The Southern watchman. (Athens, Ga.) 1854-1882, February 15, 1855, Image 2

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’4Pr tl)c jttJfttcljmaH. J. 1I. CHRISTY, EDITOR. A VINDICATION .OF THE IION AUGtJfITIN S. CLAYTON, Agatnst the aspersions of George R. Gilmer, as contained in his Sketches of Georgia. To the People of Grorgia.—The re putation of your public men* who have served you in the council or the field, is a common heritage, and I claim the pri vilege of vindicating the character of one whose memory is cherished with affec tion, and whose virtues are a never- failing source of admiration. In the exercise of this right I feel that I am doing justice alike to the living and the dead. I scorn to plead the sanctified immunities of the grave: I ask no in dulgence to the feelings of those who survive ;jl challenge the strictest scrutiny into his every act, whether official or private; I appeal to his cotemporaries at the bar or in the councils of the nation, to speak out, if they know any thing which attaches to his fame, and I call up the records to protect the consistency of his character and the integrity of his life. „ I have-had placed in my hands a book entitl-d “ Sketches of some of the First Settlers of jfclpper Geoigia, of the Chero- kecs, and 4 .the Author,” by George U. Gilmer, containing, among other things, a wilful, wanton, and malignant attack upon the character and intergrity of .1 udge Clayton It is my purpose in this vindication to show the meanness of the assassin and the misrepresentations to which he has resorted. As to the book I have but little to say ; and if the author had confined himself to telling that his wife “ gave Inina salutation worth more than all the shaking of hands and plaudits which lie had received Iron the listeners and lookers-on” when he made a speech in Congress, with which he hhnsslf was very much pleased; or how “ Mr. Adams took occasion to speak of him in the most flattering terms, when he took out his great grand-father’s watch, and held it up to the Speaker, and bowed out of the hall of the House of Repre sentatives,” and announced that his right of representing the people of Georgia had terminated; or of the ‘‘mockingbird that flew against his window” when everybody thought he was going to die; or to the collection of “ minerals, Indian pipes, idols, amulets, lances, and arrow heads” which adorn his domicil—it would have passed as the innocent garrulity of an old man without the benefit of ex pcriencc. But ns lie 1ms thought to rssail and impugn the motives of Others, he must bear the consequences which truth and justice exact in their defence. Ilis attack upon Judge Clayton is three-fold: first, his intelligence as lawyer'; second, he endeavors to create the impression that, in his judicial char acter, when :he.controversy between the Cherokeea and the State of Georgia was t»« favored the etcneral Government, and not the State; and thirdly, lie insinuates that his mind was influenced to this course by the relation ship which existed between him and Mr. Wirt, who was the attorney of the Cherokees before the Supreme Court of the United States. As to the first, I have no disposition to discuss in this controversy other than incidental; with regard to the last two, I will show to the satisfaction of every honest man their utter and/complete futility. To have a proper understanding of the points, it will be well to state that while Mr. Gilmer was governor of Geor gia, lie received some time in the month of June, 1S30, a letter from Wm. Wirt informing him that “the Cherokee nation had consulted him professionally as iu their rights under their various treaties with the United States', and, among other questions, whether the State of Georgia had a right to extend her laws compulsively into their nation and suggesting to his excellency that “the decision may he expedited by making a casej^y consent, if that course should suit the views of the State of Georgia.” The governor declined, with out expressing much indignation or ex hibiting much courtesy, the proposition which he thought proceeded from di honorable motives. That I may do him justice, I give his own words : “ No one knows better than yourself that the governor would grossly violate his duty and cxcc*-d his authority by complying ‘ with such a suggestion, and that hot the letter and the spirit of the powers conferred by the Constitution upon the SupremcX’ourt forbid its adjudging such a case."’ .All tlys happened in 1830 in 18-'>4'“tbe same year with the puldi cation ofj Brtrnuni’s Biography, his bio graphy appears, and informs iis tliat he " never felt so indignant as he did upon reading $*r> Wirt's letter.” To under stand why. lie gives the following rca sons, page 354 of his hook : “Mr. Wirt’s first wife was my kins woman, - the daughter of Dr. George Gilmer, of Albemarle, the brother of my grandfather. Mr, Wirt was poor, un known, and undistinguished, when Dr Gilmer took him into his house, gav him his daughter, and introduced him into the society of his friends—-then the best in that pari of the country of his re sidenc*. .Soon after the death of his first wife. Mr. Wirt removed to Rich mond, and then <o Norfolk, and was in danger of being utterly ruined by dissi pat ion, when lie again prospered by marrying ihe daughter of Col. Gamble, of Richmond, my wife’s first cousin My wife lived with Mr. Wirt's family in Richmond when she was a little girl going to school, Mr. Wirt had been so great a favorite; w«th my own family friends, that he was named for his exe- * cuter by my grandfather Gilmer.. His jiioco, a young lady who had resided rith him during the 1 foot his first wife, after Dr. Gilmer’s death, taken into house by my wife's fatherrMr. Grat- io remained until >or. me X •'S’*', *■ age, high standing, and intimate rela tionship with my family, friends, would induce me to doat his request what.I would refuse to. ? another. A fee of twenty thousand dollars was certainly a very urgent inducement to every means of success.” I pass over the fact, that while-lie con sidered a dishonorable proposition had been made to him Upon the presump tion that they were of the same family, and that he never felt so indignant in his life at receiving the letter, not one word of indignation is expressed in his answer. I refer to this passage in his biography to show bow low that man’s mind must be who suspects that Mr. Wirt was governed by such considera tions in making the proposition he did, There had been nothing in the past history of Mr. Wirt’s life to excite tho least suspicion of dishonor; the guilt might have been somewhere else. “ All things appear yellow to the jaundiced eye.” About twenty days after Mr. Wirt’s letter was received, Mr. Gilmer addres sed a letter to the Hon. Augustin S. Clayton, who was theft judge of the western circuity informing him that he had received a formal notice from a very distinguished lawyer of Maryland that he .was counsel for the Cherokee In dians, and giving the contents of Mr. Wirt’s letter, without mentioning his name. . This letter is found in his book, page 356, and. strange to say, ho omits to publish Judge C.’s answer. My dis tance from Georgia prevents me from giving the same, though I am able to supply what I have no doubt Was the purport of it from another document He informs the judge in said letter, dated July 6th, 1830, that “ I am induc- to write thus freely and fully, be cause it is understood in W asnington city that you are desirous that the Fed eral court should assume thejurisdictiou of determining the extent of the rightof the State to govern its Indian popula tion and then continues in his book Judge Clayton, to whom this letter was addressed, was related by marriage to Mr. Wirt id several ways, and his association with Mr, Wirt and his family very intimate.” In this letter, and the subsequent statement, there are two misrepresentations on which to build his calumny; first, that lie, Judge Clayton, was desirous of submitting the question to the adjudication of the Fed eral court; and secondly, that iiis asso ciation with Mr, Wirt and family were very intimate. No man in Georgia, I assert without the fear of successful con tradiction, can point to a syllable ever written,or a word ever uttered,that Judge Clayton ever desired any suqji thing. All his writings prove the contrary; per haps n oman in Georgia ever contended more strenuously for the rights of the States, or was more jealous of the as sumptions of the Federal Government. As to his intimacy with Mr. Wirt's fami ly, my recollection is, that up lo this time he hbd never seen any member of it, including Mr. Wirt himself. In his Atticus he had animadverted with some severity upon his conduct; besides, he was the warm personal and political friend of Mr. Crawford in the contro versy with Mr. Calhoun, wherein Mr. Wirt was on the other side; and in an article publiseed in the Georgia Journal of April 21st, 4831, signed A. B, he spoke of Mr. Wirt in such manner, as one of the witnesses against Mr. Craw ford, as to show that his associations with him and his family could not have been intimate. But why this reference to the relationship of Mr. Wirt in this connection? Does he intend to insinu ate that his judician decisions were biased by any sueli consideration ? He can mean nothing else ; and none but a low, mean, debased heart alone could have justified such a conclusion. Let us see how far the charge of A desire on the part of Judge Clayton to submit the queston to the arbitrament of the supreme court is sustained by the records. In Augusl following this let ter, in a charge to - the grand jury of Clark county, he holds this language: Besides the fact officially announced in the council of the - Indians lately as sembled, I have received information from the Executive branch of this Gov ernment, that counsel have’ been em ployed by the Cherokee nation to raise for the adjudication of the Supreme Court of the United States the question, ‘whether the State has a right to pass laws for the government of the Indians residing within its limits.’ Now, with out intending the least disrespect to that court, to whose constitutional au thority this and all other State courts wi'l, I hope, cheerfully submit, this ques tion can qcver go Irom a court in which I preside-juniil the people of the State yiclff it, Cither from a conviction of er ror, ascertained by their own tribunals or the. more awful sense of their weak ness to retain it; and it is useless to dis guise the matter—to this issue the ques tion must come, if the State is true 1q itself.” Again, in another part of the same charge, he says : “So long, how ever, as the law remains unrepealed the country has my solemn pledge that it shall be faithfully and impaYtially ad- ministe : ed, so far as l am concerned.. I only require the aid of public opinion, ami the arm of the executive authority, and no court on earth besides our own shall ever be troubled with this ques tion*" How malicious then is the allegation and how badly sustained by the. records, I will venture to say that not a con temporary of Judge Clayton henrd-that he desired to let this qnestion go before tho Suprem e Court of the United States and from the low insinuation, that he was'influenced by his relationship with M r, Wirt,l am justified in believing that it originated in tho brain ofGeorgo R Gilmer. Again, at page 388of this biography we have a repetition of the calumny: “By a clause of the law all agents ol e United States were exempted " i operation. The judge of u * '“a which included the tofv, the relative of Mr 1 gined that be had read somewhere that missionaries among the Cherokees were agents of the Government He discharg ed soveral - missionaries who were brought before him upon .a writ of habe as corpus, upon his own assumption that missionaries were agfcnts of the United States Government, and there fore exempt by law from arrest.” He has again to resort-to misrepresen tation to keep up the calumny, without the sagacity this time to perceive that the decision was prejudicial to; the in terest of his relative; for If the mis sionaries were discharged the case could not go to the supreme court; and unless it Went to the supreme court, Mr. -Wirt would not get the fee of twenty thou sand dollars, which Mr. Gilmer in his book says “was certainly a very urgent inducemen t to every means of success.’ 1 One would suppose, from his asser tion, that the court had assumed that the missionary'was the agent of the Government, without, any evidence to establish the fact. At the March term ofGwinnett superior court, 1831, Wor cester and others were brought before the court upon a habeas corpus charg ed with violating the law of Georgia which prevented all white persons from restding within the limits of the Chero kee nation without taking an oath to support and defend the constitution and law 1 ; of the State of Georgia. It is use less to quote more of the opinion of the court than is necessary to show that there was evidence indicating that these missionaries were agents of the General Government. The extract runs thus : “Under a l the. foregoing views of the subject, I am of the opinion that the law is perfectly constitutional, and that its provisions must be carried into effect. But there is one provision in it which two of the individuals in custody seem, for reason best known to themselves, to have overlooked, and which will dis charge them from their present arrest,ifl have been correctly informed as to the facts. Both of them are missionaries, and one of them a postmaster. In the first character they are there with the consent of the General Government, and, as its agents, are in the nation for the purpose of civilizing and christiani zing the Indians ; and as evidence of their being Government agents, they have the disbursement of large sums ef public, money for the aforesaid objects. Subsequent to this, this same Worces ter and eleven others were' convicted and sent to the penitentiary, Judge Clayton presiding ; and yet Mr. Gilmer in his book omits to mention the fact that the “judge of