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Vol VL
; V sDarirn <oa^rtre
0-&VD PUBLISHED
BY
WB. F. GUANDISON.
r >> (ON THE BAY)
her annum, payable in advance.
t'liH’
‘ir.f, S@Ss‘
l From the Georgia Journal Extra..
’ Ml LCEDiJ K VILLE, Nov. 2.
day the Governor transmit led to both
:t of the. Legislature, the following -
MESSAGE.
Executive Di.cautviknt, Ga.
Milledgeville, Nov. 2, 1824. >
w- Citizens of the Senate,
, of the House of Representatives,
■is a matter of grat illation that since the
of the Legislature, the United
have continued in a state of peace
all nations, courting amicable relations
Hpb all by a just and impartial S) stem, and
Elhibiting at the same time the armor ne
cHrv to command respect to our rights
where. Connected with such happy
the present year has been made
gHiorable by the landing of General, late
La Fayette, on the soil where the
fivlyears of his (iistinguished life were de
r purse and sword, to defend all that
v.Bhclii sacred of political and civil rights, j
fHasdiie toltim to be invited by the Chief
jßistrate, in the name of the people of the
A> toour bosoms&it was accordingly done. |
is said the United States have so ,
{■caused their rights io be respected by, all i
Sons, it is by no means to be understood
■ such a slate of things can he lasting. — !
Be wisest policy—the most pacific disposi {
■is will not assure us against a change.— i
Bills moment an organized confederacy of
■pots in Europe, more formidable than
Hr known before, shake their bloody scep
tlat all nations who contend for freedom
H the rights of mail. The United States
Great Bri’un present the only barrier to
H destruction of liberty, else the spirit
Hich ani nates the Greek in his glorious
Higgle with the Turk would have been
Hi.iguishcd, South America subdued, and
Hfire sides assailed. So long as the Uni-
H States and England are leagued against
Bin, these enemies of the human race dare
■ commit themselves to the seas. Mean-
Hile the progress of mind always seeking
principles will make the cause of
Hlit and justice stronger every day, until
array of tyrants shall lie broken and scat-
Bed, anti liberation from thraldom be com-
Hte and universal.
Hl'he strongest operative principle of the
Hiei’ican institutions in diffusing blessings
Hall kinds among savage and civilized men,
■he principle of univeisal toleration, reli-
H>ns and political. This principle, having
■ foundation in the American constitutions
■ government, is dispensing its beneficent
■Rue.ices every where, to the uttermost
■Hds of me earth; and in perfect accord and it
Hll make that gospel harmony with the pre-
Hpts of ilie gospclmore and more active in
He reclamation of human nature in regions
■here the rose never blossomed, audwhere
Hesavage continues to hunt his fellow man as
He beast, of the forest. In fact, for the
■treadingof the benign doctrines ofChristi-
Hiity among the idolator and the heathen,
Hiere is reason to believe that an all-foresee-
Hig Providence has made this great, and 1
Hope unambitious nation, itschiefinstrument.
Hfthe millenium is to come, American insti-
Hutions, under the same direction, will br.ng
Hto pass. Then, for the first time, conies
Hie epoch of universal peace. Before that,
His our business anil our duty to be prepar-
Hdfor war. No sovereign state, whatever
Be its relation to others, should suffer itself
Ho be wronged or insulted. The weaker,
Hliemore strenuously it should insist on its
Bights, the more vigorously defend them.—
■The Romans never counted the number of
■heir enemies, and it is belter that all perish,
Hhan that one tittle of honor be surrendered.
M Maintaining, however, with reason, justice
Bnd firmness, those rights which belong to
■ns, we ought to make it our care scrupulous*
By to respect the rights of others.
M I call your attention, therefore, to the
■.- te of our militia—under a good system, a
■tilwark—under a bad one, a rope of sand.
