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VOL. L
for the hickory nut.
FtHute- Citiztru: — The aggrandizement of a
wh ich bas for centuries lain dormant and
demands the scrutiny of a
the inspiration of the bards. 1 his
S admitted, l shall expect to see m your
the production of some learned ad-
T -ui vindication of the desigtied cause of
this laborious? easny.
ix thousand years have glided down the
meci aice of tune with the gaiety of the vast
multitude embosomed in oblivion. Though
wbi it the warrior, the statesman, the politi
cun and the scholar enjoy by turns the enter
tumneut of the present moment; whilst the
the invaluable blessings of civil liberty and the
important advantages of education, are alter,
fiatefy pourtrayed to our view, there is one class
of the community, and a very extensive class
too, which none nf my youthful companions
hare so much as yet condescended to mention.
Brethren, you will no doubt readily perceive
that 1 refer to that class of the community which
is sometimes styled the lovers of strong tea, or
as tbev are more commonly denominated the
drinkers of grog. Then hold up your heads,
my thirsty brethren, whilst I appear your hum
tic advocate; and should I fail to exhibit in
jut light the dignity of our order, I trust your
can-tor will allow the benevolence* of my inten
tion to supply w hat may be defective hi rny per
formance.
Though l cannot inform my readers in what
precise/year of the world the illustrious order of
grog drinkers was established, yet a very an
cient history furnishes us with ground for an
opinion that that distinguished hero, who, when
the earth was overwhelmed by a sweeping del
uge, rode the mountainous waves in his stu
pendous vessel —though he certainly was not
initiated—yet had some slight acquaintance
with the order of the votaries of Bacchus : and
hence it should appear that the rise of this or
der should be dated previous'to the ancient del
ude, and probably not long after this globe
commenced its revolutions. Neither can l in
fajn my readers who it was that immortalized
his name by instituting this order; yet there is
abundance of proof that those men who have
made the most noise in the world have been of
tins illustrious order. It is well known how
eager the different denominations of men are
to claim as brethren the celebrated characters
Cl the day. You well know how much the
modern sceptic supposes he can add to his cause
whilst he can rank a Y’oltaire, a Hume and
a Gibbon among the number of his brethren:
r->U \vtTf Know tiow milch the-snns of tlio mye-,
tic band have exerted their faculties to establish
their claim with the renowned Solomon of an
cient days, as a royal brother. Though with
out ransacking the records of antiquity to dis
cover how many men ot ancient renown were
attached to the order whose cause I advocate,
iA it suffice to take a view of man ttt general (
in the present enlightened day: and where
let me ask, will you find a man who makes a
great noise in the world who is not of this illus
trious order? It is true that there are many
who are so destitute of candor that iu their pro
fession they will go no further than to say that
a little of the stimulating fluid, on particular
occasions, may be beneficial; yet in their prac
tice they do declare that a great quantity on
common occasions would be much better. If
you turn over the pages ot theologians and mor
alists, you will discover there is no one of the
virtues more highly extolled than that of humil
ity. Though humility is much extolled in the
ory it is seldom exemplified in practice . but
among what order of brethren do we see it ex
emplified, not in word, hut in deed, as among
the brethren ot the bottle- llow common a
tluiior is it among the brethren of this ordei to
be seen, in the plenitude of humility, lying pros
trnte on the earth ; often exchanging a couch,
the common habitation of man, for a bed in the
mire of the streets ; and it is somewhat amu
sing to witness how great a change is produced
in a disciple of this order, after he becomes ful
ly initiated have you never seen a reasoning
mortal, strutting in the plenitude of self-im
portance, walking over the earth with such
fnajestic strides, and such an elevated counte
nance as would almost induce you to believe
that he had forgotten that the earth was his
mother ? Now what is requisite to bring this
creature to a proper temperature. Only let him
come under the sovereign influence of the bot
tle, and then his lofty looks are brought down
and then he who before could scarcely conde
scend to walk upon the earth, will not hesitate
to throw his whole body on the earth, and he
who before could get no robes sufficiently ele
gant to adorn his body, is now willing to lie ar
rayed in such garment? as his mother earth will
afford him. And whete are we to look for spe
cimens of over-flowirg eloquence. Look a
mong the brethren of the bottle. I have seen
men at times who wert so silent that you would
be almost ready to coiclude that they have lost
the ose of their tongue; hut when roused by
gtiinulating, so tremen ous is their power that
vou sometimes would ave to close one ear to
prevent an explosion i your head. *
Though I must hen confess that it is not al
ways convenient for /more than one to take a
full portion of it at af me, for it generally hap
pens when men are aider the rousing influence
1 the fhfc, that all are orators, and
ie ; hearers, wlfcli is by no meansdesira
i ireehold, to \J admitted that some men,
’ of this efficacious ma-
THOMASTON, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1833.
