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Vol 1.
uve lent a hand in the composition,
vith giving you public property —Zu-
?eibuler* plantation. —Had you poilcf-
Vd the generosity, your affected valor
jvould seem to imply ; you would before
this dav, have given the lie to the a tier-,
ti , n . 1 have not noticed, this, nor a
thousand other indecent attacks, your
party have made on me, because, I know
the falfehoods they contain, can never
affect me. Since we are however, on
the fubjeft of the piece you allude to—
and if you apply any thing therein mcn
‘tioned, of ingratitude from you tome—
-1 ihall not go about the buih, to inform*’
you, that I think it fits you —I took
you, fir, a little boy, and treated you
with all the affeiftionofa parent, and
•maintained you without reward, with
the bed my house afforded—how did
you return this parental conduct—you
ibarcely got clear of my office, and 1 be
lieve previous to your leaving it, your
leagues against me were formed, when
you deferred the man, you have fre
quently contefled was a father to you,
to break down my character and reputa
tion.—Ha . e you not since, acknowledg
ed this ingratitude towards me, to differ
ent perfoas, and made the intention you
had formed of procuring Zuberbulers of
tate,your plea for doing so.—Did you not
acknowledge this ingratitude to me, in
the chair coming from Governor Tel
fairs, a (Turing me with tears in your
eyes, that you esteemed me as your fa
ther, that you had got loose from the
base party, mentioning Mr. Gibbons
particularly —and that I might affine
myfelf, ycu would keep so. I suppose,
fir, that you may be so angry at this
plain truth, that you may think of a
challenge —to cut it short, and prevent
your wafting paper on the occaiion, be
pleated to remember, that if I enter the
lifts, it cannot be with an ungrateful
boy, who may with to repair a fluttered
chunkier. I (hall not avoid any proper
invitation. To keep my word with
Captain Robertson, i have taken this no
tice of you —any further correfpondcnce
is inadmiflible. I am, Sir,
Yours i3 c.
JAS. JACKSON.
Savannah, April 20, 1796.
To General Jackson.
S1 R,
YOUR publication under the signa
ture of Gracchus, of which 1 wrote you,
contains falfe declarations —your letter
to me in explanation, alio contains mat
ter gruffly talle. If you meant an ap
peal to truth, you would not have avoid
ed a further correspondence. Captain
Robertson, therefore will name a time
and. place, to give me fatisfaclion. It
you think to continue your general abule
of characters, either young or old, under
the pretence of seeking your own ob
icd, you will find your error; you are
not left liie lolc judge of a proper invi
tation. lain Sir,
Yours GV.
JACOB WALDBURGER.
April 20th, 1796.
I have already said, in a former pub
lication, that my friend, Captain Ro
bertson, informed me, that the General*
would not receive my letter, in answer
to the one he had wrote me ; and thus my
friend was obliged verbally to address
him, and deliver him a raeflage, that he
had a challenge from me to him, and
while he was repeating that, he desired
the General to meet meat ten o’clock
the next morning, at the Jews burying
ground, with piltols—the General mov
ed into the’ house, and would not hear
any complete meflage from me. The
General fays, “ what right you have to
make this demand, I am at a loss to
find—but be this as it may, I suppose
that I poffiefs the fame right to refufe
the demand, which you have to make it.”
I take it whenever a writer looses fight
cf the merits of his case, and having
waited his invective against his antago
r.ift, he fnould cease writing, thus to
lengthen his publications, and tieze the>
pubiic. He has no right to drag in any’
citizen, out of mere sport, to feed hisap
’ petite for übufe. On this principle, I
demanded of the General, whether he
was the author. If he was not the au
thor, any further application on the score
of iatisfabtion, was unncceffary. If he
” was the author, I-had a right to demand
Ids reasons for attacking me. Because
Givis, and many other writers had writ
ten fe .erc and true things against him, I
cannot admit this was a fufficient reason
lor the General to slander me. What the
General means,by faying, “as to the per
sonal invective which you please to take
to yourfelf, am I to becomeanfwcrable for
it, and to give youloiutions of the mean
ing of any anonymous author, to plaifter
) our confidence ?”—I am at a loss to de
termine. If he does not know what
fart, I took iri the great qucflion of the
Columbian #lufeum,
weflern lands, I will inform him, that
while I was in the legislature, I opposed
the sale, and without boasting of my ex
ertions in this buiinefs, I do believe, that
1 did prevent a sale of the land in thefef
iion preceding the sale of the territory.
