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t»in certain information on the fubjeft, but,
til* obtained I will by no means admit the
case to be so bad. But why dwell on inft*l
. meat, when we know that it will not answer
the purpose ? and, if it ppftibty could give re
lief, is iiicoufiftcnt with the principles of the
Federal (onftitution, and of course would
come to nothing ? This naturally brings us
to the 3d quell ion. If jnftalmenf wilt not
answer the purpose erf relieving the debtor,
and at the fame timy of doing just ice'to the.
creditor, what measure will } I aufwer, not
iTaftily, but on the matured deliberation I
am capable of, that Allotment is the only
msdy, 1 can think of, that will answer the
pufpufe. Keep the case before dated in
view: A, the debtor, is worth, tn poUcffioir;
s<x>ol. in specie : by a law to be made for
that purpose, and to be carj ied into*execatiert
before the Federal Government takes place,
let there be allotted to B, the creditor, the
full and just amount of A’s debt, out of his
real estate, fay 10001. which being done, let
A, by the fame law, be difchargedfrom*any
future demand of B whatfoeVer on amount
of that debt. This will dilburthen A, who
lias saved his property, and so much of
Lis ( bat he is now worth, clear
estate, 40001. This will give a tyring to his
spirits, animate hia industry, and having
escaped the gulpb, tnkkehim, for the future,
keep at * cautious diftanee.* This law would,
at the fame time, the greatest poftlble jus
tice to the creditor B, for, rtiould Sheriffs
sales take place, property, real .or personal,
for want of specie, would tyll for a trifle on
lv, so that the real value of 10001, would not
fetch 1001. and so oh» A law framed'for
the purpose of allotment, would, I imagine,
extend onl/ t<J debts contracted previous to
the war, to certain judgments already ob
tained, and to a few other cases, but to such
only afl come within a particular defeription.
Such a law ought to be reftrltted to debts of
a certain niag&itude, fraall ftfras lh6uld be
paid in the common way.’ It the creditor is
a foreigner, let him, in justice, be admitted
to all the tights of citizehihip, except only
voting for and holding places oT public trust
in governmeut, which partial disability might
also iu time, for good renfons, be taken off.
In framing inch a law,v within the lines of pur
constitution, I prefome, a Superior Court
would be appointed, to be held in each coun
ty on the fame day, fuppofc the iaftTuefday
in August ; a spacial jury being furnmoned,
let the creditor or debtor he authorifed, "by
petition, dating the amount of debt, to'apjly
for three referrees; to be appointed agreeable
to the mutual nomination of the court, jury,
and party, to take the whole circumftarices of
the* case into confederation, and, on oath,
award the sum equitably due, and the allot
ment proposed to the amount thereof, and
make a return to anotheV Special Court, to:
be held by adjournment, fuppote on the last
Tuefday 1 of September; which court should
be authorifed to r confirm the allotment, and
discharge the debtor. Such a law will be made
with proper provifocs, many of which octcur,
but I have not room to mention them; I on
ly mean to thew that such a law may be
mad* with "propriety, and conftitutionaily,
and I will venture to fay, that, uhlefs a law
of this complexion is made, and put into ex
ecution immediately, the opportunity will be
forever loft, then, in tyite of paper emifli
• ons, in spite of inftalment laws, and in tyite
of Congress, the debtor A (referring to the
case above cited) will lie at the mercy of bis
ctaditor B, and the chain of bondage will
soon be riveted.
A PLANTER.
-******-
Mr. SMITH,
I 9
Having iuyour last inserted the loose remarks
I hope in your next you
will find room for those of
> LECTOR.
