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VCL. II.)
ATHENS, GEORGIA s PRINTED BY ALEXANDER M'DONNELL, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER *, 5809.
ELECTION.
f* ‘ f
> tr\ r
iVO. /,
i IN free repre/enf stive govern
ments, it is an obj< ct of the higheft
importance that the mtereft of the
> representative fhould be the fame
v/i/. than cf his conftftuent?
hVhr-R'vri th’s h pot the -cafe tl re
is region to o: preh mi that die inte
rest of the peepT* wjl! be facrificed
to that of the reprefentaiive. If,
however, the integrity of the mem
>’ ber ihov.hi .protect the intereft of
hV-J ccuicitoepts by the fact in t of
h’b own, yet the bare circumiunce
f c-f tins conflic ing intereft, when
known, will iubject the actions of
> the reprefentatiye to fufpicions, and
>1 to unjuflr imputations. It may
1 therefore be faleiy inferred, that the
people ought never to eie£t a re
-4 preknrative, whofe intereft is ad
verfe to their own, and that no ho
neft and intelligent man, thus fit-u
---* atsd, ought to wlf!i to be elected.
If ties principle is fundamentally
ccrrerft, let us examine the fixation
of the candidates of the county of
t* C ail , and fee whether its prafti-
cal application ought not to deprive
feme or the til of the fu ft rages of all
> hone ?, independent and intelligent
men. •
Colonel Harmon Runnels Is a
. candidate for the oilice of Senator
c.f the county. I will afk the free
men of the county of Clark whether
! thi* gentleman is not held and dr rely
‘■bound to the flats in the jam of thirty
t if and doll firs os one of the Jecuri ■*
ids cf the fratfiorf-jfaUtng cominifti.cn ~
trs ? Have not thele worthy friends
of the Col, been impeached, coniidi
ed and punijksd by difquaiVfication ?
And has not this convidlion jhswn
beyond the poftibility of doubt, that the
Col/s bond is forfeited , and that he,
and his co-feeurities are juftly indebt
ed to the (late in the faid furn of thirty
ihcifand dollars ? Is it not a fad
that the ftate has ordered (bits to
j be commenced again ft the corr.mif
fioners and their fecurities, and
consequently agnioft the Colonel ?
And is it not a fad that the leglfla
tufc have foe fome years paft em-
J im <=d much of their time in releaf
ing ft-curiiies in criminal cafes from
their bones or recognisances ? If
you dubt the fad, examine the
journals of the general afifembly and
the queftion will be anfwere-i in the
affirmative.
Can any man in his fefifes dfoubt
that the C l. will apply to the le
£ flaturc to relcafe hun from his
ftcurity fn >.? r If tiny man ir iuld
be H> fitly as to have entertained
Lien a ft übr, the Coi. has put the
queftion beyond all poffihikty of
dono: oy declaring, as I am inform
e g that he (hould make no defence
o the aL ion v inch is, or will Jpe 9
-' :c f:n i-d ttgdnft -H;a by the
r iv upon trii a?er-
* oreign Correspondent
‘— r jL
<£PS*
&
GEORGIA EXPRESS ‘
MANS shall run Te AND fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
cy of the ftate to an old and faithful
jervant” If the Colonel is bound
to the Jlate with his fellow fecuri
ties in the fum of thirty thoufand
cellars or any other fun, and if the
Legiflature has heretofore interfer
ed in fome few cafes of this kind,
ran any man in the county of
Clerk he lo (Lipid as to deny that
the intereft ot colonel in this
particular queftion is directly ad
verfe to that of the ftate and his
conftituents ? When the colonel,
(no doubt from a conviction that
his intereft was at war with that of
the people) took down his name
laft year, fome yyople were then fo
uncharitable as to attribute this ad
to a conviction oil his part that the
people would not tied him ; and I
am forry to iay that his coming
forward this year goes very far in
fupporc of thefe uncharitable fuf
picions. I appeal to the colonel
himfelf to fay whether his intereft is
not as much oppofed to that of the
people that year as it was laft ? T H
mu ft an iwer in the affirmative, unlefs
indeed be fympathized with the frac
tion felling conimijficners—unlefs in
deed he juft ly mer 4cd the imputation
cf participating with that worthy
trio , in morerefpefls than that of fe
curyiyfbip, which has been unchari
tably, 1 hope, charged upon him.
