About Statesman & patriot. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1827-1830 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1827)
STATESMAN & PATRIOT, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1827. VOLUME II. Committee conceive it to be an indubitable fact, that, by corrupt and dishonorable means, the nation has once been deprived of her choice through the intrigues and contrivance of the federal panty : But as the great author of the Universe " hath his way in the whirl- wind and in the storm” we trust that our dis- appointment will only prove to be the bitters which he in mercy has laid on the breasts of that shedemon (Aristocracy) in order to wean many of our misguided countrymen from her black abominations—The committee are con- cious that whilst thus attempting to express their sentiments they may be stigmatized with being " restless disturbers” 4 murmurers &c" —But, considering the great prerogative of the people and their voice to be a as the voice of God” and gratitude to be one of Liberty’s darlings a constant attendant at her sacred temple ; and as disobedience proved the over throw of the first monarch of Israel, shall we be thought " disturbers" or " murmurers" in that we rejoice at the thought that similar cir cumstance will (in a political point of view) shortly take place in our land when we shall divest ourselves of every resemblance of Roy- alty, and Columbia be at freedom to hail and caress her second political Saviour, the man of her choice—Actuated by these impressions and we believe divested of all prejudice the committee recommend the adoption of the following Resolutions viz. Resolved, That wo believe that Andrew Jackson, was and still is the choice of a large majority of the people to the office of Presi dent and that we will use all possible honora ble means to promote his Election. Resolved, That in our opinion the election of John Q. Adams with the attedant circumstan ces and contrivances were a direct imposition on the majority of the people, and therefore highly censurable by every republican-- Rosolved, That should Jolin 'Calhoun be a be a candidate for Vice-President, he is justly entitled to the Suffrages of the Union. WM. SMITH, Chairman. Tho’s. Hilliard. Sec’ry. GOVERNORS MESSAGE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, GEORGIA, Milledgeville, Nov. 6, 1827. FELLOW CITIZENS : Georgia could make no sacrifices too dear, be- cause she contended in a just anil righteous cause, not for herself alone, but for all the States, whose honor, dignity, and indepen dence, were alike at stake—Happily for the Country, the enforcement of this measure has not been as yet attempted—whether on recon- s deration it has been yielded to more deliber ate suggestions and more prudent counsels, or decided as wholly indefensible, and therefore impracticable, or reserved for some other and future occasion, is not known to me, and can only be conjectured—It is reasonable, at least charitable to conclude, that what in this res pect ought to be done, has been done, and that wisdom and moderation can find no a mends for the calamities of a civil war, in the transfer from Georgia to the Indians of a com paratively worthless fraction of territory, which, but for the principle involved, this gov ernment would not deign to make a subject of angry contention with that of the United States. The country of the Greeks falling within the chartered limits of Georgia being acquired, it remains for you to consider of the measures most expedient for the acquisition of that of the Cherokees within the same limits—On this subject my opinions have been freely and frankly, and repeatedly communicated—there is no reason to charge them -you hold the ter ritory by the same tenure as you hold that on which, yourselves and your ancestors have long fixed your hearths and firesides—the ori ginal charter of the State—This tenure re mains unchanged by the Articles of Confeder- ration, or by the present Constitution ; and without the consent of the people, is unchan geable but by act of God—The right of oc cupancy following the right of soil and juris diction, you claim the same right of occupan cy now as ever unlimited and unrestrained by the confederation or the present constitution; and therefore, are free in times future as in times past, to enter upon that occupancy, con sulting your rights, your convenience and the dictates of humanity only—your rights are undoubted—your convenience is resolved by the various circumstances in which you may at any time find your population and territory, and the wants of your people, as resulting from ‘lie relative condition of both ; and the obligations of humanity, always paramount to the claims of interest, are to be sought in the consideration of what is due from a civilized to a savage community, and of the sum of hu man happiness, present and future, which is in volved in the estimate—Whatever may be the controlling motives resulting from other con siderations, those of humanity oppose no ob stacle to the immediate occupation of the country. The Cherokees are only asked to surrender now, and voluntarily, the country which by the force of moral circumstances they must very soon surrender, even against their will, not without consideration or equivalent, but in exchange for another, and in all respects a better country, with a title in fee in place of a precarious occupancy—with