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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.