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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 101
But Oglethorpe did not return to England unaccompanied. His
companions, on this eventful voyage, were: Tomo-ehi-chi, the aged chief
of the Yamacraws, his wife, Scenawki, and his adopted son and nephew,
Toonahowi. The party of Indians also included Hilli-spilli, war chief
of the Lower Creeks, four other chiefs of this nation and one chief .of
the Uchees, from Palachocolas, besides an interpreter and other attend
ants. Tomo-chi-chi, despite his advanced age, was eager .to behold the
marvels of England-.>he, therefore, gladly accepted Oglethorpe's invita
tion. He wished to learn more of England's greatness, to acquire new
ideas for himself, and to obtain instructors to teach his people' the Eng
lish language and religion.
The voyage lasted seventy days. But the passage of the Atlantic
was made without serious mishap. Leaving the Indians at his estate, he
proceeded at once to London where he was greeted with most unusual
honors. On the evening of June 21, 1734, a formal reception was ten
dered him and at this time he presented to the' trustees a narrative of
Georgia's progress. Oglethorpe's return was heralded throughout the
kingdom; his philanthropy, his patriotism, his self-sacrifice, his altru
ism, his shining catalogue of Christian virtues, these were all extolled.
It was at this time that Alexander Pope, in a glowing couplet, praised his
"strong benevolence of soul;"
adding these lines:
'' Thy great example shall through ages shine,
A favorite theme with poet and divine;
To all unborn thy merits shall proclaim,
And add new honors to thy deathless name."
Thomson, in his "Seasons," thus speaks of Oglethorpe the humani
tarian :
"And here can I forget the generous hand
That, touched with human woe, redressive searched
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail?
Unpitied and unheard, where misery mourns;
Where sickness pines; where thirst and hunger burn,
And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice.
This same gifted author in his "Ode to Liberty" says of Oglethorpe's
colony in America:
"Lo, swarming southward, on rejoicing suns
Gay colonies extend; the calm retreat
Of undeserved distress; the better home
Of those whom Bigots chase from foreign lands;
Not built on Rapine, Servitude, and Woe,
And, in their turn, some petty tyrant's prey;
But, bound by social freedom, firm they rise,
Such as of late an Oglethorpe has formed,
And crowding round the charmed Savannah sees.''
Such adulation was seldom if ever known. But Oglethorpe's honors
were not unshared by Tomo-chi-chi, the aged mico, to whom an ode with
eleven stanzas was composed. Since we cannot reproduce this poem in
full, we cull therefrom the following lines: