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Anonymous letter to Oglethorpe

Source: A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia in America #173

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From 1741 A True and Historical Narrative
edited by Amy

ANONYMOUS LETTER SENT TO OGLETHORPE WITH THE FREEHOLDERS REPRESENTATION
To the Honorable James Oglethorpe, Esq; General and Commander in Chief over all His Majesty's Forces in South-Carolina and Georgia, &c. — at Frederica.

SIR,

Higher people can be blinded by flattery and should listen carefully for hard truths
IT is the common Misfortune of all who act in the higher Stations of Life to be surrounded with Flatterers who consult the Humors, Passions, and Prejudices of their Patrons rather than their Honor and Interest. This should induce every Person in such Station who regards his own Honor, Interest, or Fame to lend an open and attentive Ear to Truth in whatever Shape or from whatever Hand delivered.

I am a straight-shooter, and you will appreciate my sincerity
I use this Freedom with Your Excellency as an anonymous Author. I have no Bias, Motive, or Interest other than as a Member of the Colony and a Well-wisher to the Happiness of Society. That being said, I do have a real and sincere Regard to your Honor and Welfare and an earnest Desire to restore you to that peace of Mind and the now suspended Affections of the People which the present State of Affairs must necessarily deprive you of. Therefore, it doesn’t matter who is writing; only what is written. I am, Sir, a Plain-Dealer. With the greatest respect, I shall treat you with more Sincerity than Ceremony, and if my Arguments can attain the desired Effect, I have no doubt you will think me a real friend to you and the Colony.

A cure requires finding the cause
When a skillful Physician wants to cure his Patient of a Disease, he traces it from the Beginning and examines the Sources and Progress of it. By finding the Cause, he may more confidently apply a Remedy. The same Process is necessary to effect a Cure in the Body Politick. The present languishing and almost desperate Condition of the Affairs of this Province is too obvious to your Excellency to need a Description. Be pleased then, laying aside Prepossession and Prejudice, to retire unto yourself, and examine impartially where the present Misfortunes originated.

Let’s review the original intent of the colony
To that end, let me present your Excellency with a View of the Nation's Intents in Establishing this Colony. Indeed, they were and are Nothing unsuitable to a British or Roman Spirit:
1. Establish a strong and populous Settlement as a Barrier and Safeguard of British America.
2. Achieve that end by employing those Persons who were least useful at Home, and by recruiting volunteers from the Reasonableness of the Proposals.
3. Restore Liberty and Happiness to those groaning under the common Misfortunes of Mankind and unable to serve themselves or Country at Home.
4. Establish new Manufactures to support the Colony and rectify the Balance of Trade of Great Britain with neighboring Nations.

The design was truly noble, and it would be wrong to suggest selfish motives
A Design truly great, founded on purely just policy and practicable. It would be impious to suggest the colony’s design contained any ulterior motive to make the Adventurers Slaves or Tenants at Will, or that it was a conspiracy to satisfy the Ambition or Covetousness of an after Governor or any particular Courtier or Party by exploiting the Industry and Substance of the Settlers, or to imagine that the Honorable Board of Trustees, or any of them, could be capable of such a conspiracy.

God Forbid this noble design should rob its recipients and designer of their expected return
Is it any wonder if many people were encouraged by his Majesty's most ample Rights and Privileges granted in his Royal Charter to the Honorable Trustees? People were enticed by grants on Behalf of the Inhabitants, the beautiful Description of Fertile Soil and Happy Climate, a view that Mr. Oglethorpe, a Gentleman of the greatest Humanity and Generosity, was willing to sacrifice his Ease, and all those Pleasures and Enjoyments which his easy Circumstances of Life entitled him to, in order to be the Patron and Father of the Distressed and the distinguished Friend of his Country, Society, and Humane Nature. I say, Sir, no Wonder if those Views inspired multitudes to embark their Persons, Families, and Fates in such an Adventure. Shall anything then intervene to render such a noble Design abortive and frustrate those of their expected Happiness, or your Excellency of your deserved Honor? GOD FORBID!

