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Kfe ArTURD AT, Augu/l ir, r;B7* .fir.- r
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GEORGIA STATE GAZETTE
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B INDEPENDENT REGISTER.
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F. REE DO M of the PRESS, and TRIAL by JUR Y, to remain inviolate forever. Ccnftitution of Georgia-
k< M PG U *■* Printed by JOHN E. SMITH, Printer to the State \ Effoys, Articles of Intelligence,
Advertisements, &c, will be gratefully received, and every kind of Printing performed .
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IftijE ORGIJ.
♦ j'lft the Honorable GEORGF. MATHEWS,
j$P Esq. Captain General, Governor and Com
nunder in Chief in and over the said State.
Jt Proclamation.
|w yHERE AS there is just reason to
HR / apprehend by dispatches received
from the Creek nation, that hoili
wjimm V l* l ' 6B w 'l' v ery fhortl> commence
▼ on the part of the Indians, ren-
abfolutcly necessary that the Legiilature
.should be convened, in order to deliberate on mea
sures for the defence of the State : I HAVE
{TiiHSp-EFORE thought fir, by and with the advice
confent of the Honorable the Executive Coun
imic this ray Proclamation notifying the I
, fame, and requiring the attendance of the General
!. /Ufcmbly of the said State, at Augusta, on Thurs
| public business.
.Given under my Hand and the Great Seal of
jp Ap* the said State, at Augusta, this ninth Day
( t-tei of August, in the Year of our Lord One
Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Se
wen, and of our Sovereign ty and Inde
pendcncVthc Twelfth.
GEOROE MATHEWS.
\ By His Honor’s Command,
Milton-, Sec’y.
V-Wk GOD SAVE THE S TATE!
t CHARLESTON, July 5.
.Jsixtrnft of a letter from a gentleman in Philadelphia,
U ?0 his friend in this city , dated 'June I, 1787.
■SfUrirvU R. news-papers will inform you of the
pKI names of the Federal Convention j they
jhavc acquired a latge lliarc of the confidence of
thi3 f city; and there 13 little doubt of our taking
tfje.lead in adopting such a government as they
ihali recomniei: L
jjil ■•lp|'The inclofcdaddrcfs “to the Freemen of the
States,” was intended to awaken the fame
I arW f for Government, which prevailed for Liber
years 1774, and 1775. —I wish it could
i tiWfwpOblithed in all the papers on the .continent.
««'General Walhington presides in the Conven
with his usual dignity.—The venerable Dr.
Franklin attends it daily, and is contributing his
I experience and knowledge to aflift his country in
rJtefc' s prefe'nt crisis. Mr. Dickinson, it is said, has
Itturnec! his thoughts -for some time part to the buli-
K%i|fi‘of the Convention, and intends to offer them
■i»bls!ccrimtry.— From the. characters of the gen-
I aiobien who compose this illaftriousaffembly—from
§*tlr#mcreafe of our national difficulties.—and above
| aUffrom the growing disposition our citizens every
|||K r e difeover to'improve our federal govern-
I have not a doubt but that America will
years realize all tbs happiness for which
si£Vas contended.”
■■■ ■ ■■ ■ -
layw be Freemen of the United States .
PsslA CITIZEN of Pennsylvania, in a retired fi-
L tuation, who holds and wishes for no lhare
i *-Jjji|he power or offices of his country, and who of
t tebaddreffed you in the years ry74, and 1775,
inpbn the interesting fubjett of the LIBERTIES
America, begs leave to address you again upon
Khe important fubjett of her GOVERNMENT.
Kit is impossible to bs happy without freedom }
r
and it is equally impossible to preserve freedom
without such conftitmioos and laws as are adapted
to the circumstances and habits of our country.
The Rights of mankind are simple. They re
quire no learning to unfold them. They arc bet
ter felt than explained. Hence in matters that re
late to Liberty , the mechanic and the philosopher,
the farmer and the scholar, are all upon a footing :
But the case is widely different with refpeCt to Go
vernment. It is a complicated science, and re
quires abilities and knowledge of a variety of
other fubjeCts to understand it. Unfortunately
from the general prevalence of despotism, and
the monopoly of power in a few hands, mankind
have had but few opportunities of profiting by the
knowledge they have acquired from experience in
this science. The world, for the firft time, saw
a number of freemen assembled in America to
compose a system of government for themfclves.
It now beholds a feene equally new and illustrious
—a body of freemen assembled to correct the mis
takes of this government. How different is the
situation of the citizens of America from the rest
of mankind ! What would be the fate of the
millions of our fcliow-creatures in the kingdoms
of Europe, Ihoyld they assemble by voluntary as
sociation, for this purpose ? Or what would not
the subjects of Great-Britain, wh'o complain of
the defect, or corruption of their government, give
for this incftimable privilege :' Let thiacorupa
rifon kindle in your bosoms a due sense of the va
lue of Liberty, and let no pains be spared in com
posing such 4.form of government as will preserve
it forever.