■lt is recommended to you most earnestly, to
■revise your system. Pains have been takento
■ give it all the efficacy of which it wassuscepti
■ ble. Want ing an energetic principle to en- I
■ force itself, it would not have been made
■ available for even a temporary organization,
■ but for the virtue and patriotism of our citi
■ zens. These virtues in some degree suppli
■ ed the defects of the law, and will enable me
to make a tolerably satisfactory estimate of
the military power oft he state. I cannot in
a message like this enter into detail, but you
have accompanying documents which will
suffice to shew partially the detects and the
remedies. But suffer me to entreat that in
this revision you look to a military system
purely abstracted from, and having no con
nection with the civil policy. The citizen is
a different being from the soldier. Carry
the civil law into the camp, the latter be
comes a fungus upon state. Instead of per
fect subordination and discipline, which re
gard his own preservation and the safety of
the country, lie looks constantly to his civil j
privileges— makes the law for his own gov- j
ernment, and decides when he shall look the i
enemy in the face—when betake himself to !
n'ght. In no country can such a military j
system be maintained-as a reliance for de- j
fence. Even under the laws of the United!
States, when the militia take the field, they !
lre subjected to martial law. It is the nov
elty of this restraint which in war gives rise 1
to so many difficulties, and causes so many
embarrassments before the militia are quali
fied for aciive service; and how easy for the !
Wizen to learn that, consulting his own safe- j
DARIEN ISilf GAZETTE.
ty and the safety of the state,’ the moment
betakes his position in the ranks, his first
duty and his first virtue is obedience, and
how habitually easy in war will be the prac
tice thus acquired in time of peace. It will
be vain io attempt to discipline the militia in
times of peace, unless the strictest subordi
nation and obedience can be commanded
among all ranks, from the general to the pri
vate. The basis of any good system is or
ganization. Without permanent organiza
tion it need not be attempted to iiniform,
equip, arm or discipline. The organization
of the company is the basis of the whole, and
it is as- crtaii.ed bv sufficient experience that
it is extremely difficult to maintain a com
plete organization of companies under the
present s\ stem. The supineness and indif
ference of the people who elect the compa
ny officers in a period of peace, their care
lessness in attending elections at all, and con
sequently the very improper selections which
are frequently made have had a tendency to
impair the value of the commission, which
ought always to be held honorable. The
uncertainty of preferment too, which ought
to be the sure reward of merit, deters young
men of good character from seeking com
missions of the lower, grade. In fine, the
numerous resignations constantly occurring
and the disinclination frequently manifested
for this service, shew the defect to be radi
cal and to require an effectual remedy. A
uniform prescribed for the militia, cheap and
f equally useful in the ordinary occupations of
, life, would have a tendency to diffuse more
j generally that military pride so‘essential to
| the character of the soldier. The time, it is
i hoped will arrive when, under the wise pro
-1 visions of the act of Congress for this pur
■ pose, the whole body of the militia of the
! United States will be supplied with arms and
i equipments. In this event it will be desira
ble to establish in each county a central de
pot of arms, to be used on field days, and as
the public service may require.
As one of the prominent evils of the exist
ing system, is the habitual non-execution of
the sanctions and penalties prescribed by the
laws, you will find it indispensable, as well
for the enforcement of these, as for the uni
form and regular execution of their general
provisions to provide for the appointment ol
an Adjutant General, with adequate rank and
emoluments,having his officeat theseat of go
vernment, and if it be thought proper, to es
tablish drill schools for the officers in central
points of divisions or brigades, their general
superintendance and direction should be
confided to him under the orders of the com
mander in chief. The reports of Maj. Gen.
Newnan and Brigadier Gen. Harden, merit
your attention.
lntiinateh connected with the defence is
the public educaiion of the country. Every
citizen, to be qualified efficiently to defend
his rights and those of his country, should
possess intelligence enough clearly to un
derstand t lem, and this in the complex rela
tions of our political system, is at once the
more necessary and the more difficult. I’he
rich and the poor now unite in the acknow
ledgement of the advantages accruing from
an enlarged system of education which will
qualify them equally for all the occupations,
civil and military, to which the state may call
them. In ihe front of the higher academic
institutions already organized, you will take
pleasure to recognize Franklin College, an
ornament, and under proper endowment, an
institution of first utility to Georgia. Next,
the academies of counties only requiring a
fostering hand to cause them to flourish and
produce fruits worthy of the fathers who laid
the foundations. I recommend to you io give
to these institutions liberally and unsparing
ly, according to their wants- But above all
I recommend that to ihe poor of our fellow
citizens you extend a bountiful hand. A poor
and honest man is the noblest work of God.
