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SATURDAY, May 16, 1795-
THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE
/■; ' AND
GAZETTE of the STATE.
i ' ; *
FREEDOM of the PRESS and TRIAL by JURY shall remain inviolate. Confitution of Georgia,.
AUGUSTA: Printed by JOHN E. SMITH, Printer to the State; Ejfays, Articles of Intelligence % Adver
tisements, &c. will be gratefully received , and every kind of Printing performed. \_Price Three Dollars per annum . J
To the PEOPLE of GEORGIA, I
in CONVENTION.
THERE are pages in the hiftory of man where
a few have saved empires, and have erefted
the standard of freedom in opposition to tyranny,
oppression, fraud, collulion, and corruption. Re
publican governments are pure; they spring from
that great fountain the people ; their greatest security
is, that the powers revert to them at given peri
ods, and this without doubt is one of the belt checks
which can be devised to' guard against encroach
ments, and now is the time when those powers are
to be exercised.
The people, in you, are now assembled, and
their retained sovereignty, freedom, and rights,
are intruded to you ; in the difeharge of this very
important duty you must feel an obligation to re
tain to them, and you, every right, privilege, and
immunity, saving only such a portion thereof as
will secure unimpaired the remainder.
To define your powers would be a departure
from the known maxims exercised in modern
times; you have only to lookback to the conven
tion who revised the confederation ot the United
States, and there you will find that body paid lit
tle or no regard to that ancient compact which
during the conflict of civil war compelled their
enemies to treat and recognife them as sovereign
and independent states. Again, recur to the late
convention who revised the constitution of this
Rate, and there you will find a fimiiar conduct.
Thole proceedings were no doubt adopted as
being laid down by the best authorities..
It is to be regretted that the corruption of the
present times require the people to call upon you
to declare null and void that aft, pafled by the late
general assembly, entitled, “ An aft fupplementa
« r y to an aft for appropriating a partol the Welt
er ern territory of the state, and other j-urpofes
u therein mentioned, See.” forthedifpofal of near
* fifty millions of acres of fertile territory to certain
companies, traded and bargained for, nnde, the
form of a law, by a considerable number of the
members of the legislature, and a few speculators,
for their mutual benefit and interests, in i»iieft
opposition to the welfare of the people at large, the
value of which exceeds the limits of any elhmate
which the present day can form. Let this be done,
and let every aft and deed done in virtue thereof
a be expunged from the face of the records, in
« order that no traces of such infamy be handed
« down to poftenty and farther, to make it the
1 duty of the next legislature to repeal the said aft.
In your body may be found members to reprobate
| the measure : Thev will cry out, we have no pow-
L e r, we are fer.t here for other purposes. When
s uc h declamation flows from a member mark him
H down as a person deeply intereiled in the Yazoo
I land, and one whose views are to raise his fortune
Kb on the spoils of his country. You have a diftinc-
Jt tion to make in this great political question. Ihe
M constitution wifelv provides for the protection ot
1 the members, which declares, that "no member
§t : « {hall be liable to anfwer-for any thing spoken in
|" debate in either houfc in any court or place
mi elsewhere." This is a wife provision, their eor-
has still a remedy, and that is a fafe and
Hcoßftitutional one: when they enaft laws that are
iVepugnant to the constitution, and not for the
benefit of the people, let custom and usage prevail j
Bihen such law or laws must be repealed, annde-
Slared noil and void; this is the inherent right
being exercised, will soon correct abules,
■nd render them less frequert.
Bfct cannot pass over the present weighty and mo-
meafure without drawing into view foir.e
Ktlie infractions made upon the conllitution by
diabolical aft of the legislature. They luoe
|HL,gated and afiumed powers, in d.feft Violation
mmtht constitution, which veils them with the
Efßlowing powers only Sec. 16. Ihe gcneiil
GEORGIA.
“ a (Terribly (ball have power to make all laws and
« ordinances which they (ball deem necefl'ary and
** proper for the good o( the Hate, which (hall
« not be repugnant to this constitution.” “ Sec.
« i7. They (hall have power to alter the bounda
« jies of the present counties, and lay off new ones,
« as well out of the counties already laid off as out
« of the other territory belonging to the (late;
«« and when any new counties lball be laid off in
<( the vacant territory such counties lhall have a
“ number of reprefcntatives, not exceeding three,
“ to be regulated and determined by the general
« assembly." So far these powers extend, and
every other mattet of right over the territory is
retained TO US THE PEOPLE.
They have by the aft in question attempted/to
transfer the sovereignty and jurifdiftion of the said
territory.
They have opened a door for a sale to foreign
powers, whereby the (late and the United States
may be dismembered.
They have by such surrender attempted lo make
fifteen hundred families vassals to their tyranny,
and attempted to enslave two nations of Indians,
and a ccnfiderable part of two other tribes, which,
the United States revolt at.
They have made a plea for the neceflity of a sale
of fifty millions of acres of territory to extinguilh
Indian claims to tour millions of acres of land be
tween the St. Mary’s, Alatamaha, the Oconee,
and Oakmulgee rivers. This will not even admit
of a pause to difeover the venality and fraud of the
procedure.
