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VoL. II.) ATHENS, GEORGIA: PRINTED BY ALEXANDER M-DONNELI, SATURDAY, JUNE 24, ISO 9. ■ ‘f TERMS * ,m OF TUS ’ m GEORGIA EXPRESS. r ■MOTda 1. IT will be printed weekly, a: thrjps dollars per ■ nnum 5 one half to be paid in advance, the remainder at the expiration of fix months. 2. Advcrtilements will be charg ed ft the rate of fixty-two and a half cents per fquare for the firft fnfertion, and fifty cents for each continuation. 3. No papers will be difcontinii ed without a notice to that cfit<s1 3 nor then if in arrears. J (f-3* Ail letters directed to the Editor muft be poft paid, j The following Gentlemen, an autho - Sized to receive Subscriptions for this aur .— S - Clarks boro' —Pod-Mailer. Wjejferfon —Maj. Edwin L. Harris. ■I ■lVaikinfville —E. B, Jenkins, efq. and Mr. Edward Bond. Lexington —Poft Matter, & Cant, Watkins. i Oglethorpe —Mr. Samuel Shields, and William Lumpkins, Efq. f\ Walnut Grove— Mr. Lee Atkins. , Goof e-pond- —-Mr. H. T. Woody. j Madijon —James G. Sims, Efq. I Greenesboro'—Capt. T. Dawfon. fe Sparta —Dodtor W. Terrell. - I LVarrenton —Pott-Matter. , Powelton— Poft-Mafter. hxiuedgeviils—] ames iioicfflifl, Efo. ■•/TW * . * | Chriftopher B, Strong, Efq. | jtiherton— Col. Wm. Chiflom. , | Petersburg— Alex. Pope, Efq. St apod, vv arkins. m Vienna —S. B. Shields, Efq. ’ff Wilnes —-David Terrell, Efq. & podtor Bibb. Lincoln —Captain N. Allen, and < apt. J Hughes. Lcuifville—Mtff. Day & Whee ler. I Augufta —J. S. Walker, Efq. & Podor Smelt. Waynesboro' —Col. John Davies. *| ; Sunderjville —Mr. Wm, M‘Mur ray. I Savannah —Mr. H. H. Moun gr.r, and Mr. A. W. Scribner. From the Bojlen Patriot . THE INADMISSIBLE PRINCIPLES OF THE KING of ENGLAND'S PROCLAMATION of Gil. 22, 1807- Corfidcred. ? I hey wttl be thought to have no |f riends in America, who will care err qugli for them to make ni"A rri :A fend tbeie will b s *• ~ • -m prettied. If there oe any natives or funs of na pves of any of the Weft India Elands, dP- F, *3jy part ci the Eaft Indies, v/htre the king is laid to have thirty ar.illions of fubjeds tiiefe mutt all be imprtJTed, for conqueft confers inde lible character of fubjeds, as well ias birth. But if neither Englifh ■ Scotch, Irifh. welfh, Italian, German, IDwtchmap, Spaniard, Portuguefe, |Eatl or Weft ladla-man is found, the I reverend Lieutenant will think if he is ■prudent enough not to fay, “ Jura witt gatjili ,ute nihil non ano?at artnisf* l 1” Our imps is io weakly manned, that L\.e cannot light an enemy, we can r GEORGIA EXFRE S S. MANY SHALL RUN T® AND FRO, AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL 811 INCREASED. not even navigate her in fafety, in bad weather ; prccula Jove, procul a fulmine , I will take as many native Americans as I pleafe. It will be long before I can be called to account; and at hft I can fay that I faved the king’sftiip, & perhaps byataFrench inan by the aid of this meritorious impre ttmenf, and I am fare of friends vvho will not only bring me cfF, but obtain a promotion for me, even for this patriotic action.” How many American finips and cargoes will be funk in the lea, or driven on fhore. wrecked and left ; hew many maf ters and remaining failors will be bu sied in the ocean for want of the af filrance of the men thus kidnaped and ftolcßj mo human fore fight can calculate. It is, however ealy to predict,.that the number rauft be ve ry great. ■ Thefe c&nJfiderauons, it items, have no weight in theeftima rion of the Britifh miniftry. Their hearts are hot taught to feel anoth er’s woe. But ail thefe things, the captains and owners ,of American merchant lhips mutt take into con fideration, and make the fubje&s of calculation before they can venture to lea. In fhort there ftiouid be z corporation eredled in every ttate for the exprefs purpule of inlbring a gaintt imprt ftment of feamcn. In a courle of time and experience the chances might be calculated, fo chat the infurtrs and infured, might at & great expence Be fecure. But the poor failors can never be fafe. The law mutt be fettled, or remain unfeeded, If fuch impreflrnents are determined to be legal, either by treaty or by acquit feence in the king’s proclamation, it wille ftabiifti in the mieds of Britifh feamen a pride of fuperiority and a fpiric of domination, and in the minds of American feamen a confcioufnefs of inferiority and a fervile fpiritoffub rniftion, that ages will not eradicate. If the queftion, is allowed to remain undetermined American feamen will fight in deft nee of their liberty, v .. never they fee the fma’lett prof pect of efcaping, and fometimes when there is none. They will kill and be killed. Some will be pun ched for their rtftftance on board the Bricifh men of v/ar; and fome may be carried to a JBritifh port and there profecuted for piracy and murder. This, however, will fel dom ever be done; for I ftill be lieve there is fenfe and juftice enough in the Britifh nation and their juries to acquit any feaman, American or Bripki, v/ho ihould kUI a prt iT gang in defence of his hberty ; but if he ftiouid efcape and return to America, and be here profecuted, I will not believe there is a judge or juror on tht continent, fo ignorant of the law', fo dead to every lenfe of juftice, lo abandoned te every feeling of hu manity, as to find him guilty of any crime, if it were proved that he had killed a dozen preff-gangr, in de fence of his freedom. We fhail have a continual warfare, at fea, like thai lately ac Canron. Our Secre tary of State’s oftice will be filled with representations Sc complaints; our nat ion will be held in a con ttant ttate of irritation and fermen tri;ipn, ar:d cur government always diftrefled, between their anxiety to relieve