James Oglethorpe's Early Career
James Oglethorpe was born at Westminster, England, on June 1st, 1689. While
he was yet a babe in the cradle it might have been expected that he would become
a great man, for he came of a family of great people. Six hundred years before
he was born, one of his ancestors, Sheriff Oglethorpe, was a high officer in the
English army and was killed in the famous Battle of Hastings while bravely
fighting for his country against the invader, William the Conqueror. This brave
soldier had many distinguished descendants, the greatest of whom was James
Oglethorpe.
James's father. Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, also was a noted officer in the
English army. He fought with great valor in many battles and rose to the high
rank of Major-General. When he was forty years old, he retired from the army and
settled down in an elegant home in the little country town of Godalming, about
thirty miles from London. He lived in great affluence with his family, and his
children had the best educational advantages that could be obtained in Europe in
that day. James's mother was a Scotch-Irish lady of fine family and of good
education. She was counted one of the cleverest and shrewdest English women of
her day. She was one of the Ladies of the Court to "Good Queen Anne" and was a
leader in society and a power in politics. She was a woman of strong will and no
doubt had great influence in forming the character of her distinguished son.
James grew to be a tall, lithe, handsome youth, quiet mannered, good natured,
and high spirited. Here is a story that illustrates both his good nature and his
high spirits: When a youth of seventeen, while on a visit to Paris, he was
invited to dine in company with a number of distinguished niilitary men. He sat
at the table by the side of the Prince of Wurtemberg, an officer of high rank
and a noted society man. The prince, thinking to have some fun at young
Oglethorpe's expense, by a dexterous twirl of his glass flipped some drops of
wine into his face. The prank was noticed by the company, and a smile went round
the table. Young Oglethorpe did not relish being made a butt of ridicule, even
by so great a man as the Prince of Wurtemberg, but he kept his temper. With a
smile on his lips he said, in polite French, "Well done, prince; but we do it
even better than that in England," whereupon he dashed a whole glass of wine
full into the prince's face. The prince flushed with rage and it looked as if
the affair would end in a serious difficulty, but an old officer on the other
side of the table quickly exclaimed, "Come now, prince, don't get angry; it was
rightly done by the youngster; yon started it!" Then the prince joined the
others in a hearty laugh and the incident passed off pleasantly.
Oglethorpe was educated at a military school, and before he was twenty he joined
the English army. He served with the rank of ensign under the great Duke of
Marlborough in The Duke of Marlborough,
the Flanders War. After the war was over, he withdrew from the army and attended
college for a year or two, but he was a born soldier and did not like the "weak,
piping times of peace." As England had no wars to fight at that time, he went
over to the Continent and joined the Austrian army, which was then engaged in a
war with the Turks. The leader of the Austrian army was Prince Eugene of Savoy,
the most
brilhant soldier of his day. He was a small man but a great general, "a bright
little soul with a flash in him as of heaven's own lightning," as Carlyle, the
famous English writer, said of him. Prince Eugene took a very decided liking to
}oung Oglethorpe and Prince Eugene of Savoy. made him his aide-de-camp, with the
rank of Captain. By the side of this "bright little soul with a flash in him as
of heaven's own lightning," Oglethorpe thoroughly learned the soldier's trade
and fought with dashing valor in many desperate battles. These were his romantic
days, and he always loved to talk about them. When he was an old, old man,
nearly a hundred years old, he would charm brilliant company with his vivid
descriptions of the battles in which he had fought by the side of Prince Eugene.
When the Turkish war was over, he returned to England and settled down to ways
of peace. His father and elder brothers died, and he inherited the family
estates. He was now a very rich man, but he lived a simple and sober life. He
was elected to Parliament and served as a member for many years. While he was in
Parliament, an event occurred that The Houses of Parliament, turned his
attention toward America and caused him to become the founder of Georgia. This
is how it happened:
There was a cruel law in England at that time by which a person in debt might be
thrown into prison by his creditors and kept there until his debts were somehow
paid. Many poor, unfortunate people, innocent of any crime, languished in these
debtors' pris'ons. Oglethorpe had a dear friend, a Mr. Robert Castell, who was a
scholar and an artist. He wrote a fine book on architecture, which he
illustrated with splendid pictures drawn by. his own hand. He was so much taken
up with writing the book that he neglected his business affairs, and when the
book was published instead of making money for him it brought him heavily in
debt, and he was condemned to be cast into the debtors' prison. In the prison to
which he was assigned, smallpox was at that time raging, and he had never had
the disease. He begged the prison keeper, a heartless wretch by the name of
Bambridge, to let him lie in the common jail until the prison should be freed of
the smallpox or until his friends could arrange to pay his debts for him, which
he was sure would be done in the course of a few months. Bambridge agreed to do
so if Castell would pay him down in cash a certain sum of money as a bribe, but
poor Castell bad not the money, so he was thrown into the small-pox-infested
prison, where he soon contracted the disease; and after a few days' suffering he
died an awful death, leaving his wife and little children poverty stricken and
helpless.
