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No 21 Vol. Vl.] , legislature of Georgia. From the Georgia Journal , Extra, of Nov. 2. This day the Governour transmitted to both branches of the Legislature, the following M3BA® SI Executive Department, Ga. ) Milledgeville, Nov. 2, 1824. > Fellow-Citizens of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives, It is a matter of gratulation that since the last Assembly of the Legislature, the United States have continued in a state of peace with all na tions, courting amicable relations with all by a just and impartial system, and exhibiting at the same time the armour necessary to command res pect to our rights every where. Connected with such happy auspices, the present year has been made memorable by the landing of General, late Marquis La Fayette, on the soil where the first years of his distinguished life were devoted, by purse and sword, to defend all that we held sacred of political and civil rights. It was due to him to be invited by the Chief Magistrate, in the name of the people of the state to our bosoms, and it was accordingly done. When it is said the United States have so far caused their lights to be respected by all nations, it is by no means to be understood that such a state of things can be lasting. The wisest policy —the most pacifiek dispositions will not assure us against a change. At this moment an organized confederacy of despots in Europe, more formida ble than ever known before, shake their bloody sceptre at all nations who contend for freedom and the rights of man. The United States and Great Britain present the only barrier to the des truction ol liberty, else the spirit which animates the Greek in his glorious struggle with the Turk would have been extinguished, South America subdued, and our fire-rides assailed. So long as the United States and England are leagued against them, these enemies of the human race dare not commit themselves to the seas. Meanwhile the progress of the mind always seeking liberal prin ciples will make the cause of right and justice stronger every day, until this array of tyrants shall be broken and scattered, and liberation from thraldom be complete and universal. The strongest operative principle of the Amer ican institutions in diffusing blessings of all kinds among savage and civilized men, is the principle of universal toleration, religious and political.— This principle, having its foundation in the Amer ican constitutions of government, is dispensing its beneficent influences every where, to the utter most ends of the earth ; and in perfect accord and harmony with the precepts of the gospel, it will make that gospel more and more active in the reclamation of human nature in regions where the rose never bloomed, and where the savage con tinues to hunt his fellow-man as the beast of the forest. In fact,, for the spreading of the beuign doctrines of Christianity among the idolater and the heathen, there is reason to believe that an all foreseeing I'rovidence has made this great, and I hope unambitious nation, its chief instrument. If the millenium is to come, American institutions, under the same direction, will bring it to pass. Then, for the first time, comes the epoch of uni versal peace. Before that, it is our business and our duty to be prepared for war. No sovereign state, whatever be its relation to others, should suffer itself to be wronged or insulted The weaker, the more strenuously it should insist on its rights, the more vigorously defend them. The Romans never counted the number of their eue inies, and it is better that all perish, than that one tittle of honour be surrendered. Maintaining, however, with reason, justice and firmness, those Tights which belong to us, we ought to make it our Care scrupulously to respect the rights of others. I call your attention, therefore, to the state of our militia—under a good sy-tern, a bulwark—un der a bad one, a rope of sand. It is recommend ed to you most earnestly, to revise your system. Pains have been taken to give to it all the efficacy of which it was susceptible. Wanting an ener getiek principle to enforce itself, it would not have been made available for even a temporary organi zation, but for the virtue and patriotism of our cit >izens. These virtues in some degree supplied the defects of the law, and will enable me to m..ke a tolerably’ satisfactory estimate of the military power of the state. 1 cannot in a message like this enter into detail, but you have accompanying documents which will suffice to show partially the defects and the remedies. But suffer me to en treat that in this revision you look to a military system purely abstracted from, and having no connexion with the civil polity. The citizen is a different being from the soldier. Carry the civil law into the camp, the latter becomes a fungus upon state. Instead of perfect subordination and discipline, which regard his own preservation and the safety- of the country, he looks constantly to his civil privileges—makes the law for his own government, and decides partially when he shall look the enemy in the face—when betake himself to flight. In no country can such a military sys tern be maintained as a reliance for defence. Ev en under the laws of the United States, when the militia take the field, they are subjected to mar tial law. It is the novelty of this restraint which in war gives rise to so many difficulties, and cau ses so many embarrassments before the militia are qualified for active service j and how easy for the citizen to learn that, consulting his own safety and the safety of the state, the moment he takes his position in the ranks, his first duty and his first virtufe is obedience, and bow habitually easy in -war will be the practice thus acquired in time of peace. It will be vain to attempt to discipline th* militia in times of pence, unless the strictest subordination and obedience can be commanded among all ranks, from the general to the private The basis of any good system is organization. Without permanent organization it need not be attempted to uniform, equip, arm