generous soil and salubrious climate, presenting a choice to agriculture or the chase—insulated from the whites, and protected by the power of the Uni ted States—All who oppose themselves to this movement are enemies of the Cherokees, ignorant of their true interests, or indifferent to their present and future welfare. It is proper to inform you that the memorial of the last Legislature on this subject, address ed to the President, was forwarded in due time, with an accompanying letter, to which no sat- isfactory answer lias been given Connected with other subjects of disagree ment with the government of the U. States is that of the dividing line between Florida and this State, directed to be run and marked by several resolutions of the Legislature. The concurrence of the general government being necessary to the perfection of this mea- sure, it was repeatedly invited, and eventually obtained. A highly respectable gentleman, and late Governor of Virginia, Thomas M. Randolph, having been appointed the Com missioner on the part of the U. States, and Thomas Spalding the Commissioner on the part of Georgia, they proceeded in a spirit of harmony and concert to the execution of their trust, and I am happy to inform you that, with out bringing their labors to a termination most desirable, they closed them with no interrup tion of that spirit. On the contrary, with an improvement of it corresponding to the intel ligence, patriotism and liberal sentiments which distinguished them. The Charter of Georgia, the Treaty of Peace of 1783, the Confederalion of 1778, the present Constitution, the Treaty of Spam of 1795, the Constitution of Georgia, all re cognise or guarantee the head or course of the St. Marys River as the true point of the south ern boundary of the State The Commis sioner of Hie U. States and the Commissioner ol Spain appointed under the Treaty of ’95 to run and mark the line in terms of the Articles of that Treaty, instead of discovering the head or source of the St. Marys, as they were instructed to do, and for which they searched, established a point different from, and discon- nected with the head of that river: viz. a point in the Okefanoka Swamp one mile or two miles north of the mound of Ellicott. It had been ascertained by researches authorised to be made by commissioners appointed under the authority of this State in the year 1818, that the United States and Spanish Commis- sioners in agreeing to that point, were wide of the true point—that the head of the stream pursued by Ellicott was not to be found as he .supposed, in the Okefanoka Swamp two miles worth of the mound of Ellicott, and it has been since ascertained that the head of that branch ofthe river is to be found to the south- ward- of both the swamp and mound. It was justifiable tostake the mound as the true point, because so : in substance, our • own commis- sioners, believing that Ellicott in pursuing the north, aid pursue the main branch of the St. Marys, had reported ; and so the Governor of this State, in the year 1810 relying on the correctness of that report, had informed the Legislature. Our commisaioner was accord- ingly instructed to agree with the b. States commissioner in running the line “from ‘the mound of Ellicott to the junction of the Flint and Chattahoochie rivers. It happened that the United States commissioner was not au- thorised to concur. On the contrary, an act In making known to you the events of the passing year, it is equally my duty to commu nicate those which give pain as those which afford pleasure, so that without concealment or suppression all may be embodied in the his tory of the times—our successors will take counsel from them, and the experience of the past will be equally profitable, whether it fur- bish examples of good to be imitated, or of evil to be avoided. Before the close of the last Session of the Legislature, hope was indulged that the con troversy between the Government of this State and that of the United States was hap pily terminating; and so indeed to all appear ances it was--The surveys of the recently ac quired territory, so long resisted, had proceed ed with little or no interption—the last of them were about to be completed—the In dian irritation had exhausted itself in a few demonstrations of hostility and when calm ness and tranquility had succeeded to excite ment and clamor, and nothing remained to sat isfy the Indian for his imaginary wrongs but a trilling consideration in money, the Executive Government at Washington seized the occa- sion as a fit one to denounce the Executive of Georgie as the violator of the faith of Trea ties, and the lawless invader of Indian rights —to forbid the prosecution of the surveys, and to threaten the employment of military force to coerce obedience to its commands—a menace which, without being unprecedented on the part of that Government, was yet so ill-timed and unexpected, that but one. recep tion and one treatment could be given to it— The Documents herewith transmitted will dis- close the manner of that reception and treat ment—The Message of the President to Con- gress, communicating this measure, left no doubt as to its motives and its objects. The councils and people of Georgia were to be subdued at all events into a recognition of the validity of the Instrument called the New Treaty—by civil process, if civil process would answer—by military force if it would