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Georgias! Statesman, •
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From the Augusta Chronicle.
To his Excellency George M. Troup,
Governor of the State of Georgia
Sir— This is the first time I have
assumed to myself the honor of ad
dressing your Excellency upon any
subject; and it is to be hoped no fu
ture occurrence will m ike it neces
sary to exercise this privilege a se
cond time. Although the respect
due to the office which you fill, for
bids that harshness of expression
which would not be misapplied to
you personally; yet I must be allow
ed to use language adequate to its
object, and if I should be led beyond
the limits of decorum, though others
might censure me, your Excellency
could' not consistently do so, as I
should but follow th example set by
yourself, in almost every letter which
you have written to the officers oi
the General Government. I pro
pose, however, in language as res
pectful as the nature of.the subject
will admit, to investigate the part
which you have act and relative to the
late Indian Treaty, and some other
©bjects of your administration *
I have before me the documents
which were furnished by yourself to
the extra session of May, 1825, con
taining your message to the Gei oral
Assembly, and your letters to Gen
Wm. Mclutosh—your proclamations,
&c. printed and published by order
of the General Assembly. 1 have,
also, your communication since the
session, written to various person-,
and printed in the several newspa
pers which espouse your cause
These are the weapons with which I
intend to combat the errors of your
administration. The same weapons
which I, as one of the people, use in
defensive attack against you, arc also
in your hands, and in the hands of
your friends, and if in this political
contest which you have commenced
against order, justice, the constitu
tional government of our common
country, against that union, the es
tablishment of which called forth all
the patriotic valor and wisdom of our
progenitors, and for the defence of
which, our cotemporaries have so
bravely fought ; if, I say, in this con
test you fall, remember you fall by
your own arms, which an indignant
people have turned against you.
Without further introductory re
mark, I charge your Excellency with
having conv; ned the Legislature for
the alleged purpose of enacting a law
“ for the running and survey of the
country,” (the late ceded Indian ter
ritory) anterior to your having ob
tained the assent of a single Indian
to such a measure. I also charge
you with having declared in your pro
clamation, that you had obtained the
assent of the Indians to the survey
of that land, when in truth, you had
obtained neither their direct nor im
plied assent.
In support of these charges, per
mit me to make an extract from your
proclamation convening the Legisla
ture, which I wish to be distinctly
recollected, is dated April 18th and
published in the Georgia Journal of
the 19th of the same month, —the
extract is-as follow s : “ And whereas
it is highly important that the terri
tory aforesaid should be organized
and settled with as little delay as
may comport with the provision of
the treaty, and to this end, the assent
if the Indians having been obtained to
the running and survey of the country,
under the authority of the State :
cow be it known, &c.
The next link in the chain of evi
dence to establish my charge, is a
letter written by you’to Gen Mcln
tosh, dated the 18th day of April,
(the very date of your proclamation,)
which letter is of itself sufficient evi
dence that you had not then obtained
the assent of the Indians to the *ur
vey\ and what is more, it proves that
you did not think you had obtained
their assent, which you declared in
your proclamation you hud already
obtained—yoi lr l e f. cr s haU speak for
it elf. (See C4th page of the printed
•k-cumeuts.)
Milledeerille, 181/i April, 1825.
“Dear General, — In one of your
late letters you say something about
the consent of the United States, or
if the agent and the hostiles do not
make opposition. Pray explain to
me your meaning. YVe have noth
ing to do with the United States, or
the agent, or the hostiles in this mat
ter ; all Vue want is the consent of the
friendly Indians who made the trea
ty. If we wanted the consent of the
United States, we coud ask it.
Your friend,
G M. TROUP.
“Gen. William Mclntosh, Creek Nation.”
“ All we want, (. ay your Excellen
cy,) is the consent of the f rienehj In
dians who made the treaty.’ If the
theirconsent was wanting on the lßih
April, as in the above letter you ad
mit, why did you deceive the people
of Georgia and members of t:i L •
gislature, by declaring in your pro
clamation of the very same date of
th letter ab ve cited, that y u had
already obtained it 1 Will you say
I have not given a correct con truc
tion of your letter ? If so, I would
ask, what do you mean V en vou say
to Mclntosh “all we want is the con
sent of the friendly Indians who made
the treaty'?” no n in wants that which
he is in possession of. To want is to
need, lack or wish for something
which we have not T‘ ;t t s
- sense in which you use the wc-1
is plain, for in the next line you say
“if we wanted the consent ofthe U.
