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Vol. III.)
ATHENS, GEORGIA: PRINTED ET ALEXANDER M‘DONNELL, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, ISIO.
COMMUNICATION
Of His Excellency D. B. Mitchell,
Delivered to both Houfes of
che Legifliture of thi* State,
the prefcnt Seflion.
Fellow-Citizens of the. Senate , &
of the Ihuje of Reprejentatives.
BEING now affembled in your
Leg Dative capacity, as the Repre
i'entatives of the people ; I proceed
with cheerfulnefs to fulfil tfce duty
affigned me by the conftitution, of
giving you information on the ftate
of the republic, aad of recommend
ing for your confideracion fuch
meafures as I deem necefiary L .and
expedient.
Ttae memorial of the bfe Le
gflature addreffbd to the Prefident
of the United States, on the dif
mifial of the late Britifh Minifter
Francis James Jackfon, I forward
ed to our Senators in Congrefs to
be by them prefented to the Prefi
dent, which they did ; and the pa
pers marked No. I will difclofe to
vou the anfwer they received.
It muft be a fubjtdt of fe??ous
regret to every patriotic mind, that
the many and aggravated wrong?
our country has received from the
two great Bell’gerents of Europe,
have not yet been redrefftd ; at
lecfb, nothing official has ranipired
to relieve us from that difagreeable
Fate ef fufpenfe in which our foreign
relatians have been fo long involv
ed.
This ftate of things has g-own
out of the conteft which has fo long
dfcfoiated Europe. Auftria, Pruf
fia and Ruffia, with fome of the
minor powers on the continent,
aided and affifted by Great Britain j
prompted no doubt in fome mea
fure, by their fears, but in my
mind, more by their ambition.—
Coalefced againft France, at the
commencement of the revolution,
and infultingly attempted to dictate
to a Nation in Arms, their form of
government. Defeated and diiven
out of the field; the three firfb pow
ers gave up the conteft, and France
affumed the charadter of a Repub
lic. New coalitions were however
fnen formed, and immenfe armies
again carried into the field, w>ch
the preferred objeft of reltoring
monarchy to France, and of pre
feribing the bounds of her empire.
After the Daughter of millions of
fellow creatures in this ambitious
and Kingly crufade againft repub
licaniim, France has fettled down
into a military defpotifm, under one
of the moft extraordinary characters
that ever appeared upon the ftage
of human life, who by his victorious
arms, has fubjugated continental
Europe, and compelled her to ac
knowledge his fway. England, a
lone with the utmoft gallantry and
perfeverance maintains the conteft :
deriving fecurity from her insulated
fituation, and immenfe Naval pow-
Foreign Correspondent
GEORGIA EXPRESS.
“MANY SHALL RtfN TO AND FRO, AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL BS INCREASE®. ’*
e r, fhe bids defiance to the Legions
of France and in her turn ufurps
the fovereignty of the Ocean.
The United States feparated by
the Atlantic from thofe confiding
parties, and having no ambitious
views ef aggrandizement, but, con
tent and happy ir. the enjoyment of
peace and independence, proclaim
ed her neutrality, and maintained it
with firmnefs and good faith during
the moft turbulent period* of the
French revolution. This honora
ble and independent eourfe was
however inefficient to preferve her
widely extended commerce from
the depredations and fpoiiations of
the belligerents; bur, more efpeci
ally from thofe of Great Britain,
whole piratical ccnduCt was the
more reprehenfible becaufe it was
without a (hadow of excufe. Soli
citous to avoid thofe feenes of rni
fery incident to a ftate of war, our
government, notwithftanding the
provocation they had received,
presented the olive branch ; ac
companied by a demand of repara
tion for pafi injuries : and a treaty
was made with Britain in 1794
much to the advantage of that na
tion, which for a time left us to
prolecute our commercial purfuit*
with more freedom.
The ftruggie however continued
between. Great Britain ond France,
the refult thus far is, that the com
merce of the latter has been nearly
deftroyed and driven from the O
cean, and the former has been (hut
out from the continent, and her Eu
ropean trade almoft annihilated.—”
Interpolations to the law of radons
have been proclaimed and enforc
ed, and a fyftt m of retaliation a
doptedas unjuft and arbitrary, as i.t
has been injurious and oppreffivc
to our Neutral commerce.
A retrofpedtive view of our re
lations with thofe powers will how
ever fatisfy any on# not blinded by
prejudice, that, we have infinitely
more caufe of complaint againft
Great Britain than France, not
withftanding the recent, unwarrant
able and arbitrary feizures and con
fiscations of the property of our
merchants by the ’atter power.
