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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 245
REPRESENT THE PARISH OF ST. JOHN, WHERE KINSMEN OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS PURITANS RESIDE—THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON—
GEORGIA'S CONSERVATISM YIELDS.
NOTES : BONAVENTURE—RESOLUTIONS OF PROTEST ADOPTED BY FRIENDS
OF THE KING—ST. GEORGE'S PARISH: A NEST OF LOYALISTS—
WiRIGl-lTSBORO : THE QUAKER SETTLEMENT—GEORGIA'S QUAKER COL-
ONY PILES A PROTEST,.
Two weeks before Governor Ellis set sail for England there arrived
in the province a gentleman of middle age, who was destined for a score
of years to become the central figure around whom the fortunes of
Georgia were to revolve. Though educated in England, he was born in
the province of South Carolina, where for two full decades he had held
the office of attorney-general. Under his administration as governor,
until the passage of the nefarious Stamp Act by the English Parlia
ment, there was fated to be no discord. He brought a benign counte
nance, a wise head and a firm hand to the administration of affairs.
Prosperity smiled upon the province; and when troublous days came
at last there was still felt for this faithful old servitor of the Crown
an affection which even bayonets could not uproot. While still holding
the' governorship of Georgia, he was invested by his sovereign with the
honors of knighthood. On the recapture of Savannah by the patriots
in 1781 he returned to England, where at the close of an eventful life
he was laid to rest in her ancient Valhalla—the first American to be
buried in Westminster Abbey.
This was James Wright. He arrived in Georgia on October 11, 1760,
having been commissioned as lieutenant-governor, to serve 1 while his
chief was on a leave of absence in England. But, as we have already
seen, Governor Ellis had returned home in a state of health too pre
carious to admit of his continuance in office; and accordingly, on
March 20, 1761, Governor Wright was placed officially at the helm and
invested with the full title of captain-general, governor and com-
mander-in-chief of the Province of Georgia. During the interval which
elapsed between these dates a ship arrived in the harbor at Savannah
bearing news of the death of King George II. This was the sovereign
for whom Georgia was named and whose signature had been affixed to
her royal charter. The announcement was received with profound sor
row in the province, for Georgia was bound to the old king- by 110 ordi
nary tie of allegiance; but, on the day following, pursuant to an estab
lished custom, the new king, George III, was proclaimed with joyful
manifestations. For more than sixty years this new sovereign was to
fill the English throne; and, during this time, at the end of a mighty
revolution, England was to lose all of her American possessions on the
mainland, south of the Dominion of Canada.
But more of this later. Governor Wright's first care, on. assuming
office, was to place the province in a state of defense against the likeli
hood of an Indian attack. Fort Loudoun had just been taken and there
existed a widespread uneasiness as to what might follow. He, therefore,
addressed a message to the general assembly, urging the necessity for
immediate action in strengthening outposts and in safeguarding the