Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

94 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
extremely critical, when unexpectedly, by a sort of special providence,
the exchequer of the trustees was replenished. Quite a large sum of
money had been realized from the sale of lands in the island of St.
Christopher; and, on motion of Sir Charles Turner, in the House of
Commons, the sum of £10,000 was turned over to the trustees to .
be used by them in settling European Protestants in the colony of
Georgia. On December 15, 1733, a resolution was adopted by the com
mon council offering ,a home in the province to persecuted Salzburgers,
30,000 of whom had been driven from home by the tyranny of Leopold,
and had found temporary asylums in various parts of Europe. These
Salzburgers were to be transported at the charge of the trust. On
arrival in the province, each family was to be given three lots, one for a
residence, one for a garden, and one for a small farm. Moreover, the
trustees agreed to supply them with tools and to furnish them main
tenance from the stores until they could make a crop. Out of this offer
to establish a colony of Salzburgers in Georgia grew the famous settle
ment at Ebenezer, on the Savannah River.
To this gentle religious sect Georgia owes much. They were not
given to martial deeds, but they were law-abiding, industrious and frugal
people, and they have left behind them .an incense of memory which
has sweetened the whole history of the state. The story of how they
came to settle in Georgia may be told in very few words. Says Doctor
Lee: * "In the lovely district of the Tyrol there is to be found an
historic city which the painter Wilkie has described as 'Edinburg Castle
and the Old Town, brought within the cliffs of the Trossachs and watered
by a river like the Tay.' It is the city of Salzburg, on the Salza, famous
as the birth-place of Mozart and as the burial-place of Haydn. Almost
simultaneously with the accession of George II there came to the prin
cipality, of which Salzburg was the capital, a new ruler, who inaugu
rated an era of persecution. The Thirty Years War in Germany had
ended with the complete suppression of Protestantism in Austria. In
quiet nooks, here and there, however, it still lingered on; and Salzburg
was one of these. The rulers of Salzburg were ecclesiastics, and bore
the title of Archbishop. To this class belonged Count Firmian, who,
on coming into power, determined to uproot the heresy which was con
taminating his flock. He put into force all the terrors of the law—fine,
confiscation, imprisonment. "When the suffering people pleaded the
provisions for religious tolerance contained in the treaty of Westphalia,
signed eighty years before, he dubbed them rebels, and borrowed Aus
trian grenadiers to suppress what he was pleased to call a revolt. The
matter then became a national one, and Frederick William of Prussia
espoused the cause of the Salzburgers, Under the provisions of the
treaty of Westphalia, peaceful emigration offered the best solution of
the problem. The Prussian king, Frederick the Great's stern old father,
was the most powerful Protestant ruler in Germany, and he insisted
upon fair treatment for the refugees. Count Firmian was about to
banish them in the winter season, without provisions for the long jour
ney, but he was compelled to comply with the dictates of humanity, and
to allow them a daily dole. The story of the sad departure has been
1 Illustrated History of Methodism/