Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-01-20
rar,v Historv of Georgia.

Fairly History of Georgia.
Froa, tae Writings of the late Charles Wallace
HOtc0rd.
New England is more than one hundred
years the senior of Georgia. Give to
Georgia this additional hundred years,
and their relative importance would be
greatly changed. At the commencement
of this century, the whole population Of
the New England States did not equal the
present population of Georgia. At that
time, the inhabitants of Georgia numbered
one-eighth of the population of those
States. 1t has so gained upon them that
it is now about one-half. If it. shall
increase in population at the same
rate at which it has increased during this
century. more than 80 @per cent. during
each decade in one hundred years from
this time. it will number nearly fifteen
millions of inhabitants. AS it has an area
nearly as large as all of New England,
when it is as old as New England now is,
it will contain at the present rate OF IN
crease. six times the present population
of all the New England States put to-
gether. In the meantime, what
cities shall be built, what uneX-
pected resources shall be discovered, and
what known resources shall be developed,
what colonies shall be planted by her ad-
venturOus children, the future must de-
termine. As to the latter, of one thing
we NAV be assured. the sons of Georgia,
seeking the western wilderness, u Weg
are true 10 their OrigjH-if they have been
imbued with the spirit of the founders of
their native State-if they have drank
from the same pure fountain of knowledge,
virtue and philanthropy at which Ogle-
thorpe and the Wesleys and Whiteteld
slaked their thirst, while they are
animated by an uncOnquerable
love of lberty-will associate
this genial spirit with nothing that Is
hard, austere or repellant. While they
carry with them a temper profoundly re-
/ ligiOus. its beauty will be marred by no
Pharisaical pretense: and should these
colonies planted by them grow into pow
erful States. that power will not be used
to disturb the existing legal institutions
of other States or Territories. or under
/ cover of liberty to apply the torch to the
! temple Of liberty, but faithfully to per-
/ form their share Of duty, in peaceful and
/ harmonious concurrence with their con-
federates, in rendering this great nation
/ at once light and guide to the hundreds
of nations of the earth.
1t may be supposed that the area Of
Georgia will not sustain so large pOpu-
latiOn as its present rate of increase would
indicate. What prevents it! 1t is one
/ fifth larger than England, which supports
twenty millions of inhabitants, and it is
more than five times larger than Belgium,
which supports nearly five millions of in
habitants. 1t has greater natural advan-
tages than either for the support of a
dense population. Neither of them pos
sess the cotton plant. In the variety of its
uses, in its employment of multifOrm
labor, in its general economic relations 10
the State. in its capacity fer the support
/ of an expensive population, this is GER
. tainly of its kind the most bOuntiful boon
of kind Providence to man. 1t furnishes
the sails of commerce, and provides
freight for the ships which they impel. 1t
gives raiment to the labOrer, the lines with
which he guides the pillow, the bed on
which he sleeps, a light to his dwelling in
. darkness, a lubricating oil to the machin-
cry he uses, a fertilizer to the soil he cul-
tiVates, and to the animals which supply
mis- table the most fattening food known
to man. We have not vet ascertained,
we probably have not Appropriated
an entertainment, Ofthe number OF pounds
of cotton which can be produced upon Il
perfectly cultivated acre of ground. Nor
have we ascertained by consequence how
large a population to the square mile can
be sustained in a country in which the
culture of this plant is conducted with the
highest degree of agricultural skill. Quite
certain it is that no other product of the
soil will give employment and support di-
rectly and indirectly to a population so
dense as this ''king'' of the vegetable
world. If, in addition, we bear in mind
tlrat with population of more than one
million of persons less than One-siXth of
her present territory is now under cultiva-
/ tiOn-n we consider the vast variety of
her agricultural products, including
many, both of tropical and temperate eli
mates. the natural facilities for the manu-
features of her staples, the extent and
value of her mineral resources and her
unusual faYOrableness of position rela-
lively to other States,' being at once the
carrier and market of their trades, we
. shall conclude that no part of the globe,
of equal extent, is capable Of supporting
II more dense population that the State of
Georgia. There is nothing, therefore, in
the nature of things to forbid that the
percentage of our past increase of pOpU-
latiOn shall continue in the future. And
/ when it shall have reached its limit,
whatever that limit may be, the colony
planted by OglethOrpe, now a great State.
I Will then have become great nation.
1t is time that we should consider our
future possibly our remote, certainly our
august future. 1t is only by considering
that which is to come, as well as that
I which is present, that we Will learn to
form just estimate of the magnitude of
.
\ negative view of the subject before us,
as one of great force, might be presented.
Our limits will allow us only to allude
I to it.
Suppose that this mission of Christian
philanthropy had not been matured, and
that OglethOrpe had not established his
colony, The alternative was, the occu-
pancy of our present territory by Spain.
1t was with great difficulty that the COM
nf
lima defeated the attempts of Spain to take
( possession of it. South Carolina alone,
unaded by the great military skill of
/ Oglethorpe and his we'll disciplined forces.
would have been unable to effect this re-
suit. Spain, subsequently willing to sell
an isolated province as Florida, would
have retained as a valuable appendage to
the crown Il domain extending from the
Savannah to the Florida capes. She would
have retained it as she has retained Cuba.
The thoughtful mind will instantly con-
ceiye the vastness of the effect upon
religion. education and civilization.
which must have followed the
occupancy Of Georgia by the
Spanard instead of the AnglO-SaXOn.
They involve the distinguishing feature
I which separates the republics of Central
America. Mexico and the United States.
This negative result was an intended pur-
I pose of OglethOrpe, is an important fea-
/ ture in the aggregate Of the grand results
which have followed, and are yet to fol-
low. its contamination.
In view. therefore, of the motives which
prompted the settlement Of Georgia. of
the character of the men who planned,
sustained and conducted it. and of the
purity and grandeur of the results con-
templated i'm it, and now in process of
germinant accomplishment, | repeat the
remark that the IdRdiBg Of the frSt emf
I gi1tRt at SdrdnH0h trdS az eceRt If bi9bpr
/ inlp0rt0nce 10 mankind than NE tdRdjHG ~
tie Pilgrim Fathers at Plyns0Uth.
This comparison has not been made for
an invidi0us purpose. 1t would have
/ been omitted if there had been no higher
motive than to minister to our self-esteem.
We may learn valuable lesson from il.
What day throughout New England is so
cherished as forefather's day? What so
holds together the scattered sons Of New
England, wherever and in whatever part
of the earth group of them may be col
lected, as their annual assemblage on this
/ festive occasion:
To what theme has the highest order of
New England mind been SO exclusively
devoted, as on the anniversary of Ply
/ mouth, the illustration OF the herOism of
the Puritans: Amid the influx of for
eigners, amid the excavations OF increas-
! ing wealth and luxury, amid the distract
I ing influence of mixed association. what
has so tended to preserve that which is
/ good and pure in New England character
/ as the habitual reverence which is paid
I to the memory of their ancestors? What
stranger. even to Puritan descent, can hear
that grand hymn of the Pilgrim Fathers,
= I. IL ~ 1