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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 105
were not freeholders there was no obligation resting upon them to per
form military duties. They further insisted that they were prevented
by religious convictions from becoming soldiers, and stated that before
coming to Georgia it had been expressly stipulated that they should be
exempt from such obligations. After mature deliberation, it was agreed
that the Moravians be excused; but this exemption embittered the minds
of the other colonists against them and rendered a further residence in
the province unpleasant. Accordingly, in 1738, some of them, having
first refunded to the authorities all moneys disbursed for them, aban
doned the settlement in Georgia * * * and removed to Pennsyl
vania, * * * where the settlements of Bethlehem and Nazareth pre
serve to this day some of the distinguishing features of this peculiar
people.
According to Bishop Stevens: * Several of the Moravian, ministers
who came to Georgia were men of eminent distinction, Christian Gott-
lieb Spangenberg had been an adjunct professor in the University of
Halle, in Saxony; and after leaving Savannah he went to Europe, where
he was ordained bishop. He returned to America and took entire charge
of the affairs of the brethren in the British Colonies. He was also an
author and wrote the "Life of Count Zinzendorf," besides a number of
religious books. David Nitschman was one of the companions of Wesley
on his visit to Georgia. He rose to be a bishop, and was one of the first
missionaries to the blacks in the Danish West Indies. Peter Beuler also
became a bishop. He was a graduate of the University of Jena and a man
of ripe scholarship. Martin Mack, after leaving Savannah., labored for
years among the Indians in Pennsylvania, and was then made a bishop
and assigned to the Danish West Indies. The Moravians did not remain
long enough in Georgia to fashion the plastic mass; but could they have
aided in moulding the institutions of the Commonwealth, many calamities
might have been avoided and many virtues might have been developed
which would have reflected glory upon Georgia's name.
Steps for protecting the exposed southern frontier of the province
were hastened by a memorial received from South Carolina urging imme
diate action on this line because of irritating transactions with the
Spaniards. The likelihood of an invasion from this quarter had become
alarmingly imminent. Oglethorpe, with the leverage of his wide influ
ence' and great popularity throughout England at this time, induced
Parliament to grant a special sum of £26,000 to be used chiefly in safe
guarding the province. Successful in this endeavor, he next sought
to find settlers of a hardy type for his border outposts on the Altamaha
River. Incident to life on the southern confines of Georgia there were
not only great hardships but dire perils; and for such a settlement as
the one contemplated by Oglethorpe men of sturdy mold, of vigorous
fibre, of proven mettle were needed.
To this end the trustees commissioned Lieut. Hugh Mackay to recruit
among the highlands of Scotland. The well-known Jacobite sympathies
of Oglethorpe were doubtless instrumental in arousing wide-spread in
terest in the proposed scheme of colonization.
Stevens: "History of Georgia," Vol. I.