or discipline. The organization of the company is the basis of the whole, and it is ascertained by sufficient ex perience that it is extremely difficult to maintain a complete organization of companies under the present system. The supineness and indifference of the peuple who elect the company officers in a period of peace, their carelessness in attending elections at all, and consequently the very im proper selections which are frequently made have had a tendency to impair the value of the com mission, which ought always to be held honoura able. The uncertainty of preferment too, which ought to he the sure reward of merit, deters young men of good character from snking commissions of the lower grade. In fine, the numerous resig nations constantly occurring and the disinclina tion frequently manifested for this service, shew the defect to be radical and to require an effectu al remedy. A uniform prescribed for the militia. THE MISSIONARY. cheap and equally useful in the ordinary occupa tions of life, would have a tendency to diffuse more generally that military pride so essential to the character of the soldier. The time, it is hop ed will arrive when, under th* wise provisions of the act of Congress for this purpose, the whole body of the militia of the United States will be supplied with arms and equipments. In this event it will be desirable to establish in each county a central depot of arms, to be used on field days, and as the publick service may require. As one of the prominent evils of the existing system, is the habitual non-execution of the sanc tions and penalties prescribed by the laws, you will find it indispensable, as well for the enforce ment of these, as for the uniform and regular ex ecution of their general provisions to provide for the appointment of an Adjutant General, with adequate rank and emoluments, having his office at the seat of government, and if it be thought proper, to establish drill schools for the officers in central points of divisions or brigades, their gene ral superintendence and direction should be con fided to him under the orders of the Commander in Chief. The reports of Maj. Gen. Newnan and Brig. Gen Harden, merit your attention. Intimately connected with the defence is the publick education of the country. Every citizen, to be qualified efficiently to defend his rights and those ot Ins country, should possess intelligence enough clearly to understand them, and this in the complex relations of our political system, is at once the more necessary and the more difficult. The rich and the poor now unite in the acknowl edgement of the advantages accruing from an en larged system of education which will qualify them equally for all the occupations, civil and military, to which the state may call them. In the front of the higher academick institutions al ready organized, you will take pleasure to recog nize Franklin College, an ornament, and under proper endowment, an institution of first utility to Georgia. Next, the academies of counties on ly requiring a fostering hand to cause them to flourish and produce fruits worthy of the fathers who laid the foundations. I recommend to yon to give to these institutions liberally and unspar ingly, according to their wants. But above all 1 recommend that to the poor of our fellow-citizens you extend a bountiful hand. A poor and honest man is the noblest work of God. How much more worthy your cart; the children, who under your protecting auspices might be the best of men, under your neglect, the worst. Nothing is more eay than to comprehend all under the expanded wings spread over these institutions, by the con stitution and the law* which limit your discretion in nothing, but the duty always imposed on you to take care that of publick monies appropriated to any object, a strict accountability be exacted. The rule of apportioning annually a specifiok sum among the different counties in proportion to rep resentation as adopted by an act of the last Le gislature, is not only a fair oue, but of easy exe cution. T lie period has arrived when Georgia can no longer postpone the great work of iuternal im provement. If considerations of the highest order could not prevail, state pride would be a motive sufficiently stroDg to determine her. Some of her sisters are already far in advance of her. Almost all of them have to a greater or less extent em barked in it. She sees the most enterprising and persevering among them already deriving advan tages from it, which place them in the first rank of opulence and power. A state, therefore, like Georgia, blessed by Providence with the means of reaching the highest commercial prosperity, by a road plain, direct and practicable, will no longer linger in the rear. She will begin, and with a little patience and perseverance, instead of de caying cities and a vascillating trade, and what is most humiliating, that trade seekiug an empo rium elsewhere than within her own limits, she will witness the proud arid animating spectacle of maritime towns restored and flourishing, new ones rising up—her trade steady and increasing— her lands augmented in value and improved in cultivation—the face of the country beautified and adorned ; and she may witness what was once deemed impossible to tinman efforts, the western waters mingling with her own, and the trade of Missouri and Mississippi floating through her own territory to her own sea ports, and ail this within the compass of her own resources, provided the ordinary economy, prudence, and foresight be employed to and improve them. The first and most important step will be to com mand an Engineer of science and practical skill, and measures have been taken to procure the ser vices of such an one. As it is indispensable that the rank among the highest of his profession, follows that his compensation should be fixed at such a rate as other stales have assigned to the like order of talents and qualification, lam per suaded you will not hpsitate so do this. The Le gislature of Georgia is too enlightened to under value the services of mind, and looking to her true