The Cavalcade of America, presented by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. The Cavalcade of America presents a passage to Georgia, a story of General James Oglethorpe, who, in writing an old world wrong, founded the colony of Georgia with men who were to find new life in a new world. Our play was written by Garrett Porter. Starring in the role of General Oglethorpe is Alfred Shirley of the Cavalcade Players. Our orchestra and the original musical score are under the direction of Don Voorhees. DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents Alfred Shirley as General James Oglethorpe on the Cavalcade of America. London, early in the year 1729. In a house in a palace yard, Westminster, a servant discovers the aging Lady Oglethorpe, seated before a fireplace, deep in a book. Lady Oglethorpe. Yes? James Edward Oglethorpe, captain of foot, member of parliament. What's this? What's this? Admit my son immediately. Yes, milady. Lady Oglethorpe will see you, sir. James, my son. Mother. How much did it cost you to have yourself announce so to your own mother? It was worth it, mother. I thought to remind you that I've sat in parliament seven years today. Think of it. Yes, my son, where your ancestors have sat for generations. Aye, for centuries. I thought of that today too, for I was in the galleries of Commons. I looked, but I could not discover you anywhere in the chamber. I still do attend, mother. Now if you looked in on some obscure committee or at the nearest coffee house, you might have found me. James, seven years in parliament, and except for your maiden speech, I doubt you've spoken once. I'd almost forgotten it, mother. It was, as I recall, on behalf of some Jacobite bishop I thought overly abused. Otherwise, I've hidden my light under a bushel, a dozen tedious bushels improving roads and herring fisheries, regulating journeyman shoemakers and watermen on the Thames. Thames watermen, indeed. Your father served the Stuarts faithfully for twenty years, and their Hanoverian successors almost as long. You and Oglethorpe waste your time on Thames watermen. Still, my lady Oglethorpe, if I serve the least of these Thames watermen, I do yeoman service to my king. Sir, a lady, Mistress Castell awaits. Anne Castell, why send her in, of course. Anne Castell? Who is this Anne Castell, James? My mother, Anne's the wife of Robert Castell. Bob's a promising architect and author of some works on the villas of the ancient, and he's my friend. James. Anne! And Bob not with you. Mistress Castell? Lady Oglethorpe. I suppose Bob's drawing some vast plan of a lord of the state. Don't, James. But Anne, why, what's this? Bob's in prison. That's why I've come. Prison? Bob Castell in jail? But why, what's Bob done? My husband's in debtors' jail. But James, you're in Parliament. You must have some influence. There must be something you or someone can do for him. Bob Castell in debtors' prison. How is he? I'm not sure whether he's alive or dead. Even if he's alive, he's still alive. He's still alive. He's still alive. He's still alive. He's still alive. He's still alive. He's still alive. He's still alive. He's still alive. He's still alive or dead. Even in debtors' prison, you need money for favors. That dreadful warden. At least, James, you can get me into see Bob. Even MPs aren't magicians, Anne. Where is he? In Fleet Street prison, James. Then let's go to Fleet Street jail and see what we can do, Anne. Well, you're too new at this, God. I'll teach you a lesson and him, too. There. This is how you do it. Why doesn't he cry out? Because he's scared. Same as you. Are they, Delaney? You're charged with concealing assets to the sum of 35 pounds, 10 shillings and six pounds. No. No. You'll learn, Delaney. You'll pay your creditors or you'll pay me. Or both. Give him another turn, God. Another? No, no, I can't. Why, you lily-livered chicken. You'll find out. Warden Baybridge. There's a gentleman and a lady what insists on seeing him. Gentleman, huh? Does he look like a creditor? He might be. Wants to see Robert Castell. Castell, huh? Well, he can't see him. Right. May have the gentleman who'll pay. So I'll see him and this lady. Right. You get this one out of the way, God. Yes, warden. Come on. I'll see you. I'll see you. I'll see you. I'll see you. I'll see you. I'll see you. I'll see you. Warden, come on, you. Put the chains back on him. If he won't pay, then put him in with the others in the past hours. Oh, no, what... Quiet, you! Good enough for a cheat like you. I'll return to you later. Come in, sir. Welcome. Warden Baybridge. James Edward Oglethorpe, my name. And this is Mistress Robert Castell. Mistress Castell, eh? Well, she can't see her husband. Nor can you. Perhaps, warden, you're not aware that I'm a member of Parliament. What? I demand an interview with your prisoner. Well, now, Teruglethorpe, if you put it that way... I do put it that way, warden. I advise you not to see him. I must see my husband. Well, come along, then, eh? Oh, can't he be somewhere in these depths and living? All jails are black inside, Anne. Well, we're almost there. So he is as far as I go, eh? What does he mean, James? You'll find out soon enough, ma'am. I'd advise you to go no closer yourself. Never mind, warden. At least hold the lantern for us. Bob. Bob Castell. Anne. Bob. My dear. James. Bob, what... What is this, warden? Why is this man in chains like a felon? And bound him to a... No. James, my fellow's not dead yet. Are you, Jack? No. I've found these deaders are odd to manage. Bob, my love. You're