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JATURDAT, May 15, 1790-]
THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE
AND
.A
GAZETTE of the STATE.
FREEDOM of the FRE SS, end TRIAL by JURY, Ihall remain inviolate. CtnJUtutitn ts Ctorgim*
AUGUST A: Printed by JOHN ]E. SMITH, Printer to tub State-/ Efays, Aitideiof
Intelligence, Advertifemcnts , w// be gratefully received , w*? of Printing performed.
GEORGIA
his Excel!enc» EDWARD TEI.FAIR,
.Governor and Commander in Chief in and
over the State afotefaid, and of the Mili
tia thereof.
A Proclamation.
g ONSI DERATION oof State ren ering
\ j it neceffaiy end expedient that the Ge.
aeiil Assembly be speedily convened : I have
therefore though*.fit J° j,®** this my Procla- -
jrtation, appointing Monday the fevent.h dky
•f 'June the of meeting at Au
gbjta: And Ido hereby enjoin and require
the pointed attendance es the fcveral Mem- -
ken of the refpedive brah&hes.qf the Gene
ral Assembly, on the day aud at the place
lefere mentioned.
£IVEN under my ttind, and the Great
Seal of the said State, at the State-
House in Augusta, this eighth day
es May, in the Year of our LOAD
•ne thoufaud, ieven hundred and
• ninety ; and n the fourteenth year
of the Independence yf the United
States of America.
EDWARD TELFAIR.
*> hit Exceilen >’j Com//iu*ni t
JOH N MI LION, Secretary.
GOD SAV E THE STATE.
-§*X€’#§-§ , ’&§’§"i h §‘'
ft the Printer oj the Augusta Chronicle .
Sir* . , ... . .
I BAD for fame time past concluded in my
own mind that our perceiving
stow dtfjgreeable they have always been *o
the inhabitants of the town in general, .and
feeing, as they certainly do, the impropriety
of the»r conduct Throughout whole of this
fcnfi&efs,' wmvld have teligned their offices, or
at lca(t declineirf to aft, until 1 fayv a notifi
eatton in y«mr J Uft paper,' requiring the inha
fcitauts of the towrt*»o mike returns of their
taxable property to the Town Clerks which
convinces me that I have mistaken their in
tentions, ind that thev are disposed to plo
wed, as Aldermen, regardless of the nume
ioiir d.fqualifrcations under which they la
bour, and in open defiance of a society of
people who have not yet forgot the circum-
Jukccs »f their eleftion, and who will not
oweiv submit to be governed by men who
fr c?d thenifelves into office, by the noft fe-
Cret and abominable ftratageme.
5 1 confeft, foi ray own part, that I am very
tnmh p!£afed with the notification mentioned
above, because it will probably be the means
of producing an explanation between the Al
dermen and their poofthuents, (if the people
of the town will allow me to call them t e
condiments of such reprefentat.ves) by which
it will’ be ffetrtallied whether they have a
tight to levy taxes or not. If it to° u!d be e
tst mined that they have a lawful right, 1 ffia I
inoft cheat fully acquiesce l hut if t have
no such tight, I frail be decidedly agamH pay
ing any refpett to thtir ordinances.
While thoft Aldermen remained raaftive,
and fat tailed with the aew# of Magift'****.
people were generally iwdifFe• *nt about them,
any further than as they became, f' om their
errogaute. the proper objeda of ridicule, so
far they tended te amuia all fiftnr#
GEORGIA.
- • ; / y* » . *
now, Sir, that the matter is carried so far as
an attempt to levy a tax upon ui, it becomes
neccllary to tteat the fubjeft moie /t>iouji( %
and to inquire how far we are bound to a
compliance With the hws of that hudv, uo
c<>nftitutiunaiiy and unlawfully conff.tuted. as
they reiumly are. Ihe delire I have to fee
the incorporating aft made beneficial to the
town, makes me yvifti fincereiy that this mat
ter may be Toon decided, (for I presume there
ha* befn no proper dccifioh upon it yei) tho*
‘ rim ignorant of what niay be the proper
ffeps to bring about such a measure, or I
fliould certainly propose fame plan, I pre
face the que.ftion is of fufficient importance
to dkimand an opinion, and that opinion can
not, I luppo/e, come trom any quarter lo pro
perly as from he Judges of pur Superior Court,
aud to whom* in my humble opinion, (for I
am not accuffomed to the forms of law, and
therefore caunot fpelk confidently) this con
test ought to have been originally referred,
' by which means we (liquid long ago have had
a jatilfa&dry dectlion. I think I may ven
ture to fay it would have been fatiftaftory,
whichever paify may have pievailcd, as all
would acquiefc# in a determination retailing
from a proper source but, Sir, the case as
it now (lauds is extiemely unplcafant'aftrf
ein bar raffing j for we not only confider our
Aldermen diiqualified .upon every principle
of law and cuimns i fchle, bpt we confider
them in all le/pett* as unfit periods to iinp'.fe
laws upon a free and enlightened people.—
Had they been declared as eligible by our
Couftitutiori, and by fhofe whom 1 tour five
; had the foie right of determining, we muff
then have submitted peaceablyto them, uot
withffandjng their pcrfoual difqualificatiojis ;
but to be c6qtr«uf*d by them whenthey have
neihi g fubffanttalto lecpmmeud them to u 9,
is a bard case indeed. Tlie circumstance of
tk©(e gentlemen being .jtrincipally foreigners,^
! will never injure them in' the opinion of'the
thinking part of mankind,. who are above
fu?b uhmatily prejudicea : For my part, I ab
ho'r such invidious diffiuftioßS, and admire
atniabie and ufeful qualities as much in the
poftefiion of any foteigner as in an American ;
and 1 am convinced that national confidera
t.ona have ue v er influenced any of the ob
servations that have been made refpefting
them]. That they have been very imprudent
is notorioully known, and that they continue
to persevere in an error rather than acknow
ledge what they certainly muff believe to be
so, is equally obvious. .
