Newspaper Page Text
fieorffia Cifei,
WACOiV, Go. August, 24. isx^~
To the People of Georgia, and Patrons 9 the Gem*,* •
.irc^nc, icwhK;h , he Mltorc)fiu , M ibleaaj * Borgia Cither
—■ _ . unexpectedly find* himaolf. hv ;1 , aDd W ! lUnto from , ™
<,irc °““ to .-* th. Witeonk.
-STs?^ u ““ p< * ted ' j 6 “ l * i ‘ i -'““'. * >*. p~-
ftalfcflj ./ ** Tes h:m no ‘lternatire but the present
? h “ fHends and bribers
. f , - ‘ ™ Use °f those proceedings as well as in
. . from the slanderous imputations which
v r wanacrons imputations which
(V tened upon him.
•w**** ° r
rawud to ytordL V'™ 7. A "*”“
4bWft Is ohiMtionahl ■ l2en w r consider, dby
“ Cha '* OKr -J-*!. J
yjT.. .* tobectoMtotok.
4*tfcs • Placard was posted about the streets and exten
#Wif efcwltoed for a meeting at 4 o’clock, at which hoar an
of perhaps one hundred persons, one half of
tofotoi orare looker* on, convened, and was duly organized by
appointment of Henry G. Ross and M. K. Rylander as
CfetoMt,radE. A. Wilcox and H. R. Green, Secretaries.
After organization, the meeting was addressed in the most
tifatamatory style bj two or thrr*>all of whom were
■ ■<■* or Macon, to wit : John A. Jones, Esq., oi
rMlKag County, Mr. Howard of Crawford, and Mr. Bill
bo of Albany, Ga Os these persons I shall have occasion to
~*Pk hereafter.
After the vials of wrath had been exhausted against me,
the verdict es this packed jury, who would not allow of any
eeee in the meeting, and who did not allow a written explana
tion which I had sent in to be heard at all, except by the Com-
Mftie, waa formally communicated to me at my office, the
Committee having been supported in the performance of that
d*ty, by a crowd of followers.
the following Is the verdict rendered in form and in sub
•, wab ed t That a committee of fifteen be appointed to
••it Upon Mr. Andrews, and inform him that he must not is
f*a BUethsr number of his paper in this city and that he must
tha name of the Author of the ‘Gabriel’ letter, and
bo refuse to comply with the above demands, that the
oMantof Macon will adopt such measure* as to compel his
ffMipitate departure.
HENRY G. ROSS, ) „ .
M. E. RITANUKB j Ch * ,rmc ” ‘
;; a.
Maoon, Aug. 23,1850.
Comnntteo appointed to wait on the Editor of the ‘‘Georgia
. ‘Chinen” aa per the within resolution:
■ B. F. Ross, Chairman,
i- P**, Dr. J. M. Green,
p. Coffin*, Peter Solomon,
JT. H. Beal, J. B. Ross,
Fort, A. Comer,
JC. Lawshe, T. G. Holt,
‘lt. L- Swoheckor, J. H. Brantley,
W. Rains, Alex. Richards.
( Being thus beset I was constrained by those sacred feelings
which the father of an alarmed household may be supposed
to.kaue possessed, under such circumstances, to comply w ith
‘one part of the demand as to the name of the Gabriel Letter,
it, however, with the declaration that the
whole proceedings were contrary to law and the constitu
**• and that I yielded to might what I otherwise would not j :
have given up. The other demand of the meeting is yet to
%b conceded, if on reflection and counsel with my friends, it is
thought beat to take either alternative presented in the reso
)MM, of slopping the publication of my paper or meeting
Mft consequences threatened against my person and property, |j
in excited and lawless body of men.
‘Tfcnt.the public may judge of the nature of the charge on
wMefc this movement is founded, I here insert the objeetion
•h* gamgrsph in the letter of Gabriel, and will then explain
ho# said artiole happened to appear in my columns:
“Among the numerous buildings that are now in process of
OMetipa, m this city, is one of brick, in full view of, and
I stone s-throw from, the Atlanta Hotel, which is de
aa a depot for the safe-keeping and sale of negroes, j
Two-thirds of our people, who know the purpose for which it
opposed to its completion, but, as yet, I have
Isag of no steps being taken to prevent it. On Sabbath last
howyer, the heavy rain with which we were visited washed
swagnyiiy one-third of the eastern wall—thus showing (to
tow jysh of pm— believers at least) that Providence disap
proves the unhallowed purpose for which the building is de
•lgnsd. ..For my own part I am free to say I should rejoice
to Mbit rased to the ground as often as its owner rebuilds it”
This letter was received by Wednesday evening’s mail, on
tfts opening of the Office at half past 5 o’clock, and without
tong read was thrown into my private drawer. On Thurs
day, being the busiest day in the week in my office, in getting
WtJ pip* to press for the mails that are made up at 8 and 9
•’dock P. M. I handed the letter to a compositor to place in
type, supposing that it contained only an item or two of local
•PM to Atlanta, and went to the Mass Meeting to hear the
dMnguiahed strangers speak. After my retum at 1 o’clock
totheoffioe, I was so engaged all the afternoon in making up ! j
of the paper, and getting ready for press, that, con; JJ
read a
litter referred to— so that I did not actually know that it eon
toined what it did. But it is due to truth and caudor to say.