ill. You're... Yes, Anne. You'd best not touch me, it's smallpox. You should stay back like warden Bembridge there. Mind what you say, prisoner. Smallpox. Warden, why haven't you taken care of this man? Why haven't you taken him out of this hole to a physician? All that costs odd money, that judge. Money. If I had money, would I be here? Bob, my poor dear. Hey, ma'am. I told you he was difficult. By heaven, warden, I'm difficult because I can't pay him. And wouldn't if I could. I'll do what I can, Bob, to get you out. And by heaven, I'll see you come to justice, warden Bembridge. I'll see that this whole business somehow gets the light of day in Parliament. Mr. Speaker. Member for Hazel, Mayor. Mr. Speaker, I have two reports to make to the House of Commons. One is in a purely private capacity. The other, as chairman of a committee, your inquiry into the state of the jails of this kingdom. My friend Robert Castell is dead in Fleet Street debtors' prison. Why? Because, and of this your committee has overwhelming testimony, warden Thomas Bembridge has exercised an unwarrantable and arbitrary power, not only in extorting exorbitant fees amounting to some thousands of pounds yearly, but in oppressing prisoners for debt. Mr. Speaker, we have seldom heard from the member for Hazel, Mayor, or from his forebears who have sat here. I suggest he be informed that debtors imprisoned for their just debts are no concern of this House. No concern of ours, Mr. Speaker, that they're thrown in with thieves, pirates and murderers that are loaded with chains. Mr. Speaker, I protest the member for Hazel, Mayor, has been inspecting the wrong jails. Surely these conditions do not exist in England. Our committee has lost itself in some vast deal upon the continent of Europe. Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Member has not seen the interior of English jails as I have. Oh, I know that England is a thousand times better, a thousand times more free than Prussia, but even in England there's room for improvement. If we are more free than the despotisms of Europe, it is because we have it in our power to correct the abuses of liberty and law among us. All Englishmen subscribe to such a faith, Mr. Speaker. And well they may, Mr. Speaker, for in this land of freedom and rights and justice to our fellow men, it's unthinkable that there are conditions which are worse than if the Star Chamber still existed. But there still is abuse of rights contrary to the great charter, the foundation of the liberty of the subject and conditions in defiance and contempt of the laws of His Majesty. Granted, Mr. Speaker, that perhaps we should clean up our jails and even discipline the keepers. But the problem of debtors remains with us. Has the member for Hazel made a solution? I do have a solution, sir. For I think it better to support the industrious poor than an idle poor. Nor am I concerned with unworthy debtors but those worthy ones like Robert Castell, who come from reputable families, debtors who became so through no fault of their own, but who were undone by guardians or lawsuits or accident of commerce. Surely there's some place for them to live in this world better than to rot in loathsome debtor's jails. We do care in selecting them for their character, Mr. Speaker. I suggest a colony in America. James, James, do sit down, please. I'm sorry, Mother, but when I think how Warden Bambridge got off Scotty Free and poor Bob Castell still unavenged and thousands like him. Well, my son, the case gave you some prominence, at least more than Thames Waterman. You may yet prove a true Oglethorpe. Mother, what matters my little prominence when thousands suffer? But you did manage to erase many of the evils, James, and even, I believe, obtained the release of some of these debtors. Yes, but with no provision for the wretches once they are released. So now they starve for want of employment. I've just begun, Mother. If all goes well, I'll find a place for these poor debtors. Aren't all debtors poor? Poor, yes, Mother, though they may be worthy, honest and industrious. And what will you do with them? Send them to America, Mother. America? There's a new land and freedom for them. Our plans are almost complete. We have funds, land selected, South of Carolina, and the name. Georgia, in honor of His Majesty. We only await his patent before starting for these they call the Golden Isles of Georgia. James, what was it you said about starting? You aren't thinking of going to this place yourself. I don't know, Mother. We're sending some hundred colonists, with the consent of their creditors, of course. But I haven't yet made up my own mind whether to go or not. I forbid you to go, James. But, Mother, I've never seen you so peremptory. I never dreamed you'd oppose me like this. Please, James, don't leave me. Mother, I'm young. I'm only thirty-odd. For the first time in my life I've discovered something worthwhile, worth devoting my life to. I don't wish to spend my day slaving in some obscure committee or dawdling in a coffeehouse. Yes, James, you're young. You won't live and die for Thames Waterman. You'll have your reward if you're a nobelthorpe. You're young yet. Your life's before you. I'm old. My life's behind me. Oh, Mother. Stay beside me a little while longer, my son. Promise me. Very well, Mother, if you wish it. I do wish it, James. I beg of you. Forget America. A proclamation by His Majesty. Be it known to all those present that we, George II, by the grace of God of Great Britain and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, to