How much more worthy your care the chil
dren, who under your protecting auspices
might be the best of men, under your neg
lect, the worst. Nothing is more easy than
tocomprehend all under the expanded wings
spread over these institutions, by the consti
tution and the laws which limit your discre
tion in nothing, but the duty always imposed
on you to take care that of public monies ap
propriated to any object, a strict accountabi
lity be exacted. The rule of apportioning
annually a specific sum among the different
counties in proportion to representation as
adopted by an act of the last Legislature, is
not only a fjair one, but of easy execution.
The period has arrived when Georgia can
no longer postpone the great work of inter
nal improvement. If considerations of the
highest order could not prevail, state pride
would be a motive sufficiently strong to de
termine her. Some of her sisters are alrea
dy far in advance of her. Almost all of them
have to a greater or less extent embarked
in it. She sees the most enterprising and
persevering among them already deriving
advantages from it, vs hich place them in the
first rank of opulence and power. A state,
therefore, like Georgia, blessed by Provi
dence with the means of reaching the high
est commerciqj prosperity, by a road plain,
direct and practicable, will no longer linger
in the rear. She will begin, and with a lit
tle patience and perseverance, instead of de
caying cities and vascillating trade and what
is most humiliating that trade seeking
an emporium elsewhere than within her own
limits, she will witness the proud and ani
mating spectacle of maritime towns restored
and flourishing, new ones rising up—her
trade steady and increasing—her lands aug
mented in value and improved in cultivation
—the face of the country beaut ied and adorn
ed; and she may witness what wasonce deem
ed impossible t human efforts, the western
waters mingling wi’li her own, and the trade
of Missouri and Mississippi floating throughall
her own territory to her own sea ports, and
this wit bin the compass of her own resources
provided the ordinary economy, prudence
and foresight be employed to husband, che
rish and improve them. The first and most
DARIEN, (GEORGIA,) <£quai anti €;cact justice. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1824.
important step will be to command an En
gineer of science and practical skill, and
measures have been taken to procure the
services of such an one. As it is indispen
sable that lie rank among the highest of his
profession, it follows thai his compensation
should be fixed at such a rate as other states
have assigned to the like order of talents
and qualification. lam persuaded you will
not hesitate to do this. The Legislature of
Georgia ist too enlightened to undervalue the
services of mind, and looking to her true in
terest in this particular, she will find the best
economy in the highest compensation. The
critical accuracy necessary in every stage of
the proceeding, the minuteness of observa
tion, the correctness of calculation and the
application of the mathematical science to
the whole, require the first order of cultiva
ted mind, and under the direction of such a
mind there is moral certainty that mistakes
or errors of a fatal character will not occur.
In avoiding these you save an expenditure in
comparison with which the salary of a life
time would be as nothing. The laborious
topographical explorationsand surveys which
must precede the plans and estimates for the
execution of the great works, will also re
quire time; for they are these which will de
termine what ought first be undertaken—
what most beneficial—what most practicable
—what least expensive.
In calling your attention to the Judiciary,
1 am only directing it to objects with which
it iias been familiar. To bring justiceas near
as possible to the ho ne of every citizen, at
the least possible expense and with the
greatest possible expedition, are maxims of
the common law, sound and salutary. The
best maxims upon paper are of little value
unless carried into practical effect. In Eng
land, where they have been long disregard
ed, but whence we derive our models, they
have at this moment, the worst system of
practical municipal jurisprudence of any
country on earth, and this chiefly from the
neglect of those very maxims. The delays
and expences of justice are ruinous, so much
so that the very best part of their system,
the high court of chancery, lias become a
nuisance to the country. Os what avail are
the best principles of juridical science to any
people, if in practice they are constantly
abused? In our system there is quite enough
of delay and expense, and these may be di
minished by discarding some silly maxims of
the common law. But again, it is to be con
sidered that justice should not only be ren
dered cheaply, expediciously, and conveni
ently, it should be rendered also with uni
formity:—that is,in all likecasesi here should
be like decisions. In the practice under our
system, it is impossible to assure this desira
ble result, from two causes. Ist. From a
number of Judges acting separately and
apart. 2d. From a w r ant of time to mature
their decisions in the more important cases.