not— indeed by all means civil or military as enjoin ed by a superadded obligation (to use Hie lan guage of the President,) even higher than that of human authority—It could not be seen why under a governmo nt of laws the civil re medy might not suffice, being, if not so prompt, at least ample and appropriate—or why if re- sorted to at all it should not be exclusively depended on I The alternative of a resort to the military on failure of the civil remedy, or the resort to both concurrently for Hie re dress of the same wrong is not the theory, and has not been hitherto, the practice of this Government—whenever it shall become so, there will be no longer any difference, in sub stance, between our own constitution of gov- ernment and that or the most arbitrary and despotic It was impossible to doubt there fore, from the unconstitutional character of the menace, from its unseasonableness and from the appalling consequences which must inevie tably follow its execution, that the temper which dictated it was hostile to Georgia, and bent on her humiliation or destruction. The councils of Georgia could never recede, with- out the most degrading humiliation, from the positions taken in support of the Treaty of the Indian Springs—it was the professed object of the menace to produce that recession; and it was obviously better for * orgia to run the hazzard of being stricken from the roll of States, than by a passive submission to sur- render, with important interests and essential rig’ what was infinitely more important and thore essential, character—But oilier rights and interests than those of Georgia wer con- ,corned The doctrine assumed in justifica- stion of the menace involved the rights of all uecrates € asserts the broad power for the cuve of the General Government in any collreversy between a State and the U. States, (doni, the right and wrong of that contro- Persy eutly, absolutely and finally, without dpgal, and 10, inforce such decision by the sword—a poveramost awful, tremendous, and unnatural, and not given by the Constitution even to the Congress. In such a contest. direction—thus substituting, for the natural order of things, the artificial system of the darker ages—The power, which, in raising re venue or regulating commerce, incidentally protects manufactures or encourages the fab rics which are indispensible to the national de- fence, is a very different power from that claimed by the Federal Government, to pro tect by any means directly or indirectly all or any of them, than which a more distinct sub stantive anil important power could not be giv en by any constitution to any government. It is in vain that we ask for the grant of this mighty power to Congress. It is in vain we plead the cruelty of taking from the small profits of agriculture to increase the large pro fits of manufactures. We are answered from year to year by an amended Tariff, augment- ing the tribute and multiplying the exactions. Nay more—As if the Congress lacked vigor and animation for the work, a combination of States exclusively interested in perpetuating these abuses, resolve themselves into a body unknown to the constitution, and dictate to the government at Washington the kind and amount of tax which the people of other states shall pay ; so that we may soon have to ask ourselves, ' which is the Government of the United States, the Assembly of States which passes the edict of taxation, or the authori ties of more regular and constitutional appoint ment which receive it as law and order its re- gistration. I recommend to you the adoption without delay of a firm remonstrance to the Congress against this system of usurpation, injustice and oppression—You will address yourselves I know to a formidable government, having the power, for certain purposes, over the purse and the sword, and now claiming and exercising the power to direct the nation al industry and national improvement without limitation—in short the absolute masters of the fortunes of twelve millions of people. But you can yet speak in the language of truth, if not in the spirit of Freemen. Your com plaints may be unheeded. If they should be, I recommend to you to address yourselves to the States having common interest with your selves, and to suggest the expediency of con- concurring in a non consumption agreement to be carried into effect by all the means which are constitutionally given to their respective Legislatures. It is plainful to contemplate the consequences which must follow. That government whose parental duty it is to make us all friends and to keep us so, is straining its factulties to fasten upon the country a system which cannot fail to set one part of it in hos tile array against the other. In self defence, we are first driven to a non-consumption, which, in the end, must prove a non inter course, and,as a necessary consequence of that, to the cultivation of more friendly relations with foreigners, who, supplying our indispen sable wants, at least so long as the general government suffers them to be supplied, will take take the place of our own countrymen in our feelings arid affections, leaving nothing for them but bitterness and heart-burnings—We are not unwilling to give to our own country- men the same profits we give to foreigners provided they arc fairly and constitutionally earned. It is the forced consumption of an article, unconstitutionally enhanced in price, which,like