I never doubted, nor did any other mem
ber, that the iegiilature had not the right
to fell ; but I thought the sum offered
tor it, was inadequate to the value of
the property. Upon this principle, I
opposed the sale, and the applications
were rejected. Upon my return from
New-York,in the year 1794, I found
that I had been left out of the legiilature,
and having occauon Shortly alter, to go
to Augusta, I difeovered the legiilature
were difpolcd to fell, and I ultimately
became one of the purchalms; but I ne
ver attempted to influence any member
to vote contrary to his original in ten- ’
tion. I said to several members, if I
were in the legiilature, I ihould oppose
the law, if the price offered did not meet
my opinion of the value of the land ;
and for further evidence of this particu
lar, I appeal to James Jones, Esq. a
member from Sure
ly then, 1 was an innocent purchaser,
and I have since parted with ail my in
terest under this law, to one of the Gran
tees, who knew more of the business than
1 did. Thus I was a fair purchaser,
and made a fair sale, nor do i feel any
anxiety or uneaftnefs about the business;
nor do I in need of General jack
fon’s trowel! to plaifter my confidence.
The General in his Letter, mentions
Zuberbulers Plantation ; every per
son knows that I claimed a part of this
estate, under the general principles of
law—tiiat the will was in the face of
a Statute of Great Britain, of force in
this State, and that therefore the heirs
of the deceased were intitled to the pro
perty. I took the opinion of two gen
tlemen of the law, at the head of the
profeffion in Georgia, and they were of
opinion, that I was entitled to a part of
the estate ; and while I was contempla
ting a suit at law, the legislature unex
pectedly interfered, destroyed the will,
and gave the property to the Chatham
Academy, with this express clause :
“ lie it therefore enabled by the authori
ty a for.Jaid, That the said estate, known
and diltinguithed by the name of Zuber
buler’s eitate, in the said County of
Chatham, be immediately from and af
ter the palling of this ad, taken by the
Sheriff of the said county of Chatham,
and put into the pofieffion of the Trus
tees, hereby appointed for the said Aca
demy ; and it fhail be lawful for the
said trustees, or a majority of them* to
apply the nett annual proceeds of the said
estate, towards creding the laid Acade
my, and carrying the intention of this
ad into full effed, and if there is any
other property belonging to the said es
tate, except the plantation fettled near
Newington Village, adjoining lands of
David Rees, tiie fame {hall be fold for
specie, twenty days notice being firit
given of the Idle thereof, and the monies
a riling therefrom, ihall be applied to-,
wards ereding and supporting the said
Academy : Provided neverthelels, that
nothing herein contained ihall bar the
claim of any person, who is legally the
heir of the laid Zuberbuler.”
And altho’ the right was referred,
yet every legiilature more or less looked
at this estate until the feliion of 1791,
when I was able to fix it by law, in the
heirs of B. Zuberbuler, where 1 think
a jury would have placed it, if the legis
lature had never interfered. M his was
the memorable feliion when General
Jackson was pursuing Judge Oiborne.
i really did not know that General
Jackson had received any perlonal in
vective", on account of his agreeing to
veil the estate of Zuberbuler in the heirs;
and if I had, I could not have come for
ward, and given “ the lie to the aller
tion,” because, to the belt of my recol
lection, he assented to the law of 1789,
and I am certain, consented to the last
act palled in 1791. I served about four
’ years to General Jacklon, as an articled
clerk, I was firft placed under his care
by my guardian or half brother, Mr.
vDavid kcaii of South Carolina, who
died Ihortly after, and I articled myfelf.
I resided for fome time, at a boarding
house, but on tire Generals own motion,
and I presume tor tire convenience of ha
ving me constantly in his office, I diet
ed at his house. Many perfon* would
be led irom this paragraph oi his letter,
to believe, I was a common pauper, it
is therefore necessary to mention, that
inv mother had a handsome competence,
and I had a property of my own—the
remains of what had been left me, of
my paternal estate, by the effect of war,
and the rapacious dilpofition ol an execu
tor. I was clothed by my mother, who
was my natural guardian, and who had
aifo my property m poileffion, and never
received one {hilling from General Jack
son in my life. At the period I went
to live with the General, there was
hardly a choice at the bar. It was im
mediately after the conclusion of a gene
ral peace, and but few* proleHional gen
tlemen w*ere at that time in the Hate :
as a great part of my property lay in
the hands of thofc unwilling to yield it
up, J deemed a knowledge of law in
difpenfible, in the acquirement thereof.