It has no doubt fallen within the observation
of all of you, that frequently the most diffi
cult and complex questions arise before our
judges, and they have no more time for the
investigation of them, than for the decision of
the most plain and simple ones. I advise
yon therefore, if, for the sake of uniformity,
always so desirable in the administration of
justice, you deem it expedient, to organize a
Court of Errors—that you so organize it as
not to enhance the expense to suitors. It is
before such courts, as commonly organized,
that this evil is so sorely felt by the citizen.
The expense is increased. An argument is
admitted: and this is the source of the ex
pense. The argument is good for nothing.
The parties before the court want not the
argument—they want the decision. They
will be quite content with ihe argument of
the judges; and if the judges, selected for
their legal wisdom specifically to decide
questions of law submitted by the records of
the courts below, cannot decide correctly
without a laboured rediscussion of such
questions, not by themselves, b.it by others
who ought not to be their superiors—such a
court will only be an evil, by the amount of
unnecessary expense thus incurred. Other
wise much of good might result from it, more
especially if it be made the duty of the court
to pass finally upon all quest ions at the Ist.term
The compilation and digest of the Statute
Law of England in force in this country, has
been confided, according to your direction
( to William Schley, Fsq. And Chas. Harris,
Thos. U. P. Charlton and William Davis,
Esqs. gentlemen of distinguished eminence
at the bar have been appointed with supervi
sory powers to advise from time to time al
terations or amendments as the work pro
gressed, so that whilst by this concert and co
operation will be rendered more perfect and
complete, its final adoption as part of the
code of this state will also be rendered more
certain. In connection with this important
subject, may I be permitted to suggest a like
revision and digest of its companion, the com
mon law; or, returning to the dark ages what
belongs to them, would it not be worthy of
the generation in which we live, if Georgia,
by embodying the best parts of the common
and statutory law of England, the Roman ci
vil law and the Napoleon Code, (the last by
far the best system extant,) were to supply for
herself a code of Jurisprudential Ethics,
which, having their foundations in reason,
justice and common sense, would be alike ap
plicable to all times and all circumstances;
and relieving- Georgia from a dependence on
foreign legislation, relieve her from reflec
tions humiliating to her pride and mortifying
to her self-love.
The molified penal code of Georgia, had
two humane objects in view—lst. To spare
the life of the criminal whenever it could be
done with safety to society. 2d. To reform
him by confinement and hard labor—a sys
tem which is constantly exhibited in con
trast to the bloody one of England, and
which from its congeniality with the Ameri
can character and feeling, it would be desir
able to perpetuate. Our code however is in
its theorical detail defective, and I have no
doubt that our judges, who are most familiar
with its virtues and its faults will pronounce
it so. Its mode of execution is at least e
qtially so. The remedy ol both is within *
your power, and to apply it, it is only neces
sary to understand clearly what the defects 1
are. It will be seen on the most superficial
survey, that we pasaed at once from the ex-!
treme of severity to the extreme ol lenity.—
It was never believed that under any tolera
ble system of criminal jurisprudent punish
ment could be dispensed with, and yet the
object of reform accomplished. This, how
ever, is our system in practice. There is not
even the appearance of punishment connect
ed with our Penitentiary establishment, un
less the restraint upon the liberty of roaming
at large for the commission of crime be con
sidered so. The far greater proportion of
the convicts at all times are better fed, cloth
ed and lodged, than they have been accus
tomed to be; and whilst they perform the
work necessary to keep the body in a health
ful state, they enjoy, not merely the benefits
of society, but exactly that description of it
which, in or out of the establishment, they
would seek and court. The punishment in
ordinary cases, should be hard labor and soli
tary confinement—hard labor by day and so
litary confinement by night. The practice
of crowding four or six convicts in the same
dormitory is replete with tevils which inevi
tably and diced ly defeat the very end of the
institution. Not only is vice rendered more
vicious by it, but the hope ot reformation is
forever cut off from those who, not hardened
in iniquity, are willing to contemplate in
darkness and solitude their first offences
against the law, and the gloomy consequen
ces which never fail to follow them. Every
species of association or intercourse between
the convicts ought to be suppressed, unless
it be that kind of it, which is indespensably
necessary to the the work in
which they are engaged. Some lessons have
been taught by the experience of the oldest
institutions in the United States, which ought
not to be lost to us in looking to the impov
ment of our own. The oldest and most ob
durate offenders acknowledge that continu
ed solitary confinement is tiie severest, the
most irksome and most tedious of all the
punishments they have suffered, neverthe
less they continue obdurate and unreclaim
ed. This fact, whilst it affords additional
proof of the policy which would prevent as
sociation or intercourse between older and
younger offenders, and between these and
strangers of every description, may show al
so the expediency of dispensing with contin
ued solitary confinement in most of the ag
gravated cases, and in place of it, prolonging
the time for w hich they are committed. 1 lie
repor* of the Principal Keeper of the Peni
tentiary, will disclose some judicious obser
vations relative to the present state of police
discipline and financial economy of the insti
tution,and certain suggestions for reform and
improvement in each.