one of the circuits which included the Cherokee Territo ry, the relative of Mr. Wirt, presided on the occasion. It will thus be observed, that If he, the judge, had been correctly informed as to the fads, they were b6th of them agents of the General Government, and disbursed large sums of money in their public capaciiy; and yet Mr. Gilmer prints in a book that he discharged these men upon his own assumption that missionaries were agents of the United States. If this were so, why is the fact referred to in the opinion that they disbursed public funds ? I have no means of coming at the testimony, ex ccpt from the opinion of the cotfrt, and such is the vigilance of the legal fra ternity that it i-« unreasonable to suppose that they would have permitted such a statement to go uncoutradicted. It is, therefore, not to be expected that jus tice could or would be done either to the acts or motives of Judge Clayton by one who is so gratuitous in his asser tions. Besides the positive assertion to the contrary in h:s charge to the grand jury of Clark county, (an extract from which I -have quoted above,) that no other court had or should have the ju risdiction of the question as long as he had the honor to preside, the whole pre vious life and writings of Judge Clay ton stamp the allegation with impossi bility. He had contended, upon every occasion, as a member oi the legislature, as a judge on the bench, in his political essays, and in his public speeches,for the rights of Georgia in this controversy It is not saying too much to assert a; my firm belief, that he had written more than any other ten men in Georgia in vindication of her rights in the contro versy with the General Government in regard to.her Indian relations, and yet George R. Gilmer, who was hi enemy when he was. in life, enilarors to leave behind as history the assump tion that his leanings were against his' native State, and in favor of the United States. The bare mention of the fact, without a comment, should be sufficient to bring to any human face a blush where there was a heart which had the sensibility to feei. And then, too, the insinuation that he was influenced by his relationship to the distinguished Wirt, who was tho attorney of the In dians before the Supreme - Court o:f the United States, betrays a low, base, de graded meanness, to which falsehood could be no addition. To the contempo raries of Judge Clayton, it would have been only sufficient to have announced that George R. Gilmer had printed a book, and published as matter of histo ry these things against him; but fo the benefit of the rising generation, who are not familiar with the history of Georgia at lliistime, I have felt it my duty to be more elaborate than I other wise would. 1 have, I think, shown the utter improbability of the truth of either assumption by his accuser, and prove from the records, that upon every oc casion where he rises above an insin uation and attempts to assert a fact, he is not sustained. One word as to the assertion that Judge Clayton’s relations with Mr. Wirt and family were very intimate, and I am done. According to judge of the western circuit, was never at his house, unless it was after January. 1832. I will go one step father. I do not now remember- that Judge Clayton ever wrote a letter to, or received one Mr. Wirt in his life, and my con front, fidential relations with him were such that I would have known something of it, if there had existed anything like in timacy between them. What occurred, after he.was elected to Congress, here in Washington city, in receiving and returning the civilities and courtesies of life, I kuow not; they may have been intimate, but it was subsequent to the judicial action against which Mr. Gilmer lias made his misrepresentations and directed his insinuations. I do not give importance to the assertion that he was intimate with Mr. Wirt and his family, because I attach any impropriety to it if the fact existed, but to show the utter unworthiness of what is intended as history, when it is written to gratify a personal revenge or is the offspring of disappointed ambition. There are many other remarks in Mr. Gilmer’s book relative to Judge Clay ton which 1 deem it unnecessary to no tice. Suffice it, he never speaks of him in respectful terms, of which I make ho complaint; he had the right to con sult his own taste in writing his own book, ing a candidate, and desirous that J udge Clayton should be, obtained a48utilated copy of my lettpr to Liddell, and used it to excite the nullifiers into opposition to my nomination. I was in Virginia whilst this intrigue was going on. Up on being informed of it, I wrote to Lid dell that I had heard of his having com municated