The Augusta chronicle and gazette of the state. (Augusta [Ga.]) 1789-1806, November 16, 1793, Image 1

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SATURDAY, November 16, 1793. THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE A N P of the STATE . FREEDOM of the PRESS and T RIAL by JURY shall remain inviolate. Conflitulion of Georgia. AUGUSTA: Printed by JO H N E. SMITH, Printer to the State,* Essays, Articles of Intelligence, Au ver tifements, &c. will be gratefully received, and every hnd of Printing performed, [.Price Three Dollars per annum.} 11111 —^1,111.1, BOSTON, Ottobv ix. His Excellency John Hancock, Efquin, Gover nor and Commander in Chief of the commonwealth of Maffachufelts , is no more f HE closed an aftive and ufeful life, on the morn ing of the Btn instant. The most fedulcus attention to,public business, for upwards of thirty years, imperceptibly wafted an originally delicate constitution; and the almost unremitting pains of excruciating distemper, loosed the {lender cord of existence, at the too early peiiod of $7 years, de voted to the bed interests of his fellow men. The late worthy chief magistrate, was diftinguiftied from his childhood by a peculiar suavity of dis position, and delicacy of manners, which ever ren dered him easy of access to the poorest of the poor. His compairions at school, his fellows at the uni versity, Rill recoiled!, with pleasurable emotions, a thousand instances of generous beneficence, which rendered him the objeft of their warmest aflfeftions, veneration and refpeft; nor did he <ceafc to remember, in a more elevated station, the dafs mates of his early hours, and the friends of Ifs juvenile moments. TJte bleflings of an ample fortune, to which pjancock fuccceded in the dawn of youth, were debated to die noblest purposes of philan thropy. The fens and daughters of poverty pre ftnted themtHves before the gate of hofpitaHty at the riling of the’ fun. The hungry were not sent empty away. The father!*!* and the widow en circled the dome of fcenevokr.ee, tvhen the even ing (hades of declining came crt. These alio rife up and catt'fWwrit blefteD- -Their united tears, the tears of gratitude, watered the footfteps of the dear departed; and as the dew of Heaven, they rest on the tomb of the much loved dead. —One amiable trait in the char after of the rever ed deceased, merits more than human eulogy. Whilst many of the children cf affluence gave the mite of charity to the virtuous poor, and confined . their beneficence to the meritorious fubjeft, the condemned criminal in the dungeon, hath pana ken of Mr. Hancock’s bounty; and, as governor of Mafiachufetts, the guilty culprit, an outcast from social intercourse, hath eaten of ue abun dance which his liberality provided, and, on the . day of thanfgiving, remembered hisrrvfery no j more. In one word, he contemplated human ; nature as the prey of varionsrinfirmities. He re- ! membered that himfelf alio sojourned in a vale 0, | tears; and all the physical, moral, and artificial ; evils of time, it was his to leffert : n every poftible j degree, by the most assiduous eftorts of ever ac- j tive goodness. On the milder virtues of humanity, the corner | Rone of patriotism is based. The genius of the relative charities builds the temple of social policy. Art affeftionate husband, kind mailer, ana honeit { citizen, will ever deserve the confidence or his j country. At the dawn of the late important con- 1 test between Great Britain and her then provinces, Mr. Hancock was looked up to as the friend of an injured people. Private virtue had already lafured general esteem. The voluntary fufFrages of un fctmht freemen appointed him, without personal felicitation, to the most honorable employments He was frequently nominated to municipal uufts of importance, where he difeharged the meumoent duties of his station with chearful alacrity and in variable fidelity. As the representative of his native town in the great and general of tU ancient colony, he spurned fff TT „ r nacing power, and greatly difdamed the meaner decided part which Mr. Hancock took in the interests of his country, ude of his fortune as a man, and the weight of his m f.ucncc as a patriot, drew down upon his head the whole vengeance of the Bntifh govemniera The harpies of the royal revenue rr.ade illegal seizure, -of his maritime property, to avast amount. Tl GEORGIA. v:..; ■ —if m wjmm -I # king’s governors treated him with every fpeciesof official insult, and the crown at length proferibed him as unworthy the tender mercies of the wick ed. Amid these trying (cents, where property was engulphed in the vortex of oppreiuon, and life rendered precarious by the mandate of tyran ny, the man of the people li.Vened to no other voice than the voice of his peers, and to this he rendered implicit obedience, at the probable ex pence of fortune, at the positive rifque of exist ence. Called upon by the fathers of the town to Com memorate the yet unforgotten sth of March, twice he afeended the hallowed temple of his God, and combined the energy of a Demofthefps with the graces of a Tully, whilst the fatal influence of Handing armies, the awful eftefts of a profligate military, and the eternal principal of right, thun dered from his tongue.