terinl, are in a peculiar manner deprived of the
faculties of speech ; but I would humbly pro
pose this a? a question tor this consideration of
the learned, whether it may not result from de
fective organs of articulation, rather than from
the influence of this most efficacious material.——
\ou must all have observed how powerful is
the effect of those eloquent inspiring drops with
tho?c who have become disciples of this order,
in surmounting the troubles and difficulties of
life ; when the human family is tossed by the
billow’s ot adversity, and the griping hand of
want lays hold on them, we often see them so
disquieted by the troubles and difficulties, as al
most to be disqualified for the common duties of
life ; but see how little effect does this have on
the lover of grog, when he has a bottle in his
reach; see how the storms of adversity and po
verty roll over his head, without effecting him,
more than do the blast of winter effect the stur
dy oak of the forest. I have seen men who had
tasted the virtues of the bottle, sing and dance
as though a feeling of sorrow had never pene
trated his bosom, w hilst he had not as much
money in his pocket as would defray the daily
expenditures of his family. And it is no un-
common thing for a friend of this order, to
spend days and nights together at the dram de
posit in mirth and jollity, whilst the aspect of
their farms would induce you to believe they
were farmers not of corn and cotton, but of
grass and weeds. And most wonderfully do the
contents of the bottle excite the devotion of
some men : have you not seen men who could
say nothing on topics of religion, even on the
Sabbath day, who, as soon as they are under
the atmosphere of a tavern, are full of eloquence
and devotion. And those who before could
scarcely tell who was the first man, can now
hold an argument on any knotty question of
theology : and he who before scarcely thought
or spoke of the Supreme, can now in his ex
cess of devotion, scarcely utter a single sen
tence without the mention of his name. Now,
it seems almost superfluous to mention, what a
powerful engine the stimulating fluid is in ad
vancing Kieii to posts of profit and honor in our
nation. So well is this understood, that one of
the most infallible criterions by which a candi
date for office is known, is at court-yards, mus
ters and vendues : lie liberally distributes the
stimulating fluid, and, in order to obtain a post
of profit or advantage in the nation, no degree
of integrity, no superiority of talent is requisite;
if a man has not as - much brains as will fill a
nutshell, nor as much sound morality as you
may lift on the point of a needle, only let him
be liberal in eflunwi
...uirtial, I will venture to say that he will
carry the day against the integrity of a Cato, a
(rainst the wisdom of a Socrates, and against
all the eloquence of a Cicero. And when this
is recollected, it need not seem wonderful that
so many who have been promoted to seats of ho
nor and profit in the nation, should, in their af
ter life, manifest a loving disposition towards
their ancient friend.
Though I must be excused, if at present I
jmention no more of the important advantages
resulting from a connexion with the dignitied
order of the brethren of the bottle; however,
before I close, I shall remonstrate against those
who, whilst they profess opposition to this order,
yet avail themselves of all its immunities to ob
tain a seat of honor. This is a disposition so
uncandid in its nature, I will not undertake to
say what I think of it. Brethren of the bottle,
arise, and assert the right of your order, and let
not those who act so unfairly, partake of your
privileges. I now propose for your considera
tion, the propriety of presenting to the legisla
ture a bill, the purport of which shall be, that
all those who act so unfairly, and being legally
convicted of the same, shall be confined to
bread and water, without the use of spirits, for
the space of one year and a day, and ever af
terwards be deprived of any post of profit or ho
nor in the nation. Though perhaps I should
already apologise for keeping some of my thirsty
brethren from the drops of the bottle, I must
therefore close by saying if I have failed to ex
hibit it in a just light, you willno doubt perceive
that the looseness of my ideas, the dullness of
my manner, &thc imperfection of my style, are
the unhappy effects of not having taken before
I be nan, a sufficient portion of the stimulating
fl uid : ’ HAMPDEN SIDNEY.