That 1 served the .General mod faith
fully he cannot deny ; and I anr free to
acknowledge, he treated me with atten
tion : As to my ltudies they were en
tirely governed by the honourable
George Walton, who.was then Chief
Just ice of the Hate.—This gentleman
v lun arily offered me his /firvice, and
, is the General began the profeffion with
sßlackftone’s commentaries, and one or
two more books of no value or estima
tion, I was altogether supplied from the
library of Col. Walton, to whole unre
mitted attention I confidcr myfelf emi
nently obligated. The fricndfhip and
good opinion of tins valuable man, I
have retained. I feel at this moment,
the firft glow of gratitude for his care
ful fuperintendance of my earlier days,
and I attribute to him, those fuccelfes
which have followed my exertions since
that period. It is rather extraordinary
that the General Ihould accuse me of
forming leagues against him before I left
his house, in 1787, when in November,
1790, he wrote me the following let
ter:
Savannah, Nov. 21,1790.
Dear Waldburgcr,
I was in hopes I Ihould have heard
from you, refpetting the matters I pla
ced in your hands, and your legillative
deliberations. Tam happy to learn the
unanimity which prevails, as the resolu
tions which you may enter into, and
fome affiiredly ought to be made, will
have the greatest effeft. I have heard
with pleasure and fatisfaftion, that you
have cut no mean figure in the pre
sent feliion. It was however, no more
than I always predicted of you,at fome pe
riod or other, and you need nothing but
application to alfift a genius to raise you
to any thing you with. I Ihall thank
you, if you have approved my conduifl,
to support mein the next election—ma
noeuvres arc already on foot—-I am just
about failing, and therefore mull allure
you, that I am your sincere well wisher.
JAMES JACKSON.
My compliments to Mrs. Waldbur
ger.
It is notorious, that, I did support
him in his election, and it is equally well
known, that when the General was elec
ted Senator, we were both in the legis
lature from the fame county. At his
request I again took a decided and very
active part in his favor, and my enemies
cannot but acknowledge, I was fufficient
ly influential to have done him great in
jury, had I been fodifpofed,
When I was free from serving the
General aad come upon the theatre of
life, on looking around I found that he
had, at different times disputed with a
number of the refpeftable people of
Georgia, and [did not think it ingrati
tude or treason, for me to afifociate with
any persons I thought proper ; nor would
I avoid any man, because he had denoun
ced him. The General did not seem
disposed to render me that support which
1 had anticipated from his profeffions;
and my pride would not permit me to
hang about the office of any man, to aft
in a lubordinate condition, alter I had
been liberated. I was very young and
had to contend with many difficulties.—
I chose not to make his enemies mine,
he was always engaged in fome violence
or other, and I did not think it necessary
to follow him in every excess he was
guilty of. It is very extraordinary,
that the General Ihould feleft for my
confeflions, the high road and in a chair
coming from Mr. Telfair’s.—He has
thereby deprived me ot an opportunity
of confuting by any colateral testimony,
his alTertio'n. I can therefore only fay,
that I do not recoiled any fuchconverfa
tion ; and am very certain, none such
ever took place ; ncrr do I know why
he Ihould fix it to Mr. Gibbons, as I ne
ver served a feliion in the lame branch of
the legiilature, with that gentleman.
It the General had written plain truth,
and in such a style as was confident with
my opinion of a gentleman, I Ihould
not have troubled myfelf
but lie firft insults me grossly to the
public prints, and then by way of
defence lor not meeting me, defeendi to
downright abuse, and aggravates the in
jury he meditated. The’General lup
poles,l meant to eftablilh by calling on
aim, “ a fluttered reputation.” Ido
not conceive, tiiat fighting every body
who-might be difpoleJ to ir.fult one, is
indilpenfable to the character of a gen
tleman.
