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“ TO THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL;
But particularly to the Citizens oj
Edgefield District.'’
I AM well aware thar " the public in gen
eral” are not; in any manner interested in the
diflerence or dispute which exists between Mr
Jeremiah Hatcher and myself, and that “ the
citizens of Edgefield but very par
tially so indeed Bur, under existing circum
stances, I am constrained injustice to my own
feelings and character, and in justice to my
friends, acquaintances and connections, to make
my defence, and thereby repel the attack made
against me by Mr. Hatcher. And having de
termined upon answering his publication, I
venture to hope, that the community will par
don me, when 1 use the address in making my
t tefence, which he used in making the attack.
Mr. Hatcher’s publication, originally appeared
in the “ Augusta Chronicle,” under date of the
22d September, 1806, and was republished in
the <■ Carolina Gazette,” on the 7th of Novem
ber following. And as the public may be some
what astonished at my tardiness in opposing
charges made at thar distance of time, permit
me to observe that I had not finally determin
ed upon answering them at all, until they were
republished as above mentioned in the *• Caro
lina Gazette.” Had the publication in question
been confined to the knowledge of those per
sons with whom w r e were both acquainted, I
had on my mind a certain and thorough con
viction, that silent contempt would have been
my best answer, as the public opinion of all
those, (at least the unprejudiced part of them)
would have consigned Mr Hatcher and his
publication to general disgrace. But when 1
di'covered that the wanton, wicked and mis
chievous vanity of Mr. Hatcher had given his
charges a wider and more extensive range than
either he or 1 can pretend to embrace in the
circle of our acquaintance, I immediately saw
and felt the necessity of offering some remarks
in exculpation of my character. I offer these
preparatory observations, to convince the public
mind, that nothing short of an exireme neces
sity could have induced me to occupy the co
lumns of a public news-paper in the discussion
of a private arid unimportant misunderstanding
between individuals.
Before I enter upon the examination of the
charges made against me by Mr Hatcher, I
beg leave to submit to the vie tv of the public,
three affidavits, two of them as will be seen,
having relation to the time of the first conver
sation as mentioned by Mr. Hatcher ; and the
third having relation to the altercation at the
meeting-house.
State of South-Carolina ,") PERSONALLY ap-
E.lgefield IJistrtct. j peared Rich’d Christ
mas, who being duly sworn, deposeth and
saith, That some time between the Ist and
21st of June last, he was in company with
Marshal Martin, and several others, at t he store
of Lewis Gantelou. at Martin-town, when
Marshal Martin mentioned, that Mr. Jeremiah
Hatcher lost his leg in the time of the war, in
Burney’s horse pen, getting horses, or words
nearly the same —Col. Barkley Martin came
in but was not present when the words was
first mentioned. Marshal Martin airain men
tioned the same words, when Col Martin ob
served, that reports were not all true, and re
quested him not to say so—This deponent fur
ther saith, that Col Martin then left ihe house,
and took a seat under a tree in the yard, when
this deponent followed him and took a sear by
him. and there Col. Martin mentioned, that he
was extremely sorry to hear men talk as they
did. and further observed, that he did not be
lieve Mr. Hatcher was stealing horses when
he was shot; and this deponent further saith,
that he verily believes Col. Mar in was ex
tremely sorry to hear what had past in the
house, and further this deponent saith not.
RICH\RI) CHRISTMAS.
Sworn to the 19th November, }
1806, before me C
CHARLES HAMMOND, J. Q.