States, we could ask itbut not
thinking you needed, lacked, or wish
ed dbr, the consent of the United
States, you would not ask it. Ifthen,
on the 18th April, you wanted the
consent of the Indians to the survey,
you neither had nor thought you had
it, notwithstanding in yourproclama
tion of the same date, you declared
that their assent had been previous, y
obtained I would furth r ask you.
if on the 18th April (the date of your
proclamation) you had or thought you
had, the consent of the Indians, to
•he survey, why on that same day
did you request their consent there
to ? That your letter to Mclntosh
ofthe 18th April, was a request fur
permission to survey the lan.i, .*>•11
be denied by none but those who
seek an excuse for you in prevarica
tion, Mclntosh himself considered
it a request to survey, for in his an
swer he says, “ I received your Ex
cellency’s request yesterday, dated
18lh inst.” &c. and goes on to say,
“we do hereby absolutely, freely, and
fully give our consent to the State
of Georgia, to have the boundary
belonging to said state Surveyed.”
This letter is dated the 2bth April.
Permit me to ask your Fxcellency,
if the Indians had given their con
sent to the survey previous to your
proclamation of the 18th April, why
does Mclntosh, so emphatically give
that consent on the 25th, seien days
after your prwlamation ? and, as la
states himself, in compliance with
your “request” made in your letter
to him ofthe 18th April ?
The only letter from Mclntosh t
you in which any thing is said ab>u:
their assent being given to the ur
vey previous to your proclamation,
is dated 12th April in answer tv.
your request ofthe 29th March ai <i
4th Aprd to survey the land, and it
must be this letter on which you re ! y
to prove the truth of your proclama
tion ; but no assent to survey th
land is given in this letter. M’lntosh
says, “If the General Government t
the United States have no objection
and the Agent of the Creek Natioi
with the party he influences, doe
not make any objection or opposition
to running and surveying the land,
myself and Cbieis and Indians wh>
were in favor of the late treaty, do
not object.” Is this giving consent ?
Certainly not- M’lntosh’s consent
depended on conlingencies which
have never happened; viz. upon the
agreement ofthe Agent of the Creek
Nation, the party he influences and
ofthe General Government of the
United States. So far irom the a
greement having been made, the
Agent objected to the surv y, the
Indians prot sled against it, the Gov
ernment ofthe United States severe
times remonstrated against it, and at
last, after you declared you w . «.'d
“ survey the land cost what it might,”
even though in consequence “it
should soon be recorded that Georgia
was," the President absolutely for
bid it, Therefore you never had the
'•onsent of the Indians who made
the treaty.
To illustrate the subject let me
-uppose a case: If I were to apply
to one of your Secretaries for per
mission to see and handle the sword
voted by the Legislature to Colonel
Appling, and which is kept in the
Executive office; and he were to re
ply “1 have no authority myself to
grant your request, but if the Gov
ernor will make no objection, I d<»
not object,” would this authorize mi; 1
to take the sword 1 Could it be said j
H® tibi«runt artex, paci-que imponere morem, parrere subjects et debcllare superbos.—Virgil.
MILLEDGEVILLE, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 18? b
truly that your Secretary had given
his consent ? But if your permission
to touch tl e memento of a departed
warrior would be necessary before
the assent of youfi Secrerary could
be said to be given ; much less could
I with any appearance of truth,
pretend that l had Pi- assent, if you
had positively objected. Precisely
so it is with you and the Indians:
You ask Mclntosh for permission to
survey the land, he gives his con. ent
and thosi of his p arty on condition,
that the United S utes, the Agent
and the Indians he i.illuences will
give th ir con- m ; they al! object,
ind y t you will soy you had lh<- con.
