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182 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
men of the period, he was a Tory in politics, though his later career
indicates that he was not an extremist in his political faith. In 1722
he was chosen as one of the representatives in Parliament of the Town of
Haslemere, which was located in Surrey County not far from the Ogle-
thorpe estate, and he continued in this relation until he was defeated in
1754.* His father and both his older brothers had formerly represented
the same borough, and this was probably a help to him in gaining the
position, but the fact that he held it so long indicates that he must have
been satisfactory to his constituents.
Oglethorpe seems to have taken no active part in parliamentary
affairs during the first six or seven years after his election. It was not
until 1729 that he attracted any considerable attention. In that year
he was made chairman of a committee of the House of Commons whose
business it was to visit and report on the condition of the Fleet, Mar-
shalsea, and King's Bench prisons. The committee was composed of
fourteen members, and it seems to have been appointed on the motion of
Oglethorpe, who had learned something of prison conditions through
a visit to one of his friends who was incarcerated for debt. It is not
entirely clear that he inaugurated the movement, but as chairman of the
committee he was active in the work and he presented to Parliament the
results of the investigations.t The first of these reports was submitted
to the House on March 20, 1729, and the last was on May 11, 1730.
With details of the reports we are not now concerned, but it is worth
noting that the work seems to have been done with expedition and
thoroughness. Bills were introduced by Oglethorpe to ameliorate the
wretched conditions which the committee had found and to punish the
worst offenders among the prison wardens.!
In other respects Oglethorpe began to show himself interested in the
unfortunate or the oppressed. On January 13, 1732, he made a speech
in the House of Commons in which he showed sympathy for the perse
cuted Protestants of Europe and expressed the wish that something
might be done for their relief.**'" He was also a member of the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and in addition he
was on a council of fifty who looked after the support and education of
exposed and deserted children. In "The Sailor's Advocate," he de
fended seamen against the worst evils of impressment. He ably advo
cated the petition of the Moravians for assistance, and he sustained a
motion to relieve the poor of certain of their most burdensome taxes, tt
As to whether or not Oglethorpe first thought of or suggested the
scheme of making the settlement of Georgia, the evidence is not suffi
cient for a definite decision. Original documentary evidence that he
fathered the idea is lacking. In none of the lists of those interested in the
matter is his name mentioned first. In the charter three men are
mentioned ahead of him on the lists of both the general board and the
Common Council. Neither was he made the first president of the cor
poration or the first' chairman of the Common Council. In some of the
* Ibid., 12, 373.
t Cobbett VIII: 706 et seq.
t Ibid., 706-753, 803-826.
**Ibid. ; 875-876.
ttStevensI: 82-83.