When Oglethorpe heard of this outrage his blood boiled with indignation. He at
once introduced a bill in Parliament to have a committee appointed to examine
the prisons of England and bring about a reform in their management. The bill
was passed, Oglethorpe was made Chairman of the Committee, and, with the other
members, he spent several months visiting the prisons. He found in them many
practices of shocking cruelty, all of which were immediately abolished.
II. Oglethorpe's Georgia colony enterprise. If Oglethorpe had done nothing more
than bring about this reform, he would deserve the lasting gratitude of
humanity, but he did not stop at this. While visiting the prisons his sympathies
were deeply aroused for the poor debtors whom he found languishing behind iron
bars, though innocent of any crime. He determined to try to do something to help
them out of their sad condition. By his earnest appeals he got Parliament to
pass a law by which they might be set free, provided they would agree to go to
America and establish there for England a new colony on a broad strip of
unsettled country already claimed by her, south of the Savannah River. It lay
next to Florida, which then belonged to Spain and had been colonized by her. The
Spaniards were at that time one of the most pow^erful and warlike nations in the
world, and in their hearts they were very hostile to the English, although not
openly at war with them. The Spanish soldiers were bold, skillful, and
heartless; so much so that some one said of them, *'A Spanish soldier is a
machine of steel with the devil inside of it!"
Fortunately for Oglethorpe's enterprise, King George II of England was anxious
to plant colonies in his unoccupied possessions south of the Savannah River as a
protection for South Carolina against the bold and unscrupulous Spaniards of
Florida. So he gladly granted to Oglethorpe "for the use of debtors and other
poor persons" all the country between the Savannah and the Altamaha Rivers, and
as far westward as they might choose to go. This strip of country was named
Georgia in honor of King George. A Board of Trustees, consisting of thirty-six
members, among whom were some of the most distinguished men in England, was
appointed by the King to have entire charge of planting, establishing, and
governing the new colony. They were to serve without pay or compensation of any
sort. It must be purely a labor of love with them. The good and great Lord
Perceval was president of the Board, and Oglethorpe was one of the members. The
Trustees set about raising money to pay the cost of establishing the colony, for
the poor people who were to go were not able to pay any part of their own
expenses. Parliament made quite a liberal appropriation for the purpose, and a
larger amount still was raised by public subscription from benevolent people in
all parts of England. Altogether, the Trustees soon had in hand $150,000, which
was sufficient to establish a small colony.
At one of the meetings of the Trustees it was suggested that some member of the
Board, a man of education and ability, should go over to America with the first
colonists as their Governor and live in Georgia with them until they were well
and thoroughly established. Oglethorpe nobly volunteered to go, and the Trustees
were delighted. In undertaking this trying service, Oglethorpe would have to
give up his luxurious home, the pleasures of refined society, and the splendid
public career that was fast opening to him in England and would have to endure
untold hardships, privations, and dangers; and from it all he had nothing, in a
worldly sense, to gain for himself. The Trustees had chosen as the official seal
of the Board a group of silk worms spinning their cocoons and, written
underneath, the noble motto, "Non sibi sed aliis!"* "Not for themselves but for
others !" As those of you who have studied Latin know, the word sibi may also be
correctly translated himself. The motto truly expressed the spirit of Oglethorpe
in volunteering to go on this trying expedition, "Noji sibi sed aliis!" "Not for
himself but for others !" He was at this time forty-three years old and was yet
unmarried. So far as we know, he had never had a sweetheart. Perhaps he was so
busy that he had never had time to fall in love !
When it was known that the great and good Oglethorpe himself would accompany the
expedition, hundreds and hundreds of poor people, debtors and others, were
anxious to go, but only a few could be taken. Out of the hundreds of applicants,
the Trustees carefully selected forty strong, healthy men of good morals and
with small families. All together, men, women, and children, the party consisted
of one hundred and twenty souls. Many poor wretches who begged to go had to be
turned away with tears in their eyes and bitter disappointment in their hearts.
The good ship Anne, a sailing vessel of two hundred tons burden, was chartered
to take the emigrants across the ocean to America. In her hold, as she lay
moored to the wharf at Gravesend, were stored provisions and all kinds of tools
and implements for the journey and for getting the colony well established in
Georgia. Everything was then ready for the voyage.
* The original of this famous seal is in the British Museum, London. A few years
ago a wax impression of it was obtained from the curator of the Museum by the
Oglethorpe Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, at Columbus. It is the
only copy extant in America.
Back to: Georgia History Stories
Notes About Publication:
Source: Georgia History Stories, by J. Harris Chappell, Ph.D., published 1905,
by Silver, Burdett And Company.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
