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♦' t banc oi ail republics, and
7eaious for your interdl, open
rhe doors of inveftigation by a
n evv a6l extending their powers,
and the commillioners of the
L T nited States on due examina
tion if they be fmcere and un
prejudiced, mult be convinced
of the impoSTibility of our dol
ing with their prefent proposi
tions, and of the necelTity there
is for the United States to ac
cede to more liberal terms ; to
it e the language of one of our
commillioners, they cannot get
along in their Mifliffippi go
vernment on any principle of
juft ice without us.—But fhoujd
the prefent commillioners per
fift, it is more than poftible
that from a change of adminis
tration, a change of the com
miffioners may take place, and
to be prepared for which will
be politic and neceftary, you
can referve a ratification of the
ceftion for the legislature.
And here let me remind you
of the great and important duty
which you have to provide for
in the choice of Electors of
Prefident and Vice-Prcfident of
the United States; in right and
]iiftice this choice fhoukl lay
with the citizens at large; but
the change of the time of our
general elc&ion, and your
knowledge of the difficulty of
tollebling the people fo recently
after a general election, fo as to
obtain a fair election and gene
ral voice, w.ll probably throw
this important burthen on your
Shoulders. The act of congrefs
cn this fubje<sl declaring u Ejec
tors fhall be appointed in each
ftate, for the eledtion of a Prefi
dent and Vice-Prefident of the
United States, within thirty
four days preceding the firft
Wednefday in December 1792,
and within thirty-four days pre
ceding the firft Wednefday in
December in every fourth year
Succeeding the laSl election.”
Our general election, as chang
ed by law, is on the firft: Mon
day in O&ober, confiderably
■without the preferibed time-—I
only hint this for your delibera
tion, for the mode of election
■will re 11 on your decifion.
The time of one of the Slate
Senators in the congrefs of the
United States, will expire on
tiie third day of March next —
your attention will alfo be re
quired to the eledlion of a fuc
ceflbr.
It is with pain that I am com
pelled a I'econd time during my
•dminiftration, to lay the extra
ordinary and contemptuous con
duft of the corporation of Sa
vannah towards the government
Vouch created them, before you.
In the latter part of the
-uonth of May laft, in diredl vio
atlQi} of their duty, and in cp
pofition to the adl entitled,
an acl to oblige veffels and
Perfons, coming from places in
,tc{:ed with epidemic diftem
,)erjs > to perform quarantine,
'• :1 d to prevent the bringing into
““d fpreading malignant and
°ntagious diforders in this Slate,
JaiTcd December the 13th,
*793.” they not only permitted
. introduction of the epide
™lc diforder, the Small Pox in-
that city, but by beat of
ram, without deigning to no
tify the Executive, as the law
required, of its introduction,
they recommended general ino
culation, whereby the diforder,
at that advanced feafon of the
year, was Shortly fpread over
the whole counties of Chatham
and Bryan. On receiving fub-
Slantial information of its intro
duction, and the rapid fpread
ing of the diforder, and taking
into confide ration that if not
checked, it would communicate
to the interior and wcflern coun
ties of the ftate, at a fealbn,
when the extreme heats of fum
mcr prevailed, and the crops
required the utmolt attention—
and further confidering the re
ligious Scruples which many of
you, fellow citizens, who repre
sent the weftern and interior
counties know to exift, as to
inoculation, and the great num
ber ofperfons, white and black,
old and young, refiding among
us, who have never received the
infeClion; I thought it my duty
to ilfue the proclamation mark
ed w ith the papers and other
documents on this lubjeCl,
number 4, interdiCling and pro
hibiting the communication be
tween Chatham and Bryan, and
the other counties of this ft ate,
which under Heaven, aided by
the vigilance of the juftices of
the Inferior Court, and the com
manding officers of the militia of
the counties of Effingham,
Bullock and Liberty, who have
deferved credit, effeClualiy pre
vented its general communication
and in all probability a mortality,
which would have been dreadful,
and from the lofs of crops by
the lofs of labour, perhaps a fa
mine ; for in many families,
confiding of eight and ten per
fons, I was informed not one of
them had received the disorder.
I do not wiSh to enlarge on this
unpleafant proceeding—but the
corporation certainly aCltd as if
their authority was fuperior to
yours, and theirordinances above
the laws of the ftate.
The cxpence accrued in con
fequence of this contemptuous
conduCl has been confiderablc—
it Shall be laid before you, and
the whole, injuftice, ought to
be levied on the funds of the
city; and I fhoukl decidedly
recommend it to you, were it
not that the virtuous and hone ft;
mechanics, and others refiding
in Savannah, who have uniform
ly difapproved and discounte
nanced thofe proceedings, would
alfo feel the weight of the tax.
Should your clemency, howe
ver, induce you to leave the city
charter as it (lands, and not levy
the expences on their funds, one
thing is neceftary at all events;
it is neceffary to clip their
wings, by defining their pow
ers and prohibiting construc
tive rights; was the charter of
C t
Savannah, or the laws authoriz
ing mayors courts intended to
operate beyond the limits of
the city—l am informed that
the corporation aftlime the pow
er of iftuing procefs, awarding
judgment, and enforcing ex
ecution through Chatham coun
ty. The propriety of cor
porations at all, in a govern
ment like ours, where the laws
ought to operate equally on all
the citizens may well be cuef
tinned; but when they ad on
aflumed powers, counrciading
the laws of the Hate w ith their
own local ordinances, they be
come real nuifanccs to the flare
and the people over whom they
p re fide.