State of South-Cawlina , *> PERSONALLY
Edgefield District J appeared before me,
Thomas Swearingen, Esquire, who being
sworn on the Holy Evangelist of Almighty
God, deposeth and saith, That on the sixth
day of July, at Horn’s Creek Meeting-House,
he the deponent tell in company with Jeremiah
Hatcher The said Hatcher asked the said de
ponent if he had heard the report that Marshal
Martin had propagated concerning him, and
Col. Martin had not contradicted The depo
nent sa’d lie had heard something about it
Then the said Hatcher said he had came there
that day expressly for the purpose, if Marshal
had been there, to have given him a set-down
or attack, and as Marshal Martin was not
there, he would not say any thingto Col Mar
tin At this moment Col Martin walked up
where we were both then engaged in the above
conversation, and said, how are you Jerrv >
Hatcher said, Colonel I cannot give vou my
hand Ihe Colonel replied, whv Jerrv > Hatch
er said, did not you stand by and hear Marshal
Martin say that 1 (meaning himself the said
Hatcher) was shot in the act of stealing Bur
ney’s horses? the Colonel replied, yes. Hatch
er observed, why did you not contradict it ?
The Cqlonel said I could not contradict aU, you
told me so yourself. Said Harcher, I told you
so? Says the Colonel, no Jerry, you told me
you were shot taking a horse to make your es
cape as I would have done. Then Hatcher
observed, if he had a pistol in his hand he
would take the Colonel’s life. Some words of
anger and warmth occurred, and the deponent
further sweareth, that Col Martin repeatedly
observed, that he never said that Hatcher was
shot in the act of stealing Buruev’s horses.
THOS. SWEARINGEN.
Sworn to the Ist December, - )
1806, before me. f
R. TUTT.
State of South Carolina ,7 PERSONALLY
E gefie’d District. J appeared John Bovd,
who being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that
about the 21st of June last, he went from ser
mon with his family, to the house of Marshal
Margin, on a visit, and in the evening Col
Bark'ey Martin and others being present, a
conversation took place respecting an Election, J
in which conversation some of the company
said Mr. Jeremiah Hatcher had boasted of his
valour in defence of his country, saying that
he had lost his leg in action ; but further ob
served, that a report was in circulation that
Hatcher’s leg was not shot off in defence of his
country ; that he was shot in Burney’s horse
pen, getting horses, near Beach-Island ;—to
which Col. Martin replied, that reports were
not all true, and that none of them knew that
Hatcher lost his leg in that way. and that they
ought not to talk as they did ; the probability
of the truth of the report being urged, Col.
Martin in nearly the same words, again reprov
ed some of the company for talking as they
did, and advised the person net to mention it
again j this deponent further saith that he had
no part in the conversation, nor did he make
any reply, except it was to observe that he was
not acquainted with Mr. Hatcher in the time
of the war; but from his acquaintance since,
and from tlie cliaiacierof Mr. Goldwire, who
was said to be in company, he thought it could
not be true. JOHN BOYI).
Sworn to the 17th November 7
1806 before me.
CHARLES HAMMOND, J. Q.
I must here ask leave of the public, to use a
plain unadorned style in conveying my senti
ments. lam fully sensible of the beauty which
may be given to a piece of composition bv the
use of such pretty words as fracas and puissant;
but as 1 have not the command of such deco
rating words, you must hear and read my de
fence in plain homespun back-country lan
guage, or not at all.
Presuming upon your benevolence and good
ness, I shall proceed to lay before you a few
plain matters oi fact, and rely upon your judg
ment, discretion and good sense, when 1 form
the conclusion, that simple, naked, unadorned
truths, will be more captivating than falsities : n
all their gewgaw trappings
Mr. Hatcher commences his publication in
these words, “ Having had my character base
ly and malignantly traduced by Col Martin, of
Edgefield District,” &c Again, «• This man
(alluding to myself) has thus slandered me be
fore the public.” & c Here is a bold, positive,
and unqualified charge made against me in the ;
face of my country, and in a public newspaper. ■
It has long and frequently been remarked, that ;
tis easy to make a charge, but extremely dis- !
ficult and sometimes impossible to disprove and j
refute it. Nothing more is necessary in the I
first case than a mind given up to depravity, I
vice, and unfeeling cruelty , while the latter re
quires a fortunate concurrence of circumstanc
es to weaken, remove, and destroy the imputa
tion of guilt. Thus situated, the false and
daring accuser often triumphs over injured in
nocence The cunning and wary accuser gene
rally weighs well the attendant circumstances,
before he opens his budget of false charges
Mr. Hatcher has in his publication discovered
a depraved, vicious, and unfeeling mind; but
1 believe no person will hazard the opinion, that
he has displayed much art or understanding.