the forced consumption of the tea, we resist. All tilings being equal, we are not unwilling to consume the fabrics of our own country, and so far to eecourage the fabrica tors, but we protest against the artificial en couragement given at our expense, when we are made to pay, not only the tax for that en couragement, but to lose the trade in our sta ple which afferds the only means of paying it. It is not to be expected that foreign nations will long continue to receive our raw material if we refuse to receive their manufactures, and we are not used to that despotism which would constrain us whether for or against our interest to manufacture for ourselves against our inclination. Conscientiously believing that the Govern ment of the United States is not conducted ac cording to the principles of the constitution— that powers are claimed and exercised by it in derogation of those principles, and that in practice it is virtually a consolidated Govern ment, and therefore essentially different from that,formed and designed to he formed by the convention of ‘87, I would recommend to you, at the same time, to address a respectful and affectionate memorial to your sister States, re- questing them to unite with you in all consti tutional and legitimate measures to bring back the Government to the pure principles of Mr. Jefferson’s administration, which are the true principles of the constitution. It is a sub ject of sincere congratulation that notwith standing your temptations have not been less than others, you remain uncorrupted by the as- summed powers of the General Government over the Internal Improvement of the coun try. Other states which have surrendered this birth right will find no compensation in the promised equivalent, as principle has nev er yet found its value in the weight or meas ure of the precious metals. I invite your attention again to the subject of Internal Improvement, and to the dangers inseperable from a longer postponement of a Judicious System adapted to the wants and resources of the state. It is mortifying to our pride and it will prove ruinous to our interest that every state in the Union and every state iu Europe, advancing in the course of improve- merit, opening communications between the most distant parts of its territory, cheapening its transportation, augmenting its trade and commerce, and cementing the union of its peo ple, give signs of incearsing illumination, whilst Georgia with some claims to intelligence and public spirit, lias not yet executed a solitary work or raised a single monument in illustra- tion of her devotion to the agricultural and commercial prosperity of her people. We must soon withdraw from the rivalry of trade, or share it on the most unequal terms. No Ifertility of soil, no generality of climate, can compensate to Georgia a difference of freight jof five to one against her, in a competition with her neighbor states. Her industry will be paralized, and her capital exhausted. Al ready the wheat grower of the western parts of New York, from which formerly a bushel of wheat was not exported, supplants the wheat grower of Georgia in his own market. And ere long the cotton market, reduced to the of Congress which, departing from the ordi nary course, gave his instructions in the same section in which it authorised his appointment, virtually forbade it. Those instructions di rected the commissioner to run from the point established by Ellicott, two miles north of the mound, and were of course directly opposed to the Treaty of 1795, which prescribed the head or source of the St. Marys as the true point The President of the U. States would have been quite justifiable, disregarding the act of Congress in this report, in directing his commissioner to run from Hie point designated by the Treaty, instead of the point designated by the act, the Treaty being the supreme law. The commissioner was not so directed. It was not, however, deemed expedient, on this account, to arrest the commissioner of Geor gia at the outset. If the point established by .Ellicott had, by the commissioners of the Uni ted States and Georgia, been found to coincide with the head or source of the St. Marys, the commissioner of Georgia would have been in structed to proceed. It was ascertained that they did not coincide, and his progress was ac cordingly arrested. You will observe that the first question presenting itself for settle ment between the two governments is, wheth er the point arbitrarily agreed on by Ellicott and the Spanish Commissioner as the head of the St. Marys, now ascertained not to be the head even of the stream pursued by Ellicott, shall be considered as the true head under the treaty of 1795. The other, and only re maining question will be, which is the true source or head of the St. Marys. To enable you to act understandingly on these questions, as well as to afford some satisfaction to the Government of the United States, which must undoubtedly revise its proceeding, I had instructed a competent agent, the same who acted as the surveyor and artist under the commissioners, and who approved himself worthy of their highest confidence, to proceed to an examination of the several branches of the St. Marys,-for the purpose of ascertaining, by actualy admeasurement, the true head or source of that river. The correspondence and documents on this subject, together with his report, are submitted. It