"
But, although Oglethorpe had many friends, he had also enemies,
some even within the colony he had done so much to serve. There
were those within the colony who wanted rum and wanted slavery and
said that it would never prosper until they were allowed. Oglethorpe,
with all his might, opposed them, so they hated him. Others were
discontented for far better reasons: because they had no share in
the government, and because the land laws were bad.
Oglethorpe, too, had his own troubles, for he had spent so much on
the colony that he was deeply in debt. So, having ruled for twelve
years, he went home, and although be lived to a great old age, he
never returned again to Georgia. At the age of fifty-five he married;
then he settled down to the quiet life of an English gentleman.
Learned men and fine ladies called him friend, poets sang of his
deeds, and the great Samuel Johnson wanted to write his life.
"Heroic, romantic, and full of the old gallantry" to the end,
he lived out his last days in the great manor house of an English
village, and was laid to rest in the peaceful village church in
1785.
"But the Savannah repeats to the Altamaha the story of his virtues
and of his valor, and the Atlantic publishes to the mountains the
greatness of his fame, for all Georgia is his living, speaking
monument."
Oglethorpe was the only one of all the founders of British colonies
in America who lived to see their separation from the mother-country.
Pages:
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370