The present federal constitution was formed
amidll the confufions of war, and in the infancy
of our political knowledge.—lt has been found in
effectual to support public credit, prevent hostili
ties with our neighbours, and infurreetipas among
our citizens : —Hence the name of an American,
which was so vefpeitable in the year 1782, in every
part of the globe, is now ,treated every where
with Oaliquy and contempt.
If the evils we have fuffered, and the infamy
we have incurred, have not been fufficient to in
duce us to alter our federal government, there is
one argument that ffionld possess weight with us
that should be irrefiftable. Mankind insensibly
glide into a liable government. The rich and the
poor soon grow tired of anarchy. They prefer
the order and tranquility of despotism, to popular
licentiouliiefs and the oppression of the law.
Hence the fucccfs of usurpers of every age and
country.
It becomes us therefore to prevent the power
which is the offspring of force, by means of a re
gular constitution founded in a mutual compact be
tween rules and the people.
There never was a republic of long duration in
any country, whose form was not mixed. But
the mixture was in mod cases unfortunately the
effect of accidents, or popularcommotions—hence
the inequality of liberty in molt of them, and
hence their corruption or extinction in every part
of the world. I fee no reafo'n why a republic
composed of a legislature properly compounded
and balanced, where representation is equal and
elections annual, Ihould not continue to be the ve
hicle of liberty to the end of time? We have
therefore, my fellow citizens, no choice left to us.
We mull either form an efficient government for
ourselves, suited in every refpeCt to our exigencies
and interests, or we mull submit to have one im
posed upon us by accident or usurpation. A bram
ble will exercise dominion over us, if we neglect
any longer to chufe a vine or a figtree for that
purpose. The present relaxed state of government
V H B
*
I'
■ ’ „ . [No. XLVI.]
in America is no common temptation to ambi
tion. A federal Shays may be mote fucceftful
than the Shays of Maftachufetts-Bay, or a body
of men may arifc who may form themselves into
an order of hereditary nobility, and by surprise or
stratagem profirate our liberties at their feet.
The view of our lituation is indeed truly alarm
ing; we are upon the brink of a precipice. Hea
vens! shall the citizens of America, ftiall the de
pofers of the power of George 111. and the con
quercrs of Britain in America, submit to receive
law from a bold and fuccefsful demagogue, < r a
confederated body of usurpers ? Shall the United
States become a theatre on which the crimes of
theL'ttfars and Cromwells of past ages are to be
ailed over again ? Are the freemen of America
to be summed up in accompt of universal slavery,
and transferred like cattle at an au&ion to the high
est bidder ? Are our fields to be fctatched (for
they will not then be cultivated) by the hands of
slaves—and is .the produft of our industry, whe
ther in arts or agriculture, to be torn from us by
arbitrary edifls iflued from a newly eftablithed
court of an American despots ? Was it for this
we drew the sword at Lexington and submitted
to, or rather embraced poverty, exile, imprison
ment, flames, and death, in every stage of the
war? Was it for this we triumphed in the re
covery of our cities, and in the reduction of the
armies of Burgoyne and Cornwallis ? Was it for
this wc exulted in the peace which we extorted
from Great-Britain in the year 1782? If it was,
then virtue has buffered, heroiftn has bled, and
heaven itfelf blefted us in-,train.
America has it in herpower to adopt a govern
ment which shall fecure.to her ail the benefits of
monarchy, without pat ting with any of the privi
leges of a republic. She may divide her legisla
ture into two or three branches. She may unite
pe.'feft freedom and wisdom together, and may
confer upon a supreme magiftratc such a portion of
executive power, as will enable him to exhibit a
representation of majesty, such as was never seen
before. I mean the majefly of a free people. To
prelerve a sense of his obligations to every citizen
of the republic, he may be glefled annually, and
made eligible for feign years, or for life.
The more we abridge the states of their fore
reignty, and the more ftipreme power wc concen
ter in an sjjtmbly oj the States, (for by this new
name let us call our federal government) the more
fafety, liberty and prosperity will be enjoyed by
each of the states.
The ambition of the poor and the avarice of the
rich demagogue, cm never be reflrained upon the
narrow scale of a state government. In an af*
fembly of the states they will theck each other.—
In this extensive refeivoir of power, itwili be im
poffble for them to excite forms of feditiou, or
cppiefiion. Should even virtue be wanting in it,
ambition will oppose ambition, and wealth will
prevent danger from’ wealth. Besides, while the
eyes of the whole empire are diretfed roonefu
prene legislature, its duties will be perfectly un
derfeed, its ccndttft will be narrowly watched,
and its laws will be obeyed with chearfplnefs and
refpett.
Let the states who are jealous of each others
competitions and encroachments, whether in com
merce or territory, or who have fullered under
aristocratic and democratic iun.os, come forward
and ftrft throw their sovereignty at the feet of the
Con vention. It is there only they can doom their
disputes, unjust tender 2nd commutation Jaws,
their paper money, their opprefhve taxes upon
land, and their partial systems of finance, to de*
fruition.
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