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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 61
removed from St. Augustine had nevertheless suffered greatly in both
of these respects; nor would Georgia prove exempt from such annoy
ances, which in her case, from a closer proximity to the Spaniards, would
be even more aggravated. Whatever justification there may have been,
therefore, for permitting slaves in South Carolina where extensive rice
plantations along the coast required arduous labor, under malarial con
ditions, no such pretext could be urged in the' case of Georgia, where the
culture of grapes and the production of silk, while calling for greater
intelligence, imposed much lighter burdens upon the laborer. Indeed,
this work would be of such a mild character that even the women could
assist, finding such employment a pastime rather than a hardship.
It was thought wise to deny slaves even to settlers of independent
fortune who might wish to settle in the province without expense to the
trust. The ownership of slaves by some would only tend to create a spirit
of discontent in others to whom this privilege was denied, would give
rise to invidious comparisons, would cause class distinctions to appear,
and would lay an undue emphasis upon existing inequalities.
Nor did another argument fail to impress the trustees. It was this:
if slaves were introduced into Georgia it would only tend to facilitate the
desertion of slaves from South Carolina into Florida by furnishing an
intermediate place of shelter for these fugitive negroes in connivance
with Georgia allies and abettors.
Thus it will be seen that for the prohibition of slaves in the Colony
of Georgia there were no lack of sound arguments both from the economic
and from the humanitarian point of view; and at first this drastic law
no doubt proved salutary in its operation. But in time it became a seri
ous detriment. To meet the demands of competition—in fact, to save
the colony from utter collapse—its abrogation was eventually demanded;
and when this barrier was removed not only did the tide of prosperity
begin to rise but there came into Georgia her largest and wealthiest slave
holders: the Dorchester Puritans of whom we shall have much to say
later.
Rum was also excluded from the colony for reasons too obvious to
require statement. It was of the utmost importance that settlers who
were expected to meet a two-fold demand, to serve the colony both as
competent workers and as good soldiers, should be men of temperate
habits.
Trading with the Indians, unless authorized by special license, was
also forbidden. Such were some of the regulations adopted by the trus
tees for Georgia's government. As we shall see, though founded in
excellent logic and justified by what was undoubtedly the wisdom of
the hour, they became in time detrimental to the colony's growth; but
the trustees were too far removed from actual contact with the settle
ment—too idealistic perhaps—to understand the condition of life which
prevailed in Georgia or to lose sight of the fundamental reasons upon
which they had acted at the start. Committed to these regulations,
from the standpoint of principle, they were' slow to yield to any demand
for change; and in doing so at last they were forced to recognize the
failure of these Utopian ideals. Nor was it without a sigh of relief that
when the twenty-one years expired a responsibility which had grown
burdensome was finally relinquished. Thousands of good English pounds