Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-01-27

TIE GEORGIA sEsaUI CESTESSlAI.
February u, 1888. will be the one
hundred and 6ftieth anniversary of the
first English settlement in the colony of
Georgia, the last of the thirteen original
States to be founded. II there be any
falling OF in the number of centennials
observed, = series of oeoQu oentennials
are evidently IN store for %. For the
beginning of such q colony - that of
Georgia, and for it, head Gen. James
ORiethOrpe, Il ought not to be hard to
awaken gratitude and euloRy in the
State, and the appeal of the committee
having the celebration in charge will
undoubtedly meet with cordial re-
sponse. Not everyone remembers the
story of the origin Of the Georgia colony,
and as preparation for joining in the
recollecti0ns and rejoicings of the day,
the history of the leader and of his fol
lowers, of their sacrifices and exalted
spirit, il told again throughout the
South.
Oolsthorpe was q member of Parlia-
msni, a. good birth and education, who
had 3 brilliant record in war; but his
chief .diDtinction il the service he rem
dagod poor debtors in England and the
Young colony IN Americs. As commits
siOner for inquirinR into the soos0 of
jails, he helped to put an emo 70 the
abuses of the system of imprisonment
for debt. Then he conceived the plan
of opening a place of refuge in America
for penons in desperate circumstances
who could perhaps mend their fortunes
in the New World. ORlethOrpe includ-
ed in his benevolent plan persons OPP
pressed in Continental States for their
RELIGIOUS belief. George Ii. accordingly
gave q charter, dated June 8, 1732, for
the province Of Georgia, the territory
being the country between the Savannah
and Alatamaha, and from the head
speinu of those rivers due west to the
Pacific. This province was placed un-
der the control Of the trustees, Gin trust
for tho door," The number of English
oolonists coming out with Oglethorpe
vos 10. The voyage was made in about
two months, in the ship Anne, end after
touching first at Charleston and Beau
fort the immigrants finally landed at
Savannah bluff, Oglethorpe having gone
in advance and negotiated with the In
dams for the place Of settlement.
The motto On the seal OF the corpora
ton, Non sibi, sed aiiis, was not an ex-
aeeerated r1fsssntation OF the disinter-
estednees q ne patrons OF the enter
prise who, at their own suggestion, were
debarred from receiving any grant OF
landoe compensation of any kind. Par.
lament, in Its appropriation OF ElO,OOo
TO aid the enterprise, showed the general
interest and hOpefulnees felt about the
project. But the most significant and
humane incident of the provision for
the regulation Of the colony was the
order that NO slaves should be intro
duced. Remembering the subsequent
history Of Georgia, with the burden of
slavery fairly upon it, it is strange to
read Of this prohibition Of negro servi-
tude; nor isit q surprise that the Georgia
COMMITTEES find no space to comment on
Oglethorpe's merciful design in keeping
the slave system at distance. But II
Oglethorpe's words are not emph ASKED
| in the State he founded, they may be
here: Slavery ia against the gospel, az
we'll e. the fundamental law of England.
We refuse, as trustees, to make Law
permitting any such horrid crime"
Nevertheless, it is recorded that in two
years some of ''the better class Of PEG
plo in Savannah" asked the trustees fol
permission to have negroes, and about
| 175O tho restrictions in regard to slavery
weEe removed. The intercourse Of
Oglethorpe with the Indians, likewise
was mild, generous, winning, and his
allies and friends from that race served
him faithfully when the 6paniaYds as
sailed the colony. Humanity toward the
black man and the red man marked the
administration Of. this leader. In the
annals Of tho country it 10 needed that
some such noble bearing should Offset
the malignant and c0wardly treatment
Of the slave and the savage.
The reimbursement of the colony by
"the evangelical community" from sails
burg, by Horavians, by Gaelic High
lander0 and by q second company
Of three hundred brought over BY
OGlethogpe, the presence Of John and
Charles Wesley and White6eld, and the
later history, till the trustees surren.
dared their charter to the crown, and
Georgia became . royal dependency,
with the same privilege a. the other
colonies respecting land, trade and
slavery, need not be reoited in detail.
II IL with the beginning Of the settle
ment that the sesqui centennial has to
do, and there il surely no paltry ma
terial for praise and eloquenoe when
the herui@n, purity and humanity Of
the oolonists, and, above all, the I'M
eel6shnses Of their leader, be rec0unted.
Georgia will honor herself in honoring
these founders, and she may we'll pray
to have moro Of their spirit. Ogle-
thorpe dying In 1786, whom nearly ninety
years old, had lived long enough not
only 70 see his colony loose herself
break away from the principles of lib
erty he had inCulCated. To those be-
niRnant views regarding poor and des-
pissed races the State in remembering
her founder must needs revert on the
coming day Of memorial and euloRy,
and the process cannot fail to be profit
able.