-ent o'! r Ire dans who ma le tPe
tret • >ur proclama
»
Thus, sir, have I oroven, I think,
the two char.- sm b. .ii-:;t you
to the satisfaction of an l ’'l.•r , judic
ed mind. Tur ngy<
attention again to ters. I
will extract a nart of one ;vr :• ; c
ttie 1 titli April to Gen M.lnlosh,
wb'ch commences in these word
(See page 85 of the Documents.)
.Mil 'edgeville, 1 Gth April, 1825.
Do ;r General: —Your two letters
ofthe 12th inst. have just been re
ceived. by which it is made known to
me that in Council you have given
your consent to the survey of the
iand.” What was mv surprise, when
turning to these two letters of the
12th April, to find not only that no
unconditional consent had been given
but that not one word is said in either
letter about any letter whatever bo.
ing laid before th m "in council.”
Nor indeed does it appear from the
letters that any council had been
held by the Indians. (These two
letters are in the printed documents,
p. 79 am' 80.)
That neither of these letters fur
nished any unconditional, or to your
mind, anv intelligible consent for the
survey of the land, is very evident
from the circumstances of your hav
ing afterwards, written to Mclntosh
a letter wherein you say, “ In one of
your letters you say something about
the consent of the United States, or
if the Agent and the hostiles Ho not
make opposition. Pray explain to
me your meaning.” Her ti.en you
acknov ledge you do not comprehend
the meaning of Mclntosh’s letter,
and vei this is the very letter which
in your Proclamation was alluded to
as containing the assent ofthe Indians
to the survey of their land ; for no
other fetter had been written by
ium or. the subject it that time to
which you could have alluded.
In your private correspondence
with M'lntosh you say you cannot
comprehend his letter, and ask him
for explanation ; yet, before he gives
the explanation you need and ask,
you put that construction upon it
which pleases you best’ amt publicly
proclaim that it gives the consent of
the Indians to survey tli ir land!
■iaving asked M'lntosh tor explana
tion, why did yon not wait for it 1 ?
lie gave you iris explanation on the
25th April; but, as it would seem,
determined to survey the land, no
a utter what the consequence might
be to the Georgians or the Indians,
\ou call an extra session of the Le
gi-idture to dispose of the land, se
ven days be for. M'lntosh writes his
explanation or gives his consent to
t ie survey, and perhaps twice save,
lay? before you received ins le ;r
To -e two letters ol ihe 12th April,
■>o far Ir om making it .known to you,
s you assert, that "in council ” toe
Indians l ad g.\ en their consent to tin
survey, don 4 en.ii int.mate -ucti a
thing i.a; y part l the ui, and i c.. 1
lenge contradiction. Diu it sugge-.
itself to your Excellency, that ~
consent o ti e limn.i, - to be binding
upon thorn, mu-t be given in “coua
cil,” and thereiore, tn.it w.iicli y. u
anew ought to be done “in council,”
you took upon yourself to assert haa
be n done th re? I will press you
upon thi poi . no further.
