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Untitled Article
Wright , giving an Account of the Steps taken relative to the converting the Georgia Orphan House into a College , & < : By G . Whitfield , A . M . Late of Pembroke
College , Oxford , and Chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon / ' The motto of this pamphlet , remarkable enough , considering what I am about to quote , is , provide things honest in the sight of all men , The first paper , in order of time is , Mr . Whitfield's Memorial to the
Governor of Georgia , dated Savannah , 18 th Dee . 1764 . He says , that ** about twenty . five years ** g ° * " assisted by charitable contributions , he 44 did erect a commodious house , " &c . cc and that with the repair of the buildings , purchase of Negroes , and supporting a large orphan family for ^ o many years , he had expended
upwards of 12000 & sterling . > ' The Memorialist goes on to state " that a considerable sum of money is intended speedily to be laid out in purchasing a large number of
Negroes for the farther cultivation d the present Orphan House , and prays the Governor in council to grant him in trust 2000 acres of land * * ' These were Ci
immediately granted , ' Letter ^ pp . 25 , 7 , 8 . la the same pamphlet ( p . 3 , ) is JWhitfield ' s Memorial to the King , which must have been presented about 1767 , on his return from
America . The memorialist prays the grant of a charter to convert bis Orphan House into a College , ** by the name of Bethesda College , " for the founding and
support of which > he proposes to Ijive up hh present trust , and make a free gift of all lands , dNegroes , goods * and chattels , * hich lie now stands possessed ot
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in the province of Georgia / ' Tbr follows a correspondence with the Archbishop of Canterbury , for the promotion of his favourite object in which he was , after all , disap pointed , apparently through some
episcopal jealousy . In a letter to the Archbishop , dated , Lpndou July 4 , 1767 , Mr . W . says ' tQ The number of Negroes , young and old , employed on various parts of these lands , in sawing tim . ber , raising rice * for exportation , and corn , with all other kinds of
provision , for the family , is about thirty . Besides these , the college will be immediately possessed of 2000 acres of land , which were granted me by the Governor and
Council ; and 1000 acres more , left , as I am informed , by the late Rev . and worthy Mr . Lub . berbuler . So that by laying out only 1000 / . in purchasing an ad ditional number of Negroes . &c .
the present annual income may , very easily and speedily , be aug . men ted to 1000 Z . per annum /' 1 have sufficiently proved , as I doubt not Mr . Clarkson will , though reluctantly , admit , tbat Whitfield had debarred himself of
the least claim to a place among the forerunners in the cause of the abolition . His scruples in 1739 , appear to have been immediately overcome , and for nearly thirty clas
years after , he continued to s Negroes with goods and chattels . He , probably , amidst his various engagements , had never given much attention to the subject , satisfied with not being a
slavetrader , and with the kind Christian treatment which he secured » those who came into his power-Thus , like Washington , he ro > gn b blind to that sanction , » iniquitous traffic * virtually ff ^
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586 George Whitfield a Slate-Holder .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1811, page 286, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2416/page/30/
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