will be seen that of the three brances forming the St. Marys, viz. tlie Northern, Western and Southern branch, the Southern is not only the longest by two or three miles, and having a direction corresponding most naturally with the general course and disemboguement of the river, but discharges eight times more water than either of the other branches, and one third more than both of them united, including various other tributary streams ;—that of the three, the nortli branch, viz. that pursued by Ellicott, is the most inconsiderable, discharging, in pro portion even to the western branch, as two to' three, and in proportion to the southern branch as five to forty-three; and indeed that it is even more inconsiderable than another stream, (the Alligator,) south of it, and running be tween it and the western branch. If these facts are confirmed to the satisfaction of the Government of the United States, the conclu sion will be irresistible, even by itself, that we must follow, not the error or mistake of Mr. Ellicott, but the language of the Treaty ; not the point arbitrarily determined as the head of the St. Marys, but the true head ; and that the true head or source of the St. Marys is to be found, not at the extremity of the nor- then, but at the extremity of the southern branch; and that from this point the line must be run according.to the letter of the charter of the Treaty of ’83, of the Treaty of ‘95, and of the Constitution of Georgia. This de tail, so inconsistent with the generalizing char acter of a Message, will find an apology in the extreme reluctance which I feel to open a new controversy with the Government of the United States-—the great delicacy of the ques tion, (being one of boundary)—the extent of territory, (more than two thousand square miles) which may be involved in it, and the obvious propriety, therefore, in stating the question for the first time, to state it fairly and fully. It gives me great pleasure to inform you that recent acts of the General Government, and of its different departments, bespeak a re turn to good feeling, and give an earnest of fu- ture good understanding which it has been the sincere desire, as it is the duty, of this govern ment,to cultivate. Our military claims, so constantly and sedulously, but unavailingly ur ged before that government for 20 or 30 years have been recognized, and under circumstan ces warranting the belief that some grains of prejudice had mingled with the former repeat ed considerations of them, and that nothing was wanting to a prompt acknowledgement of their justice at all times, but calm, dispassion ate and impartial investigation—They are in a course of liquidation and settlement. The expenses of the military expedition or dered for the defence of the southern frontier against threatened hostilities of the Indians, have been allowed as a correct charge against the general government, and paid and mo nies advanced on account of the United States by the Executive of Georgia for running and marking the Florida line have, although that operation was arrested by the government of Georgia, been promptly, returned:—acts in deed of just expectation, because manifestly right in themselves, but affording, at the same time, no little gratification, because what is manifestly right is not always done. Among the various violations of the Consti tution of the U. States, the people of the Southern States have lately been made to feel and to complain of that prominent one which has taken from the States the general guar dianship over the labor and industry of the people, which it was supposed exclusively be longed to them, and which, it is believed, they never have voluntarily relinquished. It is in the exercise of this guardianship that Hie Congress proceed, from session to session, to tax one portion of the community, not inter ested in a particular branch of industry, to sus tain another portion interest ' di in, and carry- on that branch . Disregarding the liberal prin ciples which would leave industry free to seek its own employment, and returning to the be- nighted policy long practised by other nations, but now abandoned and abandoning by all enlightened ones, it claims an absolute domin ion over it, to fetter, to restrain, to encourage, to prohibit, to cause it to take any or every lowest price at which the article can be raised, Georgia, with such fearful odds against her, will be forced toabandon the cultivation. In this, as in all the articles of bulky or weiwhty carriage, the cotton states will undersell her in the same proportion which their facilities of transportation bear to her difficulties, and when reduced to the ultimate point of stagna tion and depression, she may awake from her repose witli regrets and lamentations, but with-' out the means or the resources to remedy the evil—-You are not invited to premature or un profitable efforts. You are asked to keep peace witli your sisters in the improvements which correspond to the actual state of the trade wealth and population of the country, and if nothing more, at least to make the high roads the avenues of a cheap and expeditious transportation at all times, and the navigable streams likewise in the degree and to the ex tent of which they are susceptible The Report ofthe Chief Engineer, who has continued in the public service at my particu-■ lar request, will show what, with very limited means, lias been done or attempted, during the past season, and what it may be useful or profitable to do hereafter. It is not to be ex pected that this or any other competent offi cer will devote himself to Hie service of the State, for a compensation scarcely sufficient for the maintainance of his family, when the same qualifications in other states find a doub le or triple allowance. It would be wiser to abolish the office. I again solicit your consideration of the ex pediency of organizing a Court of Errors. If the Constitution should present the only obsta cle, Ilie Constitution should be amended.