\HATEVERprofefliooal merit the Di
vme, the Lawyer, or the Physician
may aflume ; u certainly is but secondary,
to that which is due to him who open* the in
tricate paths of science to his puijl, and gives
ty thought Ids youth a relish sos ul'cfulftudy,
m as much as these are the proper trads
, f ‘V* cad to th « several purfuiis of the
c,, » r *<*er*—Thus far AU
zfTPr 1 Caw k f e P x,ur tempers—but no
uilQimmiw unhappily fuc WC (iu the ptgftut
• »
*' •
case) I imbibed early prejudges in favor of
that which (for the firft time) I have heard
% styled “/important nonsense,” although I
never “ hpard or read a grave letture upon
" the necetiity of teaching students to make,
and lean Hexameter and Pentameter verses:”
so that these prejudices mull have originated ’
rather from my own vitiated taste, than
from the frequent inculcations of « pedantic
grammarians.” It was very confident in'ah
advocate for the fuperficial fyfienj of educa
tion to reprobate “ elaborate lectures upon
phraseology and the propriety of tropes and
figures,”—when wd coiifider a prior hiatus
in the laid fyfteiir in treating of gender and de
elenjron a neceflary re'fult where the rudiments
of a language arc substituted for its gram
mar-—I believe if Horace was permitted to
revifft the earth as a mortal he could relifli a
a glass of Burgundy as much* as ever he did
his favorite Falernian, and allow as much
merit to some modern pieces of Latin poetry,
as to any of thole which were tbe production
of his former cotemporaries, and not Hand
convicted of the present faftrionable inode of
criticifin.—•Miftdke me nor, AUDITOR I
mean not to offer this firing of affeition for a
chain of reasoning—I intended*it for your use
as a inirrpr—-for inyfelf,- as an opportunity
to. beg pardon of tins''public when I take up
their time with my vagaries.—'When we
. confide? coolly of this matter, and' tefieCf,
that, in the firll place you have advanced,
that “ those learned gent lemCu who have
so long lived upon' thof* absurdities” have
made “ very' little proficiency in thefe'
branches ’ and in the next place, that you
confefs you are, in this matter, “ as ignorant
as these learned gentlemen,” l fay when we
cOnfider this, good nature herfelf cannot palli
ate the couclulion, that you have been dif
cQurfing upon a fubJed of which you are igno
rant, and that it would have been better for us
both to have been silent, you, upon the last
mentioned principle, and I, for afiuming the
prerogative to myfelf of pointing out what
other* can with equal facility difeeru.
To' Sir. THOMAS 618 B 0 NS,
« ' Attorney.
f R,
very juflly blame Ame-
X ricans for their forwardnefs in troubling'
the world with their private difpatcs. Im
pressed with the sentiment, and iny prbfeiiion
as a Soldier didating other weapons than the
•pen, it may require an apology for bringing
you forward on the fLge of on
ly excuse is your tying up my hands from
taking that private fatisfadioti which you so
, jufily merited, and which, but for that rea
son, you should moll alluredly have re
ceived. As you Have compelled me to this
mode, I ill-all address you in the style which
Will answer the end proposed : 'ahd here per
mit me to declare, that was' you young iu
.vice and Uubackueyed in the road of villainy
I should .pity your fituatioh and pray for your
amendment; but when I behold you a
member of iniquity, vfaiofe crimes are more
cuormotis as his years increase! the only
yclpiug in this case you will receive will be
to turn you over to a public investigation,
as criminal jui ifprudCace seems to be the ul
timate appeal of your bravery.
YtS^xf h ° f aDAY sacred to
LIBERTY*, you thought fit, without the
most dijtant incitement to begin the nifults
I have fihee been obliged trt notice. In my
ab fence you had the audacity to enquire
what fellow that Hopkins (meaning myfelf)
was, and the impudence : t 6 declare that had
you been there you would have thrown
me down the TMfc My ody crime
had been the' attending a friend of mine
as lir as a warehouse, apparently his
own property——Nor were your insults con
fined to me alone, that friend (anofficer like
wise in the American c ule) received your
mfolent abuse, and feekteg fatisfaftion with
out being a magistrate, was however by you
nugifterially boundup— Howyou could dare
to disturb tbe feftivity of that day must aftouifh
all who know you, ignorant of the infatuation
of the prelent day, aud your- uuaccbunuble
rile—luth language to any gentleman, v.as
only to be expected from one, whole cha
racter baa mvaiiably home every trait dif
gracttul to human nature j to be cxpreiledto
' an officer Who bud loughtT and bled toellablilh
Lccu<.m, which iliac day the tuiuincuio-
rafi on of, and uttered from the mouth of a
noted and recorded traitor will hardly be be
lieved.—Your insults were again repeated
rhd as soon as I bad an oppertunity I sent my
friend Major Lewis with the following lines '
SI R,
Your impertinent quell ion and injolent ob
servation to me on the ioth iuft. at the Court
house, has injured me in a point to tender
for the world to forget or me to forgive , I
need but tell you that I am a Soldier to let you
know what I mean, and the fatisfaftiou I re
quire.—My friend Major Lewis will
ver thisand is auti>onfed from me to inform you
that I expert you will meet me with your friend *
on the Carolina fide of the Savannah river
to-morrow evening, at fix o clock* —l will ■
provide the conveyance aud give the necessa
ry information.
