to practise law there in
1880, and afterward served as reporter of the State Supreme Court.
He died in 1895.

OGLETHORPE IN GEORGIA

(1733)

BY JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS[1]

General James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of the Colony of Georgia,
was among the few really good and great men that history tells us of.
We need to keep a close eye on the antics of history. She places the
laurels of fame in the hands of butchers, plunderers, and adventurers,
and even assassins share her favors; so that, if we are going to enjoy
the feast that history offers us, we must not inquire too closely into
the characters of the men whom she makes heroes of. We find, when we
come to look into the matter, that but few of those who figured as the
great men of the world have been entirely unselfish; and unselfishness
is the test of a man who is really good and great. Judged by this test,
General Oglethorpe stands among the greatest men known to history....

Born in 1689, Oglethorpe entered the English army when twenty-one years
of age. In 1714 he became captain-lieutenant of the first troop of the
Queen's life guards. He shortly afterward joined Eugene on the
continent, and remained with that soldier until the peace of 1718. On
the death of his brother he succeeded to the family estate in England.
In 1722 he was elected to Parliament from Haslemere, County of Surrey,
and this borough he represented continuously for thirty-two years. His
parliamentary career was marked by wise prudence and consistency; and
his sympathies were warmly enlisted for the relief of unfortunate
soldiers, and in securing reform in the conduct of prisons. In this way
Oglethorpe became a philanthropist, and, without intending it,
attracted the attention of all England. Pope, the poet, eulogizes his
"strong benevolence of soul."

In that day and time men were imprisoned for debt in England. The law
was brutal, and those who executed it were cruel. There was no
discrimination between fraud and misfortune. The man who was unable to
pay his debts was judged to be as criminal as the man who, though able,
refused to pay....

This condition of affairs Oglethorpe set himself to reform; and while
thus engaged he became imprest with the idea that many of the
unfortunates, guilty of no crime, and of respectable connections, might
benefit themselves, relieve England of the shame of their imprisonment,
and confirm and extend the dominion of the mother country i