le--men, women, and children--employed and used as slaves. From
the very first, many of the Georgia colonists were anxious to introduce
negro slaves, but the trustees firmly refused to allow it. There was a
strong party in favor of introducing negroes, and those who opposed
the movement presently found themselves in a very small and unpopular
minority. By 1748 the excitement over the question had grown so great,
that those colonists who were opposed to negro slavery were compelled to
abandon their position. Rev. Mr. Whitefield, the eloquent preacher, had
already bought and placed negro slaves at his Orphan House at Bethesda,
near Savannah. The colonists had also treated this part of the charter
with contempt. They pretended to hire negroes' homes in South Carolina
for a hundred years, or during life. They paid the "hire" in advance,
the sum being the full value of the slaves. Finally negroes were
bought openly from traders in Savannah. Some of them were seized; but
a majority of the magistrates were in favor of the introduction of
negroes, and they were able to postpone legal decisions from time to
time.

Rev. George Whitefield, whose wonderful eloquence has made his name
famous, and Hon. James Habersham, had great influence with the trustees;
and it was mainly due to their efforts that the colonists were legally
allowed to purchase and use negro slaves. Mr. Habersham affirmed that
the Colony could not prosper without slave labor. Rev. Mr. Whitefield,
on the other hand, was in favor of negro slavery on the broad ground of
philanthropy. He boldly declared that it would be of great advantage
to the African to be brought from his barbarous surroundings and placed
among civilized Christians. When we remember what has happened, who
can deny that the remark of the eloquent preacher was not more to the
purpose, and nearer to the truth, than some of the modern statements
about American slavery? What really happened (as any one may discover by
looking into impartial history) was, that thousands of negroes who had
been captured in battle, and made slaves of in their own country,
were taken from that dark land and brought into the light of Christian
civilization. Their condition, mentally and morally, was so improved,
that, in little more than a century after White-field made his
statement, the government of the United States ventured to make citizens
of them. The contrast between their condition and that of the negroes
who remain