The impossibility of white people farming here has been proven by both dependent and independent farmers
This Colony consists of two Sorts of People: those whom the Public sent over and supported, and volunteers who were not burthensome to the Public (people who settled in Georgia at their own Expense.) I now look upon both in the same Light because either Party has exhausted their Support or private Stocks in endeavoring to prosecute the intended Plan. But it shall suffice for my Argument that enough of each Kind have applied themselves to this Purpose to confirm the Experiment, that it is impossible for us with British or Foreign Servants to afford the lowest Necessaries of Life, much less to increase our Stocks, or defray the many Exigencies and Disappointments that this Soil and Climate are inevitably exposed to. This I take to be granted and wish to God the Success of the Colony depended on the Laying the most satisfying Proof of it! And as for Persons who, from selfish Views, have imposed upon the Credulity of the Honorable Trustees by representing Things in Colors distant from Truth, it is superfluous to curse them.

When and if an easier manufacture is found, I will fully support the current constitution
I am sure that in Time, Manufactures may be established that are more suitable to the Strength and Constitution of British Servants, and that might support and enrich the Colony. I heartily pray for that happy Period. At that point, I would condemn and dissent from any who would not be content with the present Regulation. In the meantime, Production of Necessaries is absolutely necessary yet impracticable under the present Establishment.

A failed experiment is nothing to be ashamed of, but continuing despite failure is
It follows, of Course, that either the Scheme must be altered or the Design abandoned. At the first it was a Trial, now it is an Experiment, and certainly no Man or Society need be ashamed to admit that unforeseen Emergencies disproved their Hypothesis. And no Person of Judgment would censure for lack of Success where the Proposal was probable. But all the World would exclaim against that Person or Society who, through mistaken Notions of Honor or Positiveness of Temper, would persist in pushing an Experiment contrary to all Probability to the Ruin of the Adventurers.

The only way to fix the experiment is to admit negroes so we can have local trade
I don’t know how many Methods may be discovered by the Wisdom of the Trustees for Remedying this Inconvenience. One only occurs to me, which is the Admitting a certain Number of Negroes sufficient to ease the white Servants from those Labors that are most fatal to a British constitution. I am very aware of the problems of an unlimited Use of them in a Frontier Colony, but I am just as aware that those problems may be prevented by prudent Regulations. The admission of negroes for executing the more laborious Parts of farming could attract white Servants who would otherwise flee this place as a Purgatory or Charnel-House. They know our Toil is not capable of producing mere Necessaries by Cultivation of Land, much less by Trade. Because all the neighboring Colonies with Negroes perform all Branches of farming at a sixth of the Expense we can, they would forever preclude us of any profit.

Suppose the colony got a perpetual subsidy to make up for no negroes?
And supposing what cannot be admitted, that the Nation would consent to give a perpetual Fund for making up all those Deficiencies. What Benefit could ever accrue to the Nation? Or to the Settlers, but a present bare Sustenance? What about the inevitable future generations Orphans left to the Care of Providence, since no Period of Time can be affixed when such a Support would enable us to provide for ourselves?

Land titles are needed to procure credit
A second Reason which disables us to improve either by Land or Trade is our lack of Credit. You know very well, that both the mercantile and mechanic segments of mankind live more by Credit than Stock. The Man who has a probable Scheme of improving Credit is naturally entitled to it. As we have no more Stock to dispense, either in Cultivation or Trade, we are reduced to need the Support of Credit, which the present Restrictions of our legal Rights and Titles to our Land deprive us of. Indeed, the Trustees have assured us that those and other Restrictions are only Temporary and for the Welfare of the first Settlement until a proper Body of Laws, which was upon the Carpet, can be perfected. I am far from disputing the Reasonableness of that Resolution as long as public Support or private Stocks kept us from needing Credit. But that now the Case is altered, it is Necessary to Remove those Restrictions to preserve the remains of the Colony not yet dissolved. It is far too late for the hundreds whom Necessity has dispersed in other Corners of the World. This is a Truth, Sir, too obvious to need further Enlargement.

