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218 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
them Henry Archer was one of the most energetic and useful. Hold-
iug office in the .common council from 1734 to 1744, he was concerned
in. all the legal and political problems of that stormy period of the trust.
He was allied with Thomas Tower in politics, but he was more inde
pendent than most of the Walpole group, frequently breaking from his
chief in minor matters and nearly always defending the trustees in the
House of Commons.* He served on nearly all the committees ap
pointed to interview the chancellor of the exchequer, the speaker, or
other officials of either the Walpole or the Wilmington-Carteret minis
tries, t During his term of office he probably also served oftener than
any one else on committees to draw up laws or to determine the legal
responsibility of the trustees, being generally associated with Tower in
this work.
George Heathcote, on account of failing health, was not so regular
an attendant at the meetings as the others already mentioned, but he
served apparently without pay as cashier or treasurer of the trust until
March 22, 1740. The duties of the office were not taxing but they
required time and attention. It was customary to deposit about five
hundred pounds at a time with the cashier with which to pay the minor
expenses of the trust. The largest amounts were paid by direct drafts
on the Bank of England, signed by any five of the common council.
Heathcote was dissatisfied with the policy of the trustees in support of
the Church of England in Georgia, J but he was a good friend of the
colony and of the trustees after he ceased to be actively associated with
them, defending them ably in Parliament on several occasions.** He
was an alderman of London, and in 1740, the year he resigned from the
position of cashier of the trustees, he was elected Lord Mayor of London,
but declined to serve.tt
'Sir William Heathcote was one of the few members of the trust who,
having resigned from the common council, continued to attend the
meetings of the corporation. He was a man of recognized worth and
good sense and he also had a large fortune; it was with regret that his
fellow members of the council gave him up. He resigned in 1739 and
it was thought by Egmont that he was persuaded to this course by
George Heathcote, Lord Limerick and other minority members of Parlia
ment who had already persuaded the Earl of Shaftesbury to withdraw. JJ
Heathcote in his letter of resignation professed great love for the colony,
regretting that private affairs prevented his further service in the coun
cil, and he did afterwards as an ordinary trustee render service to the
came, being the only one.to aid the members of the common council in
transferring the responsibility of the trustees to the crown when the
charter was surrendered.***
Very few of the trustees who were not also members of the common
council were regular in attending the meetings of the corporation. To
*C. R, V: 120, 286.
t Ibid., 600, 607, as examples.
i C. E. V: 116.
**lbid., 294, 444.
tt Stevens I: 464.
UC. E. V: 230.
***C. E. II: 506.