Gen . Knox. —It appears, from a paragraph
in the Boston Mercantile Journal, that this dis
tinguished patriot of the Revolution, was, pre
vious to that eventful period, a bookseller and
binder. He served his apprenticeship in Bos
ton, and commenced business on his own ac
count in 1771.
The Pinch. —We once knew a man who on
his return from a public meeting, burst open
his door in a rage, upset his children, kicked
his dog, hurled his hat behind the grate, and
paced the room back and forth with the teroci
ty of a chafed tiger.-- 4 hat is the mattet, my
dear 1 ’ said his wondering wife. “Matter!”
roared the angry husband, “ matter enough !
Neighbour B- — has publicly called me a liar!”
‘Ohr never mind that, my dear,’ replied the
good woman, 4 he can’t prove it, you know, and
nobody will believe him.’ “ Prove it, you fool!”
roared the madman more furiously than before,
“he did prove it! He brought witnesses and
proved it on the spot / Else how should Ibe in
such a devil of a pussion?”—The argument
was & poser.
MR. BfeDUFFIE’S SPEECH*
Delivered in Athens, Geo. August 7th, 1|33. at
the public dinner given to him by the tpen ds
of State Rights, assembled there froji .all
parts of the State, in attendance on thl co I
lege commencement ? I
Thu following toast having been givtn
“ The hon. George McDuffie, our distinguish*
ed guest —His unbending integrity, his eye
less vigilance over southern interests, his tith
ing opposition to unequal laws and unco nsitu -
tional measures, and his triumphant vindicate* n
of State rights, entitle him to the respect pid
gratitude of the south, and a heart-warm wel
come to his native State.**
After the cheering had subsided, Mr. McDuf
fie rose and addressed the company as follows:
I am utterly incapable, fellow citizens, of giv
ing utterance to the deep and overwhelming
sensibility with which I am affected by the very
kind and flattering sentiment just* aiiiiounced,
and the still more flattering indications of hearty
approbation, with w hich it has been received by
this enlightened and patriotic assemblage ot’
freemen. ‘ • !
A variety ofcircumstanees concur, to give an
intense interest to the present otcasi'm ; and if
I should be so fortunnte as to be an bumble in
strument in bringing about a cordial union of
sentiment and of action, between iny native
and my adopted State, in a crisfc which so emi
nently demands it, I shall recur to this, in fu
ture, as to one of the happiest incidents of my
life.
Indeed, when I look hack to the eventful oc
currences of the two last years, and behold So.
Carolina, with a heroic devotion to the rights
and liberties of the whole south, throwing her
self, almost as a forlorn hope, into the breach
w’hich a gigantic despotism had made in the sa
cred harriers of the Constitution and of justice,
waging the unequal contest without the co-ope
ration or countenance of a single state, even in
the south, and under the uukiud and unnatural
denunciations of some of their legislative and
executive authorities ; when I reflect, that in
the most gloomy period of the struggle, the first
cheering voice of encouragement from without
her own limits, which animated South Caroli
na to persevere in her glorious struggle for eve
ry thing dear to freemen, proceeded from this
very place, and in part, from this very assembly ;
and when I behold assembled around me, so
large a portion of the intelligence and chivalry
of Georgia, breathing the same sentiments, and
actuated by the same principles, for which So.
j Carolina was prepared to make the last sacri
with a profound satisfactioir, An^L^l^wj C i?J r I Sj
my native laud.’*
Though, in the too partial estimate which
you seem to have formed of my efforts to vindi
cate the rights, and maintain the liberties of
the south, you are pleased to ascribe to my
public labors a value which I regret that they do
not possess, yet I will not be guilty of the af
fectation of disclaiming the integrity of purpose,
for w’hich you gave me credit, as a public man.