their fellow citizens and their inability to ferve them. . A repubiicao, who afierts. the duty of jealoufty, ought to fufpeft that this proclamation was didated by a fpirit as hoftile and malicious as it was infidious, for the determi ned purpofe of deprdiing the cha racter of our feamen. Take from the Tailor his pride and his courage, and he becomes a poor animal in deed. Broken-hearted, deje&ed, deprciLd even below the ftandard of other men of his own level in fo ciety, a habit of fear will be eftab lifhed in his mind. At the fight of a Britifh man of v/ar a panic will teizc him ; his fpirits will fink, and if it be only z cutter or a lugger, he will think of nothing but flight r*r.d efcapc. What but the haugh* ty Ipirjt of their feamen, which hat been encouraged and fupported for ages by the nation, has given the Britifh navy its fuperiority over the natives of other nations?- c -Who fhail dare to fet bounds to rhe commerce and naval power of Great Britain ?** Is the magnifi cent language of defiance in Pailia menr, and ic vibrates and echoes though every heart in the nation.—’ Every Britifli failor is made to be lieve himfelf matter and command er of the v/orld„ If the right of impreflment is conceded by us, in theory or pradice, our feamen’s hearts will be broken, and every Britifh feaman will fay to every A rnerican feaman as the Six-nations of Indians faid to the Southern tribes, whom they had conquered. ft We have put the petticoats on you;* In iuch a cai’e many would have too much reafon to fay, let us no long er rtjoice for independence, or think of a navy or free commerce, no longer hope for any rank in the world, but bow our necks again to the yoke of Great Britain. If the fpirit of a man ftiouid re main in our failors, they will fome times refill. Should a Britifli cut ter demand to Jeairh American merchant fiiips, of five hundred tons burthen, armed as they fome limes are and have a right to be- The commander of the cutter calls for a mutter of the m&n, iri order to imprefs fuch as he, in his wifdom, fhail judge to be Briiifti fubje&s. Is ic credible tlb it the captain and crew cf the merchantman will fub mic to fuch ulage ? No, he v/ifi fink the boat and cutter too, rather than be fo infulttd, and every merican muft applaud k;m for his fpirit. Is this right of imprefiment to be all on one fide, v# is to be recipro cal ? Britifh m.odcfty may lay; ct It is an exclusive privilege, which we claim, aftert and will maintain; be caufe it is ntceffary to fuppoi t our dominion of the feas, which is ne cefiary to prefcrv a balance of power, in Europe, againft France, and to prevent the French Empe ror from fending fifty-thoufaud men to conquer the United Stares of America*” All this will not con vince American feamen. They, wiil anfvycr ; “ We think a balance of Jsl| the ocean as neoeftarv a? on the continent of Europe. thank you for your civility in j * giving us hopes, that you wij£pr fend us from the French arflVy c fifty-thoufand men ; but we are verv willing to rake our defence upon b ourfelvcs. If you have wi to imprefs feamen from our have an equal right to yours.” Should one of our gun-boats meet a Britifh Eaft-Indiaman, arnacd with fifty guns. The gun-boat de mands a lcarch for American lea men ; calls for the mutter-roll, com mands the men to pafs in review before him ; would the Eaft-India captain lubmit ? No. He would • fooner throw over board the preff gang, and run down the gun-boat. Such will be the perpetual alterca tion between Britons and Americans, at fea, and lay an immovable foun dation of eternal hatred between the two nations. The king’s procla mation will be found as impolitic a ftep as ever the court of St. James* has taken. tfl It is faid, in the context, “ The Britifli fliips-of war, agreeably to a tight, claimed and exercifed for m ages* tight, claimed and exer- A ciled during the whole of the ad- J mtniftrationb of Wafidiigron and * Adams, and of Jefforfon, continue mo I take fome of the Britifti feainepct found on board our merchant vef- Ids, and with them a fmall number, of ours, from the impcfTibility of al ways diftinguifliing Engliflimen from the citizens of the U. States.” W £ have before feen what fort of a r : g!it to imprefs men from their own. fliips has been claimed, in whac manner it has been exercifed > and in w hat light it has been confidered by* the Englifh nation. It amounts to a right of getting their c flicers law fully killed. But furely, no right vvas ever before claimed to imprefs men from foreign fliips. If fuch a pretended right was ever exercifed, or, in other words, if luch a crime was ev< r committed, 1 prefuAteic would be no better proof of a legal right, than a robbery, burglary or murder, committed on ttiort would prove that fuch aflions are innocent and lawful. To argue from firgle or a few inftancefe to a general law, is a. faphiftry too common with politkjul wikers, and is fometimes to compilers of the laws uf nations ; but none of them ever went to fuch extravagance as this.—* No tkiai or pieienfion of any right to fearch foreign veffcls for feamen, ever exifted before our revolution ; and no exercifes of Inch a i ight ever prevailed fince, except fuch as re lembie the exercifc of the right of conimiting robbery, burglary and murder in fome of our cities. No ages have patted fince our revolu tion. The right was never uiTerted or claimed till the late proclamation of the king appeared, and that ptoc lamation will make an epoch or dif grace and ditafter to one nation or tiie other, pct/iaps bnrh. Fom the peace of 1783 to the commencement cf our government, under rhe pre&nt national conftiru ricn, wherever any American fea -j men vrtrr immediately demanded in * (No.