In what consists the inestimable value
of General Jackson ? If he has served
the public in the late revolution— I laa
he not been amply compenfatcd by large ~
donations of public property, and hi*
vanity highly fed, if not fatisfied by
honorable appointments ? what right*
has the General to claim traniccndant
merit for his exertions ? What was his
lituation before the revolution ? Had he
any ellablillunent ? Had he a permanent;
reputation in society i What had lie to
loose ? His exillence ! A Ample proper
ty. It required a convulfiqn in civil
society ; a revolution indeed, to give
this man any thing, like the consequence
he arrogates to himfelf. A? to his ser
vices linec the war—Did he not exhi
bit an account against the Hate, for hi*
ollentatious vitits and lupplies, rendered
over great Ogechee, as Brigadier Gen
eral, ill the hrft Indian alarm, after hi*
appointment, and took advantage of hi*
popularity, as a member of the legisla
ture, to ieduce the public will, to make
a facrifice of one hundred pounds toeach
of the Brigadier Generals, that he might:
be included, v, ithout attempting to make
proviihm lor those who hud merited
much tor their exertions on the fron
tiers, in such gratuitous difpolition ?
And did he not attempt to derange the
resources of the ftatc, by bringing for
ward another account, of about hiteen
hundred doll rj, whi.e a member also of
the legiflature,for his lervices, as Brigade
Major of the militia, during the war
and this, eleven years after the evacua
tion of Savannah, by the Britilh troops*
and a long while after, the mistaken zeal
of the Hate, had 1 o well remunerated
him ? thereby ■ opening a door for all
other militia officers, to claim their pay
as continentals; and tranimitting to a
race unborn, the misfortuncs.which orig
inated from the concession of a whole
community, to the grasping disposition
of one individual.
This, as the public servant of the peo
ple, I opposed ; and for this, and l be
lieve this only, he became my enemy.—
I regret, Mcilrs. Printers, to hold forth
any man to the world, in thefc odious
colors : But I alk my fellow citizens*
did I Hep out ot my domeftio walks, to
interfere with the General’s politics ?
Long in the habit of pofleffing ill health*
I only consulted the welfare of my tam-.
ily and friends, obliged to transpose my
felt from place to place. I had not been,
under my roof, more than a week, when
I was accwfed of ingratitude, and railed*
traitor—epithets too harlh, not to meric
fome attention. I had carefully avoided
faying ought of the General—l had
no personal enmity towards him I
well knew the difadvanfhge of conten
ding with a mar, I once served : But I
call on the candor of the enlightened pare
of society, to judge of the aggravation
in your last paper. The General, not
content to vent his malice, by the publi
cation of such a letter as he wrote me*
has the address to find another fubter
fuge.—“ He fays, I amfmarting under
the lalh of Mr. Seagrove’s whip,” and
seems to exult at being such an adept in
profound difeoveries—here too, he deem*
me not a fit objeft to fight, being under
such a difgarcetul imputation. Th®.
tranfaftion the General alludes to, took
place in the summer of 1788, when L
was really but £ boy, altho’ a member 1
of the legislature. —Time had almost ob
literated the wrongs 1 had then buffered,
and it pains meat this moment, that in
doing myfelf justice, I must review a
tranladlion, which was very disagreea
ble, but in which I did my part. —The
following certificate, will elucidate the
whole t ran faction.
Savannah, 7/A May, 1796..
I do certfly, in the month of Augufk
1788, I bore a challenge from jyir.,
Waldburgcr, to James Seagroven £j c , t .
who refulcd to meet the forme.r -and
that thereupon, Mr. Waldburgcr, polled
him in the customary manner, at one or
two of the moll public places in A<uguf
ta, where this difpufe arose. I further
certify, that Mr. Waldburgcr, aided
with great propriety and firmnefs (in
my opinion) on that cccafion.
SEABORN JONES. , /
I now leave this hero of the day, to
the conjolat'ion of his own feelings , if he is
not rendered lnfenfible by a common
warfare on,the human race. If he lias
101 l the sweet consolation, which refuits
from the amiable dilpofition of a nume
rous family around him, it would not be
amiss how soon the great Author of na
ture, consigned him to his original con
dition.
J ACOB WALDBURGER.
(fT For further intelligence, fee Sup
plement,
79