The Spoliations and aggrefiions
of Great-Britain have not only been
of longer duration and of greater
extent & variety,but have been mar
ked by a degree of malignity which
evidences a fettled fentiment of hof
tility in their miniftry to this coun
try. To my mind there can be no
ftronger p r ocf of this fe<ft, than
that which has been exhibited in
their conduct fince the peace of *8 j
to the prelent day—at one time
plundering and conftfcating the
property of our merchants—irrv
prtfife g our feamen and detaining
them on board their fleet, ir a cru
el bondage, compelled to a<fts of
aggreffion againft iheir own coun
try; and at another bullying us with
their fnips of war; then pretend
ing they will make fatisfadtion, and
proceed to negociation for no ether
purpofe, as it would ftem, but to
deceive and inlult us. To enume
rate all the infUnces I allude to,
would be as difgufting as it is ufe
lefs. I hope they are fre/h in the
recollection of every one who has
been an attentive and who
feels for the honor and proiperity
cf his country.
Our government, however, (fell
actuated by the fame principles of
juftice apd moderation which dila
ted a declaration of neutrality on a
f rmer occafion, and no doubt con
fidering peace as the greateft bleff
ing a free people can enjoy, next
to the prefervation of their indepen
dence and national honor, had re
courfe to an Embargo; a meafure
which, if ftridtly entorced, would
I am convinced have compelled
thofe powers to do us juftice, and
have, refpedt for our lawful. com
merce, aad the only one, fhort of
actual war, which could then bede
viled to meet the critical fituation
of cur foreign afixiri. To thole
who have after ted that the Embar
go was a meafure which evidenced
hoftility to England and partiality
to France, I ** ould anlwer, that if
fuch was the effedt, every man of
candor will admit its juftice, when
he reflects that the cowardly and
piratical attack on the Chefapeake
was the principal caule for the adop
tion of it. Neither ought it to be
forgotten, that thofe very men who
have been moft oppofed to the em
bargo were, not many years before
(under a different adminiftratien it
is true) prelenting memorial after
memorial to Congrefs, urging fer
war, and pledging their lives and
fortunes in fupport of the govern
ment; and yet, ftrange as me fait
may appear, it is ncvcrthelels true
that, they not only oppofed the
embargo, but every other mtafure
of refillenee Gr fecurity, under cir
cumftances doubly aggravated. —
Such is the inconfiftcncy cf fclfiih
policy and political prejudice.
The embargo was repc?Jed and a
fyftem of non-intercourle adopted;
the repeal became in my opinion a
meafwre of propriety, fince it was
not, or could not be effectually en
forced; for whilft the koneft and pa
triotic merchant fubmitted to tne
privations confequent on the mea
furc, the unprincipled fpeculator
was in the conftant habit of violating
its prOvifions and proficing by his
turpitude.
It is equally far from my intenti
on to palliate the conduct of France,
any more than to aggravate that of
Great Britain. Truth jufhfirs a
difer’imination in their conduct to
us, and juftice ought equally to di
rect our meafures with them or ei
ther of them.
(N. 126.
It ought not to be the wifh, as it
alluredly would not be for the inte
relt of this country, that, either
fhould triumph fo far as to ruin the
ether, although experience warrants
the conclufion, that, it would be
greatlv to the intereft not only of
the United States, but of every
other nation engaged in com
mercial purfuits, that the naval pow
er of Great Britain lliould be re
duced and confined within thofe li
mits which, while confident with
their own fafety, fhould leave fhe
rights of ether nations equally fe
cure.
Before the adjournment of Con
grefs laft fpring, the non-intercourfe
ad was alio repealed, leaving to
the Prefident the power of renew
ing the 1} frem againft either bellige
rent who fhould refufe to repeal her
obnoxious Orders and Decrees in
cafe it fhculd be done by the other,
a"d a report is in circulation, that
France hai acceded to ihe terms
prelcnted by our repealing aft, and
hr.s revoked her Berlin and Milan
Decrees. Should this intelligence
prove true, die queftion of retali
ation, which haS been made the pre
text of both nations for fhe flagrant
violation of our national rights, is
at an end, and the profeflion cf G.
Britain upon this fubjeft, will be
put to the teft. Yet who can pe
rufe the letter of the Britifb fecreta
ry of ftate for Foreign Affairs, of.
the 14th of March Eft, in at:fever
r> a well-timed and able communi
cation of Mr. Pinckney’3, and not
anticipate an evafion of thrir pre
vious declarations and profeflions ?
that letter canies on the face cf it
fuch evident marks of contempt
and indifference for our representa
tion of their aggreftions, that little
is to be expedUd from that quarter,
but witat will be the refult of their
cvvn critical and unparalleled luna
tion, or from fome energetic and
decifive meafures of our own gov
ernmenr, or from both.
But fhould the eourfe attributed
to France by the intelligence receiv
ed, prove untrue or delufive, and
we are ftill feft to contend for our
undoubted rights with both powers,
I have the tulleft confidence, that
under the prote<slion of, and aided
by that Almighty Power which en
abled the United States in their in
fancy to eftablifh their Indepen
dence, the firmnefs and energy of
the government, the refaurces of
the country, and the patriotifm of
our citizens will be found equal to
the conteft. By the forbearance of
our government hitherto, we h*ve
prelerved peace, but, that it fhould
Continue under a continuance of our
injuries, is, in my opinion, what we
ought neitner to hope for nor d?-
fir'. For although• war ought not
to be refer ted to, if peace can be
preferred by any honorable means
yet T .v2-, with all its horrors, is pr-