The king gave us land titles in the charter; you need to give us what is ours
Hence it is clear, we can insist on demanding our Privileges as British Subjects from the Trustees’ Promises, but we likewise claim them as Law, Justice, and Property. Your Excellency was pleased in the Court-House of Savannah to use a Comparison to satisfy the Minds of the People, of a Man who would lend his Horse but not his Saddle, which one refusing another accepted of. This, I humbly think, in no Way meets the Case. The King's Majesty was Owner both of Horse and Saddle, of Lands and Rights, and gave us both in his Charter. We ask only what is given to us in that charter. Reliance on public Faith brought us to this Colony. To try to obviate or disappoint the Effects of those Promises which tempted us here would justify the Decoying us to Misery under the Sanction of the Royal Authority. Nothing could be more injurious to the Fountain of Honor.

Some losers might squander their free property, but still the colony will thrive
I suppose that if full and ample Rights were given, some idle Persons who had no Judgment to value or Inclination to improve their Properties, no Affections for their Families or Relations, might dispose of their Rights for a Glass of Rum; but I absolutely deny that the Colony could lose by such an Exchange. I admit such Persons would be much safer confined than free. But where the Affection of the Parent and the Reason of the Man die, the Person is a fitter Inhabitant for Moorfields than Georgia.

What will become of our children?
I must further point out that not only are Parents incapable for lack of Credit to provide for themselves, being forced to dispose of their Servants for lack of Provisions, but if they could provide for themselves, only their eldest Son could reap the Benefit. Their younger Children, however numerous, are left to be fed by Him who feeds the Ravens; and if they have no Children, their Labor and Substance descends to Strangers. How, Sir, could you or any free-born Spirit brook such a Tenor? Are not our younger Children and Daughters equally entitled to our Bowels and Affections? And does human Nature end with our First-born and not extend itself to the Rest of our Progeny and more distant Relations? And is it not inverting the Order of Nature that the eldest Son would not only enjoy a double Portion, but even exclude all the younger Children? And having an Interest independent of the Parents, how natural is it for him to withdraw that Obedience and Subjection which proceeds from paternal Authority and filial Dependence!

The nation will not tolerate short-changing us who are risking our lives on the frontier
The Trustees are but a Channel to convey to us the King's Rights. They cannot in Law or Equity, and I dare say, will not short-change those Rights. Can we suppose that we are singled out for a State of Misery and Servitude, and that so many Honorable Personages are Instruments of it? Far be the Thoughts from us! The Genius of the British Nation, so remarkably zealous for Liberty and the Rights of Mankind, will never foresake British Subjects who have not fled their Country for Crimes, but voluntarily proffered their Service and risked their ALL upon the Confidence of the Public Faith and the Trustees’ Honor to accomplish a Settlement upon the most dangerous Point of his Majesty's Dominions. I say, the nation will never allow such subjects to be deprived of public Promises of the natural Liberties of British Subjects. As we are on a Frontier where our Lives and Fortunes may more frequently come into dispute than other People's, our Privileges and Supports should be proportionately greater; for who would venture his Life to secure no Property, or fight to secure to himself Poverty and Misery? And no doubt our cunning and vigilant Adversaries, the French and Spaniards, would know how to make their own Advantage.

The regiment is great, but the colony can’t support them
The King ‘has been very gracious, and your Endeavors generous and useful in procuring a Regiment for our Protection. But let me add a Truth equally certain, that only the Flourishing of the Colony can support that Regiment. Not only the Support of the Soldiers, but your own Honor, Glory and Reputation are intermixed with the Fate of the Colony, and must stand or fall with it.

Let’s consider the consequences if you refuse the demands in the Representation
To come closer to the Point, please to consider the Consequences of Refusing the Representation of the Colony, whereof your Excellency as one of the Honorable Board will be furnished with a Copy, and how these Consequences may affect the Colony, the Nation, the Trustees, the Military Establishment in this Province, the Indians, and Your Excellency.

Deferring the solution has devastated the colony
As to the COLONY, deferring the necessary Relief has already too tragically affected it by dispersing a great Part of the Inhabitants. The Remainder languishing here are supported more with faint Hopes and a continued Reliance on the Honor of the Nation and Trustees than with victuals. Meanwhile, lack and famine guard the Door of many and render them equally unable to stay or go. The Town, so beautifully situated to the Honor of the Contriver, bears the most visible Signs of Decay and Mortality before it is fully born. The once-cultivated Plantations, now over-grown with Weeds and Brush, are so many epitaphs of such and such Persons and Families! I wish it was possible to draw a Veil over this tragic Scene!

