fifty volunteers and 1,000 friendly Indians he marched into the Indian territory to the southwest of Savannah. The fortified town of Ayavalla was taken, with 200 prisoners, who were made slaves. Another successful battle with the Spaniards and Indians foliowed. Five towns were captured, and the English succeeded in reaching the Gulf of Mexico and cutting off communication between the Spanish in Florida and the French in Louisiana.

In 1706 a French and Spanish squadron was sent from Havana to reduce Charleston. Governor Johnson and Colonel Rhett led the volunteers and prepared so effectually for defense that the fleet achieved nothing but disaster. After several repulses 800 Frenchmen succeeded in landing, only to be defeated with a loss of 300 in killed and captured. This practically ended the war so far as South Carolina was concerned, though in Europe the conflict was not finished till the treaty of Utrecht was signed, in 1713.

It was during this war that Episcopalianism became the established church of the province. The assembly, which at one time had a majority of the high church party, even went so far as to disfranchise all dissenters. The proprietors refused to reverse their action, but Parliament declared the law invalid and the charter forfeited. The assembly soon revoked its act of disfranchisement, though the Church of England remained the church of South Carolina.

The Yamassee Indians in 1715 commenced with treachery an attack on the outlying settlements. The inhabitants of Port Royal had barely time to escape to Charleston, and serious danger threatened even that capital; but Governor Craven drove back the savages and vanquished them in a decisive battle. The Yamassees departed to Florida, where they were received as allies by the Spaniards.

The refusal of the proprietors to help bear the expenses of the war with the Yamassees occasioned much discontent. In 1719 every delegate to the assembly was elected from the popular party, and James Moore was chosen as governor. The governor at that time was Johnson, and he tried to prevent Moore's inauguration. The militia, however, collected, public enthusiasm was aroused, and the man chosen by the people was inaugurated. An agent was sent to England to represent the cause of the colonists, and the king sustained their action.

A final change was made in the government of South Carolina in 1729, when the king purchased, for £22,500, the rights of seven out of the eight proprietors to the soil and jurisdiction. The eighth proprietor, Lord Carteret, would surrender nothing but the latter. North and South Carolina were now separated and each received a royal governor.

CHAPTER XXVI.

GEORGIA.

Oglethorpe-His philanthropic aims-A charter granted-Savannah founded-Wesley and Whitfield-Fortifications builtKing George's War-Expedition against St. Augustine-The Spaniards organize an expedition-It ends disastrouslySlavery-Slow advance of the colony-It becomes a royal province-Prosperity dawns.

Georgia was the last of the thirteen colonies to be founded. The one hundred and twenty-sixth year after the establishment of Jamestown, the first English colony, saw the commencement of the latest.

James Oglethorpe was the leader in this enterprise; philanthropic wishes were his motives. The English laws permitting imprisonment for debt affected with especial harshness those who formed the poorer classes. To find a refuge for these afflicted ones and for persecuted Protestants in any quarter of the world were the aims of Oglethorpe. He sought from the king a charter for founding a colony in America. His petition was favorably answered. George II., in honor of whom the province was named, in 1732 granted to a corporation for twentyone years the territory between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers and westward from their head-waters to the Pacific.

Oglethorpe himself sailed with his first colony in 1733, and founded the city of Savannah. Presents were exchanged with the Indians and friendly relations firmly established. Immigration was encour

aged, and Swiss peasants and Scotchmen, German Protestants and Moravians helped to swell the number of the colonists. The importation of rum was forbidden, trade with the Indians was carefully regulated, and slavery was prohibited as likely to interfere with the laborers for whom the colony had been founded.

Oglethorpe made a visit to England, taking with him his friend Tomo-chichi, chief of the Yamacraws. He returned in 1736 with 300 colonists. Among these were John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and his brother Charles. John Wesley entertained high expectations of converting the Indians and improving the settlers, but he found that the mixed nationalities of Georgia were not easily led in the way he desired, and he returned within two years. In 1738 George Whitfield arrived, and his eloquence had greater success. He found his grave at last in New England.

European troubles seemed to threaten that England and Spain might soon be at war. In anticipation of such an event Oglethorpe began preparations to defend his province. Spain claimed all of Georgia as part of her domain, but the charter of that colony extended to the Altamaha and Oglethorpe had by treaty with the Indians acquired the territory as far south as the St. Mary's. In 1736 he ascended the Savannah River and built a fort at Augusta. Fort Darien, on the Altamaha, and Fort William, at the mouth of the St. Mary's, were also built. The bold governor even went so far south as the St. John's, and on Amelia Island, at the mouth of that river, constructed Fort St. George. The St. John's was thereafter claimed as the southern boundary of Georgia. Oglethorpe now visited England, received a commission as brigadier general for his own province and South Carolina, and returned to Savannah with 600 soldiers.

These preparations were not useless. A conflict

broke out in Europe which is known in our history as King George's War. In October, 1739, England declared war against Spain. At the commencement of the following year Oglethorpe led a force into Florida. and captured two fortified towns. Then he returned and induced South Carolina to support his intended attack on St. Augustine.

With 1,000 men, besides Indian allies, he proceeded against that town. It was strongly fortified and ably defended. The Spaniards managed to procure supplies, and by a sally scored a slight success against the English. In Oglethorpe's camp sickness prevailed, extending even to the leader. The Carolina troops were discouraged and marched homeward. The English vessels departed. Nothing was left for Oglethorpe, brave and persistent though he was, but to abandon the siege, which had lasted five weeks, and to withdraw into Georgia.

It was now the turn of the Spaniards to carry the war into the enemy's country. They determined to drive the English beyond the Savannah. Thirty-six vessels were collected and dispatched from St. Augustine with 3,000 troops in June, 1742. The fleet attacked Fort William, but Oglethorpe, by a brilliant exploit, re-enforced its garrison and then fell back to Frederica, on the northern end of St. Simon's Island, opposite the mouth of the Altamaha. The Spaniards followed.

Oglethorpe had but 800 men and some friendly Indians. To cope successfully with the Spaniards he was obliged to resort to stratagem. He wrote a letter, as if to a spy, to a Frenchman who had deserted to the Spaniards. The letter stated that two British fleets would arrive shortly in America, one to help Oglethorpe and the other to attack St. Augustine. If the Spaniards did not move at once on Frederica their defeat would be assured. The letter fell into