But to return to the charge made against me
by Mr. Hatcher—“ Having had my character
basely and malignantly traduced by Col Mar
tin of Edgefield district,” &.c. Now I will ex.
amine his statement, which he offers to prove
the above charge. It is in these words, “some
time towards the latter end of June, in Martin
town, Edgefield district, in a companv of men,
in which were Col. Martin, Marshal Martin,
Briton Mims, and John Key, all particular
friends of Col. Martin, exceptthe latter. Bri
ton Mims audably made use of these words, or
substantially the same, viz: “Jerry Hatcher
ltad his leg shot off by a negro or overseer, in
the act of stealing Burney’s horses out of his
horse-pen—Marshal, don’t you know it to be
so ?” Marshal Martin replied, ‘ 1 have heard so.’
Mims said, “ don’t you believe it to be so
Martin again replied, I do.” Now admitting I
this to be a correct statement of the conversa
tion, (but that it is not may be seen from the
affidavit of Mr. Boyd) I will ask whether it
supports the charge made against me by Mr
Hatcher, as above mentioned? Is there any
testimony of my having said one word relative
to Mr. Hatcher on that occasion ? Was it by
being present that I became guilty ? If so, then
Mr. Key and Mr. Boyd were also guilty of
speaking defamatory words of Mr. Hatcher, i
although they were silent. As Mr. Hatcher
has not related any thing which I said on that
occasion, he ought in tender consideration to j
the doubting opinion of the public, to have giv
en some glimmering of proof by which he
meant to have attached the crime (if any there
was) in speaking the words to me. He says
in another place, “ Having heard of the above
conversation (meaning the conversation at
Martin-town) which he viewed as completely
sanctioned by me.” Would it not have been li
beral and fair in Mr. Hatcher to have given his
reasons for supposing that I sanctioned the
conversation. It certainly would, but his ob
ject was to impose a false statement upon the
public. lia testimony of this assertion, let me
again call your attention to the affidavit of Mr.
Boyd, by which it will appear that I did actu
ally disapprove of and check the conversation.
1 will also call your attention to the affidavit of
Mr. Christmas, by which it will appear that on
another occasion, I checked a similar conver
sation. Can it be supposed that M. Hatcher
was ignorant of the part which I took in the
said conversation ? Certainly not, but had he
given the whole conversation to the public, the
antidote and poison would have gone together
and that did not square with the detested nob
icy which governed him in making the accu
sation. O ! vvhaf' a shameful outrage upon
justice decency and truth ! ! How dead to ev
ery humane and liberal feeling must be the
mind which can thus trifle and wanton with
the good name of a fellow citizen ! For the
honor of human nature be it spoken, such
minds are not common.
Mr. Hatcher is not more fortunate in the
conversation which happened at the meeting
house. I must here request the attention of the
public to the affidavit of Mr. Swearingen, by
which it will appear that I did not on that oc
casion, ascribe to Mr Hatcher any criminal or
improper motive. I said then, and I again re
peat it, that Mr. Hatcher, several years ago,
when he acted as deputy sheriff under nte, in
formed me, that “ he'mat shot in the horse
pen, attempting to make his escape. I only
charged Mr. Hatcher with the commission oPi
an act which I supposed natural and innocent,
and upon his own words to me. If the fact
was not so, he must blame himself for having
told me so. I can only say, that neither Mr.
Jones nor Mr. Evans, in their affidavits, say
a single sentence which goes to contradict Mr.
