Preface

Oglethorpe’s published writings are collected here for the first time. Hitherto only two of his tracts have been published together. In 1972, Select Tracts Relating to Colonies and A New and Accurate Account of the Provinces of South-Carolina and Georgia were included by Trevor R. Reese in The Most Delightful Country of the Universe. There, however, the first is unascribed and the second attributed to both Oglethorpe and Benjamin Martyn. It seems unjust that although collections of the writings of some colonizers, such as William Penn, have been available through the centuries, only now have the writings of James Edward Oglethorpe been brought together. Like Penn, he was a distinguished philanthropist. He was a pioneer in championing the rights of the British sailor and was the first reformer of the English prison system, anticipating the work of John Howard by almost half a century. Among the colonizers, moreover, he was apparently the first to envision the British empire as a British Commonwealth.

Reprinted here, with separate introductions and with notes both textual and explanatory, are all the tracts, important committee reports, and letters to the press so far identified as written or edited for publication and published either by Oglethorpe or, like the parliamentary reports, with his cooperation. His “Instruction which was published in pamphlet to settle Island of St. Johns” (Prince Edward Island) does not appear here, for contrary to the general’s belief, it was apparently never printed.¹ During his parliamentary career Oglethorpe authored many reports that also do not appear here; but they were either never printed, or were at most, like the reports on the state of the British fisheries, represented in the Journals of the House of Commons not by any narrative, exposition, or argument by Oglethorpe, but by a page or two of testimony from witnesses. Though published separately, his 1749 parliamentary report designed to assist the Moravians in America was actually assembled by their leader Count Zinzendorf, his London agent, and his London solicitor. Excluded are Oglethorpe’s Some Account of the Design of the Trustees for establishing Colonys in America, which was first published by the University of Georgia Press in 1990; and his speeches, letters, and papers, which I hope to incorporate in a separate volume.

Excluded also are a number of items that have been attributed to Oglethorpe at one time or another, but on slender and unreliable evidence. These spurious attributions I examine in Appendix 1. In Appendix 2, I include two pieces that Oglethorpe probably wrote.

The text is always that of the first edition. I have, however, incorporated all Oglethorpe’s substantive changes. Thus in A New and Accurate Account I have incorporated Oglethorpe’s own manuscript corrections and improvements; The Sailors Advocate I have reprinted from the corrected state; and in The Naked Truth I have incorporated the substantive changes that Oglethorpe made in the second edition. All such changes I have recorded in my notes. I have not modernized dates in Old Style, in which until 1752 the new year began on March 25. In separate introductions I have tried to date each publication, establish Oglethorpe’s authorship, give its printing history, and place the piece in some historical perspective. In the notes I have tried to clarify Oglethorpe’s allusions and identify the persons named.

In preparing this edition of Oglethorpe’s writings, I have been assisted by the prompt and helpful responses of historians and librarians in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Their particular assistance I have attempted to acknowledge in appropriate notes. The valuable assistance of my colleagues Phinizy Spalding, of the History Department, and Jerome Mitchell, of the English Department, calls for special recognition. Professor Spalding has generously shared with me his copies of Oglethorpe materials among the Boswell Papers, at Yale, and has assisted me with this edition from its inception, suggesting numerous corrections and improvements. Professor Mitchell has for several years generously shared his office with me and has even scheduled his appointments so as to allow me quiet working time. I am also indebted to the English Department for defraying the expense of numerous microfilms and photocopies of Oglethorpe’s writings; and for word processing there I am grateful to De Anna Palmer, Connie Perry, and Karen Myers.

For permission to reprint I am indebted to several libraries and a publisher: to the Rare Book and Manuscript Collection, Cornell University Library, for the first edition of The Naked Truth, and to the Peabody Institute Library of Baltimore, Maryland, for the additions and revisions in the second edition; to the Baker Library (Kress Collection), Harvard Business School for the first edition, corrected state, of The Sailors Advocate; to the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the University of Georgia for first editions of Select Tracts Relating to Colonies and A New and Accurate Account, including Oglethorpe’s manuscript corrections in the latter; to the Newberry Library for the “Account of Carolina and Georgia” included in the 1739 edition of Thomas Salmon’s Modern History published by Bettsworth and Hatch; and to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University and to the Edinburgh University Press for copies of the Faber letters.