lo others the contents of my letter, and asked him to send me a copy. The sorry fellow havingno suspi cion that I had kept a copy answered that he thought the letter did me great honor, sent a copy of the part which he knew to be offensive to the nullifiers, and omitted that which qualified what made it so, averring that his eyes were so sore, and he so unwell, that it was as much as he could do to copy what he sent., I afterwards saw Judge C'ayton and General Harris, who had been very busy circulating Liddell’s mutilated copy of my letter ; showed them the en tire copy, and convinced them that they had been misled.” Where no records exist to substan tiate facts, we are dependent entirely upon recollection } and while I would not say that Mr. Gilmer, in .this narra tive, has suggested an untruth, 1 have no idea that he has given all the facts as they existed at the time. My recollection of the facts are these ; On account of limtlimi ‘Mrjinnin ♦ |is LAW, ORDER, AWO THE CONSTITUTION. ATHENS, CrA. THURSDAY MORNING, FEB. 15, 1855. J5"Mr. William Dostkb. of Atluitu, is our au thorized Agent in Cherokee Georgia. This paper U filed, and may at all times bo seen at the ^Reading Room of Prof Holloway, 344 Strand, London and I am not disposed to deprive him of Mr. Gilmer’s position, which was a per fect willingness to receive favors from the State-Rights party, whilst at the same time he was denouncing their principles to their opponents ia letters, around which he threw the sanctity ot privacy, many, many State-Rights men determined not to support him. While lie and his friends wtre very anxious to secure the nomination of the State-Rights party, or perhaps it was after he had been nominated, the letter to Liddell was produced, to which he gave a meaning and signification that removed some of the objections which had been urged against him. Judge ■ Clayton or his friends had nothing to do | with liny intrigue to defeat his nomina tion, or procure or circulate any mutilat ed letter for any such purpose. My opinion is, that a correspondence took place between Mr. Gilmer and Gen. Harris at the time, which I have no doubt would have thrown more light ori the subject than Mr. Gilmer wad willing should meet the public gaze. I have one extract to notice in his book, and I conclude. At page 485 he say’s: “I was Opposed to recliartering the Bank, and yet did not approve of the means used by General Jackson for put ting it down. The Georgia members of Congress who had been elected on the same ticket with myself were favorable to the Bank, and partisan opponents of General Jackson.” This refers to the Congressof 1S33— *4, at Which time the lions. Roger B. Gamble, Seaborn Jones, Thomas F. Foster, Richard II. Wilde, Augustin S, Clayton, and, if I mistake not,.Tames M Wayne, were elected with Mr. Gihner upon the same ticket; and by reference to pages 4S3—’4, of House Journal for the first session of the 23d Congress, it will be perceived—with the exception of Mr. Wilde, who voted for the Bank, and Mr. Gamble, who was absent—the rest voted with Mr. Gihner against the Bank. Why this misrepresentation in a book that purports to be. history, I am at a loss to understand I have said nothing of his book in rela tion either td the credit it will reflect up on the State, the information it gives, or the place it will occupy in the wprld as a literary production., I have not sought a controversy, and .therefore I have avoided every tiling like attack. Besides, I should be justly chargeable with more than an ordinary malignity to subject his book and his taste to the rules of criti- solitary enjoyment he derives there from. In this communication I have not ap peared before the^public to praise Judge Clayton—I come to defend him : and in this connection it will not be consid ered inappropriate to refer briefly to the cause which separated him and Mr. Gil mer from those relations wh ch existed prior to the controversy about which I am going to speak. The cause of dif ference was not any of the cases I have referred to above ; there was -no con flict between the executive or the judi ciary of Georgia in either the case of Tassels, the Indian who was hung for murder, or the missionaries who were first discharged as coming under the provision which exempted the U. S. agents from the operation of the law, or those who were afterwards sent to the pen tentiary, having no right' to claim such exemption. The collision was on accout of the decision of the judge in the case of Canatoo, i Cherokee Indian charged with digging gold in his own nation, which the legislature of Georgia had made a penitentiary offence. The ground upon which that decision was made and the law was unconstitutional