— That instrument must indeed be very defec tive which has not only omitted to guarantee uniformity in the administration of justice but opposes obstacles to it. It is not necessary to the organization of such a Court, that great expense should follow to the State, or great expense and great delay to the parties. It is the argument in the court above which is su- perfluous, and which it is tlie duty of the Judg es to supply, which produces both expense and delay. The Judges want nothing but the record certified from the court below, and it is not foreseen that all unnecessary delay of tlie final decision may not be effectually pre vented Under every government justice should be administered purely, cheaply, promptly, and uniormly—It is the union of these elements which constitutes the perfec tion of every Judical System—the delays and expenses which an not absolutely necessary to the attainment o'its ends are to be ranked among the greatest evils of society, and are under a free government altogether insuffera ble—You are invited to this amendment of your own system, therefore, with a confident expectation, that without extraordinary ex pense or extraordinary delay, you can cause justice to be administered to the people with purit and uniformity The Report of the Principle Keeper of the Penitentiary will make known to you the ac tual state of that Institution. It proceeds un der many disadvantages (a defective building and a defective system) to answer the objects of its establishment and to justify the expecta tions of its founders. Without knowing that the temptations to the commission of the crime are less, it is certain that the number of peni tentiary offences, so far from increasing witli the increase of population, has diminished.— Other causes may hire contributed to this re sult, but the more obvious and immediate ones, must be found in the operation of the code itself—You an encouraged, therefore, to preseverance in a ystem (imperfect as it is) which awarding to rime its merited punish-1 ment, deters from the commission of it—Nor, in the estimate of belefits are you to overlook that judicious management which promises to make the industry of the institution available for its support; and so far relieve the State from tlie expense incident to the administra tion of its criminal justice. The officer who is at the head of it deserves well for the fideli ty and intelligence witli which he superintends its interests, and it is submitted whether in offices of this description where the qualifica tions for them depend so much on a knowl edge of their details, frequent changes do not operate injuriously to the public. The Report of Judge Schley will disclose the glaring defects and inconsistencies of the Code which a short experience had enabled him to detect, together witli the obvious and necessary remedies which you cannot fail to apply. The Finances of the State require your at tention. It is important, in relation t them, that there should be system—that it should be simplified and intelligible, and that in the ad ministration of it, you should neither be de ceived yourselves or lie tlie instrument of de- ceiving others. If it is asked on what resour ces tlie government relies for its annual sup port, it will be difficult to find an answer. A general tax law is annually passed, and it pur ports to be an act to raise a tax for the sup port of government; but according to your practice—for here is no system—the whole amount raised and applicable to the support of government is not sufficient for that object by 1 one third. If it is asked upon what other re source than taxation tlie government relies, the only answer that can be given is—upon any monies which are, or which may be in the Treasury—if the government does not rely on taxation for, its support, it ought to be dis tinctly known upon what other resource, ei ther permanent or temporary it does rely. If it relies on taxation, then the income should be made equal to the expenditure, or the ex penditure reduced to the level of the income. Ought the government to rely for its ordinary support on precarious and uncertain sources A of revenue, or is it tlie policy of the govern ment to depend bn the funds in the Treasury until those funds are exhausted, using its in come and making encroachments upon its cap ital indiscriminately forthat purpose, and leav ing eventually nothing "or extraordinary emer gencies. for public education, for internal im provement and other subjects of national con cern. It is a rule of political economy, and a good one, not to take more money from the people than is required for the ordinary and current wants of government. Whilst in prac- tice you do not take more, you return one half of what you do take, and depend on other re- sources to supply the deficiency. It will be
