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CHAPTER FOUR Council House Assistant and Secretary James Habersham’s political trajectory matched his swift ascent to commercial success. In just seven years he underwent a dramatic metamorphosis from pariah to statesman. On May 10, 1743, Benjamin Martyn, secretary for the Georgia trustees, rebuked Habersham for insulting Christopher Orton , the Anglican priest at Savannah. Writing for the trustees, Martyn told Habersham that it was “indecent” to assault the “Establish’d Minister of the Town.” And, by extension, “it was indecent with regard to the Trustees, who thought him a proper Person for that Employment.” In other words, by insulting Orton, Habersham had insulted the trustees who appointed him. Martyn expressed the trustees’ concern about Habersham’s “fiery zeal” and wondered if someone of his temperament should be in charge of children ’s education. Because of Habersham’s actions, the trustees instructed the magistrates to make “frequent Visitations” to Bethesda, and if they found that the boys and girls are educated in an “improper manner,” to remove them at once.1 The message was clear: if Habersham could not govern his own passions, he might not be able to govern the orphans. Seven years later, Martyn wrote Habersham another letter on behalf of the trustees, but this letter had a much different tone. This time he informed Habersham that the trustees had named him secretary of the colony . Martyn said that the trustees were “extreamly pleas’d” with Habersham and his commercial enterprise, citing his efforts to establish direct trade with London as “Good Examples” that they hoped would have “great Influence” on other Georgians. Habersham, they claimed, had demonstrated that “Habits of Virtue, and Industry may be as easily got, as Habits of Vice and Laziness.” People nurture those good habits when they realize “the Sweets of them,” that is, when they succeed because of them. Martyn encouraged Habersham to “upon all Occasions, and by all the Means you can, exhort and encourage the Inhabitants” to be industrious in cultivation. In less than a decade, Habersham had been transformed from a threat to public order into a paragon of virtue and industry worthy of emulation.2 Habersham approached public service with the same energy and purpose that he brought to his business affairs. He proved himself to be a loyal councilor, dedicated to making provincial government work more efficiently and fairly for Georgians. He was equally loyal to the Crown by insisting on upholding the British constitution. But his loyalty was not blind. When Georgia’s first royal governor subverted that constitution, Habersham led the opposition against him. Dedicated Public Servant Habersham responded to his appointment as assistant with ambivalence. In replying to Benjamin Martyn’s letter informing him of the trustees’ decision , Habersham expressed his “sincere Thanks” for “this instance of their regard and confidence.” But he also admitted to some apprehension about taking office as a magistrate, saying “I shall really be at a loss to know how to act.” The problem was that he would be joining a body that had been very critical of and even hostile to him. “Some of the Assistants,” he wrote, “have misconstrued my Words and Actions, and expressed themselves of me in such unkind Language, that unless they should alter their behaviour it does not appear to me that I can be of any Service to the trustees or Colony by acting with them.” Having voiced his misgivings, Habersham assured Martyn that when he took office “nothing in my conduct shall obstruct [the trustees’] intention in appointing me.”3 Habersham knew that the trustees had read his criticism of the magistrates , including the negative assessment he penned in his paper on Georgia ’s economy. In that work, he had reported “that the Colony had suffered greatly by the management of persons here,” and he added that “no consideration could prevail with me to act with some of these Gentlemen, whose conduct in many things, I cannot approve of.” William Stephens was, no doubt, one of those he had in mind. As it turned out, Habersham would have to serve with Stephens for only a short time, because the president of Georgia had also fallen from favor with the trustees, who replaced him with Henry Parker in 1750. Although Habersham believed that bad management had brought the colony to its low state, he thought that good management could lead it to prosperity. Habersham agreed with Bolzius’s hope that the 82 council house [3.145.111.183...

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