With unfeigned regret I feel myself con
strained to expose the state of the controver
sy in which Georgia has been redundantly
involved with the U. States; That every
disposition existed originally on the part of
this government to persue our claims against
the general government with moderation
and good temper, is manifest from tiie pro
ceedings themselves.
The Executive branch of it unequivocally
disclaims to have been prompted on his part
by any other than the most friendly feelings
tow r ardsthe constituted authorities of the
U. States, and he soundly trusts that whate
ver of irritation has been engendered, or
unkind sentiments expressed, the cause is to
be sauglit exclusively in the deep conviction
felt by the government of Georgia,that Geor
gia w 7 as about to suffer flagrant wrong and
injustice, by the course of policy adopted by
the U. States in their intercourse with the
Indians. Nor were any complaints elicited
of this, other than such as were made in the
most decorous and respectful terms, before
the delegation of Georgia, found themselves
in an attitude of humiliation at Washington,
by the comparison, forced upon them, be
tween their own relation and that of certain \
other delegation, to the Executive govern- j
ment of the United States in their intercourse j
with it. Nor was any measure resorted to
here of an uncourteous character, until the:
President of the United States, in a message 1
to Congress, had so treated the claims of
Georgia and the rights of the Indians as to
foreclose the former forever from making
any further claim or demand upon the lat
ter provided there should be a recognition j
by Congress or by Georgia of “the doctrine
asserted by that message. The Governor
would have been wanting in duty to the
people, whom on that occasion he represen
ted, if he had nut seized the first moment to
protest, in the strongest language, against
such doctrines; and whatever may have been
offensive in the manner of the proiest which
he interposed, he insists that in regard to the
matter, truth was in every part of it main
tained with the most scrupulous fidelity.—
The principle asserted by the message was,
easentia’iy, that the Cherokess were now the
fee simple proprietors of the soil they occu
py, and of conseqence that no rightof ter
ritory could lawfully pass from them without j
their voluntary and express conseqj—A
principle so strange and so novel, asserted
for the first time in the history of the gov- :
ernment, connected as it w r as with the de
claration just previously obtained from the
same Indians, that they never would consent 1
to part with another foot of territory, amoun- l
ted to an absolute denial of our rights and ;
the destruction of ouq claims either upon
the United Stales or upon the Indians now 1
and forever. It was in contestation of this
novel and strange principle the Governor of
Georgia found it to be his duty to address ’
himself to the Executive government of the
United states, in very plain language. The
United States government seemed not to
have understood our motto or our emblem,
or understanding to have disrespected them.
