Henry Ellis (1721-1806) is recognized as the most capable of
Georgia's three colonial governors. In this biography Edward J.
Cashin presents the fullest account to date of Ellis's life, and
shows that his tenure as governor of Georgia was but one of many
accomplishments by a man of exemplary intelligence, courage, and
vision. Cashin puts Ellis's life and career the context of the
great cultural migrations, encounters, and conflicts of British
imperial and American colonial history. As he traces Ellis's rise
from one who implemented British foreign policy to one who played a
crucial hand in formulating it, Cashin reveals the inner workings
of the imperial bureaucracy and shows how colonial politics were
inextricably linked to the intrigues of the royal court and the
vagaries of the nobility's patronage system. The book's first
chapters recall Ellis's youth and formative years as a transplanted
Briton in Ireland, and then tell of his seafaring exploits as he
searched Canada's arctic waters for the Northwest Passage and
engaged in the slave trade between Africa, the Caribbean, and the
American Colonies - all the while enhancing his reputation as an
explorer, scientist, and man of his letters. As Georgia's governor
(1757-1760) Ellis came to be known as the colony's "Second Founder"
(after James Oglethorpe) by recasting it into one of the more
economically sound, less politically factionalized North American
colonies. In his account of Ellis's governorship Cashin shows how
Ellis had to function as a local administrator and a representative
of the crown, managing, for instance, the French and Indian War as
it was fought both in his colony and in the halls and chambers of
Parliament. Themiddle chapters cover Ellis's return to England in
1761. There he accepted, but eventually relinquished, an
appointment as governor of Nova Scotia. Choosing instead to remain
in England, Ellis drew on his knowledge of French and Spanish
colonial activity, the slave trade, and Indian affairs to advise
Pitt, Egremont, Halifax, and others of the king's ministry. A
polished statesman, Ellis weathered the machinations surrounding
George III's ascension to the throne, and influenced the course of
the war with France and the terms of the peace settlement in 1763.
Ellis also had a hand in the political appointments, boundary
settlements, and trade decisions attendant to the epochal
Proclamation of 1763, which set the course of history for Quebec,
Nova Scotia, the Floridas, and the British West Indies. After his
invaluable help in reorganizing Britain's expanded American empire,
Ellis withdrew from public service in 1768. Cashin portrays Ellis
in genteel retirement, during which he increased his absentee
landholdings in Ireland and traveled in Italy, France, Belgium, and
elsewhere on the Continent. In his last years, Ellis was a
much-sought-after guest, and moved within a circle of friends that
included Horatio Nelson, the king of Sweden, and the Abbe Raynal.
More than an artful biography, this is the story of a crucial
period in American and British history, as told through the
experiences of one of the period's most influential,
behind-the-scenes power brokers.
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