Hatcher’s statement to me. They do in pret
ty conclusive terms show that Mr. Hatcher was
not in Beach-Island for dishonest or improper
purposes. I never charged him with any, and
I think the public opinion will warrant me in
saying, that there is no testimony to warrant
the charge made against me by Mr. Hatcher
I think the p»U<« opinion will go further, and
say, that Mr Hatcher had not tolerable ground
for accusation—that his accusation is false ,
groundless and malicious. Mr Hatcher tells
you that he is not on friendly terms with me,
and yet he insists and makes it a ground of ac
cusation, that I did not step forward as his
friend and contradict the conversation in Mar
tintown. Was 1 bound to do it for my bitter
enemy ? No, I was not. Had I not, would it
have been a good and sufficient cause of attack ?
Surely not. Then, when 1 am found doing
more than my duty ; when 1 am found doing
justice to my enemy, what will ’he public think
of that enemy, when he is found guilty of mak
ing a false charge against me at a moment like
this.
As I came forward with much reluctance,
and solely with the intention of putting the
public in possession of a true statement of my
conduct, and having done it in as brief and
concise a manner as lay in my power, I shall
hasten to a conclusion.
Mr. Hatcher once stood high in my opinion,
and although he has conducted himself in a
very illiberal manner towards me on several
occasions latterly, yet I am loth to believe that
he has not been imposed upon in some part of
the publication which he has given to the
world. I know that it is too common now-a
days to go all lengths m favor of the strong
party. But justice demands a decent deport
ment on all such occasions. Mr. Hatcher’s con
duct has not been governed by decency, justice
or propriety. If lie had used due diligence he
must have heard the part which I took in the
1 conversation at Martin town. It therefore re
: mains with the public from the whole of the
| facts, to form one of two opinions, that Mr.
j Hatcher has ushered upon the world a hasry,
: partial, garbled and false statement, throu’ his
I own mere folly &. inattention ; or, that knowing
j the whole, he meanly chose to suppress the part
which went to place my conduct in an honora
ble point of view. Asking pardon of the pub
lic for having thus long occupied their atten
tion, I shall leave them in possession of the
facts, Ei at liberty to form their own conclusion.
I am the public's most obedient servant
BARKLEY MARTIN.
CHARLESTON, Jan. 8.
BURR'S CONSPIRACY.
The arrival of the schooner Amelia,
captain Brooks, from New-Orleans, has
furnished us with the papers of that ci
ty to the 13th ult. from which we de
rive the following interesting intelli
gence :
On the 9th ult. in consequence of a
previous invitation from governor Clai
eorne, the Merchants of New-Or
leans assembled at the Government
House, for the purpose of consulting
with him on some points of great im
portance.
The meeting consisted of almost all
the merchants of the city ; they were
I informed by bis excellency, that he had
good and undoubted reasons to believe,
that a conspiracy, fraught with objects
highly prejudicial to the United States
in general, and this territory in parti
cular, was plotting by a set of lawless
and artful men, dangerous both from
their talents and rank in society ; that
he thought the safety of the territory
j required immediate measures of de
fence ; that there was a necessity to
give vigor to their preparations, of a
number of seamen which commodore
Shaw had been unable, in the ordinary
way of enlistment, to procure, and that
as this regarded more immediately the
merchants, he thought proper to call
them together, persuaded that by dis
closing to them the danger that threat
ened them, he would find them emu
lated with patriotism, and ready to co
operate in the defence of their country;
that he left to them the suggesting the
best mode of procuring the men want
ed, confident that, with their assistance,
the object would be completed in the
course of twenty-four hours.
His Excellency mentioned the man
ner he had received communication of
this dangerous plot, which was through
General Wilkinson, who confided to
him the perusal ol the dispatches and
overtures made to him ; that he had
moreover, received himself a letter from
one of his most particular friends, a
highly respectable citizen of Tennessee,
which, though in ambiguous words,
positively denounced something impor
tant, and dangerous to this govern
ment, likely to take place in the month
of December; and he recommended
to him, to be on his guard, to organize
the militia , and to beware of the ides of
March.