i hat the in if ; of the colonel
is oppofed Cos that or his conftitu
ents, in this narticukr queftion is
not the greateft evil which will flow
from his ekcticn. There were
three commiftioners, all refident in
different parts of the Stare. Each
cf thefe men, had, I am informed.,
three fecuri.cies, and each ftt of fe
curfties were bound in the fum of
30,0c® dollars, making an aggre
gate fum of 90,000 dollars. The
lofs of this lum to the date, great
as it isj would not ruin us. It is
not the amount which we are to
lofe, that will azFcd the ftate fo
much, as the principle that is to be
eftabliftied and the ruinous confe
quences that v/iJI needfarfty flow
from its eftabliflimenr. Let us fup
pofe the colonel and feveral other
of the fecurities are eleded, will it
be pcflible for them to ad free from
the influence of this queftion, fo a) l
important to them ? * Will not all
their addons, even if they are ho
neft, be i’nfenfibly direded to the
attainment cf their dffchstrge from
their bonds without the payment of
the money ? rnoft aflfuredly this
will be the cafe. It is himan na
ture ; and no on? individual, or
political ad of the colonel's will
juffiy a belief he is above the
corsmoH fiaiitiefof human nature,
I have laid where the irtereft of the
candidate is at war with that of his
conilituentf, if he rs honeft and in
ter; .g” nr, he ought not wifti to he
eleded* ft he colonel’s intereft is
wafwith. that of.his cbuftirutntP;
the . lorn is a candidate and wifti-
es to be eleded, therefore, \re may
fairly conclude, the colonel cannot
be honeft and intelligent. I will
take it for granted, that the colonel
and his co-lecurities v/h*3 wifti to be
eleded ftand upon the fame footing
as to honefty, and that embarked in
0 common bottom, their exerti
ons will be directed by the fame
e* ~red principles which influence
them to cirbr their fervices c® the
public. It is impoflibJe that any
man can be fo blind as not to dis
cover that, the fervices of thefe le
curities will foe fold to any defign
ing fet of men who will undertake
to difeharge them from the pay
ment of the debt they owe the ftate,
as the reward of their unhallowed
fervices. In this way my fellow
citizens you will not only be bam
boozled out of the debt which is
due the flare, but the more impor
tant interefts of the ftate will be
facrificed. Thus you will be de
frauded, out c f the fum of 90,000
qciVar*, wind. w.b?t *s more horn’lilt
ing and d’fgufting, you will be com
pelled to pay the bribe, which en
ables thefe men to defraud you.—■
This bribe may be the facrifice of
your raoft important rights and li
berties. When I fay that the eledion
of the colonel may lead to thefe
confequences, I do not mean to be
underftood as dreading the colonel's
talents or enterprise. I mean fun
ply to enforce this id a, that the
colonel can eftedt much more in his
own cafe by being a member, than
if he v/as a Ample petitioner at the
bar of the legiflature. Every man
who has ever affted as a member of
ar y political body will fubferibe to
the truth of this proposition, So
fenfible were the framers cf our
laft conftitution of this advantage,
that they exprefsly declare that no
member of the legiflature (hall be
eligible to any office in the gif: of
that body except militia officers and
juftices of the inferior court. Be
fore that time, members were eli
gible, and the evil was fo fevtrcly
felt, that the conftitution was chang
ed, In fubfequent numbers, I will
examine the tendency of rdeafing
fecurities generally, and fnall par
ticularly enquire into the claims of
the cojonel to mercy upon account
of his fervices. If I have Jeifure, I
fhall examine the queftion cf his e
ligibility growing out ‘of the for
feiture of his bond, as weil as his
gerera! claim to the confidence of
the free men of the county of Clark.
FRANKLIN.
The following article is from the
Char left on Courier, a print heretofore
decidedly federal ,
“ The news of a difavowel by
the Britifh miniftry of Mr. Erikipe’s
fare act of arrangement with this
country, and their denial cf ary
powers in him ro cdnlude fuch ar
rangement, has wrought up the
pubric mind to a ftate cf agitation
but rarely equalled. As far as we
have heard or feen there is but one
fendment held on this fubjeftj a
fentiment of mingled indignation
and furrow—indignation at the
fliameful <?c treaclierous manner in
which the good faith and honefty of
our government have been abivfcd
—and forrow, that the relations of
amity and friendftiip between us
and the Britifh nation, which ap
peared to be in fiich a happy ftate
of accommodation, fhould be thus
broken up by a miftaken fjpirit of
diicord on the part of England. -
I here will be no divifion of opin
ion on thefe matters throughout the
whole of the United States. Every
American will make up his mind
with out hefitation—-it will require
no time to deliberate upon the
queftion, whether we fhall furrender
ourlelves a football to the infulting
power of any nation, or whether
we fhall rife up with a determined
relolurmn to defend 0” 1 ” honor and
belt intet fh—No I In * fuch an
alternative we fhall hefitate not—de
bate not—divide not, but, with on*
voice and with one impulfe of hon
orable zeal and adoration of this
our country, we will vindicate the
reputation and the rights of the
American People, with an ardor and
vigor, that in the caufe of juflicc
cannot but be crowned with fuc
c els.
“We hgve fuffered much, and
have lufrered long, from the unjuft
conduct of the powers of Europe*
but tneie fuffcrings have by no
means defrayed the fpirit of ftub
born reftftance againft oppreffion,
in tne bolorn of AmeiLariSj anti
the honeft fear of infamy and dil
grace, we truft, will forever keep
our national charafter exalted in our
own eyes, and in the eyes cf the
world. Our independence cofl too
much blood and too much
to be furrendtred to any domineer
ing foreign potentate 5 neither will
we tamely fubmic to bear the loads
of difgrace vTich the enemies of
this country may endeavour to heap
upon us.—-The ftrength of the A
mtrican ftates, if well difpofed and
directed by a wife and afrive admin
lftration, is for si) deft n—
five purpefts, and is cntTcTy acV
quate to repel the lawlefs sggrtff
ions of any hoftile power if
Tuch power v/erc now arrayed a
gainft us, we would not be found
wanting in the hour of peril. Wo
deprecate fuch a trial-—we love
peace, and deleft the murderous
trade of war, and we hone that no
efforrs, either in this country or a
broud, will bring us into a ft,ice of
hoflihcy, Every onecheiiihcd th *
hope, that with England, azleaie,
our peace was above to be mads:
—Her laft obnoxious decrees we
wire led to believe, op or. the belt
authority, were v .d aratvn on ua
(No. 67.
