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SATURDAY, May 3, 17^: GEORGIA STATE GAZETTE '': •' s " ' o r . ; -; INDEPENDENT REGISTER* FREEDOM of the PRESS, and TRIAL by JUR Y, to remain inviolate foicver. Confiituim of Georgia. AUGUSTA: Printed by JOHN E. SMITH, Printer to lit State 5 Efays, Articles of Intelligence, Advertisements , i£c. ■will be gratefully received , and every kind 0) Printing fetfotmed. Genuine Copy of a Letter from Copt. John Sul~ • ii'vanto his Excellency Thomas tinekney,Efq. Governor of the Sta'e of South-Carolina* (. ,- j ... • State of Georgia, Flint River, Frontier of the Spanish dominions, 27th Dec. 1787. May it plea, eyour Excellency, IDO myfelf the honor cf add refling your Fxcellency, in pursuance to a communi cation which has been made to.me this day by a diftinguilhed officer from tne Weftern Waters, in as much as that Congress have been pleased to dispatch decisive orders to the Commander in Chief of the Continental troops ©n the Ohio for the express purpose of arreft fng my person j and being allured that fimiiar initruftions were transmitted by that Honor able body to the Executive of South-Carolina. Kly ignorance of any cause from which a mandate of this nature could arise, or on what legal grounds such an extraordinarxprocedure can possibly be adopted, induces me to foheit from your Excellency official information of the authenticity of this intelligence. I have too exalted a sense of the wisdom and patrio tic, principles of most of the Federal Deputies to harbour an idea that my late confidential letter to the Minister of Spain fliould have operated in this inflance; from a lolid con viction that there exists no flatutea or implied coercive power in any of the State Executives* much less in Congicfs, legally author ifing them to control that noble prerogative a ci tizen of America poflefl'es—the prerogative ©f unfolding his private political opinions to the world at large, to sovereigns even and to Hates, but with far less ceremony to the mere Representative of any transatlantic Monarch. Your Excellency mull be peifeftly informed that the Conflitution of this land confers on every freeman the glorious privilege of ad <drefiing Kings; and when it is conlidered that the free men of all commonwealths arc actual kings themselves, I am led to believe that the private fehtiments which were imparted in a confidential letter to the Minister .of Spain cannot, in conl'enance to any eftabliihed court ©f law, be brought under the charge of Ala jelly offended . Events of deep importance to this country and Spain, which are now buried in the womb ©f time, are insensibly progressing from the crude probability of speculation to the growth and maturity of fatt; and the period cannot be very remote, when the intrepid Tartar of the Weft, the inexpugnable Kentuckian and Frank, will dare to proclaim, that the Natches jftiali be restored either by negociation or arms, and that their right to the free navigation of the Miffifippi Aiafl be ho longer withheld by an indolent, jealous, and impolitic nation. Had his Excellency the Minister of Spain for a moment reflefted that my unimportant sen timents refpefting our invaded rights of navi gation were but the Ample echo of the voice of nineteen twentieth of the people of America, f a e and which had long befo c been publiftied by many djlingmjhtd General Officers ol the late war, now eliding on the Weftern Waters, his good sense would have pointed out the im propriety of importuning Cbngrcis on the tri vial fubjeft cfa letter so peifeftly apologetic and confidential —alerter written tc himlelf, and by his having (probably) firft committed it to the prefs,—of exhibiting his intended vengeance in so feeble a form before a banter ing and lneering universe. No personal con sideration (ball ever induce me to withdraw from any investigation which may arise oh this fubjeft ; on the contrary, I will with chearfolnefs wait the itrtpeachmenfs of such a nature, confeious that I have not exceedetFAnfe limits which the lawpreferibes, and that freedom of opinion is the unalienable birthright of every citizen or denizen of Uiefe Hates. Jf a Ample declaration of fentimeuts on a political queftion—ftutim&nts unattended with •any overt aft—fentimeuts which American citizens daily presume to express to their lo cal sovereigns, can be conftiued into crimi nally by an y body of men, and by thofc in par ticular who pofiefs no legiflaiive rights , nor any right in time of peace affefting the per son of a free man —such an aflumption of power inuft strike ar ihe very existence of li bel ty. I have therefore :he strongest con viftion that my letter to the Miniflei of Spain consists in leufoning on contingent events, and that in ftriftnels ot law the fmallcft ieftraint in matters of a fpeetdative nature inuft be a giofs usurpation of rights eftablilhed by the late revolution. Your Excellency well recol iefts that hot many years have elajjfed Ance the Spahifli Ambaftador at the Court of St. James's complained of a newspaper insult which was offered to the intellectuals of his Royal Rovereign. The publication was con formable to general belief, and he was in formed for his fatisfaftion by the Britifti Court, that the of England, laws flill prevailing with us, inflifted no piiniftiment cn a fubjeft for using his native privilege of promulgating opinions. The King of England, as little united to us by treaty as theSpanifli Monarch, has Ance the peace been personally reviled in our prints, and his nation repeatedly menaced with hostilities in consequence of the unjust retention of the weftern posts, and yet he was Alent. He is legally abused i:i his own land. Kings, Queens, Nations, and Courts, are thete ftriftured with impunity. What has deprived a citizen of America of the fame privilege l No law yet extant has done it. 1 am not aware however of any deficiency of refpeft, either by words or aftions, which could have originated on my part in deroga tion of the Minister of Spain, having always entertained the highest veneration for his per son and commission. T refpeft him not only as an Ambassador, but I admire him as a roan* I alfu reverence fNo. LXXXIV.J 4 , k myfelfasa freeman of this enlightened eoun tr>, and hold in too high eft.mauon the right to canvas freely and nifcnts all mcafure* in which the people ot whom I am a part arc vi tally 'intcreficd, tamely to fuft'er it to he in fringed by qny power Wbeihei foreign or do mestic. Let a laW be Cnee eflablilhed by which a citizen of America dare nor with impunity disclose his political opin:onr>, even in the confidence of a private letter, and no person willobfervea line of greater cau'ion or reserve in all my future addretfes to digntptd jubjti tales, Paflivc obedience ihall be my invariable creed. I will then bow before the image of power, and yield such exterior acquief ence as the Prophet of old recommended to his Syriari convert. I will not even confider that con greflional mandate extraordinary which ihould ordain an annual pilgrimage to an imported unproereative jaekrajs t \u order to mtnifcft in person my implicit devotion to the congenial a:tributes of the royal donor. On this important occasion I am happy in having the honor to add refs a soldier of science and difiinction, who is peifcttly enabled to determine how far any requisition from any external or internal power Ihould be ac -1 quiefeed with, on the one hand, when the Ji btrty of the citizen evidently preponderates oh the other. I have the honor to remain, with profound refpett, Your Excellency’s mod obedient, and most humble servant, JOHN SUIUVAN. P. S. Enclofc my addi els to the Govcrnof of Georgia. THE fubferilerbegs leave to acquaint his friends, and he public in general, that he has removed from Augufla to Savannah again, and has taken a convenient house near the matket, with rtabics, where be propofea keeping a house of Private Enter tainment And gcod tabling for horses. Those gentle* men who will please to favor him with their company, when their business may call them to town, may be allured of being we 1 commodated at the most reasonable rates. He kas tor SALE, Low for Calh, Jamaica and Weit-India Hum, Su* car, Coffee, ;nd Salt. h 9 N. WADE. Savanftabt April lij *7^*