Gen. Wilkinson entered more mi
nutely into the particulars of the case....
he began, by expressing his dissatis
faction at the calling of a meeting to
deliberate on the subject mentioned by
his Excellency ; he said, that if it had
' been consistent with the military and
civil relations of our government, he
would have conducted the whole busi
ness in his own way, and would have
adopted other than the present mea
sures to obtain the object desired ; he
found himself, however, under the ne
cessity of communicating with his Ex
cellency, and, on several occasions, took
opportunities of noticing his own want
of authority, and the fruitlessness of his
applications to those who were empow
ered. He mentioned, that \vith res
pect to the premeditated invasion, it
had been communicated to him by a
special messenger from the conspira
tors, on the 18th of October, at the mo
ment he was preparing to proceedtothe
Sabine ; the object of making him ac
quainted with the plot, was, the hope of
his co-operating with them ; but, with
out divuiging his determination, he set
out for the Sabine, settled the Spanish
affairs, and with all the expedition in his
power, repaired to this place, where he
intended concentrating his
defend it or perish in its ruins ; that
whilst at Natchitoches, he received a
message on the same subject from New,
Orleans and he added that there were
several persons in New-Orleans con
cerned in the plot, whom he knew, and
had he the power, would have arrested
long since. He mentioned that his
J ( bject, in coming to town, was to pre
pa'e the place for defence, but that
subsequent advices from the invu
ders led him to believe that their forces
would be greater than he at first expect
ed, and he had accordingly changed his
plan, and intended, if possible, to attack
them before they reached town, and flat
tered bimsell, if he could succeed in
getting off the flotilla they were prepar
ing, and met the foe before they reach
ed Natcluz, that they might, by forcing
them to land, cut them ofl entirely.
1 hat, to effect this object, it was, howev
er, absolutely necessary, that no delay
should occur—for, by all advices, the
enemy were to arrive at Natchez, on the
20th of December instant, with at least
2000 men. He observed, that the lea
ders of the plot were supported by some
of the first characters in the Union ; that
it was extensive in its object; and that
to give more efficacy to its execution,
armed but disguised vessels, would
come into our river in order to serve as
convoy to the expedition to be made
from hence to Vera-Cruz; that to de
fend the mouth of the river, he had des
tined a proportion of the public vessels,
amongst which was the schooner lately
purchased by government. He con
cluded, by denouncing the leader, Aaron
Burr; and pledging his life in defence
of the city, and his country.
The Governor and General having
retired, the meeting proceeded to delib
eiate on the best plan to co-opperate
with government, when it was unani
mously agreed, that an embargo ought to
take place, which has since taken place.
The Governor left the meeting of the
merchants to consult with colonels Bel
lechasse, M’Carty, and Dorsicre, rela
tive to the Mihtia.
It was stated at New-Oaleans, when
the Amelia sailed, that the adherents of
Burr amounted to 7000 men ; and it
was believed, that his forces would con
siderably exceed that number. The at
tack, it was expected, would be made
between the 20th and 30th December.
The two Gun-Boats had proceeded up
the river, as far as Iberville; and were to
ascend as high as Point-Coupee ; and
two bomb-ketches were also ready to
follow them. Commodore Shaw had
purchased the schooner Ranger, of Bal
timore, mounting 16 guns, for the ser
vice of government. Gen. Wilkinson
had given orders to have all the forts re
paired, the city picketed in, and pvt in a
complete state of defence,
In addition to the above particulars,
we learn that several persons have been
arrested in the city of New-Orleans •
among them were a Dr. Bollhian, and
Messrs. Ogden and Swartwout.
Dr. Bollman has been brought on to
this place, in the schooner Amelia , as a
state prisoner, under the charge of
Lieut. Wilson, and a guard of Sol
diers ; he was yesterday lauded and left
in the safe keeping of the commandant
at fort Johnson. Several more cf the
conspirators have been sent on to Balti
more. It will be remembered bv our
readers that Dr. Bollman was one of
the gentlemen who so gallantly attempt
ed to release the Marquis de la Fayette
from Magdeburgh. His family is in
Philadelphia.
We are informed that the Comman
ders of the Gun-Doats,«ow in this port,
have received orders from governor to
sail for New-Orleans.
New-Orleans, December 13.
The most active preparations are
making to fortify the city, and the bus-