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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