Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

58 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
Without dealing with the business of particular meetings, we merely
give results.
First, it was necessary to adopt a corporate seal. The design selected
for its two faces was as follows: '' That for the .authentication of legis
lative acts, deeds and commissions contained this device: two figures
resting upon urns, from which flowed streams typifying the two rivers,
viz., the Savannah and the Altamaha, which formed the northern and
southern boundaries of the province. In their hands were spades, sug
gesting agriculture as the chief employment of the settlers. Above and
in the center was seated the genius of the colony, a spear in her right
hand, the left placed upon a cornucopia, and a liberty cap upon her
head. Behind, upon a gentle eminence stood a tree, and above was
engraven this legend: ' COLONIA GEORGIA, AUG. ' On -the other face—
which formed the common seal to be affixed to grants, orders, and cer
tificates—were seen silk-worms in the various stages of their labor, and
the appropriate motto: 'Now SIBI SED ALOOS.' This inscription, not
only proclaimed the disinterested motives and intentions of the trustees,
but suggested that the production of silk was to be reckoned among the
chief employments of the colonists."
Encouraged by Sir Thomas Lombe to believe that a superior quality
of silk could be produced in Georgia, to whose soil mulberry trees were
indigenous, the trustees decided to engage Italian experts to accompany
the colonists to Georgia and to teach them the best methods of feeding
silk-worms, how to obtain the thread from the cocoons and how to manu
facture the silk into fabrics. Oglethorpe himself became quite an en
thusiast on the subject. In fact, he came to believe that vast sums
annually spent in the purchase of foreign silks might be saved to the
nation. Moreover, in the culture of grapes for the manufacture of
wines, it was contemplated that a rich revenue would accrue to the
Crown.
Some of the regulations adopted by the trustees require notice in
this connection. Since Georgia was to be an agricultural colony, organ
ized upon a military basis, each male inhabitant was to be regarded
both .as a planter and as a soldier.* Together with tools and implements
for industrial use, he was to be provided with weapons for defending
the settlement. He was also to be instructed in the manual of arms.
Forts were to be erected at strategic points on the exposed ocean front
and on the endangered frontier.' Each town was to be a sort of citadel,
containing its garrison of troops, its arsenal, etc.: and whatever lands
were allotted to the colonists were to be in the neighborhood of these
fortified towns, so that instantly the inhabitants, on the first signal of
alarm, might betake' themselves thereto for protection, without loss of
time and without great personal hazard. Besides the likelihood of a
Spanish invasion, there was the ever present dread of an Indian out
break.
It was for the purpose of strengthening Georgia as a military prov
ince designed to protect not only South Carolina but all of the colonies
to the north that a system of land tenure was adopted which in after
* An Account Showing the Progress of the Colony of Georgia in America from its
First Establishment, London, 1741; "Colonial Eecords," Vol. I.