Page:The Rise of American Civilization (Volume 1).djvu/90

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
78
THE RISE OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

lots, none more than five hundred acres in size, and wine and silk were to be produced as staples. To all except Catholics the doors were to be open and the Indians were to be converted to Christianity. Slavery was forbidden because the trustees did not want to create a province "void of white inhabitants, filled with blacks, the precarious property of a few." The sale of rum was prohibited in the interest of industry and good order.

In these circumstances Georgia soon attracted a polyglot population, including Jews from many parts of Europe, Salzburgers from the valleys of the eastern Alps, Moravians led by Count Zinzendorf, Highlanders under John McLeod of Skye, as well as Englishmen of all sorts and conditions. Missionaries came to nourish the spiritual life of the colony: John and Charles Wesley for a time toiled in that curious vineyard; Whitefield and Habersham stormed the sinners with prayers and sermons.

In view of all this diversity, it is not surprising that Georgia early became the scene of domestic strife. Charles Wesley quarreled with Oglethorpe and was sent home, ostensibly as the bearer of dispatches. John Wesley, after betraying a strange indiscretion in an affair of the heart, "shook the dust of Georgia off his feet" in time to escape the consequences of a suit filed by the husband of the lady in the case. The rank and file of colonists also made trouble for the administration by demanding rum and slaves and then more liberty in disposing of their lands.

On the point of rum, the trustees finally had to yield at the end of ten years. In a short time the pressure for slavery also became irresistible. Both Whitefield and Habersham made powerful pleas in favor of the institution on the ground that it would advance the propaganda of the gospel of Jesus. "Many of the poor slaves in America," exclaimed the latter, "have already been made freemen of the heavenly Jerusalem." Seeking advice from their spiritual guides in Germany, the Salzburgers were gratified to hear that "if you take slaves in faith and with the intent