and violatied numerous treaties made with the Indians, and expressly guaran tying the undisturbed possession and occupancy of all their lands not ceded to the whites. I am not going to argue the correctness of that decision ; at no very distaitt day I contemplate present ing to the public the life and writings of its author, at which time I trust I shall be able to do justice to the legal ability by which it was sustained. My present purpose is to appeal to the public, and in that public to include his worsLcncmy. George R. Gilmer, to know if Judge Clayton did not deserve, in what was intended as a history of the controversy at that time, to have had justice meted >ut to his motives. What are the facts ? Mr. Gihner and he belonged to the same political party; they had been personal friends; every inducement upon earth, save the conscientious discharge of duty, existed why a contrary decision should have been made. His own political friends had passed the law; he in com mon with every citizen of Georgia was anxious to have the Indians removed to the west of the Mississippi; fiis decision he knew must have the effect to embar rass that hoped-for object; the discovery of gold had phrenzied the people, and all were solicitous for an occupancy of . . . _ . _ the Territory ; his re-election or defeat C1 ° m » aa lt ,s > I have no defence against The editor of this paper expects to attend all the Courts of this Circuit and a portion of those of adjoining Cir cuits during the Spring riding—where he hopes to meet with all his old sub scribers, with their “pockets full of| * n S s > or w at rocks,” ready to settle off past indebt edness, and hundreds of new ones, ready to give his paper a trial. We have fallen upon stirring times—the war in Europe now pending, and the approaching State election, together with the current news of the day, will make papers more interesting than usu al, and we confidently anticipate large accessions to our already rapidly-in creasing list. We learn that Dr. Daniel Lee,- Professor of Agricultural Chemistry in Franklin College, (University of Geor gia,) will commence his course of lec tures on the subjects pertaining to his department, on the 1st Tuesday in March. The lectures are open to the public. * ESP There is, just now, a great dearth of news, and of everything inter esting in the newspaper world—besides which, we hate been absent at Court. If, therefore,our readers find the Watch man unusually dry this week, we trust they will attach no blame, whatever, to the editor. . E5P We regret that in the communt cation of “ M. E.” published in our last paper, a very material error escaped. Our correspondent was made to say that the span of the bridge, from one abutment to the other, would be “ not more than three hundred feet," when it should have been “ about one hundred feet.” KdP* The Southern Cultivator and tho Soil of the South for February, are both upon our table. We again call the at tention of our agricultural friends to these excellent periodicals, devoted to their interests. the unkindness of directing public atten tion to it. The misrepresent.ilions which abound in his “Sketches,” when he speaks of the acts and motives of other men, are so common and so frequent, that I have the charity to grant him the benefit of the habit, to rescue his own character from the infamy into which his autobiography has plunged it. P. Clayton. Washington City, Jan. 23, 1855. Washington,’ Feb. 9^-. 00" Senator A. C. Dodge, of Iowa, was confirmed as Minister to Madrid. The appointment excited universal as tonishment. . td^ r ’ Two slave boys were lately sent from Richmond, Va., in charge of a Mr. Graham of that place, destined for Kentucky. They were to go by way of the Ohio river, but finding it not navigable, they took the Ohio Central Railroad, intending to cross the State of Ohio. An accident occurred to the train at Guernsey, by which they were detained long enough for a wril to be issued, and the boys taken from Gra ham’s keeping. The Court before as judge was within sixty days of the time; there was not the possibility of a personal benefit to hini or his friends by discharging the Indian, and yet, in the face of all these difficulties, he did noth ing more than what he conceived to be his duty. For all which I do not claim for him any credit, but I do th’nk, that when the true history is written lie should be exempt from censure. The sequel was as every one predicted—the legislature refused to re-elect him judge, though the people elected him to Con gress in less than sixty days thereafter Mr. Gilmer was defeated for Governor about the same time, having rendered himself obnoxious to the people of.the State. It had the effect