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SATURDAY, July 7, 1787; GEORGIA STATE GAZETTE j OR jt independent register. P ■■ ■ . - ■ ■ HI ■ " —— ; " ~ » ■ ■ - - . ; FRE EDOM of the PRESS, and TRIAL hjr JURY t ,o renuta i„v,„la,c forever. ,f Georgia. .AUGUST A : Printed by JOHN E. SMITH, Printer to the State , EJTays , Articles of InteUmnce ' I Advertijements, ifc. uill be gratefully received, and every kind of Printing perfirmed. * m .. __ . ' P/tech of Miss Polly Baker , before a Court of Ju . Jicature > in Count Jtcut, ‘where Jhe was proje . c* ted the fifth time for having a Bajiard Child. •Tt AY it please the honorable bench to indulge f XVI me in a few words : lam a poor unhap py worn an, who have no money to fee lawyers to I plead for me, being hard put to it to get a tole rable livings I lhall not trouble your honors with ; long fpeeches' i nor have I the preemption to ex that yon' may, by any means, be prevailed Won to deviate » your sentence from the law, in »my favour.' A 1H humbly hope is, that your ho nors would char itably move the governor’s good- St; Ws in my behaliy that my'fine may be remitted. I This is the fifth titn’e, gentlemen, that I have been | dragged before your court on the fame account; •twice I have paid l>eavy fines, and twice have leen brought to public punishment, for want of money to pay these fines. This may have been Agreeable to the laws, and I don’t dispute it; but fmce laws are some tinted unreasonable in | -themselves, and therefore repealed, and others H ;hcar toy hard on the fubjefl in parricular instances, I therefore there is left a power somewhat to | »dispense with the execution of them j I take the * iliberty to fay, that I think this law, by which I I *am puniflied, is both unreasonable in itfelf, .and particularly fcvric whh tryard to me, who '.have always lived an inoffenfive life in the neigh-. I "bourfcood where I was born, and defy my ene mies, (if I have any) to fay I ever wronged ( ytnan, woman or child. Abftra&ed from the law, I cannot conceive, (may it please your honors) what the nature of [ Tny offence is. I have brought five fine children dnto the .world, at the rifque of my life ; I have maintained them well by my own industry, with out burdening the townfnip, and would have done ; it better, if it had not been for the heavy charges ..and fines I have paid. Can it be a crime (in the ►mature of things I mean) to add to the number ►of the King’s fubjefls, in a new country that really wants people ? I own it I fliouid think it a •'jiraife-worthv, rather than a punilhable a&icn. I have debauched no other woman’s husband, nor ♦enticed any youth; these things I never was with, nor has .any one the least caufie of •complaint again# me, unlcfs, perhaps, the mi -.nifter or justice, bccaufe I have had children with out being married, by which they have milled a wedding fee. But, can this be a fault of mine ? J appeal to your honors. You are pleased to al low I don’t want sense ; but I muff be ftupified to /a*! degree, not to prefer the honorable Hate of wedlock, to the cPnditton 1 lived in. I always wiS, and ftiil am willing to Z'.'-'"" **» mid doubt not my behaving well in it, having al* the industry, frugality, fertility, and skill in eco nomy, appertaining to a good wife’s chafafter. I defy any person to fay, I ever refufed an offer of that fort ■: on the contrary, I readily confcnted .to the only proposal of jnarriage that ever was made me, which was when I was a virgin ; but too easily confiding tn the person’s limjerity that made it, I unhappily loft my own honor by trust. * ing to bis; for he get me with child, and then forfook me. That very person you all know; he is now become a mqgiftrate of this county : nad I had hopes he would have appeared this day <>n the bench, and have endeavoured to moderate '■the court in my favour; then! ihculcl have scorned to have mentioned it; hut I must now complain of it as unjust and unequal, that my betrayer and un doer, the firft cause of all my faults and mifear riager, (if they must be deemed such) fliouid be adva need to honor ind power in that government, that raaifiiea my misfortunes with stripes and in * famy. I shall be told, ’tis like, that were there no aft of assembly in this case, the precepts of religion are violated by my tranfgieffions. If mine is a teligious offence, leave it to religious punishments. You have already excluded me from the comforts of your church communion. Is not that fuffcient? You believe I have offended heaven, and muff fuffer eternal lire; null not that be fufficicnt f What need is there, then, of your additional lines and whipping ? I own I do not think as you do ; for, if I thought what you call a fin, was really futh, I would not pre fnmptuoufly commit it. But, how can it be be* lieved, that heaven is angry at my having child ren, when, to the little done by me towards it, God has been pleased to add his divine (kill and admirable workmanftiip in the formation of their bodies, and crowned it, by furnilhing them with rational and immortal fouls i Forgive me, gen tlemen, if I talk a little extravagantly on these matters ; lam