Yours, & c . See.
E. B. HOPKINS.
Mr. Thos. Gibbons.
Savannah, i6thJuly, 1788.
Previous to your reading it vou entered into a
diicuffion of characters, hinted that you ex
pend a challenge, aud a determination of
breaking the head of its btarer—unfortunate
ly for you, you had gouq to far—what your
feelings were, for is wellkuown you possess
them but in a verymhor dtffiee, must be left to
* your own breast,- wb£u that geutleman avow
. ed hiiufdf the hfaret by presenting you with
the note. Ar nian of honor or bravery
cifuld not have (hrirnk from the affertibn; but '
ycru was wanting for an evasion to shelter
you fiom that chaflifement yon Was on the ■
point of receiving After a thousand ex
cuies you ptopofed a delay till-the morning,
and :a the mean time you took measures to
r.olay altogether, by au application to the
law.---In the midst of my anxious expe&atioii
f° r an answer f was fainted with a warrant,
v and a deputy Sheriff a npeare'd as yourl’eco'nd.
;In three or four hours,'full time enough to
fecutc me, I received your following iufolent
note.— ' *
C “SIR,
; I received your paper from Mr. Lewis
last evening ; I have been long barked at by
minor characters j the yelping, in this ir.ftance,
' has become difagrecable, therefore I (hall
, tlirn Je* over ‘o tiie laws of the (fate as a
proper objeft of criminal jurifprudeuce.
, ■ THUS. GIBBONS.
;th July, 1788- ' 1
You excufe' yourlelf by having been long
barked at by riimor characters—to whom
you abudei I ffiatl not give myfelf the trou
ble of examining : but will just remark on the
word minor—ls I ani not m ist a k cn lt ia ,
comparrj ve term, and may as well be the ante
cedent to Villainy as to honedy—taken in the"
firft sense, and I cannot think you meant the
t r 1 ncvcf heard y° u taxed with it.
I will not comest your rank, for I believe the
woii J will al(ow you to be the Major if not the '
MaximOs iu that science, andfhould any befo
nujuft as to deny this pre-eminence, a little en
quiry will soon enable you to run ybu> course <
unrivalled.—To witness for you* theGholls of
, B , r f 3? re€k iH their heads, and the ami
able mistaken Lincoln will certify,— To attest
your treafoffis, the Georgia continentalprifo
ners will place their signatures, and undoubted
V Ptoofs of your confumaie Impudence and ef
frontery, your convention at Purrilburgh
aud Sharon can easily eftablilh.—Let your
comparison of a Contiaental General and -a
, Britilo Serjeant be brought forward, and the
> ven^ e ai;ce the injured Lincoln had prepared
; f or > ou bc prooouuceff—Let your charafter
» n P riv *te li£e conic m t<» your support, let the
fallen Smith come from the grave and declare
v y° UI bk/ody proclamation and let the-flab
: you have giveu in a late tranfaftion -to yous
Father s memoiyand dealings, set the diadem
of villainy on your head—just, just indeed
is the implication you are no uT**»or ; charac
ter- the whole tenor of your life, has- been
the definition of public faith, and thedifturb
ance of the happiness of private families-has
been your chiet delight.—By votr, modesty
has been beggacM and virtue kick’d out of
countenance..—Your creed has* been well
drawn by the immortal Shakefpcar, and his
Autoiicu* Sud Arnold are the only charafiers
worthy of being yuur companions —p U ( c f, |
my country 1 for thee lam truly mortified, to
fee thee just recovering from the veuemons
wounds of Britain ; again the ser
pent in thy Kofom— placing » confidence
where ague can be expeded, aud cherdhiag