Letter to Governor Wright, Letter 5 – Letter 8
Mr. Whitefield to the Archbiſhop.
London, July 4, 1767. May it Pleaſe you Grace,
MY obligations are much increaſed by your Grace's putting the laſt draught of the Georgia College ſo ſpeedily into the hands of the Lord Preſident.—As by this, (I preſume) it hath been honoured by your Grace's, ſo I make no manner of doubt, but it will alſo meet with his Lordſhip's approbation. In obedience to your Grace's deſire, I herewith ſend your Grace an account of what preſent endowment, "and to what value, I propoſe for the intended College."—Upon a moderate computation, may it pleaſe your Grace, I believe its preſent annual income is between four and five hundred pounds ſterling. The houſe is ſurrounded with eighteen hundred acres of land; a plan of which, and likewiſe of the houſe itſelf, I herein incloſe, and humbly preſent for your Grace's peruſal. The number of negroes, young and old, employed on various parts of theſe lands, in ſawing timber, raiſing rice for exportation, and corn, with all other kinds of proviſion for the family, is about thirty.—Beſides theſe, the College will be immediately poſſeſſed of two thouſand acres of land near Alatamaha, which were granted me by the Governour and Council when I was laſt at Georgia, and a thouſand acres more, left, as I am informed, by the late Reverend and worthy Mr. Zouber…uhler.—So that, by laying out only a thouſand pounds in purchaſing an additional number of negroes, and allowing another thouſand fot repairing the houſe, and building the two intended wings, the preſent annual income may very eaſily and ſpeedily be augmented to a thouſand pounds per annum. Out of this ſtanding fund may be paid the ſalaries of the maſter, profeſſors, tutors, &c. and alſo ſ…a…l exhibitions be allowed for ſome orphan or other poor ſtudents, who may have their tutorage and room-rent gratis, and act as ſervitors to thoſe who enter commoners. What theſe ſalaries and exhibitions ought to be, may at a proper ſeaſon be ſubmitted to your Grace's future conſideration.—At preſent I would only further propoſe, that the negro children belonging to the College ſhall be inſtructed, in their intervals of labour, by one of the poorer ſtudents, as is done now by one of the ſcholars in the preſent Orphan-houſe. And I do not ſee why an additional proviſion may not likewiſe be made for educating and maintaining a number of Indian children, which, I imagine, may eaſily be procured from the Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees, and the other neighbouring nations. Hence the whole will be a free gift to the colony of Georgia—a complex extenſive charity be eſtabliſhed; and, at the ſame time, not a ſingle perſon obliged, by any publick act of aſſembly, to pay an involuntary forced tax towards the ſupport of a ſeminary from which many of the more diſtant and poorer Coloniſts children cannot poſſibly receive any immediate advantage, and yet the whole colony, by the chriſtian and liberal education of a great number of its individuals, be univerſally benefited. Thus have I moſt readily, and I humbly hope, gratefully complied with your Grace's deſire, which to me is as a command. I am conſtrained to treſpaſs on your Grace's patience, whilſt I congratulate your Grace on the goodneſs of God, who, amongſt many other ſignal marks of his peculiar providence, hath honoured your Grace, in making you an happy inſtrument of eſtabliſhing two Northern American Colleges, the one at New-York, and the other at Philadelphia: And if (as I pray may be the caſe) your Grace ſhould yet be made further inſtrumental in eſtabliſhing a third College in the yet more Southern diſtant, but now flouriſhing, Colony of Georgia, I truſt it will be an additional gem in the crown, which I earneſtly pray that God, the righteous Judge, may give your Grace in that day.—In his great name, I beg leave to ſubſcribe myſelf,
may it pleaſe your Grace, your Grace's moſt dutiful, obliged Son and Servant, G. W.
Mr. Whitefield to the Archbiſhop.
Tottenham Court, September 1, 1767. May it pleaſe your Grace,
AS I am going out of town for a few weeks, I beg leave humbly to enquire, whether my Lord Preſident hath conſidered the draught of the charter ſent him by your Grace ſome weeks ago. The Governour, Council, Aſſembly, and other inhabitants of Georgia, wait with impatience to have this affair brought to a deſired iſſue; and therefore I humbly hope your Grace will excuſe the freedom of the requeſt now made by,
may it pleaſe your Grace, your Grace's moſt dutiful obliged Son and Servant, G. W.
The Archbiſhop to Mr. Whitefield.
Lambeth, September 18, 1767. To the Reverend Mr. Whitefield,
THE Archbiſhop of Canterbury ſends Mr. Whitefield the incloſed letter from the Lord Preſident, which he received this day, and which he deſires may be returned to him.
Mr. Whitefield to the Archbiſhop.
Tottenham Court,October 13, 1767. May it pleaſe your Grace,
BY a ſeries of unaccountable incidents and miſtakes, your Grace's Letter, with that of the Lord Preſident, did not reach me till this afternoon.—I have made bold to copy the letter; and in obedience to your Grace's command, herewith return the original.—Its contents ſhall be immediately and duly conſidered, and an anſwer very ſpeedily remitted to your Grace.—In the mean time, with moſt humble thanks for the zeal and punctuality ſhewn by your Grace in the proſecution of this important affair, and earneſtly begging an intereſt in your Grace's prayers, that I may be kept from erring on the right hand, or the left, in this final diſcharge of my publick truſt, I beg leave to ſubſcribe myſelf,
may it pleaſe your Grace, your Grace's moſt obedient and dutiful Son and Servant, G. W.