeOr-
gia, his words will doubtless be read with
interest. If you should wish other eX-
tracts from the same source l shall take
pleasure in sending them.
Wishing your celebration the success it
merits, l am, very respectfully,
MRS. HENRY BRYAN.
EARLY HISTORY OF GEORGIA-EXTRACT
FROM THE PEN OF THE LATE CHARLES
WALLACE HOWARD.
IL wish the remarkable features of the
settlement of Georgia to be impressed
upon the Georgia mind. / do not think
that it is rightly appreciated: Does his
tory afford a parallel to it? If so, when
and where? in what age and in what
country? Christian missions, those
heroic manifestations of the spirit
of the Gospel, are conducted upon
principles, and designed for ends purely
religious. Colonization has been common
in all ages, but always for the aggran-
dizement of the colOnizing State. The
founding Of Georgia is an exception, even
in the history of American colonization.
When the MayflOwer reached the shore of
Plymouth, it bore men who sought for
themselves a shelter in the wilderness
from persecution at home. When Hudson
landed at New York, he was prosecuting
venture of trade. When Penn, good and
pure as he was, bought land from the Indi-
ans, it was for himself, the Quaker King
When Lord Baltimore founded Maryland
the country was assigned to him as abso-
lutte lord and proprietor, and to his heredi-
tary successors. When Virginia was
cOlOnized it was with the expectation of
finding gold When Sayle made the first
effective settlement in South Carolina, the
chief revenue of the colony was to accrue
to the LandgraYes, created under 'LOcke's
Constitutions When the HuguenOts
{ that noble race of men among whom the
elegant refinements of life and the dignity
of unbending principle were, perhaps,
more gracefully united than in any other
race of which history speaks, and to whom
virtue seems so natural that it is said that
at this remote period not one of their nu-
merOus descendants in this widespread
country has been convicted of criminal
Offense when the HuguenOts fled to
South Carolina, it was to escape the fury
of the DragOnnade in France.
''When OglethOrpe obtained land from
the Indians by fair and honorable treaty,
for whose benefit was the cessiOn made?
Was it for the benefit of the trustees?
Those disinterested men had by their own
act precluded themselves from every form
of emOlument through their connection
with the colony; was it for the benefit of
OglethOrpe himself? Let General Wash
ingtOn answer the question, who, in 1870,
in reply to letter from the Marquis de
Bellegarde, states: That there are no
lands in Georgia belonging to Gen. Ogle-
thorpe, and if there had been property of
that gentleman in Georgia during the late
war with Great Britain, so far from its
having been confscated, it would have
met with singular protection, in cOnse-
quence Of the high estimation in which
the character of Gen. Oglethorpe stood in
that State No; OglethOrpe expended
his fortune for the benefit of the colony,
and received in return no pecuniary COM
pensation. He impoverished himself
to make others rich. And for whose benefit
then were these labOriOus sittings Ofmen in
England whose position in England placed
them above the necessity of eXertiOn--fOr
whom these WearisOme voyages across
the seas, for whom this suffering from an
almost tropical sun, for whom this deX-
ferrous soothing of the Indian savage into
the white mans friend, for whom the per-
ilous encounter with the unknown dam
gers of the wilderness, for whom this gal
liant and successful defense against the
superior numbers of the naughty Span
lard! 1t was to give home to unfOrtu-
nate men, whom like Sir William Rich,
the philanthropy of OglethOrpe and his
associates had freed from an undeserved
prison, in which they had been found load
ed with irons. 1t was to give land to the
landless, incapable Oftinding remunerative
1t was to give aid to such
men as the Wesleys and Whitfield, that
they might make known to the poor In
dian the unsearchable riches of Christ. 1t
was to enable them to say to Leopold,
Archbishop of Salzburg, your fury is
vain; we will give home to the holy men
whom your intolerance persecutes. They
shall find in Georgia freedom to worship
God according to their own cOnsciences.'
And they came at the invitation, those
prosecuted SalZburghers, and the noble
trustees gave them ships and food, and
money, and the promised home in the
New World.
''In view of these and the other designs
of the founders of Georgia, | again ask,
have they any parallel in history! Is there
anything which apprOXimates them? The
extraordinary features of this enterprise
attracted the attention of thinking minds
throughout Great Britain. The British
Parliament fostered it by liberal appro-
priatiOns. 1t was among the most brill
liant periods of English literature.
'POpe, Goldsmith and Thompson were
then charming the lovers of poetry and
themselves immortal wherever
and in whatsoever age the English Ian
guage is and shall be spoken. By each
of these masters of verse the founding of
Georgia, an event SO new, so peculiar, so
so unselfish, so heroic, was cele-
brated in appropriate, eulOgistic and STIR
ring numbers. Nor was the interest in
this mission of benevOlence confined alone
to men. 1t found its advocates in the
gentler sex. Prominent among these
were Selma, Countess of Huntingdon,
who gave from her own fortune to pur-
poses of benevolence a half million of
dollars, a large share of which was eX-
pended under her direction by Whitfield
in Georgia. The mantle of this admirable
was becOmingly worn by her
daughter, the Lady Hastings, who became
an active and firm friend of the struggling