hereby grant this charter to the trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia in America, dated at Whitehall this 21st day of April, in the year of our Lord 1732. On behalf of the trustees, I thank His Majesty. You have your colonies selected, I believe, Mr. Oglethorpe. They have been carefully selected and full arrangements made with their creditors for their passage to Georgia. His Majesty is happy to assist in this passage of some of our poor subjects to our provinces in America. But who shall lead this passage to our colony of Georgia? If it please His Majesty, I have long had a secret wish to accompany them. Until yesterday a pledge made my mother prevented it. But now Lady Oglethorpe's death has released me. And with His Majesty's consent, I will myself take passage to Georgia in America. Well, Stevens, let's get on with the report to the trustees in England. Item, for putting the colony of Georgia in a posture of defense. £3,172, nine shillings and sixpence. Item, for gifts to the Indians. I fear, sir, the royal grants again are not enough to pay the colonist's debts. Oh, come, Stevens, our accounts are better this year than last. Better last than the year before. They've improved these eleven years of our colony. Ah, but you know what this means, sir. I'll dig down in my pocket for the difference. But I have faith in Georgia and her people, Stevens. And you'll find the same when you're in command and I'm gone back to England. Come in. Excuse me, Father. Father, indeed. I mean Colonel Oglethorpe. Morrison, it was announced some time ago that His Majesty had been pleased to gazette Colonel Oglethorpe a Major General. Mind that you... Oh, never mind, Stevens. What is it, Morrison? Well, Colonel, I mean General Oglethorpe, hearing you'd be going to the mother country soon, I wondered if you'd see that my creditors there got this draft on Bristol. It's for £17, three shillings, threepence. Why, certainly, Morrison, I shall be glad to do this for you. Here, let me mark it down in my book. Oh, thank you. It's a little more than the balance I owe, General. Why, then, Morrison, you're free. Oh, excuse me, sir. But I've been free ever since I came out to Georgia. All any of us needed was a chance to work off our debts. And thank you for giving me... giving us that chance. Oh, I may have helped give you the chance, Morrison, but you yourself have made the most of it and proved my confidence in you as men. That may be, sir. As I say, there may be a few shillings over. Would you take it amiss if I asked you a small favour? Come, come, General Oglethorpe. Has nothing better to do than that, Morrison. Well, if there's enough left over, would you please buy 20 yards of linen for my wife? Yes, I'll be glad to. And even if I don't come back, I'll see that it's sent her. Thank you, General, and see that you do come back to Georgia. Well, Stevens, let's get back to our accounting to the trustees. Yes, sir. Come in. Come on in, join. Your offer shall arrive. No way. What's happening here? Why the ear so? Because General Lishman owes me 2.10, he does, and he won't pay. Because I can't pay right today, General. Then I don't mind you throwing me in jail, General. But after my next crop, I swear... Well, now, wait a minute, my man. You want your neighbour thrown into jail because he owes you 2 pounds? Then 10 shillings, General. I remember you when you were only a fortnight out of Fleet Street Prison yourself. And even though your shoulders were stooped and your face was the colour of ashes, I thought I detected a man beneath. That may be true, General, which still must accredit to be cheated. Why did we all come out here? Why did you obtain passage to Georgia? To bring with you a relic of the old world, where one may constrain the body of his debtor? Why did we make peace with the Indians, carry on trade with Carolina and the mother country, defend our colony at the bloody marsh, and thereby protect the other colonies in America as well as the Empire? We did all that, it's true, sir. Did we do it to perpetuate the evils of the old world? Of course not. We did it to... Well, look at you now, my man. There's colour in your cheeks, there's a look in your eye you lacked before, and you walk erect like a man. America is a fine and new and free land indeed, sir. Aye, it is. And don't forget it. And you won't, I'll wager. Once you've enjoyed freedom, neither you nor your neighbour here will ever do without it. I thank you, General Oglethorpe. Come along, Johann. And farewell to you, sir. Farewell to Georgia and America? I hope not. I've been back to England before and returned. I shall again, God willing. We all do hope so, General. I am loath to go at all, Stevens, but I have no choice in the matter. You don't mean the government has ordered it, General. Oh, I'm... I'm sorry, sir. You've kept the reasons to yourself, if you'd rather. Yes, Stevens, His Majesty has commanded me to report to England for military duty. We Oglethorpes are soldiers first. So I leave America. The First Army Battle Then, on an early June day in the year 1785, around to a house in Grosvenor Square drives an 88-year-old English patriarch to be received by a new minister barely accredited to His Majesty George III, the Honorable John Adams. Sir, General James Edward Oglethorpe. General Oglethorpe, I am happy to welcome you, sir. Oh, no, Mr. Adams. I came to welcome you. I have long awaited this day. I am happy to have lived long enough to enjoy it. Well, I'm sure now that I see you, General, that