—Attentive friends hung in mature on the finifhed periods of eloquence, and wanderii 4 foes have wept, to hear nini clofc foo soon. The many important services which he rendered to his native place, to the province and common wealth of Maflachufeits to the anion at large, and to the cause of liberty, and of man in every clime, where the clarion of freedom l has founded the charge against defpotilm, would have eternized the • name of Hancock, if he had not been the president of that illustrious body, who, on the 4th of July, J 776, absolved America from all future allegiance to the parent ftatc, and pronounced the United ! States free, sovereign and independent: But this memorable aft, to w;hich • his signature is affixed, as the prime magistrate of thirteen confederated republics, absorbs every other deed of political life, in :he superior glories of that immortalizing moment; and hereafter the kingdoms of the elder world (ball oppofc the name of this illustrious pa triot, and the mapia chart aof human nature, to j which it is attached, against the armed satellites of defnotic power, who (hall tremble as they read, i The enlightened sons of Maflfachuietts, her hardy • yeomanry, and industrious artizans, having com pleted that constitution which is the blessing ol ! present generations, and will command the admira- j tion of posterity, unanimoufty placed their poli- j tical father and approved friend in the chair 01 government, to which he was repeatedly eh fted and re-cleftcd by a decided majority of unpurchaicd votes. S . For a few unhappy months, bodily lndnpcntr on triumphed over the servant o( his country. He was neceffitatcd to withdraw from his station at the helm. Without presuming to question the > ab lities of the pilot who facceeded, we arc au thoriied to fay that the political hemisphere was . soon over(hadowcd by brooding tempests fraught • 1 with civil anarchy; and whilst we chearfullv re- , I cognize the talents of a Lincoln, who terminated j I this war of elements without the efTution of human i blood, we are bound in duty to remark, that up on his excellency’s assumption of the fuereme command, he bent every eftort of a philanthropic mind to clofc the wounds of a bleeding republic, and irftantlv smoothed the rough waves of eppo fition, by the lenient oil of unbounded mercy. Indeed, he was the Trajan if America, who counted every day loft was not marked by aftive goodness, and thousands of nis momentan y deluded fellow citizens in the weftern counties, dwell with transport on his name.—Hancock and humanity are fynonimous. Os an immense fortune, he has made the noblest facriiices. Seminaries dedicated to science, temples inferibed to religion, bear honorable witness of his munificence. Our eallic brethern were distinguished by the pcliteit attentions, at the expence of decreasing affluence ; and many individuals, who seized the oppor.un.ty of a fluctuating currency, to pay haru money bonds, have efrefted their dishonest purpefes, at the loss of thousands to this patriotic magistrate, who nobly refolvrl to support the credit of hi? country, though he funk every farthing of his own patrimony. It would give us pleasure to am plify the detail: but this delightful taflc we mult resign to the appointed orator, who, furmfhed with authentic documents, and guided by sacred truth, (hall eulogize the full, the belt of men. One remark, however, presents itfelf to view. It would lx* unpardonable to pass it over in silence. Whillt Great Britain dwells with enthusiasm on the death of Chatham, who expired amid his fel low peers, in making one glorious effort to save his country from inpending ruin, let Massachusetts remember, and to the latest posterity be it known, that governor Hancock met his constituents in ge neral assembly convened, when he was unable to articulate except a few broken, pathetic Sentences; and there delivered to the senate and niprefenta tives, through the medium of his secretary, the la!l political legacy of the dying patriot, replete with sentiments, which deserve to be engraven on the pillars of time, and pregnant with lolemn politi cal truths, which yet a very little while, and their force (hall he felt, from New-Hampshire to Georgia. This last afferiing fccne, we flatter curfelves, will be entrusted to the pencil of a j Trumbull. It beams with brighter glories than J the death orChatham. He fell inverted with royal honors, poor, pitiful emblems of his having de ferred the cause *jf the people. Hancock expired, in defending the rights of Massachusetts, of the union, perhaps, in advocating the mighty caufp ofuniverfal democracy. s In the beautiful language of the son of Sirach, it remains to be added* “He was honored in his generation, lie was the glory of his times: His body (hall be buried in puicc, but his name fhail live forever.’* Yes ! v Till the lafl herald of departing time y Commands, thou fun retire—thou moon, turn j pale— j Solo ng, [hall Hancock's praise, in frains sublime, On wings'of winged winds triumphant fail. j Fo y him y a nation’s grateful tears are jhed ; This vafl republic weeps the man they lov’d ; Wide human nature mourns the glorious dead ; By present, and by future worlds approv’d. Ah! jhall the narrow grave confrx the frfl of men , Or f ulptur’d marble hind him in the tomb ? Sure, no t ’lis writ by fate’s eternal pen y Tit* a whole, universe is virtue’s home— Where, in the bosom of their peers y they refl — On earth rever’d ; in Heaven forever blefl. TVyOTICE is hereby given to all Angular i JL \ the heirs and creditors of Benjamin Ratclift, i late of the county of Burke, deceased, that on the third Monday in December next, all the personal i ertate of the said Ratclift will be exposed to pub lic sale, for ready money, for the benefit of the | said heirs and creditors, in pursuance of the statute in such cases made and provided. JAMES BABCOCK, Adm’r of the Nov. io, 1793- said ejlate, GEORGIA. 1 By Lewis Gardner, Esq. L. S. > Regijler of Probats for the Columbia County. \ county aforefaid. WHEREAS Thomas Greer y jun. hceth applied to me for letters of admiviflration 'on the estate and e/feds of Thomas Greer y late of thiscoun~ ty , deceased: THESE are therefore, to cite and admonijh all and fmgular the kindred and cteditors of the said deceased, to be and appear at my ojfwe, on the ji th day of December nyxt, to Jhew cause, if any thrv have, why letters of adorn, rdf ration Jhould not be granted. GIVEN under my hand and. feat, at my o f.ee, the i uhday of Fiov*mber, in the year of our Lori , ?79j; and in the \9.th year of the independence if the United Stales of America* [VOL. VIII. No. y,