upon him of hydrophobia, from which he has never recovered. He has been snapping and snarling at every successful statesman and every political organization in the State ever since; the clear and pellucid stream of charity throws him into con vulsions and he .will soon pass away un wept, unhonored, and unsung, with the melancholy remembrance that the only true services he lias ever rendered his country or his kind are iiis omissions. In speaking of political parties subse quent to the time qf which I hare been writing, Mr. Gilmer, at page 465 of his book, has the following passage : “ A few days after my, return home, ( from the Auti-Tniff Convention at Milledge ville,) I received a letter from James Liddell, a leading member of the legisla turc: in which he stated that he had heard a pottion?of my remarks against the doc trine of nullification ; that he did not understand the subject, wished to be informed, and asked me to give him my views fully, saying that my letter should be strictly confidential. I wrote to him what my opinions were about the resolu tions which had been adopted by the convention, particularly that which set forth the extreme opinions of Mrt O ’ houh of the power of a State to control *%The past belongs to God, the present the legislation of Congress on the sub- only is ours,- and short as it is, there is > JUDGE CLAYTON. We devote much of our space this week, to the. publication of the vindica tion of Judge Clayton, by his son, P. Clayton, Esq... We personally know nothing of the subject-niatter of this controversy; but it is due to tlie memo^ ry of the distinguished statesman and jurist, who lived arid labored and died in this town, that, if his acts have been misrepresented, or .the purity of his mo tives brought in question—however high the authority—that the vindication of them should appear before the public.— Most of our readers are doubtless fa miliar with many of the facts contained Mr. C.’s vindication and therefore ESP The Georgia coadjutors of the National fera, are glorying in the eleo tion of Wilson! by the Massachusetts Legislature, and of the notorious Se- * ward by that of New York, because* as they say, the Know Nothings are re sponsible for both—inasmuch as in Massachusetts they clearly possessed sufficient strength to elect whom they pleased, and in New York it is con tended they held the balance of power in their hands, and might have defeated Seward. We see nothing in this to rejoice overt It is ever a matter of profound sorrow to us, to see such men returned to the U. S. Senate as Wilson is represented to be, and as Seward has demonstrated he is. We care not by what party elect ed—Whigs, Democrats, Know Noth* not—the result is ever the saute—a never-ending agitation of the slavery question. These coadjutors of the Era, however, rejoice over it* because they tliiuk they can make it ap pear that the Know Nothings are leagued with the Free Soilers. If the mere fact of sending anti-slavery agita tors to Congress, be evidence of Free- soil proclivities, then will these gentle men convict their own party of being Free-soilers. Out of their own mouths are they condemned. We know that in New York, Massa chusetts and Ohio, it is extremely diffi cult to elect a man to any office who is not, or has not been tinctured with free soil proclivities. Notwithstanding all this, however, we had hoped that the new party would have .scrupulously avoided even “ the appearance of evil.” We know not, at this distance from the scene of action, how the wires were managed, so as to re-elect Seward, nor do we know that Wilson is now a Free- soiler. Perhaps, like many of Presi dent Pierce’s appointees to office, he abjured bis Free-soil heresies, previous to his election, or" intends, like them, when he reaches Washington, to get dipped seven times in the Potomac, and have his leprosy healed. One thing is certain, however. If the Know Nothings hope to become a national party, they must adopt tlie doctrineof non-intervention, and “touch not, taste not, handle not” the Aboli tion, question. The South will act, with great unanimity, with any party that will do this—and nothing short of this will satisfy her. She does not ask the people of the North to join her in a pro slavery crusade—she does not expect this. But she does ask to be let alone ; and this she is determined to exact of her “Noriherri allies” of all parties. prepared to do justice to all—the living and the dead. ceased: remember that Mr. Wirt s, Georgia, in his life, —i - — — — -o "* ject of the tariff, stating to him that they the best of my recollection, Judge Clay- were given to himself,, and not for.oth- too never saw Mr. Wirt; or any member ^ers or the pqblic, I