your age must be everywhere exaggerated. Why, I was told you were nearer a century than 90. Yet you seem as spry as I, or even sprier. I trust, Mr. Adams, you will discover when you're 88, as I am, that a few years more or less makes little difference, even with the young ladies. Oh, I believe that. I still manage to dance on occasion. And I am sure you do a graceful figure, sir. But here you're not to be paying me compliments, sir, for I came to pay my respects to you, the first American minister to the mother country. I'm very glad to see you in England, sir. I thank you, sir. I retain the greatest esteem and regard for America, my own colony of Georgia in particular. America has not forgotten that you were one of our staunchest supporters on this side, nor will we soon forget it. But you can, sir, for there's little difference between me and the others now. There was a time when some English statesmen misunderstood America and thought to tax you without your consent, thought you'd grow from calves accustomed to the yoke of oxen, as they were wrong, because they'd not lived in the colonies as I had. There were those who thought the project of Georgia to be a thoroughly infamous scheme. A minority, it's true. But suffice it to say, Mr. Adams, they reckon me right today. America owes a great deal to our far-seeing English friends. Thank you, Mr. Adams. You know, sir, I regretted the trouble between England and America, and I am happy to have lived to see the termination of it. America. I supposed once that I might live and die there. You say that almost wistfully, General Gophoff. They have tasted freedom in America and will never suffer the yoke of oppression again. Yes, Mr. Adams, I die far from home. I think a part of me is still in Georgia. I left my heart in America. Our thanks to Alfred Shirley and the Cavalcade players for their performance of a passage to Georgia, the story of General James Oglethorpe and the founding of Georgia. It was because of men like him that a powerful America forged its destiny among the nations of the world, men whose heroism, sacrifice, and humanity endowed our land with a spirit of opportunity and freedom. And now DuPont brings you news of chemistry at work in our world. By proclamation of the President, this is National Wildlife Restoration Week. Thanks to wiser policies of conservation, the beaver are coming back to our streams. Deer, buffalo, and other animals once bound for extinction are again on the increase. Our wildlife is a national resource and we have learned to keep it safe. Even more vital is human conservation. Man himself must be kept safe, safe as possible against the hazards of an environment not always friendly to him. Again and again, DuPont has asked the question, can you make it safer? On the highways, automobiles are safer today because cords of cordura rayon yarn in modern tires resist the heat generated by the high speeds of modern travel. Safer because the safety glass of their windows is made with an interlayer of butasite plastic. Along our improved highways, guides of lucite plastic, kindled by your headlamps, sparkle their warning signal. In your home, chemistry contributes safeguards ranging from DuPont's rug anchor and underlay to keep your rug from skidding to pure drinking water, household sprays, and free-on-safe refrigerants. Thanks to DuPont textile chemicals and DuPont neoprene chemical rubber, workmen in industrial plants today have boots, aprons, gloves, and protective clothing that offer insurance against spattered acids, caustics, and molten metals. It isn't surprising that DuPont should contribute so much to safety. Everyone who has visited a DuPont plant has seen the boards on which DuPont employees proudly chalk up their local safety records. Last year, the National Safety Council awarded bronze plaques to 31 DuPont plants that operated during a 12-month period without serious injury to even one employee. More recently, DuPont employees constructing national defense plants for the government set two All-American safety records. The thousands of men at one plant worked 3,690,000 exposure hours without a single time losing accident, and the men on the other huge job worked 7,360,000 exposure hours without one. Those figures are translated into human terms by a letter from the wife of a DuPont employee. We quote, My husband has worked on many different construction jobs, some where the word safety was unheard. Hurry, hurry, and every man for himself. Needless to say, I spent many worried hours. I'm only trying to say how much we wives and mothers appreciate what DuPont has done to protect the health and life of those dearest to us. Human safety ranks high among the values comprehended by the DuPont pledge, better things for better living through chemistry. And now a word about next week's cavalcade. Next week, commemorating the founding of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Cavalcade of America will present an original radio play written by the distinguished American authority on animal life whose writings are known to millions, Albert Payson Terhune. As guest of the Cavalcade of America, Mr. Terhune will tell you the story with the assistance of the cavalcade players of Henry Berg, the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. We hope you'll join us next week at this same time for the broadcast of the Cavalcade of America. On the Cavalcade of America, your announcer is Clayton Collier, sending best wishes from DuPont. Applause This is the National Broadcasting Company. Music
