surances that only freeholders were liable
to military duty. Therefore they had claimed no land as individuals, but
had been content to live, and labor, and be called "servants", paying
each week for men to serve in the night watch, in place of the absent
owners of the two town lots. In Savannah their views were well known,
and to yield to orders from a Magistrate, who openly declared that
promises made by the Trustees, who had put him in office, were not worth
regarding, and who threatened them with mob violence, would have been
to brand themselves as cowards, unworthy members of a Church which
had outlived such dire persecution as that which overthrew the ancient
Unitas Fratrum, and recreant to their own early faith, which had led
them to abandon homes and kindred in Moravia, and seek liberty of
conscience in another kingdom. That Georgia needed armed men to protect
her from the Spaniards was true, but equally so she needed quiet
courage, steady industry, strict honesty, and pious lives to develop her
resources, keep peace with her Indian neighbors, and win the respect of
the world, but these traits were hardly recognized as coin current by
the frightened, jealous men who clamored against the Moravians.

On the 28th, it was demanded that the Moravians help haul wood to the
fort which was being built. They replied that their wagon and oxen were
at the officers' service without hire, and that they would feed the
animals, but personally they could take no share in the work. This
angered the people again, and several of the members began to wonder
whether they might perhaps comply so far as to assist, as a matter of
friendship, in hewing logs for the fort, refusing the wages paid to
others. The lot was tried, and absolutely forbade it, which was well,
for it developed that the people were watching for their answer, having
agreed that if they helped on the fort it would be a proof that they
COULD do what they chose, and were simply hiding behind an excuse in
refusing to fight.

But the tension was not relaxed, and on the 2nd of March, the Moravians
met to decide on their further course. Should they keep quiet, and wait
for times to change, or should they go away? It was referred to the lot,
and the paper drawn read "GO OUT FROM AMONG THEM." This meant not merely
from the city, but from the province, for Mr. Causton had told them that
they would be subject to the same requirements if they were living in
the adjoining count