第47章 Disintegration(4)

The farm four miles from town was proving unsatisfactory, requiring much labor and yielding little return, and they had about decided to stop cultivating it, and give all their effort to the garden, which was paying well.

From the 14th to the 17th of August, Spangenberg busied himself with the account between the Moravians and the Trustees.

In addition to the bonds signed by the first and second companies for their passage to Georgia, and provisions to be delivered on arrival, it had been necessary to get a great deal at the store on credit.

On the other hand the men had done a considerable amount of carpenter work and hauling for the Trustees and for others.

The account on the books at the Trustees' store was all in confusion, and as everybody at the store claimed to be too busy to unravel it, Spangenberg obtained permission to do it himself, and found that in addition to the bonds, (60 Pounds and 226 Pounds 13 Shillings 9 Pence,)the Moravians had taken supplies to an amount which gave them a total debt of some 500 Pounds ($2,400.00).Against this they had a credit which entirely paid their current account at the store, and reduced their debt to the Trustees to 121 Pounds 2 Shillings 9 Pence, ($580.80).

On the 19th, a Lovefeast was held in honor of Spangenberg and Eckstein, and on the 21st of August the two visitors sailed for Pennsylvania, landing there safely in due time.

A Closing Door.

With the month of September letters began to come from England and Germany in response to Dober's report, and the communications sent by Ingham, who presented the Moravian request to the Trustees, (receiving "a sour answer",) and also sent a full account of their circumstances to Count Zinzendorf.The Count had already written to his distressed brethren, giving his advice on various points, and this letter, which was the first to arrive, gave them little comfort.

They had once hoped for reinforcements, earnest men and women who would strengthen their hands for the work among the Indians, and even now it was disappointing to hear that Zinzendorf had decided not to send any more colonists to Georgia.He argued that it would take very few men to supply teachers for Tomochichi's little village, and that as the Trustees would only permit four missionaries among the more distant tribes, that number could easily be spared from the company already in Savannah.

Regarding military service he repeated his former definite instructions, "you will not bear arms either defensive or offensive."He said that he had tried to secure from the Trustees a formal "dispensation", either verbal or written, exempting the Moravians entirely from military duty, but they refused to give it, insisting that the Moravians must at least employ two men to represent the two town lots in defense of the country.Zinzendorf had agreed to this, so far as the night watch was concerned, since such a watch was necessary for civic peace and well-being, and the Moravians were authorized to pay the necessary sums therefor, but he considered it inconsistent to refuse to fight as a matter of conscience and then hire others to do it, and so, as he said, "there is nothing to do but to say NO, and wait."Although Spangenberg had hoped it would not be necessary for the Moravians to leave Georgia, he had sent the Trustees their request for permission to go, adding, "Nor indeed is there any reason why they should be detained, since it is their full intention and design to pay every farthing of their debt before they stir a foot;and they have never yet sold their liberty to any man, neither are they bound to any man by any writing or agreement whatsoever.

I doubt not therefore but ye will readily shew the same clemency towards innocent and inoffensive men, which any one may expect from your Honors, whose business is not to destroy but to save and benefit mankind.

May it please you therefore to send orders to the Magistrate of Savannah that these people may have leave to depart that Province.

I do assure your Honors they always thought it a great favor that ye were pleased to send them thither; but now they will think it a greater to be dismissed."In reply the Trustees wrote to Mr.Causton, forbidding the introduction of martial law without their express order, and reproving him for having required more than two men from the Moravians, but in that very reproof practically insisting that two must serve.The Moravians thought they had defined their position clearly at the outset, and believed they had the Trustees' promise that all should be as they desired, and if the Trustees realized the construction placed upon their words they had taken a most unfair advantage of the Moravians by offering them the two town lots as a special favor, and then using the ownership of those lots as a lever to force unwelcome service.On the other hand the Trustees claimed that Zinzendorf had tacitly agreed to furnish two fighting men when he allowed Spangenberg and Nitschmann to take the two freeholds, and one can hardly imagine that the gentlemen who served as Trustees of Georgia would stoop to a subterfuge to gain two soldiers.

Probably it was an honest misunderstanding for which neither side was to blame, and of which neither could give a satisfactory explanation, each party having had a clear idea of his own position, and having failed to realize that in the confusion of tongues the other never did grasp the main point clearly.