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SATURDAY, May 24, 1788. . ...
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GEORGIA STATE GAZETTE
OR
M « ■ / «. | *
INDEPENDENT REGISTER.
,
FREEDOM of the PRESS, and TRIAL by JUR Y, to remain inviolate forever. Confiitution of Georgia .
4UGU ST A: Printed JOHN E. SMITH, Printer to the State-, EJfayt, Articles of
! Intelligence , Advertisements, &c. will be gratefully received, and every kind of Printing performed,
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"Every one ought to be*employed in
fometbing ufefuL
THE Hebrews have a faying among them,
“ that he who does not bring his son
Tup to some business makes him a thief.”
Idleness they look on as the ground of all
evil, whether public or private, for the mind
of mail will be employed, and rather than
do nothing, it will work mifchief. The Par
thians were such enemies to idleness, that
they did not fuffer their children to eat till
they had fWCated at their exerciles ; and Sci
piq, surnamed Nafica, fearing yeace ftiould
introduce this bane into the commonwealth
of Rome, said, that he looked upon the Ro
mans (after the deftruftion of Carthage) to
\)C in greater danger than ever they had been, I
for they had no enemies. Idleness heefleem
cd a more terrible enemy to the state than
'Carthage had been, though that common
wealth had reduced the Romans to the great
est extremity.
There are some who aftually profefs idlc
»efs, who boast they do nothing, thank
their stars fhey have nothing to do, and whose
existence cannot be'called-any other than a
mere nothing; who wake each morn but to
enable them to Deep at night; whofs tiudy
is only indulgence, who live in a date of stu
pidity, and who, when they cease to breathe, ;
cannot be said to die, as they never could
have been said to have lived.
There arc numbers contaminated with this
vice, yet think themfelvcs entirely free from
jt:—He who spends his whole time in the
Rablc and on the coufe, —he who is ever found
with cards or a dice box in his hand —he too
that flies to a bottle or a ft umpet, to k:ll
1 thought and prevent time’s lying heavy on his
hands ; and thole ladies that pass their time
in talking scandal, and when that fails divert
their time in impertinent visits tofliopkeepera,
asking a thousand questions, and tumbl.ng
over their goods without even a thought of
purchasing any, these may well be ranked
among the idle. He that neglefts his du;y
and real employment, naturally endeavours to'
■fill his mind with something that wou d bar
out the rtflctf ion of his own folly, and does
any thing but what he ought to do, with eager
diligence that he may keep himfeif in his own
favor.
Solon introduced a severe law into his com
monwealth against idleness, and the Areopa
gites (judges in criminal cases) vi e e very
vilgiant in enquiring into the life and manners
of every particular fubjeri, ami in feeing th s
law put in execution, as may be teen by the
■following story:
There were at Athens two poor young men,
Mendemus and Afclefpiades, who were great- i
Ty addiried to the study of philofopby ; they
liad no visible means of support, yet kept up
their fle(h and colour, looked hale, well and
5n good case. The judges had information
giveuthemof the retired life of these two,
and ©f their having neither any thing to live
on, nor apparently doing any thing to maintain
them; consequently, as they could not live,
without fubftenancc, they mull have some
clandestine means of fublifting. On this in
formation the young men were summoned be
fore the judges, and ordered to anfwertothe
charge i one of theaccufed faying, little cre
dit was given to what a man could urge in his (
.©wa defeuce, it being uatur&l to believe,
•THE
every criminal will either deny or extenuate
the crime he is charged with, and as the
testimony of a difiuterefted per foil was not
liable to fufpiciou, he delired a certain
baker, whom he named, might be sum
moned and answer for them. The baker
being come, he declared that the young men
under examination took it by turns to grind
his corn every night, and that for the night’s
work he evety morning paid the young man
who ground at his mill a drachma (or groat.)
The judge, iorprifed at their abstinence and
industry, ordered a reward of two hundred
drachmas to be paid them ou" of the public
treasury.
Had we these judges among us, how many
cheats and sharpers, who live by defrauding
the unwary public, would be obliged to lay
afnie the name of gentleman,, and work for
their livelihood in an honest manner ? And
how many fine ladies and gentlemen,- whose
whole time is taken up ift doing nothing, would
be condemned to some severe penance, which
would perhaps awaken them to afeufe of their
•being rcafonable beings ? How happy for us
would it be if there were laws againfl idleness,
and which lhould oblige every man to give an
, account of hns time, and be aufwerable for
his way of life ?
