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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 165
William Stephens was the son of an English baronet and was born
on the Isle of Wight in 1671. After receiving his diploma from King's
College, Oxford, he was admitted to the Middle Temple. In 1736 he
came to South Carolina to survey a barony; and while in that province
he chanced to meet General Oglethorpe, who was frequently a visitor
in Charleston. At the latter's invitation he removed to Georgia in
1737 to become resident secretary of the trustees. Sixty-seven years of
age at this time, he was quite an old man when made secretary; and
on assuming official responsibilities as president of Georgia he was in
his seventieth year. The journal which he kept during his residence
in the province is the chief source from which most of our information
concerning Georgia's early colonial life has been derived. This work,
entitled a "Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia," was published in
London in 1742, in three volumes. It has recently been reproduced in
the Colonial Records of Georgia.* The infirmities of age necessitated
his relinquishment of the office of president in 1751; but he continued
to live for two years longer, dying in 1753, at the age of eighty-two.
Thomas Stephens, his son, published in 1742 a biographical work which
he called "The Castle Builders, or the History of William Stephens,"
a second edition of which appeared in 1757.
Following the Spanish wars an impoverished condition of affairs was
presented by the province. The Scotch settlement at Darien was almost
completely extinguished. Most of the stalwart Highlanders had fallen
in the protection of Georgia's exposed frontier, some of them under the
walls of St. Augustine. Frederica had likewise received a blow from
which it was destined never to recover. There was little recuperative
energy in the province, due to some of the stringent laws under which
Georgia was governed. Estates in tail had not proven a success. The
ban against an importation of slaves had prevented Georgia from -keep
ing apace with other colonies. The culture of silk-worms had proven a
failure, nor had the growing of grapes been a source of profit. There
had been no immigration of new settlers into the province for some
time, due to various causes, among them (1) a waning interest in the
colony on the part of the British public, shared in some measure even
by the trustees; (2) a demoralized condition of affairs caused by Caus-
ton's irregularities; and (3) an ever-present dread of the Spaniards,
who had sworn to extinguish Georgia; (4) malarial fevers;,and (5)
ill-advised rules of the trustees relative to land tenure, slavery, and rum.
Consequently, the administration of President Stephens was couched
-upon troublous times. It was a period of great unrest, of widespread
destitution, of deep-seated complaint, of demoralized social, industrial,
and business conditions. Nor was it in any wise the fault of this high-
minded and upright old man who, under circumstances of a most trying
nature, was unflinchingly true to his trust. If he was to be criticized
at all, it was for not acquainting the trustees, who relied upon him for
information, as to the true facts concerning the province, especially
with regard to the harmful effect of some of the laws passed by the
corporation; but he was .anxious to appear well in the eyes of the trus
tees, and he doubtless little thought that by putting a fair face upon
• Vol. IV, Colonial R'eeords, Gaudier.