“But, notwithstanding my private judgment, I am determined, that, not one of mine shall ever be allowed to work at the Orphan House till it can be done in a legal manner, and with the approbation of the Honourable Trustees. My chief end in writing this, is to inform you, that, I am as willing as ever to do all I can for Georgia and the Orphan House, if either a limited use of negroes is approved of, or some more indentured servants be sent from England. If not, I cannot promise to keep any large family, or cultivate the plantation in any considerable manner. “I would also further recommend to your consideration, whether, as the Orphan House is intended for a charitable purpose, it ought not to be exempted from all quit-rents and public taxes? And, as most of the land on which the Orphan House is built is good for little, I would humbly enquire, whether I may not have a grant of five hundred more acres, not taken up, somewhere near the Orphan House? “If you, Honourable Gentlemen, are pleased to put the colony upon another footing,――I mean in respect to the permission of a limited use of negroes,――my intention is to make the Orphan House, not only a receptacle for fatherless children, but also a place of literature and academical studies. Such a place is much wanted in the southern parts of America, and, if conducted in a proper manner, must necessarily be of great service to any colony. I can easily procure proper persons to embark in such a cause.” From such a pen, this is a strange production. Whitefield, with his large heart, urging the introduction of slavery into the province of Georgia, and almost threatening to abandon his Orphan House unless his proposal be granted! Whitefield’s honour is best cared for by saying as little about the incident as possible. Having spent five days at Gloucester, during which he preached five times, and received the sacrament at the cathedral; and having similarly employed himself for a week at Bristol, Whitefield, at the request of the Countess of Huntingdon, returned to London on December 17th, and resumed his ministry in the Tabernacle, and in the mansion of her ladyship. “I am now,” he wrote, “thirty-four years of age; and alas! how little have I done and suffered for Him, who has done and suffered so much for me! Thanks be to His great name for countenancing my poor ministrations so much.”[215] A letter to Dr. Doddridge, to whom Whitefield had submitted his Journals for revision,[216] may properly close the year 1748,――a year, which, like all previous ones of his career, had been thronged with adventures and striking incidents. “LONDON, _December 21, 1748_.