no divine; but if you, gentlemen, muff be making laws, do not turn natural and ufeful aftions into crimes, by your prohibitions. But take into ycur wife consideration, the great and growing number of bachelors in the country, many of whom, from the mean fear of the ex- Pcnees of a family, have never sincerely and ho norably courted a woman in their lives ; and by their manner of Jiving, leave unproduced (which is little better than murder) hundreds of their posterity to the thousandth generation, Is not this a greater offence against the public good than mine l Compell them, then, by law, either to marry, or to pay double the fine of fornication every year. What (hall poor young women do, whom custom hath forbid to solicit the men, and who cannot force themfclveauponhufbands, when the laws take no care r« provide them any—and yet severely punith them if they do their duty without them—the duty A the firft great com mand of nature, and of nature’s God —increase and multiply /t- A duty from the steady perform ance of which, nothing has been able to deter me; but for its Cake, I have hazarded the Loss of the public efleem, and have frequently endured public disgrace: and therefore ought, in my humble opinion, instead of a whipping, to have a statue erefted to my memory, This judicious .adduefs influenced the court to difpeofe with her punishment, and induced one of her judges to marry her next day. She sup ported an irreproachable charafter, and had fif teen children by her husband. N B. Another account fays her name W3S Sa rah Olitor. Xrxxxxxxxxx xx xx x x; ANECDOTE of a d:JI mguifked Lord Chief fvfiice of England. THIS celebrated "Judge being on the Midland circuit, a Mr. Shirley, of the county of Leicefler, was brought before him, charged with having committed a rape on the body of one of his teuant’s daughters. The Judge was remarkable for possessing an uncommon (hare of delicacy, and therefore, on the day preceding that of the intend ed trial, ordered the crier of the court to give public notice, that it wqufj come on the next morn ing at seven o’clock; ’thereby tmfling that the female sex would abient tbemfelves on such an occalicn. Infiead of Which, the ladies came pour ing in numbers into the court, and Tilled the gallery by fix o’clock. At length the Judge, having heard all that the witnesses had to fay in support of the charge, desired the prifouer would enter upon his •defence. Mr. jihirley, therefore, informed the THE court, that, as he was one evening walking over his grounds, he espied his profecutrix carrying away a bundle of faggots from a pile that belonged to him, and observing the was a handsome girl, ho jocosely told her, if ever lie caught her repeating the tranfgreflion, he would affinedly repay himfelf in away most agreeable to his wuifkes. Business calling him next day totown, he was absent about a fortnight ; and, on his return home, One of his servants desired to know whether he had given per— million to a young woman to carry away faggots fiom such a pilp, for that she had done it every evening since his departure. It immediately occur red to him that it mull be the girl he had seen be fore, and abput the fapie hours he repaired to the old spot, where he had not waited* long before the made her appearance. Tp be bricf—Hc jocularly desired the girl to make per/onal reflitution , which, without hefitafion or reluftance, she complied with* Mr. Shirley, in fhorr, was honourably acquitted s byt, before he departed the court, the judge desired to give him one piece of advice If, fays bis lordship, you (hould ever find a woman Healing your faggots again, do not threaten her withfuch a pumjhment i for if yoy do, believe me that the ladies in the gallery won’t leave you a flake in youc hedge, 11VENTT GUINEAS REWARD. RUN AWAY, from the fubferiber, in the State of South-Carolina, the beginning of March sass, A Negro Fellow, named 808, very artful and sensible, of a black complexion, and flout made, has a large fear across one of his legs, just below his knee pan, he was taken some time ago at Col. Marbury’s plantation, a few miles above the town of Augusta, and fipce made his escape ; it is probable he w»H endeavour to make for the Indian nation, or remain with the inhabitants some diftante above Augusta, by faying he is free. The above Reward will be immediately paid (one half in goid or silver, and the other half in the Paper Medium of South-Carolina) to any person that will deliver the said Negro Fellow to meat Alhepao, in the above State of South-Carolina. EDMUND BELLINGER, j i:n . May 20, 1787. 38-4? - 1 ' --•■■. gw AM E to Macartan Camp* A hell’s, Esq. Plantation, near jjftffjßUr* Augusta, on Monday last, aN^- FELLOW who fays , his name is TOM, and mafter’sname Hampton, or Lampton, he j s about 5 feettf inches high, about 35 or 40 years old, has a blue homespun jacket on, his hands appear to have bccq fealded, formerly of the Gullo country. June 20, 1787, publijhed and way be had at the Printing-Office, THE LAWS Os the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, pafi'ed last Seffipn. likewise, The Court of Conscience A#* [No. XLI.3