They have rejefted the sum of eight hundred
thousand dollars, and accepted the proffer of five
hundred thousand dollars. They give this tranf
aftion fomc colour, by faying that a part of the
deposit confided of bills of exchange, (as if the
bills were to be any time in the treasury) had the
aft passed in favor of thole applicants and their#
alfociates.
The money that was deposited by the feversl
persons was certainly not intended for the use of
the companies ; it was ter a pait ot the territory,
and mud in a very (hoit period after the pafiing of
the aft have been transferred to the company mak
ing the highest bid for the whole of the territory
in question, and by this means the bills would not
have been permitted to have left the date. . Ihe
rage for speculation, and the third (or territory,
mud in the mind ofevery thinking man evince the
conjefture.
They have attempted to authorize alirns to hold
and enjoy any part of the territory without having
repealed such parts of the Alien aft as militate
againd the procedure, all of which have been done
without any regard to the Naturalization aft of
the United States, which is founded on a power -
expressly delegated by the fevcral dates to the
United States.
They have repealed the ceflion of a given part
of the territoy made to the United States, w hich
evinces their caution in feme degree.
They have r.utwithdanding been peculiar’y un
fortunate' in their refearrhes, by not repealing
certain claufcs in the land aft of 17 83* particularly
that part which imposes “ a penalty ot twenty
«< (hillings per acre on all lands granted, or at
« tempted to be granted, without l>ei»g prc.vi
« ouily laid out into counties, and a proclamation
tt itfued thereon.” In this late tranfaftion neither
the one nor the other have been regarded ; there
fore an aftion may be brought in the name and (or
the-benefit of any perfoa or persons who may be
inclined to bring actions for the fame; for, even
admitting what a member on the door of.congrels
affected, “ that there were only thirty millions of
« acrcs of land, and each acre worth one dollar,”
which would amount to thirty millions of dollars,
will it not be for the benefit of the date, as weii as
that of .the individuals in t? re (led therein, that the
ift do f” cedily ccaie and be no mope, in order that
[Vol. IX. No. 44..;
the (late may be fully retaliated in her rights, as
well as that of relieving the persons concerned from
a penalty too great to be named, and dill more
grievous to be forfeited ? Were even the property
of every individual in the (late bound thereby, it
would bear a small proportion to the Aim in
question. Where property cannot be found (which
mull be the case in the present instance) the law
direfts that they be committed to gaol, there to
remain, without bail or mainprife, two days foe
every twenty (hillings. This on the smallest scale
of estimation would be sixty thousand days, a period
too lengthy for the age of man.
Their advocates bring forth a few quotations to
give their aft some plea of right, by
that the legillature is the highest and greatejl court .
This principle f cannot obtain under our government!
where the constitution sets bounds to the legisla
ture; and therefore it follows that the framers of
the constitution form the highest and ejeatejl courts
because they draw that line beyond which legisla
tive, executive, and judicial powers, (hall not ex
tend. The legillature have at all times power to
repeal laws, and under this authority a clause of
a law permitting the citizens to bring aftions
against the ftatc w as repealed, and a verdiftobtained
prior to the repeal, by John Hardy of Liberty
county, for about i zoo!* was declared void. Thi#
will serve as a precedent to (hew that the date must
at all times, without any regard to the interests of
* individuals, have her rights and interests unin
fringed.
They have by this aft thrown embarraflments that
will retard the extinguilhment of the Indian claims
to the lands lying between the Oconee and Oak
mulgce rivers, &c. as it is immediately connefted
with the other law for laying out the lands within
the said defcribcd limits, for that there appears no
probability of commissioners being appointed by
the general government to fee Indian claims ex
tinguiftied in that quarter until the supplementary
aft (hall be repealed.
From the foregoing statement it will require lit
tle argument to be adduced tofatisfy every impar
tial mind, that the aft referred to is impolitic,'on
cpnftitutional, illegal,, and subversive of every
principle on which republican governtqpnts are
founded ; it will even give tone, if permitted to
(lain our records any length ot time, to kings,
princes, and potentates, to exult over their fubjefts,
and when oppreflion (hall reach their doors they
may jufily fay, where is virtue to be found ? Ts it
in the weft ? No—take a view of thelegj.flaturc of
Georgia, and there you will find a territory as
extensive as an empire apportioned out to a few
individuals in one feflion, for a consideration too
trivial to be named, which would disgrace even
monarchy for ages yet to come. While I view
this idea I must extend it a little farther, by ob?
serving, that we the people in Georgia are direftly
and deeply interested in this great cause; next*
our fellow citizens in the other llates, who are in
full poffefiion of the exercise of republican govern
ment; and lastly, all the remaining part of the peo
ple throughout the world who are friendly to the
known maxims of republicar.ifm ; must feci for
our present situation.
We the people arc in the pursuit of a legal re
dr<Ts in the premises, and with you it will rest to
decide what the dernier resort Jhall be.
ONE OF THE PEOPLE.
FOUR DOLLARS” REWARD.
STRAYED or ftolcn from Augusta, eight d?y.*
isnee, a BRIGHT BAY GELDING, about
fifteen hands high, thin made and in rather lc.?
condition, has a Ar.all ftarin his forehead, is
cd with the fadille and has some u hire on one -of
las The above reward will be paid o» his
delivery to the ftibferibef,
JOHN FOX-
Augujtd, April 77 1 795. •