I next propose to convince your
Excellency, th.-t, ir o veiling the
Legislature in is ay hut, you xe ras
ed an authority n i warranted Ip. th
constitution. By the Bth section o
the 2u aiticie oi the constitu ic n. tne
Govenor “shall have thi , owtr to
convene the Gener i A seinbly on ex
traordinary occasion ” If 1 shew
that no “ extraordinary occasion”
authorising the call, existed, it then
follows, as a matt r of course, that
the call was unconstitutional. What
were the “ events ” that formed the
“extraordinary occasion?” You say
the assent of the Indians to the sur
vey of the laud formed it. I have
already proved, that you had not, at
t he date of your Proclamation, obtain
ed any such assent, even of those In
dians who made the treaty, much
less of those who objected to it, who
were a great majority—consequently,
the “extraordinary occasion" not ex-1
isting, the call was unconstitutional. I
But, adnuLng, for the sake of argu-1
ment, you had obtained their asseut,
it is obvious that would not have
been an “extraordinary occasion”
within the meaning of the constitu
tion, —there can never be a constitu
tional call of an extra session of the
Legislature by the Executive but
when there exists some urgent “ oc
casion ” for it, which will not admit
of delay until the regular session,
without injury to the State—This
construction of the above clause of
the constitution, will, I presume, be
denied by none ; what injury to the
State could have resulted from the
delay of surveying the land, till after
tne annual session ? You sav, in your
letter to M’lntosh, requesting his as
»* nt to sorv y,“ Y ju will understand,
tnat there is no intention, on my part,
to burry v ur departure—the period
of this wm be left to your considera
fi ns cf interest and convenience un
der th*. treaty.” The treaty provides
that the Indians shall not be requir
ed to remove before Sept. 1826 and
ah tho. e who were unfriendly to it,
who compose th greater pan ofthe
■ idinit, refuse to leave
the land it ail, unless compelled ; and
of course would not agree to do it
before you had any right., under the
treaty, to demand their removal: aTid
if it had been otherwise, if the whole
nation had consented to the treaty, it
is probable, they could not remove
sooner than the treaty requires : for
a whole people to seek and select a
new and distant country, and remove,
en masse, thereto, would require per
haps all the time allowed the Indians:
the Indians themselves, and the Uni
ted States’ Commissioners t!>«ught
so, or they would not have appoint
ed the time: the Commissioners are
citizens of Georgia ; and doubtless
wished to enter upon the possession
of the land, and thereby complete
their work, as soon as possible: it fol
lows, then, that though you could
have surveyed the land sooner, you
could not have taken possession of it
sooner, than could be done under a
law which tho next regular session of
the Legislature might enact. Could
not the Legislature then pass the
same law relative to the survey and
disti iGutiou ofthe land which it did
at the called session in May i ist ? and
could not the surveyors have com
pleted the survey of their districts
after the next regular session, in
time for the land to be disposed of
by lottery, so that we might enter
upon it by September of next year ?
Surely this could be do|ie in eight
months ; it has been done in less time.
Then all the effect that your called
session could have, (still admiting,
for argument sake, that you obtain
ed the assent of the Indians,) would
be, to survey the land, but not to get
possession of it sooner than if you
had not called, that session. Then
it is plain, in calling the Legislature,
you wasted the , üblic treasure, m re
ly to have the land surveyed a few
months sooner, knowing, at the time,
that you could not get possession of
it a “single day sooner:” the prema
ture survey, therefore, could it be
made, would not be worth a cent, and
did not form one of these “extraor
dinary occasions meant hr the consti
tution, which authorises you to con
vene the Legislature, and manifestly,
♦herefore, you have violated the con
stitution, and in doing so, spent,
! robah’y, thirty th. usand dollars ol
':r.' public money, without any ernn
• . • ation to the State, or a reasona
bl • In pe thereof.
For the unprofitable and ill timed
business of surveying the land you
h ive pledged your character, and
'■vent -o far as to reiterate the violent
!n . • f surveying the land, “cost
what it may,,” even though in con
-i quence, it should “ soon be record
ed that Georgia was,” or in plainer
language, though in surveying the
land you should tuin the state, which
it is your duty, so far as you can, to
preserve from injury. If, when you
made these threats, you were in earn
* t, they prove you to be the worst
en my Georgia has; but if you were
n ,t in earnest, as your friends con
! end, but they were from the begin
ing mere bravado and gasconade,
they evince a violence of temper
and a mind so blinded by passion, as
to render you unfit for the perform
ance of the duties of the Chief Ma
jestracy, which require cairn consid
eration, temperate counsels, and firm
ness in execution. Your violent mes
sages to the legislature, and your
language of bitter hostility to the
General Government, and all its a
gents with whom you have commu
nicated, prove that you do not pxer
cise the two form, r requisites; and
your recent determination not to ex
ecuto, nor attempt to execute your
threat of surveying the land, proves
you do net possess the firmness which
you claimed in your letters to the
General Government; for notwith
standing your repeated declarations
that you would survey the land in
spite of the “ pow«fs that be,” a
single word from the President hr c
awed you into submission.
