surrounded by protectors; and the culprits were apprehended, tried at a Court-Martial, and, on the first week in October, received sentence of death.  The letter which gives a circumstantial account of this affair, written from Frederica, and dated December 26th, adds, “Some of the officers are not very easy, and perhaps will not be till the mutineers are punished, in terrorem; which has been delayed by the General’s forbearance[1].”  I quote, with pleasure, this testimony to his lenity, given by one who must have intimately known all the aggravating circumstances, because some accounts state that he took summary vengeance.

[Footnote 1:  Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol.  IX. p. 215.]

By the defeat of insidious plottings to induce the desertion of the frontier garrison, and the suppression of the insurgent mutiny, the spirit of insubordination was entirely quelled; and the people of the Colony were relieved from their apprehensions of an attack from the Spaniards, “as they had Oglethorpe among them, in whom they and the Indians had great confidence.”

CHAPTER XII.

Oglethorpe visits Savannah—­Troubles there—­Causton, the store-keeper, displaced—­Oglethorpe holds a conference with a deputation of Indians—­Town-meeting called, and endeavors used to quiet discontents—­Goes back to Frederica, but obliged to renew his visit to Savannah.

On the 8th of October, 1738, Oglethorpe set out from Frederica in an open boat, with two others attending it; and, after rowing two days and two nights, arrived at Savannah.  “He was received, at the water-side, by the magistrates, and saluted by the cannon from the fort, and by the militia under arms; and the people spent the night in rejoicing, making bonfires,"[1] &c.  But, notwithstanding this show of public joy, he had soon to learn particulars of the situation of the inhabitants, that rendered his visit unpleasant to himself, and not very welcome to some of those to whom it was made.  Those who were duly sensible of his disinterested devotedness to the advancement and welfare of the settlement, were actuated, on this occasion, by a principle of real regard and gratitude; those who were apprehensive that their conduct in his absence might be investigated and disapproved, joined in the acclaim, that they might conciliate his favor; and those who had been discontented grumblers, did not care openly to exhibit indications of dissatisfaction.

[Footnote 1:  Letter, dated Savannah, in Georgia, October 22,1738; published in the Gentleman’s Magazine, for January, 1739, p. 22.]

On the day after his arrival he received information that the grand jury of Savannah had prepared a representation, “stating their grievances, hardships, and necessities,” and complaining of the conduct of Mr. Thomas Causton, the first magistrate of the town, and keeper of the public store[1].  They alleged that he had expended much larger sums than the Trustees authorized, and thus brought the Colony in debt; that he had assumed powers not delegated to him, and had been partial and arbitrary in many of the measures which he had pursued[2].