A book called the Digeftof
the Laws of the State, by Ro
bert and Cieorge Watkins, and
in aid of a work of* that kind,
an appropriation of two thou
sand dollars was made by the
laft legiflature, is laid before
you; you will find that it con
tains the ufurped ad of the yrh
day of January 1795, for die
pretended Tale of our Weftern
1 erritory, which is annulled
anti void by the law and confti
tution; I have been informed
that this book has been func
tioned by feme of the Inferior
Courts of rhis Hate, and pur
chafed for their clerks offices;
fhould it receive your fandion,
tacit or exprefled, it might be
contended that that corrupt ad
was re-cflablifhcd; it will be
for you to determine-—but 1
fhould fuppofe a law declaring
it not to be authority in any
court of law or equity within
this flute is neceffary, and in
fuch cafe, an appropriation to
carry the ad of the lull feffion
entitle.d, “ an ad to carry into
effed the Bth fedion of the
3d article of the conflitution”
would be requifite, and I have
the fatisfadion to aifure the le
gi flature, that the funds in the
treafury will amply afford it.
From the contradidoiy and
vague claufes of the tax ad for
1800, great difficulty prevailed
to procure tax receivers and
colledors; the claufes molt
complained of arc, the Bth,
9th, nth, 17th, 19th, and 23d,
ami the total omiffionofa claufc
which was inferted in the refpec
tive tax ads of 1798 and 1799,
that the receiver of tax returns
fhould, after thirty days publi
cation of defaulters, aflefs them
according to his knowledge, to
be confidered valid until they
came forward and made return
on oath when the affielfmcnt
fhould bhcome void and the re
turn become the charge.—The
letter of Julius Schenber,
late tax colledor of Chatham,
and whofe lofs as a corred and
faithful public fervant, is to be
regretted, marked No. 5, will
more fully elucidate this fubjed ;
an addition to the pay of thofe
officers, and particular of re
ceivers of tax returns will dc
ferve your notice, as will a po
fitive claufe obliging fheriffis
and conflables to execute tax
colledors executions ; and I
again beg leave to recommend a
tax on fiats at law, adequate at
leafl to defray the expence of
the department, which always
until lately was levied in this
flare, and prevails in mofl flatcs
of the Union.
It will be remembered, that
at the laft feffion I informed the
legiflature of the complaints
abroad and at home againfl the
ginners and packers of cotton,
and wiffied their ferious delibe
ration on fome mode of preven
tion of thole bafe pradices.—l
again recommend
So valuable a ftp'- ‘ v ht to be
cherifhed wi f ' 2?-re,
and watched over with a jealous
eye; the charaftcr, ami of
courfe the price of our cotton is
at Hake, and if thole fordid, im
moral and iniquitous attempts
for gam cannot be put a flop to,
mull depreciate i if no proper
method of infpeftion can be fal
len on, let the pumfhment,
when a fraud is detcftccl, be ex
emplary i perhaps were the
ginner’s name marked on the
bag it might have fome elf eft ;
the up country cotton being
ginned and packed by the lame
perfon, ginners would loon find
it their intend to avoid even
fufpicion of fraud, for if deteft
ed, the planter would trud them
no more ; and if in proportion
to the/r care in ginning N pack
ing, their eudom would in
creafe; perhaps in the low
count i*)' fome other mode w ould
be necedary, as the up country
gins are not in common ufe.
And here I requed your at
tention to the patent gin mono
poly, under the law of the
United States, entitled “ an aft
to extend the privilege of ob
taining patents for uleful difeo
verles and inventions to certain
per Tons therein mentioned, and
to enlarge and define the penal
ties for violating the rights ot
patentees.” The operation of
this law is a prevention and
cramping of geninus, as refpefts
cotton machines, a manifell in
jury to the community, and in
many refpefts, a cruel extortion
on the gin holders.—The twa
important dares of Georgia and
South-Carolina, where this arti
cles appears to be becoming the
principle daple, are made tribu
tary to two perfons who have
obtained the patent, and who
demand, as 1 am informed, two
hundred dollars for the mere
liberty of ufing a ginning ma
chine, in the creation of which
the patentees do not expend one
farthing, and which Arm, as
they now think their right fe
curcd, it is in their power in fu
ture licences to raile to treble
that amount; from the infor
mation given me by a refpefta
ble merchant of this town,
whofe letter on the fubjeft is
marked No. 6, when Miller and
Whitney, the patentees, firft
didributed the machines of
their condruftion, they referved
the right of property of it, as
alfo two thirds of the neat pro
ceeds arlling from the gin ; the
cxpences of working to be joint
between the patentees and the
ginner, finding, however, a dc
feft in the law under which
their patent was obtained, they
determined to fell the machines,
together with the right veded in
them for five hundred dollars,
and for a licenfe to authorize a
perfon to build and work one at
his own expence four hundred—
but finding as I fuppofe that the
defeft of the law' was generally
underdood, and that they could
get no redrefs in the courts, they
lowered the demand to the pre
rent rate of two hundred dollars
- —that they may raife it to the
former rates is certain and that
they will do it unlefs public in
terference is had there can be
little doubt. I am informed
from other fources, that gins
have been creftcd by other per