AH our obligations, therefore, to the United j
States and to ourselves, our love of pt-aoe
of harmony and of union, promted to thisa3
the only means of warning the United States
government, in due time, that they were
precipitating themselves upon a crisis, tire
least deplorable of the results ot which would
be the entire destruct ion of the weaker par*
ty —results which could not be sought by
the United States, and which, we on our
part had the strongest motives to avoid.—
There is yet time to avert them, and it is
confidently believed they will be averted.—
It is impossible for the United States, upon
a deliberate rC-eXamination of the subject,
ever to pursuade themselves that it would
be possible for the state ofGeorgia, or any
other state possessing even limited soverignty
to make a tame abandonment and surrender
ot indisputable and sacred territorial rights,
to such pretentions as the United States gov*
ernment have thought proper to urge in be
half of the Cherokeess. The documents liav*
ing relation to this unpleasant subject, ac
company this message, & I will add little else
to the matter of them, save a simple fact, to
shew how much the United States govern
ment have deceived themselves by asserting
the principle just adverted to. In tlie year
1785, ihe United States concluded a treaty
at Hopewell with the Cherokeess, in the
first article of which it is declared “that ihe
United States give peace to them and re
ceive them into the favor and protection of
the United States,” and in the 4ih article of
which it is further declared, “that ihe boun
dary alotted to the Cherokees for their hun
ting grounds shall be” so and so, compre
hending these very lands w hich we now de
mand of the United States. And this con
cession of even a usufructuary interest is
made on certain conditions stipulated in the
treaty and which of course, if violated on the
par iof the Cherokees, would cause a for
feiture of even this right of hunting. The
treaties of Galphinton and Shouldei bone,
between Georgia and the Creeks, hem in
the years ’BS and *B6, contain similar stipu
lations, recognizing the rigid of soil, sove
reignty and jurisdiction to be in G. orgia
and the United States, and tiie rigid oi nun
ting only in the Indians,and within sucliliinits
as Georgia and the United Slates have de
signated. You will perceive, therefore, that
whatever might have been the kind of ten
ure by which lands were acknowledged to
be iiolden by the Indians before the treaty
ot Hopewell, after that treaty, so far as res
pects the Cherokee litle to their lands, ihe
tenure was definitively settled. If ihe fee
simple had been with them, before from that
moment it departed from them and vested in
Georgia. It could vest no where else, be
cause the United States at that time recogni
zed the paramount claim of Georgia. Now
it would behoove the United States to shew
how Georgia was divested of this title. She
could not be divested but in virtue of her
*pwn express consent, and then it behooves
the United States to shew the treaty, grant
or concession, in which such consent was
given. So far from the United States be
ing able to do this,w e produce the articles of
agreement and cession, to shew a confirma
tion to us of this same territory thus acquir
ed by the treaty of Hopew:ell. Suffer me
to add that the United States have, in theory
and practice, uniformly acted upon the
principle of the treaty of hopewell witli re
gard to all other Indians; that is to say, con
ceding the right of use to tiie Indians, they
have reserved to themselves the allodial ti
tie, with which is essentially connected ju
risdiction and sovereignty. And that for
some reasons or other altogether unexplain
ed, the case of Georgia has been made
an exception, both in theory and practice.
Lite Commissioners of the United States,
in their negotiations at Ghent, asserted the
rights of the sovereignty and soil of all the
Indian country within their boundaries to
tiie United States, and consequently that
the Indians were mere tenants at w ill.—
They asserted moreover, what is undoubt
edly true, that the system adojpted by the
United States towards the aborigines is more
liberal and humane than that practiced by
any other nation before ihem. The treaty
of Hopewell is the basis ot all other treaties
with the Cherokees. Its provisions are
confirmed expressly uv the subsequent
ones of Philadelphia in *94, Tellico in *9B,
and Tellico 1805. Disregarding the stipu
lations ot these treaties, the United States
acknowledged the fee simple to be in tho
Indians. Ihe Indians therefore may right
fully cede certain portions of territory in
fee simple, to private citizens of Georgia.—
Georgia in the last resort is forced to draw
the sword against her own flesh and blood.—
I he United States will then be the primary
agent in fomenting civil war between the
citizens of Georgia; and what will be more
unnatural the citizens of Georgia resident
in the Cherokee country, will appeal to the
government of the United States to vindi
cate their supposed rights, against the as
saults of their own brothers. Thus theU.
States, by their new doctrine,overthrow the
entire system of politybefore established in
their entercourse w'ith the Indians, and will,
if they persevere, reduce Georgia to the
necessity of resorting for redress to meas
ures depending on herself alone.
As to the guarantees contained in these
treaties they are guarantees to the Indians
of the right of hunting on the grounds allot
ed them as securities against the trespas
ses of the whites, who might interfere with
that use, and not guarantees of fee simple
title. How could the treaties expressly take
from the Indians the fee simple in one arti
cle and guarantee to them in anather? if
the United States have encouraged the
Cherokees to make expensive improve
ments on the lands of Georgia, and such im
provements are assigned as the reason for not
making the relinguishment, the United S.
are bound in honor and justice to pay the
full value of them and to give to ‘he Chero
kees territory of their own elsew here, cor
responding in extent and fertility with that
JVo. 44.