It is, indeed, a source of the highest consola.
tion to me, that I can confidently affirm, be
fore my friends and enemies, in the face of the
world, and m the presence of my God, that in
the whole course of that contest which it has
fallen to my lot to carry on, for the last six years,
against a system of legislation essentially un
just, oppressive, and despotic, I have never
been actuated by a single purpose of selfish am
bition ; but have at all times been prepared to
sacrifice at the shrine of duty and of patriotism,
every allurement of ambition, and every hope of
political preferment. So essentially do I be
lieve the prosperity, the liberty, and indeed the
very existence of the southern states, to be in
volved in the great principles for which we have
been contending, that I believe those principles
cannot be too often impressed upon the people
of the southern states, nor can they be too often
reminded of the peculiar relation in which they
£tand to the dominant states of the confederacy.
►lt w’ould be a fatal error, fellow citizens, to sup
pose, that the recent adjustment of the tariff has
removed all the causes of apprehension for our
rights and liberties. On the contrary, when w’e
look at the entire proceedings of Congress, du
ring its last session, in relation to that measure,
and attentively consider the principles officially
avowed in the progress of those proceedings, it
is but too apparent, that the southern states ne
ver have had greater occasion, than at this mo
ment, for maintaining their sovereign rights in
their undiminished vigor, and wiitching the
movements of the Federal Government, and of
the majority which controls rt with unsleeping
vigilance. What, then, let us inquire, is the
true state of the controversy, between the sove
reignty of the states, and the pretended sove
reignty and assumed omnipotence of Congress?
On the one hand, it is contended, that the
states entered into the federal compact a9 sove
reign communities; that each state still retain
ed its sovereignty, notwithstanding the powers
granted to the Federal Government; and that,
when the members of this Government usurp
powers not granted, each state has an inherent
right absolutely inseparable from its sovereign
ty, to interpose and arrest, within its own lim
its, the progress of the usurpation, and thus
preserve the compact from violation. These
simple propositions, self evident to every mind
capable of comprehending the import of the
terms used to express them, the doc
trines of State sovereignty and nullification —
the fundamental securities of freedom in a fed*
LWRY-NFT
M !^IGIL.
E to THE KERNEL.
| crative system of government, without which it
would be the very worst of all the forms of des
potism and oppression. On the other hand,
our adversaries contend that the functionaries
of the Federal Government are the exclusive
and final judges of the extent of the powers
conferred upon them by that very Consti
tution which the sovereign States of the Con
federacy established, for the special purpose of
imposing limitations upon those powers, which
amounts to nothing less than a majority of Con
gress and of the other departments of the Fede
ral Government, have a charter from heaven,
paramount to that by which they were created,
authorizing them to do what they please, and
enjoining upon the states passive obedience to
every act of usurpation and tyranny, which an
ambitious or an interested majority may choose
to perpetrate.
This doctrine reduces the Federal Constitu
tion to a mere dead letter, utterly deprived of
all power to restrain the usurpations of the Gov
ernment/ In plain words, it makes the Fede
ral Government paramount to the sovereign
states which created it, and the acts of Congress |
paramount to the Constitution from which a
lone they can derive any rightful authority.—
These consequences cannot be avoided, if the
whole civil and military power of the Federal
Government may be rightfully exerted to en
force any act of Congress, whether constitution- ;
al or not ; and if the States, who arc the sove-!
reign parties of the compact of union, have no |
rightful power to interpose and enforce its lim- ;
itations. That the states do possess this power
is not only demonstrable, but self evident, if it
be true that they are sovereign. 1 ask nothing
more from any intelligent adversary, than that
he will admit that the states are sovereign, and
that they adopted the Federal Constitution as
states, and in their highest sovereign capacity.
