New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-04
OGLETHORPE.
THE FOUNDER OF GEORGIA.
LIFE OF GENERAL OGLETHORPE. BY Henry Bruce.
I6mO DID, 297. DOdd Mead ~ Co

Oglethorpe. Whatever was III that way posslplc
has indeed been done by Wright but so many
guesses and conectures necessarily enter INTO the
most painstalSing work of the kind possible that
perhaps the present biographer has done wisely
10 cast aside frankly all pretence OF telling what
his hero and did, and bestow his lapor upon
a freehand sketch of Oglethorpe's times and the
people who knew him and whom he knew, 10
ncther with such an outline of the principal events
in his busy life may seem TO give broad gen.
eral idea of his claims to honorable remembrance
OF course the founder Of Georgia must have rep
resentation in such a series the Makers oil
America and, moreover, General 0glethorpc
stands alone in history as the one man who nav
ing founded State lived 10 see that State SOW
ereign and independent Tie materials for an
estimate of Oglethorpe are aggravatingly mcagre.
All that survives concerning him tends TO
strcnathen the impression that he was remarkable
in many ways, and principally for his virtues
that he was a man whose bent was so benevolent
and philanthropic thai a detailed account oil MS
life exhibiting his personality at full length, would
he in a peculiar manner interesting ana Whole
some We do not put much weight on ME-
Bruces suggestion that, because johnson ana Bos-
well both had the opportunity 10 pccohe MS
biographers and failed 10 take it, therefore there
was Just a something about General Oglethorpc
that might be called thin or fantasticaL ha'het
700 honId mo inclined 70 consider this suggestion
both thin and fantastcal. for there Is 10 mystery
about the course of johnson ana boswell III the
premises General Oglethorpc was very modest
man. and altogether indisposcd to assist an IN
tending biography. johnson was notoriousS moo
lent and Boswell in his later years cared for ttle
but the bottle which brought him to his grave
General Oglcthorpc. from all that is known OF
him. must have been Singulary interesting
BRIGHT and estimable man. 1t Is certain that
even when past ninety his conversation was ~
o,,rocablc that the best minds found pleasure
in his society. lie gathered about MIN the
kcepe,t intellects of London. and held his own
with the foremost among them. The specimens
of his thought and talk preserved by Boswell in
the Life of Johnson show that lac was man of
cultivation and distinguished abilities He was
above all good man, unsefsh, patriotic simple
and blamcless of life, and all the vlgor oil MS
long career was expended in doing good To others
The ideas which underlay his Georgia enterprise
conclusivey prove his mettlc, and. moreover, III
dicatc that he far IN advance oil MS Time III
all that belongs TO humanitarianism. lie had been
led quite fortuitousY, To investigate inc treat
ment of prisoners confined for debt. great
scandal and exposure of almost incredible outTagc'
rpctrated by runian who farmed one oi Inc
London prisons brought Oelcthorpc to his feet
in the House of Commons. and committee Of
inquiry was appointed. of which he was mem
her. II was then that he conceived the idea Of
opening a refuge and an avenue Of hope for I'M
fortunates who lad been wrecked by debt or had
been crowded 10 the wall by the fury Of compcti-
rton at home 10y placing them upon one Of the
plantations in North America, giving them alloi-
mcnts Of land. and maintaining them until they
were in position 10 support themselves.
This was the genesis of Georgia. II may hc
said that tho immigrant raw material could not
hc of the best quality under such principle of
selection and the objection is a real one, though
il does not carry the consequences which i'll
natured critics usually try 10 assume in all such
cases, 40 doubt many Of the first Georgia col
onsts were poor material enough spcndthrifts.
scapegraccs. incapabeS. who had done nothing bnt
fail. wastrels and oilers who held like the modern
tramp that the world owed them living But
the mass was we'll eayencd with quite another
kind Of men: those who had been overcome by
hard circumstance alone; those whose energies
had been denied room for expansion in the Mother
Country; those who had been pulled down by
surctyship, through no fault of their own beyond
indiscrction; those whose Inherited poverty Grip
pied them but without abating their latent capac
tics. The future OF Georgia proved that General
Oglethorrc's original ragged regiments included
saving percentage Of sound material Perhaps also.
il might he said that the worse side Of his col
onSts came 10 bc represented in the general
volt against the Founders humane regulations.
especially in the capital article of Slavery. Al a
time when Christian England throat deep in
the slave trade, and respectable Bristol pro-
feSsors waXed fat traffic. the conditions OF
which were more inhuman and brutal than AZ
any later period, General OGlethorpc stood up
human flesh. and provided that 1t should never be
admitted into Georgia, for the foundation Of
which State he had Travelled and spent himself
through years Of incessant activity.
The time 10 come, and that speedily when
bis protcges ever tempted by the example and sug
qestion Of their Caronian ncighbDrs were 10 re-
pudate the wholesome restraint put upon them by
the Founder, and 10 fall IN with the Southern
policy OF slavery. General Oc,ethorpe could 10
nothing 10 prevent this and when the War of
Independence occurred, and Georgia with the
rest OF the colonies went their own way OF course
be ceased TO have even the right of rcmonstrnuce
with those over whom and " hose interests he hal
watched so long and Loyalty. II must be said
that neither the old nor the modern Georgia has
shown the fitting degree of gratitude and recog-
milton 10 the Founder. lie has Lad the fate Of
all pioneers; TO be neglected by those for whom
he did the most. Colonies. even when not arrived
at the dignity Of republics cur be ungratcfni,
and republics are proverbially ngrates. Oelc
thorpe however. docs not appear to have com
planned Of his treatment at any time. He had
spent five tOilsome years in fencing ont the men
acing Spanar1s from his tender little colony He
had 80 fortified Frederick that the stOutest armada
the enemy could muster I'm those seas was broken
TO pieces upon the defcnces of the island Ic
had made Savannah town and carried the raw
community over the most pressing dangers both
internal and external And for all this il is not
on record that be ever received much as a
formal vote of thanks. TO him, however. thu
consciousness of having done his duty appar-
entity enough, and when he could do he re-
turned to England and took up HIS oh life there
with undated interest
Beginning his military life by service under
Prince Eugene at that famous siege Of Belgrade