Yon have a remarkable facility c>
involving yourself in difficulties, iron,
which you have not abilities to ex
tricate yourself with dignitv. But
it there was no “ extraordinary occa
sion,” in a constitutional sense, au
thorizing a called session, yet there
was, I admit, a most pressing and
urg nt necessity which presented its
elf to the lynx-eyed view of your
Excellency’s mental optics, but which
1 will not say, was the cause of the
famous may session But, Sir, it is
impossible not to connect the con
templation ot your candidacy for the
office of Governor, with that ill-timed
measure—you have a formidable op
ponent in Gen. Clark, the favorite of
the people: the hero of Jack’s Creek;
a patriot who fought for his country;
who has been ever ready to fight for
it, or to serve it in any proper capa
city.—Many people entertain these
suspicions, but if they are ill-fouud
ed, it became- your Excellency to
make known the real motives which
induced you to convene the Legis
lature at such an enormous expense
of the people’s money : lor by this
time, credulity itself cannot believe,
that there existed nay necessity for
the extra session. It is to be said
that electioneering purposes should
be deemed an “ extraordinary occa
sion,” ju tifying such a waste of pub
lic treasure ?—I do not charge the
fact upon you, liow’ever the circum
stances and events might warrant the
inference. The ailodged causes for
the session in May, have been swept
from under you. Impudence itself,
will not contend that that part of
your message relating to Mr. King’s
resolutions, and Mr. Wirt’s speech
would authorize it. But there is a
burden on this subject, borne by two
conspicuous men in this state to save
a third which must be humiliating to
their feelings ; Justitiafando temperet
a lacrymis ?—Quiescat in pace.
You adroitly attempt to excuse
yourself by blaming others; hut if
the officers of the General Govern
ment tvere guilty of all you have
charged them with, would that justi
fy your error ? If Crowell orpnseii
the treaty, as you say, did that au
thorize you to violate it by survey
ing the land contrary to the expres.-
terms of that treaty 1 If Andrews
was prejudiced in favor of Crowell,
did that justify you in proclaiming t
the world that the government of
your country is corrupt, and prede
termined to injure Georgia ? If Gen.
Gaines insuited you, did that justify
you in insulting the President ? It
is remarkable, that in almost every
instance in which you blame the of
ficers of the General Government,
you yourself at the moment fall into
the very errors which £ou accuse
them of Thus for example, in your
letter to the President, you accuse
Gen Gaines of insulting language to
you, in language that is insulting to
the President: you accuse General
Gaines of interfering with the Gov
ernment of Georgia; yet in the same
letter, meddle yourself with the trial
of Com. Porter, with which you have
no more to do than he with your
duties. You denounce Gaines, for
publishing a letter directed to you,
in the tiespaper, before you received
it; yet you publish your letter to the
President before you could know he
nad received it, and probably before
lie did receive it. How peevish was
it, how did it evince a disposition to
quarrel with the officers of the Gen
eral Government, to forbid further
communication with Gen. Gaines,
merely because his letter to you,
published in a newspaper, was not in
your office when you called for it!
Had you sent to the Post-Office you
might have found it perhaps ; it was
in some of the Post-Offices; or had
you called on General Gaines for ex
planation, he would have told you, as
he has since done, that tho letter
was forwarded to you in due time,”
but it did not reach you before it ap
peared in the papers, it was because
of your absence from the seat of Gov
ernment.
I shall say nothing of your Sdvice
to “ stand by arms” against the go
vernment of you country, because
certain states parsed resolutions you
did not like ; because Mr. King of
fered resolutions not acted on by the
Senate ; because a printer made cer
tain editorial remarks offen-ive to
you ; because (as you said, but which
is now disproved) the Attorney Gen.
made some expressions which you
disapproved—for none of which was
the General Government responsible
and therefore ought not to have been
blamed. You treat the General Gov
ernment as a foreign Government. and
the other States as an alien people
—-your whole administration is a con
tinued effort to oppose the Govern
ment of your country, and to involve
ns in discord.—And to this end, you
disregard all that is considered most
honorable and praiseworthy among
[OR $4 IF NOT PAID IN SIX MONTHS.
