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200 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
payable until the account was allowed at the government treasury on the
auditor's statement of it. To this the trustees replied that he was mis
taken as to their claims not being payable; he had been allowed enough
from the treasury department to repay the money of the trustees which
he had used for the military service, and the trust is in great need of
money to carry on the colony.*
Oglethorpe responded to this request with a letter dated August 17,
1751, in which he reiterates his claim that the balance of accounts as
already submitted is in his favor. Besides, he says that there is an addi
tional account of expenditures made by him for the trustees which he
has not yet presented, owing to the fact that he had an account to pass
with the government at the time it would ordinarily have been sub
mitted to the trust. He abstains from presenting it until the government
matter is settled when his claims and those of the trust may be set one
against another. Under date of a week later, the trustees reply, ex
pressing great surprise that he had any further demands to make upon
them. They are the more surprised because he was present on the 17th
of January, 1749, when his accounts were delivered, examined and
determined, and at that time he had made no mention of anything fur
ther. They, therefore, request that he let them know what these demands
are as soon as possible, the circumstances of the trust not admitting o£
any delay, t
This was the last communication that passed between the general
an.d the trustees, so far as the records show. The accounts of the trust
do not show that he ever paid any money to extinguish the claims
against him, nor, on the other hand, do they indicate that he received
anything in consequence of his claims. It seems most probable that the
claims remained unsettled until the trust was dissolved.
Reviewing the whole connection of Oglethorpe with the Province of
Georgia, we are led to a number of interesting conclusions. His per
sonal character was worthy of admiration. Though it was bitterly as
sailed by many of his enemies, both on general and specific charges, ±
nothing unworthy or dishonorable was ever proved against him. In the
beginning of the enterprise, he showed only the most disinterested and
philanthropic motives, and at no time during his connection with it did
he seem to act from purely selfish incentives. In his first visit to Georgia,
he must have been actuated primarily by the desire to aid those who had
been oppressed and to show them how to succeed in their undertaking.
On his later journey the same desire' to be of service was doubtless pres
ent also, though it was mixed with personal ambition. He was generous
in his gifts of labor and sacrifice for the colony. His contributions in
money, as shown in the receipts of the trustees, were small,** but his
services were given freely to the trust,ft and at times he even paid his
*Ibid., 565-566.
tlbid., 566-567.
t In a number of pamphlets like the "True and Historical Narrative" (Ga. Hist.
Gollec. 11: 163 et seq.), he was bitterly assailed. Also by Eev. William Norris and
others at the Parliamentary inquiry. (O.K. V: 573,619.)
** They amounted to about £16. (0. E. Ill: 7, 14, 164.)
ft He was paid nothing at all until he was made colonel of the regiment and
Commander-in-chief of the forces of South Carolina and Georgia, when he received
abundant pay from the government, though nothing at any time from the trustees.