Dissolving the colony will result in a public lawsuit
But, Sir, our Case is more clamant than a thousand Tongues and will reach the Ears and pierce the Hearts of every TRUE BRITON. If this is the Effects of Delay, what will the total Dissolution of the Colony produce? Such a crowd of miserable People, Orphans, and Suppliants will be heard by the Justice of the Nation. If the cause appears to be the adherence to an impracticable Scheme and refusing the obvious Means that would enable the proposed End, or withholding those just Rights which we are entitled to, we will have the right to recover Damages from the Authors of our Miseries. In all Places where Settlements were attempted by the English and found untenable, the Settlers were taken Home at public expense, their Losses recompensed, and they were made useful to the Community in some other way. We are not allowed to do for ourselves here or elsewhere.

The nation will have lost tons of money only to enlightened our enemies of the Bahama channel
As to the second Point, how the NATION would be affected by it, it is first obvious That all the noble Ends and Advantages they proposed are lost, and Sums of Money expended to no Purpose except to inform the French and Spaniards of the Importance of a Pass which they will not fail to possess. It was impossible to make a second Settlement upon the present Plan, and if it is to be altered in anyone's favor, why not ours who have risked and spent our all in the Adventure? 
The Trustees will survive an investigation, but their reputations won’t
How the TRUSTEES may be affected by it in all Respects I shall not say. I don’t doubt they could entirely satisfy a parliamentary inquiry into their Management. But all good Men will regret that so Honorable a Body should lose that Glory and Fame which the prosperous Success of the Colony would have crowned them with.

The regiment would not survive without the colony
I have formerly asserted that only the flourishing State of the Colony can support the MILITARY. Indeed, without a Colony, it would be easier to maintain a garrison in Tangier on the Coast of Africa than in the South of Georgia. One Regiment would hardly suffice to withstand the Enemy, and yet so small a Handful may be reduced to Discontent, Straits, and lack, notwithstanding all the Bounty of a King or Prudence of a General.

The Indians would lose respect for us and we’d lose a lot of good trade with them
As to the INDIANS, what could we expect less than being scorned and despised? That they should immediately fall in with the tempting Proffers of the French and Spaniards, and so Great Britain cut off from that valuable Branch of the Indians’ Trade? For how indeed could they expect Execution of Treaties or Protection from People who, without the Force of any Enemy, could not preserve their own Schemes of Government from falling to Pieces?

You, Oglethorpe, would be a disappointment to yourself and the world
How the Tragedy must affect YOUR EXCELLENCY would be Presumption in me to determine. I only know that to see Those you honor with the name of “Children” in Want and Misery, that Settlement which should have perpetuated your Name to Posterity with the greatest Honor, become the Foil of all your great Undertakings, and the Expectations of all the World from your promising Endeavors setting in a Cloud and Obscurity, must affect Your Excellency in a Way suitable to your human and generous Disposition.

We will still love you if you treat us right
Sir, We still love, honor and respect you, (despite whatever low selfish minded Persons, the Bane of Society, may surmise to the contrary) and will continue to do so as long as we can have any Hopes of your pursuing Measures consistent with our Prosperity. But Sir, Smiles cannot be expected amidst Disappointments and Wants, and there is no altering the Course of Nature. Love and Gratitude are the Tribute of Favors and Protection, and Resentment the Consequence of Injuries received. In Disappointments of this Nature much more reasonably than in those of Love, do the contrary Passions take Place in the same Degree.

Do what we ask, and we’ll be loyal forever
What then remains except that you embrace those obvious Measures that will retrieve our desperate Affairs? Restore to us, in Mr. Oglethorpe, our Father and Protector, whose Honor and Affection was depended upon. Secure to yourself a Society that love and honors you, and who will always be ready to sacrifice both Life and Fortune to your Honor and Protection, and your Name with Blessings will be perpetuated. If in this I have by a sincere and well-meant Freedom given Offence, I heartily ask Pardon. None was intended. And I only request that, while Truth keeps the Stage, the Author may be allowed to remain incognito behind the Scenes.

I am, SIR, Your, &c. The PLAIN-DEALER.