that I probably should not hare thought it necessary to blot
•to the writing, if I had read the same with ordinary atten- I
•on, inasmuch as .the opinion expressed, though impolitic and j
pcrnidtffi to such times as the present, has been the settled j!
Ims.'aad sptnfoa of the State of Georgia, until the last ses
sion of the Legislature, when said law was repealed, in de
fence qftVorthern fanaticism on the subject of slavery.
Nevertheless, so Cur as abolition sentiments arc even im
pfisd, indirectly, in the quotation of Gabriel’s letter, I have
#M#r sndotbtd the same. /do not approve of any ten-
Htoswte ef'dkat character. For fifteen years past, I have, I
gme and again denounced abolitionism, in the most indignant !|
tanas, and have now at hand tho most ample proof of the
feet: I have sacrificed on this ground, my connexion and fel
lowship with my religious denomination, North. Not longer
Ann two months ago, I published in the ‘‘Georgia Citizen”
to severe i-den uncut ion of tho “Univcrsalist General Reform
Aasociatioh” of Massachusetts, its motives and acts, as it
•as possible for my pen to indite. In proof of all this, 1
have documentsto show, which amount to a demonstration j;
I es the fact, that I have written more perhaps than any other ). 1
Editor of Georgia against the sin and the shame of abolition
ton ! Andiyetfor’the inadvertent expression of one of my
i earreepondfflits, who in all cases, are considered and held rcs
, peoeible for what they communicate to the press—a rule uni- j
) venal, and established by general custom, as well as by the i
authority of such men as the Hon. John B. O’Neal, of J
South Carolina, .wjio has recently declared to the Editor of j
1 thu Newberry” Sentinel that, “ H seems to be 6trange that
Editorjs held responsible for ,
m J.asrrespoodent find admitunce into newspaper.
I p at j e useless to dwell upon this point. If a public
Biltong es my feHow citisens will sllow ms the opportumtjn
. I feel able and willing to .how f r „
I and from a cloud of personal’ doournen ‘*ry w |
-d o, deed. h, ve , H h J
cal heresy of abolitionism. l am , “ of I
j South, having been born in Xorth
in Kentucky lam a* * Carolioa jnj>
. JvHtoS . ST’.rf
low-ciiucn. of u,. Soulh .ill “nr'l m >’
“f Southern Institutions. ° “ Ut m#n on the ..J'”
I am constraint u .
I am constrained, however < ’
posed abolitionism. That is th al,t^b a*ed Upon •
at the bottom of the b ut olher
From the eharann.e J?u’ “ ‘° D Dow ag* iD ****
A large majority of the active portion of the aasJnM^’
‘““"“J” r * b “ pol ' tici " M f l 36, 30.1,
Cto Jh'wJ.y, He*
tehtoto Th,,. were incense] and
Ih. W of their hope. ,„d expesrio.,, i„
number of persons expected to be present. To this * w
-AAe-t tti/. nnintml liiHi.l.ti.a l . el>a ‘JiUzen of Vvf
against the disunion sentiments uttered by nearly e* 7
ker on the occasion, which, it may be supposed ‘had 7T*’
fluence in keeping up the public excitement’ One
wiU menuon, in proof of this point, and that i ? - t h.t T‘i
the Proprietors of the “Georgia Telegraph,” on Th J“J
evening before the issue of yesterday's paper, was Wyl
nouneingthe Citizen “as a d—d abolition sheet” wh ,j3|
person addressed. .Mr. Anderson or up countrv-, J
eed to be taking. This and other facts within my kno*u!,
go far to implicate two rival printing establishment* i n thi ’ I
lawful attempt to break down my press and ruin nn w J
Before high Heaven I believe it to be true that my <j S
ion fellow-citizens of the Macon Pres* are at the botoT I
tliis whole conspiracy against my life and property ul I
candid public inquire into the facts of the <*m, and jndr-w I
themselves, if these things be not so. There’msy
private griefs and some sectarian prejudice to gruih w|
these last are but as a drop in the bucket,compared tefe J
named.