was thus cautious, p ' - until after he'ook his seat because I wished to avoid writing any , 1832, when his thing against my party friends. I kept a. copy of my letter. When the Demo cratic State Rights party were about selecting a candidate for governor jn th-tt his felativej tlie 1837, those who. we re opposed to my bp- IdF 1 To such of our friends as have kindly manifested an interest in our success, we are pleased to be able to say, that our circulation has been stead ily increasing from the first, but since tlie beginning of the new yetir—not withstanding the hardness of the times-- it has received a considerable impetus. If all our friends would just take hold of the matter and aid us a little, by recom mending, as far S3 they can conscien tiously, our paper to the attention of their neighbors, we would soon have a circulation much larger than ever pos sessed by any paper published in this place. Will they not lend us their as sistance ? * TAKE A HOME PAPER. We are satisfied that many persons are governed by erroneous views, in re gard to sustaining their home papers— many of them believing that they con tain little of interest, while those from a di^tanie are brimful of every thing great and good. Now the truth is, that precisely the contrary is the fact. A home paper is better than any one from a distance possibly can It; because it contains all the foreign and 4eneral news to be found in a distant paper, and besides this, the local news,. adver tisements, &c., which can never be fofind in a distant one. The man, therefore, who takes but one paper, stands greatly in His own light, if he does not take the one nearest his place of residence—and no one can take so large a number of papers as to make it desirable to dispense with the reading of his local sheet. diF Mr. C. T. Howard has bought a half-interest in and become co-editor of| aiu ii e t their voice be heard and their in- ^g"The newspapers of this State having failed to agree upon the selec tion of suitable candidates for Governor, it now remains for the “ pot-house poli ticians” or the people, to settle this mat ter. We are’ iii favor of the People ta king it into their own hands—not by means of the mockery of attending county meetings to witness the carrying into operation the cut and dried proceed ings of a few ambitious men ; but let them attend these meetings in f»l! force, which they were free. taken, has set them the Atlanta Daily Intelligencer—a pa per which is a credit to the Railroad city, in spite of its Democracy. CARROLL COPPER. We understand that H.'T. Read, of Carroll county, shipped yesterday five and a half tons of -copper from this city, for New York. The Copper was taken from the Carroll Copper Mines, and is said to be the first shipment of any amount thus far from Georgia;—Atlanta Intelligencer. —— — more mit than we can well manage. He who can well-measure it with his purpose is doing a man’s work ; there are few who do it and many who do less. The future is a great land, A man cah- notgo around it in a diy* he cannot measure it with a bound, nor gather up Jts harvest in a single sheaf. It is hroad- er than the vision, and has no end. ESP* 3 Although we have, on many oe casions, given notice to “ all the world and the rest of mankind,” that it is an unalterable rule with us, to exclude all articles intended for publication, when not accompanied by the writer’s name ; yet, strange to, say, we still receive an onymous communications—some of them well enough written and perfectly harmless—such as we would be glad to insert, if the writers would only comply with our rules. Perhaps they think we are not in earnest: well, they will find out, by waiting until they see their con tributions in print, >. Often people fancy the world is be coming Christian, when, in fact, Chris tianity is only becoming worldly, fluence felt. Let there be a State Con vention, composed of delegates appoint ed by those who are opposed to the pre sent “powers that be,” both at Wash ington and Milledgeville—let these del egates honestly reflect the will of their constituents, in the nomination of a can didate who can unite the entire opposi tion—and then, if the celebrated “coon- killer" isjiot unearthed from his com fortable quarters in Milledgeville, about the first of October next, we will ac knowledge we are no prophet. Although \ve have studiously abstain ed from expressing any preference for any of the distinguished gentlemen who have been named for the important of fice of Governor, it does not, by any means follow, that We feel no preference. Our determination, however, is, to sup port the'regular candidate, whoever he ■mi IhHprovided; he is,“ honest, capa ble and faithful ” < ' '