NO. 38.,,, V0L. I,
men. Must the character of the
hoary statesman, of the long tried
patriot, and the war-worn soldier,
covered with scars received when he
presented Lis bosom to the blows
aimed at his country; must all be
blackened and blighted beneath the
Upas of party spirit which you have
planted in Gsorgia ? Although no
immediate catastrophe hurtful to the
country, may result from your mad
career, yet by stirring up discord,
and kindling among the people a
spirit of enmity to the General Gov
ernment and to the Union, you : > y
give the first motion to the vortex of
a revolution which, agitated more
and more by the elements oi faction,
nny in time.swallow up our country.
Like the incendiary who burned the
Temple of E] hesus to perpetuate bis
name, you bv putting the torch to
our prlirical Temple, may damn
yourself to “ everlasting fame ;” but
it will be as an incendiary, for you
have neither skill nor energy to pass
the Rubicon; nor power to guide the
battle on the plains of Phars. lia. If
you should succeed in your advice
to the legislature, and oppose tlie
government of your country bv an
armed force, there are men enough
ui Georgia, brave and patriotic, be
fore whose energy anil wrath you
would wither away like the week sap
ling before the mountain tornado.
I will conclude with the language
use by Mr. Forgyth in Congress, when
denouncing those who opposed the
General Government una r phe ad
ministration of Madison : “ One con
solation will still be left to virfure;
those who raise the storm, will be
the first victims of its fury.”
BRUTUS.
From the Boston Weekly Mpss. Aug. 24.
Col Charles Deßeneski, on Thurs
day last, waited on the President, at
Quincy, with despatches from uur
commercial agent at Guatimala, :tu
'henticating the intelligence of the
execution of a contract, on the 17th
June between the Federal Re
public ofCentral America, and a cer
tain company, formed in New-York,
for tLo purpose of effecting a naviga
ble communication between the At
lantic and Pacific Oceans, through
Nicaragua, one of the States of Cen
tral America. The contemplated
route is by the river St. John, into
the Lakeof Nicaragua, whence,from
its western extremity, a cansl will be
cut lor about seventeen miles, to the
Pacific. The Government *of Cen
tral America called for proposals for
such an undertaking about a year
since, several companies have
been formed, it is said, in Europe,
for the purpose, and have presented
their claims. The company with
whom the contract is now made, are
to have the right of toil, and certain
exclusive privileges, wl ch the per
sons interested think of great value.
It is supposed that the undertaking
will receive countenance from the
Government of the United States.
The persons now composing the com
pany in New-York, propose to extend
it through all parts of the Union, ma
king it as much as possible a nation
al concern, and will apply to Con
gress, it is said, for incorporation,
by the name of “ The Central Amer
ican and United States Atlantic and
Pacific Junction Canal Company,”
with a capital of $5,000,000. The
undertakers are very sanguine as to
the practicability of the scheme, and
the profit ofthe speculation, as well
as the national and commercial ad
vantages to be derived from its exe
cution. YVe understand they mean
shortly to solicit the cooperation of
our capitalists, and exhibit a detail
ed exposition of their views -
Splendid -Marriage Contract.—lt
was matter of considerable surprise
that President Bolivar remained so
long at Lima, after the object of his
patriotic visit was accomplished; but
is now, if we may credit a report in
one of the morning papers, happily
explained. The illustrious Liberator
was detained by the silken cords cf
love, and actually employed in exj
changing vows of enduring affection,
and forming a marriage covenant with
one of our republican beauties from
Connecticut. Letters from Lima
state the deliverer of South Ameri
ca has entered into a marriage con
tract with Miss Augusta Hart, of
Savbrook, (Conn.) sister of the lady
of Commodore Hull, and sister of
the lady of the Hon. Human Allen,
our Minister to Chili. Miss Hart is
one of seven sisters, all beautilul mid
accomplished. It this be true, it is
the greatest match, (as they say in
Connecticut) ever known in this or
that country. We hope his Excel
lency will come to the United States
and consummate the contract by mar
riage at Saybrook, in the good old
Republican way.
JV. Y. Statesman, Aug. 28.