And now I come to speak of a disgraceful (act in cm I
tion with the proceedings of yesterday's memn£_oc e I
; every citizen of proper pride of character must repci*, J
unseemly and improper, in the highest degree. I allufor *
the fact that the orators on the occasion wet a all tut’*, I
in the city ! They hailed from Paulding, Crawford, aril I
ker. John A. Jones, is well known to the ptopkofk*. I
a* the jacobinical member of the last legislature who*,,* 1
cd to ride over the interest* of Macon, iu the matter if. 1
Railroad connexion, that a little of the same mob lav
he tried to get up yesterday against me, would probtK . j* j
been his just reward, had he returned homf. pob
j hr f *ugh this place. This ugliest of all men, poluicaDy # I
personally, was the chief speaker. His blood had bwn j
ed the day before, by South Carolina's peculiar polity l)( I
his appetite for the prospective banquet of diffolutN* H
probably whetted to an insatiable keenness. The new j
speaker is the reputed political Editor of the Macon “TrtiM’l
and reveals another fact in the l.ist<H-j transaction |m j
an intelligent public will know how to appreciate—and ‘b
third is also a stranger, of whom we’ know but little
By wvhat right these stranger* had to assist the oitium-
Macon to protect themselves front political or other trainer*
sions. lam not able to divine. It was, certainly, sn J
ed for zeal, of which I shall hereafter have perhafis the*]
portunity of asking a satisfactory explanation—on,] for vfcdl
*‘l bide my time.”
There i* another view of this matter, which I raonot ;a
without comment. It i* a que*ti<n of solemn import nbri
er in a community of law* and constitution*, any body of aa
however respectable in character or imposing in wmkn,
have any right thus to destroy the. business, property a I
reputation of any citizen. In my case the laws of tbt w
try have been grossly violated. The Constitutional pmjqi
of trial by a jury of my peers has been denied tim, for s
alledged offence. I have not had even a hearing, nmchl*
| a defence, on the accusation alledged against we, but tint
ted to be the act of another. Another fundaments! proto
of the Constitution of Georgia and the United Statrt-*Jz
of the “ liberty of speech and of the press" —h* b
trampled under foot by my enemies. They ha ve pUcrd tbe
selves above all law—yea, have assumed the prerogstivu at
law-maker, accuser, judge and execution;! - , in their own ia
maculate persons ! Nor is this all of this- beginning if tk
“grand drama of Dissolution ” which is about being ope
ed. This meeting, in the alternatives presented in their w
olutionsof demand, have eonspio?d to rob me of mr pref
erty and blast my prospects of business. If I accede to ths
demand of not publishing another number of the “Citaafi
shall be bankrupt in purse and reputation. If I remove t!
where, it will be a confession of guilt, which will amount *
an interdict on my business in any other Southern cooiowiu?
If I defy the malice of my foes and proceed with my pufe
tion, I subject myself to the possible consequences of a to
ble ejection from the city—the destruction of my cat •la
ment and ignominious outrage upou my person!_ ..M rfl
‘tAkSTA?dangers, there is no power can prevent my grid*
loss of business and good name, by the irretrievable ibs*
which has already been affixed to my character, and whici*
venal press will be eager to diffuse abroad.
Under a full view of the case, I therefore appeal 16*
aid and sympathy of all jusi men in this my present cnif-T'-
cy. I appeal to my friends near and abroad, who
known me for many years, to stand by me in this boar -
seeution. I appeal to the constituted authorities of the
and city, to protect my person and properly, and to per* -
violent obstruction to my lawful buisiness. If I have p
ed any law or statute, I appeal to the tribunal* of th
monwealth to arraign me for the offence before a jury *
peers. I appeal to the community in which I dwvll !
opportunity to defend myself from any and every acc* M
And finally. I appeal to all, in the name and behalf of * ‘
dieted and innocent family, to spare them the peril* a- *
gers which beset their husband and father.
But if, after all, I am to become the first martyr to a*
and infuriated political zeal, I would in conclusion. *
ask, where is this warfare to end, and who wiii be
victim ? If one independent Fresa can thus be
the lawless voice of a score or two of its opponents, or.
suspicion of wrong, without evidence or examinafi° r ‘
i is to hinder the muzzling of every other press 0 ) B 1
to those violently disposed? And where, then, will
palladium of the people’s rights and the resting pi* o6
erty ? Let the people answer.
If remains for me to say, that should I not be P* rn, ‘'”
j issue another number of the “Citizen” my pstroa* ’
1 may understand the reason on the receipt of thi* eI
! They will, lam sure, for the most part, kindly PP )l
; position and not expect me to perform an imp o ** ’
that event, avso, those who bars raid H*i* I
i of will not belong to me but to my despoilert.
The public’s obedient servant, !
L. F. W. j