Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

216 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
it was a matter to be settled by the law officers of the Crown and fear
ing that an unsuccessful defense would be used as an excuse for giving
up the province.* Friendship for the Walpole party also led Tower
to oppose any effort to make the corporation independent of politics;
he did not wish the trustees to petition Parliament for the protection of
Georgia, and he frequently insisted that the demands for money be
cut low enough to please the lord .chancellor. It is not certain btit it is
probable that his refusal to speak for the colony in the House of Com
mons and his indifference on other occasions may be explained also on
the basis of his political alignment, t
Plucks and Laroche were two other strong supporters of Walpole
among the trustees; and their general position on all matters of im
portance was that of Thomas Tower. Hucks was at first one of the
most interested and faithful of the little group who were launching the
enterprise of the new colony, but his political connections were a source
of weakness to him as a trustee, and his father thought that the brew
ing business in which they were engaged suffered because of his son's
occupation with Georgia affairs. $ Accordingly he withdrew from the
common council, and after a little time he seemed to lose all interest
in the trust, failing to uphold it in its efforts to get support from the
House of Commons.*''
Though Laroche was a steady adherent of "Walpole and on that
account was not perhaps always as useful to the trust as he could have
been, he was ever ready to defend in the House of Commons both the
province of Georgia and the management of it by the trustees.ft His
connection with Walpole was not an unmixed disadvantage, but he was
a useful committeeman in securing the aid of Sir Robert in many
affairs in which Georgia was concerned. In. regard to the policy to be
pursued in the province, he inclined to a conciliatory attitude toward
' the inhabitants, as did Vernon and Egmont. $$
One of the most eminent of the active trustees was Rev. Stephen
Hales, D.D., who was a charter member of the corporation and who
was the only minister who continued faithful all through the years of
proprietary control. He was a graduate of Bennet College, Cambridge,
and he also was given the degree of doctor of divinity by the rival
University of Oxford. In 1717 he was chosen a Fellow of the Royal
Society, and in 1739 he won its gold medal for a scientific essay. At a
later time he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences in
Paris. He was one of the foremost naturalists of his day and he was
"pious, modest, indefatigable, and born for the discovery of truth." ***
.Being closely associated with the royal family, he was offered prefer
ment as preacher, but he retained his position because he thought he
could render more service in it than if he accepted advancement.
In his duties as trustee, he seems to have been interested chiefly in
*Ibid., 108.
t Ibid., 117, 274, 280.
t Ibid., 116.
**Ibid., 286, 302.
ttlbid., 433, 444, 446, as examples.
nibid., 371.
***Stevens II: 467-468.