heir indolence and improvidence
these dissatisfied ones had brought upon themselves the chief of
the evils which they suffered. Their allegations, therefore, were
unreasonable, and the disposition which dictated them criminally
ungrateful. But Oglethorpe, instead of reproaching the discontented
for their ingratitude, and the murmurers for their unkind imputations,
stifled his own justifiable feelings of displeasure, in the hope that
such forbearance would refute the injustice of theirs. Well might the
poet exclaim:

"What magnanimity!--May ne'er again
Unkind returns thy generous ardor chill,
Nor causeless censure give thy bosom pain,
Nor thankless hearts reward thy good with ill!

"But honoring gratitude its column raise,
To bear inscriptions of deserved praise;
And when through age the record is obscure,
A nobler let posterity procure."

CHAPTER XIII.

Oglethorpe goes to Charlestown, South Carolina, to open his
Commission--Comes back to Savannah--Gives encouragement to the
Planters--Returns to Frederica--Excursion to Coweta--Forms a Treaty
with the Upper Creeks--Receives at Augusta a delegation of the
Chickasaws and Cherokees, who complain of having been poisoned by the
Traders--On his return to Savannah is informed of Spanish aggressions,
and is authorized to make reprisals.

As Oglethorpe was appointed General and Commander in Chief of the
military forces in South Carolina, as well as Georgia, he deemed it
proper to pay a visit to Charlestown, in order to have this assigned
rank duly notified to the Governor and people of the Province. He,
therefore, set out for that metropolis on the 10th of March, 1739;
arrived on the 15th, and, on the 3d of April, had his commission
opened and read in the Assembly. In reference to the exercise of
the authority which it conferred, some regulations in the military
establishment were adopted. On the 11th he returned to Savannah. To
encourage the industry of the planters, he proposed to those who would
persevere in doing what they could in the culture of their lands,
"a bounty of two shillings per bushel for all Indian corn, and one
shilling per bushel for all potatoes, which they should raise over and
above what the produce could be sold for after the next harvest[1]."

[Footnote 1: STEPHENS, I. 460.]

On the 18th he went to Frederica; but was obliged, in the summer, to
renew his visit to Savannah; and, on the evening of the 10th of Ju