For l hold it to be impossible for any man who
admits, and who realizes the import of the term
sovereignty, to deny that it is the right, and in
deed, the duty of the states to interpose, thro’
the regular organs of that sovereignty, to res
cue their citizens from the operation of an un
constitutional and oppressive act of Congress.
To deny this right is to annihilate the sove
reignty of the states, for there can be no greater
political solecism than to admit that the Fede
ral Government is bound by the limitations of
the Constitution, and may yet transcend them
with impunity, and that the states who lormcd
that Constitution have sovereign powers and
sovereign rights, without sovereign means of
preserving them from encroachment and viola
tion. The right of state interposition is an ori
ginal, underived,inherent attriV***® *•
fy, aim mmiing can ne imnc aosurcl than to de-
rive it from the Federal Constitution, unless it
be to deny its existence altogether. That man
is as utterly ignorant of the import of the terms
he uses, as he is of ouf scheme of government,
who supposes that any sovereign power can be
derived from a constitutional compuct. It 13 a
pre-existing sovereign power that forms consti
tutions and governments, and those constitu
tions are nothing more than organic laws, pre
scribed by that sovereign power, for regulating
and controlling those governments. The terms
constitutional and unconstitutional, in the fede
ral sense, are as utterly inapplicable to this
right of state interposition, as they are to the
right of a state to protect the property and lives
of its citizens, by exercising the high sovereign
power of inflicting capital punishment on the
perpetrators of robbery and murder. So obvi
ously inseparable are state sovereignty aud the
right of flie state interposition, that the more in
telligent advocates of a supreme consolidated
government boldly and consistently deny that
the states are sovereign. As I regard this as
the real question at issue, as the hinge upon
which the whole controversy turns, I will take
leave to present some views and illustrations,
calculated to give a distinct idea of what con
stitutes sovereignty, and to show, by arguments
entirely free from all metaphysical refinement,
that the states are not only sovereign, but are
the only sovereign pow’ers known to our politi
cal system.
If a murder should be committed in Georgia,
for example, no one would dream of calling in
question the exclusive right of the Btate author
ities, to inflict capital punishment on the oflen
der, though he should be a citizen of another
State; nor w’onld the government of the L'nited
States, or of any other State, have any more
right to interpose their authority than the gov
ernment of Turkey. All this, every body will
admit; and yet I would be glad to know by
what name we shall call an underived and un
controllable right to inflict the highest punish
ment upon the highest crime that can be com
mitted against the safety of the State, if it be 1
not sovereignty. To what government is it
that a citizen of Georgia looks up to protect
him in the enjoyment of life, property, and
character, against all those crimes and frauds
which it is the end of civil government to re
press and punish ? Is there a single one of all
those rights which constitute civil liberty,
which the Federal Government has any sem
blance of power to protect against the assaults
to which it is exposed 1 A murder, or a robbe
ry, committed on the citizens of any one State,
is not even an offence against the government
of the United States; and yet we hear men
gravely maintain that that government is soy
vereign, and that our paramount allegiance is
due to it, as if protection and allegiance were
not co-extensive and reciprocal. There is, in
deed, scarcely a crime that can assail the peace
: j and good order of society, that rr.ay not be per
petrated in any part of tiie United Mateo with
perfect impunity, so far as the Federal Govern
ment is concerned; nor would a crime commit*
! ted in any one State, be any offence at all a*
gainst any other of the States of the Union.
Where, then, does the sovereignty of the U.
States reside ? Not, surely, in the government,
either of the Union or of the JStates. Sovereign*
>ty can only reside in the people; and what can
be more absolutely pre|K>sterous than to affirm
that the people of the United States possess
• sovereign power in Georgia 1 What a wretch
ed pageant must that sovereign be, within ev
!ery foot of whose dominions, except a small
district and a few forts, all manner of crimes
| may be perpetrated, and yet he cannot raise a
finger to prevent or punish them 1 There is
in fact no crime that could be committed with
in the TffltttsW the United States, that would bo
an offence against the people of the United
States, in the aggregate. On the contrary,
j what outrage can be perpetrated within the
limits of Georgia, which she has not the rightful
power to punish at her discretion, without re
sponsibility to any power on earth ? The sove
: reignty of the States, therefore, is not so much
a matter of speculative theory, as of historical
fact. They possess all those attributes, and
exercise all those powers, by an original and in
herent right, which constitutes sovereignty.
| When, therefore, the sovereign will ot Georgia
!is declared, what human being within her lim
its, can rightfully raise his arm to resist i 7 —>
The very highest functionary of the Federal
Governnieut, would he just as subject to pun
ishment, for resisting the sovereign will of G .or
gia, within her territor.al jurisdiction, as the
humblest citizen.