Seneca fays, we all complain 6f the fhort
net’s of time, and yet wc have much more
than we kuow what ro do with. Our lives
are spent either in doing nothing at all, or in
doing nothing to the purpose, or else in doing
nothing that we ought to do. We are always
complaining that our days are few, yet afting
as if there would be no end to them. We
wiih away whole years, and travel through
tune as through a country filled with many
wastes and wilds, which we fain would hurry
over, that we may arrive at those several lit
tle fettiemeurs, yr magmary points of left
which Jeem dispersed up and down.
Every member of society is under a tacit
obligation to contribute to the general good ;
he is unjust if he does not, and outfit to be
looked upon as a burthetifome member ; and
as he will do nothing for the public, ought to
receive no protection from it.
ays aua sye vs.*mu £ v. tuy my sw */>.
sfiSE '*l >* Wfr 3inßSin.Sn? sr/VSTfc
LONDON, "January 27.
WE can with pleasure allure the public,
that the Corporation of the City of
London, ever zealous to take the lead infup
porting the general rights of mankind, have
determined to petition Parliament in behalf of
the wretched Africans, and praying a total
abolition of that inhuman and diabolical traf
fic, the Have trade.
31. The pride 6f Cherburgh is no more !
Let, however, Dover not be neglefted. The
Duke of Richmond suggested the neceflity
of attending to the fortifications of this place,
which (molt favourably situated between two
lofty rocks) might be made one of the molt
formidable places in the world.—How grand !
how superb the appearance of this noble spot
from the sea!
Ex'rafi of a let tor from the Hague, January 13.
“ They write from Amflcrdain, that the
famous Van Berkel, who may in a great mca
fure be looked upon as the cause of our late
troubles, by the preparatory treaty he cart ied
on with the states of America, (till continues
in that city in the most private manner.
** The Regency of Amrterdam have lately
* £N* LXXXVif.j
informed the above person, that he must choofo
another place of abode.
“ Thofe* who know the real and heavy
crimes of Van Beikeli those who know how
far he has betrayed the intereftsof his country
to second those views to which he was blindly
devoted ; in Ihort, all impartial people wiU
acknowledge, that desiring him to retire is a
very gentle punifiimcnt for a citizen who, in
the molt flouriftiing times of Greece and Home,
would not, even with the loss of his head,
have cancelled the injury he had done to his
country.”
Feb. 5. The pth, 48th, and 49th regi*
ments embarked at the Cove of Cork, f>l thd
Weft-Indies, on the 23d of laftmonri .
Information is received refpefting the miW
chief done the fortifications at C herburgh,
which have received so much damage as to be
incapable Os repair. In one of the caiffoon*
there were 400 tons of rubbifti, all which
has been, walhed into the lea; and, with tho
deftruttion and separation of the cones, haß
rendered the harbour in a worse ftatc than it
ever yet exhibited.
Their High Mightinefles the States General
i have appointed the Baron de Nagel their Ell*
voy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to thd
Court of London.
The spirit of party is not yet extinguiihed
in the Republic of Holland. At Amsterdam
they publicly exhibit the picture of an Ex~
Burgomaster, dc Hoofd, pending with a blue
and white ribbon. At Alkmaar black cockade*
are worn in spite of the orders of the ftatesof
Holland. At tJtreebt every night labels and
pafquinades are thick up in the streets againfl
the btadtholder, ornamented with Fleur de Lis .
And even at the Hague they dare to insult,
in the open ft 1 ecu*, thole who adhere to tho
ancient cohftitution.
13. This day being the commencement
of Mr Haflings’s trial, on a charge of high
crimes and mtfdemeanors, the Lords met in
their own lioufe ; and, at 12 o’clock, pro.,
ceeded to Westminster-Hall, wlnrc the Com*
mont, had atfembled near an hour before, the
gatlerietf having been fully occupied by nino
o’en cc in the moi nr ng.
Alter Mr. Hastings had knelt, (proforma)
he was addrefled by the Lord Chancellor:
*“ Mr. Hastings, you are now called upon*
after each expedient allowance, for your de*
tence. You have had bail; you have council.
Much time aHo has been granted you,—be*
coming well the circumstances of your case.
“ For the matter in the charges is mod
momentous ; and the dates are remote since
the occurrences i:t thole charges' allcdged
against you arefaid to have been committed.
“ These advantages you must underftanrf*
while you feel —You are to deem them no *
an indulgence of this House, but the fair claim
of right—a conceflion of nothing, but whafc
you have in common with all around you—•
what every'Britilh fubjett may ask, and every
Britith tribunal must allow.
“ Conduct your defence, therefore, in m
manner that may befit your station, and tho
magnitude of the charges against you- —Efti*
mate rightly the high character of those yota
have to answer—the Commons of Great*Bri*
tain !—Who, at once, perhaps, attach like*
lihood to doubt, and enforce authority, cer*
tahily, on accusation.”
To this, which the Lord Chancellor delt*.
vered with a dignity beyond all imagination