It may be said that notwithstanding the
people in and about Augusta may be very well
informed sis to the merits of this controvertv ;
yet those who live ieniO:e kpow but little of
the matter, and wdl probably fay, What evi
dence have we that thole Aldermen nrt
—that they are obnoxious to th/>ir conffj
tuents, &c. to which I >T-hat with re
spect to the fill*, as they have been <bir.eed
as being alietis, ants not .having eouvipcej
us other wife, they muff and vy ill be coufi
dered as such uutil they prove the contrary.
It is true the eleftion was refsrred to fj*e Go.
vsinor m the firff iuflame, M the pobH- have '
already been informed—that it wjs derDicil
to be lawful-tint the Aldermen
cltred to be citirens! the vhole ot which
was got through wtth viff dignity aud facili
ty | but alas! the pcop't (*ho, I think God,
have fci»e yelvii«*l weight *% l b»e countty) l
' • $ * # ¥ 9 1
{VOL. IV. No. CLXXXVIU.)
were diffatisfied ; they fay, the decifioo
had where no uotice ought to have been take®
oi ii—that public office* are forae ’time#,
tod in foi»e countries, made fubfervieut to
private purposes, with many other remaiks
ot this kind, which the •* canaille*’ (a* a
iate Ob/entr has emphatically called the in*
habitants of Augusta) will be forever
juming ts tuake, to the dilhonor of theif
rulers.
Th.it the are obnoxioue to theif
conmtuems, ta evident Irutn a Vane yof c;r*
ctinilfauccs ; but wht Ii is nioft remark*
able, is, the election of M r . Hit »e nak to 6?1
up a vacancy occafinied by tne reljgnrtion *»{
Aideimau brown. Now, Sir, I am well
awa.e that it will be said this ele tton wit
tt .filing with iff law ; bin that t deny. It
w.s the only means the people had lef*• af;ef
the intetfeience of the government, to con*
vmce the Aldermen in what point of view
they wetc held It cannot that
it was in conlequence of Mr. Shoemak*'* ahi*
lity, because it is well known that he is totally
ut.fit, as are tome of the others; for I be«
lieve there are mo;e than one of them drfi*
cient in the molt ordinary degrees of ed». •«
lion. Ignorance will never be impute l* j
inen as a' fault, providetl it is attended wrl*
common tnodefty ; but when it alfiiines a talk
beyond the limits of its capacity, it bfcomke
the proper object of ridicule. • ‘
I am fully convinced that a large majority
of the Aldermen would be happy indeed, if
they could get fairly lid of their honours ;
or lather, they lee the impropriety of their
measures, and wuyid with them to be forgot*
feu jf'but pride tells them it will do to re*
cede now, especially as they have been so
umch oppoied.—burely this is a falle kind of
pride; but if they were men' of common
feeling and delicacy, the bare recolleffion of
their being detailed by the town, as Alder*
men, would of fflcit be fufficient to iuriiins
them to reiiuquilh their offices, which they
must be sensible were not olrarned by the nioft
honourable’means.—Upon the whole, I chmlc
if they would yiefd a little to fe'ious reflec
tion, and review their own conJibt c-Amlv,
there would undoubtedly jp eir lo nmc la
matter for felf-condeimutr -n and reproach,
that they would ackuowituige their own er*
rors, juitice of to* complaints thal
hare beeu made agaiull them
. EXAMINE*.
A V-
To the Citizens of Augnfia.
FROM s publication in the lad G<rette #
said to be by order of the Corpormon,
ne ate led to aifk why m ftaken and d fup*
pointed men are so fond of filling iu »heif
iolf7 and arrogance?
Whether it »• not epough for thefc men to
. get ofiicrf into rbgjr hands, tbe r eby to defrrt
tl.'e common interest and facial policy of a
Vommunty, must they, in addition to th %
• peilift ,*iu ir.fillting the people by an attempt
to exettife an office which ih*v hive obtain
ed by fnfb n can*, aod for which they are in
•very refpetf so unqualified i
V«u must b e at s Infer* imagine from what
source th tfcnv.H tbit dldtrnun have eolleff*
ed courage foffififnt to make this efTsv.
> Hivt tl.ee Oiiovsrsd tbit the piople, whom
• # * * / . • ' 't. J •'