1 will stale a case, suggest’ and by the history
of her relation w ith the Federal Government,
calculated to exhibit, in a strong practical point
of view, tiie absurdity of denying the soverei m
ty of the States, and of claiming that attribute
for the Federal Government. It will he re
membered that some few years ago, President
Adams, claiming to act under an obligation
higher than human, declared, that if the State
of Georgia should pertinaciously continue to
exercise legislative authority over her own terri
tory, he would put down so dangerous a preten*
sion by the military arm of the Federal Gov
ernment. Now, suppose an army of Federal
mercenaries had been marched into Georgia,
to settle the delicate question of jurisdiction by
the very discriminating arbitrament of the
sword, and that, to give dignity to the proceed
ing, the President had marched at the head of
-rn.j uo (Jommiuitlvr in- cbiyf, with luteal)-
inet ministers p.ncl tlie Federal Judges as hi*
staff, and the members of Congress as his body
guard. Suppose, moreover, that Gov. Troup
had had the treasonous audacity not to quail
before the storm, ami that the “ Hancock
Troop” had actually presented themselves in
military array in the august presence of these
potent judges of constitutional and inter
national law. Let us further suppose, that
the President, with the advice of his staff,
had wantonly directed his body guard to
fire upn tlrf patriotic militia of Hancock, and
that, in obedience to this order, a number of the
citizens of Georgia had been killed. What,
| then, would have been the legal predicament of
these functionaries of a government claiming to
be sovereign, even within the limits of< ‘c< rgi-t ?
( put it to every jurist in this State, and in the
United States, to aftv, whether every one of
them would not have been guilty of inurci< f by
[ the laws of Georgia, and whether the authon
! ties of that State would not have an undoubted
constitutional and lawful right, to arrest, arraign,
try, condemn, and in form of law—[here some
gentleman exclaimed “ hang the President ‘i ’
and Mr. McD. continued] hang the whole Fed
eral Government, Executive, Judicial, and Go**
gislative, without the possibility of any lawful
interposition to save them, thus exhibiting tlie
singular spectacle of an overwhelming and om
nipotent sovereignty, lawfully annihihilated by
one of its subject provinces !
But the standing answer to nil these argu
ments is, that the will of the majority must pre
vail, even if it be in violation of the Constitu
tion, and that it is thedpty of the State to sub
mit to the usurpation, precisely in the same
manner as if it were a constitutional exercise of
power.
Now, fellow citizens, let us inquire for a mo
ment, what, is the true character of that majori
ty, to which is ascribed this high prerogative of
violating the Constitution by virtue of “divine
right,” heretofore claimed only by absolute ty
rants, and to which the sovereign States, which
formed that Constitution, are thus bound to
yield that “ passive obedience,” appropriate
only to slaves. In all that great class oi meas
ures, out of which lias grown the existing con
flict between the manufacturing and planting
States of the Union, this sacred majority, whose
sovereign will the southern States are called
upon to bow down and worship, have an inter
est diametrically opposed to that of the south
ern people. Every import duty wh*ch s~xinpo
sed upon those articles which the manufactur
ing States produce, and the planting States im
port in exceange for their agricultural staples,
is a bounty to the industry of the latter. Tbit
is strictly true, even when the duties are impo
sed exclusively with a view to revenue; and as
two-thirds of the federal revenue is raised by
duties on this very clas9 of articles, it is obvi
0119IV the interest of the dominant majority, to
oppress the planting minority, not only by op-
ISO. 21.