interest in this particular, she will find the best economy in the highest compensation. The critical accuracy necessary in every stage of the proceeding, the minuteness of observation, the correctness of calculation and the application of the mathematical science to the whole, require the first order of cultivated mind, and under the direction of such a mind there is moral certainty that mistakes or errours of a fatal character will not occur. In avoiding these you save an expen diture in comparrison with which the salary of a life time would be as nothing. The laborious to pographical explorations and surveys which must precede the plans and estimates for the execution of the great works, will also require time; for they are these which will determine what ought first to be undertaken—what most beueficial—what most practicable—what least expensive. In calling your attention to the Judiciary, I am only directing it to objects with which it has been familiar. To bring justice as near as possi ble to the home of every citizen, at the least pos sible expense and with the greatest possible ex pedition, are maxims of the common law, sound and salutary. Ihe best maxims upon paper are of little value unless carried into practical effect. In England, where they have been long disregard ed, but whence we derive our models, they have, at this moment, the worst system of practical ju risprudence of any country on earth, and this chiefly from the neglect of those very maxims. The delays & expenccs of justice are ruinous ; so much so that the very best part of their system, the High Court of Chancery, has become a nuis ance to the country. Os what avail are the best principles of juridical science to any people, if in practice they are constantly abused ? In our system there is quite enough of delay and ex pense, and these may he diminished by discard ing some silly maxims of the common law. But again, it is to he considered that justice should not only be rendered cheaply, expeditiously, and Os all the dispositions and hSit/which leadto Washington, MOUNT ZION, (HANCOCK COUNTY, GEORGIA,) MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1824- conveniently,it should be rendered also with uni- 1 ounity : that is, in all like cases there should 1 be like decisions, in the practice under onr sys tem, it is impossible to assure this desirable result, rom two causes. Ist. From a numser of Judges acting separately and apart. 2d. From a want or time to mature their decisions in the more im portant cases. It has no doubt fallen within the observatmn of all ofyou, that frequeHly the most difficult and complex questions ari.e before onr ju ges, and they have no more time for the inves tgation of them, than for the desision of the most plain and simple ones. I advis; you there orc, if, for the sake of uniformity, a ways so de sirable in the administration of justice, you deem it expedient, to organize a Court of Errors—that you so organize it as not to enhance the expense to suitors. It is before such courts, as commonly organized, that this evil is sorely felt by the citi zen. The expense is mcreased. An argument is admitted t and this is the source of the expense. I lie argument is good for nothing. Itye parties before the court want not the argument— they want the decision. They will be quite content with the argument of the judges ; andifthe judg es, selected for their legal wisdom specifically to decide questions of law submitted by ihe records of the courts below, cannot decide cortectly with out a laboured rediscussion of such questions, not by themselves, but by others who ought not to be their superiors—such a court will only be an evil, by the amount of unnecessary expense thus in curred. Otherwise much of good might result from it, more especially if it be made the duty of the court to pass finally upon all questions at the first term. 1 he compilation and digest of the Statute Law of Lngland in force in this country, has been con fided, according to your direction to William Schley, Esq. And Charles Harris, Thomas U P. Charlton and William Davis, Esqs. gentlemen of distinguished eminence at the bar bave been ap pointed with supervisory powers to advise from time to time alterations or amendments as the work progressed ; so that whilst by this concert and co-operation it will be rendered more perfect and complete, its final adoption as part of the code of this state will also be rendered more cer tain. In connection with this important subject, inay I be permitted to suggest a like revision and digest of its companion, the common law ; or, returning to the dark ages what belongs to them, wonld it not be worthy of the generation in which we live, it Georgia, by embodying the best parts of the common aud statutory law of England, the Homan civil law and the Napoleon Code, (the last by far the best system extant,) were to sup ply for herself a code of Jurisprudential Ethics, which, having their foundations in reason, justice and common sense, would be alike applicable to all limes and all circumstances; and relieving Georgia from a dependence on foreign legislation, relieve her from reflections humiliating to her pride and mortifying to her self-lo''e. The mollified penal code of Georgia had two humane objects in view— Ist. To spare the life of the criminal whenever it could be done with safety to society. 2d. To reform him by con finement and hard labour—a system which is con stantly exhibited in contrast to the bloody one of England, and which from its congeniality with the American character and feeling, it would he de sirable to perpetuate. Our code however is in its theoretical detail defective, and I have no doubt that our judges, who are most familiar with its virtues and its faults, will pronounce it so. Its mode of execution is at least equally so. The remedy of both is within your power, and to ap ply it, it is only necessary to understand clearly what the defects are. It will be seen on the most superficial survey, that we passed at once from the extreme of severity to the extreme of lenity It was never believed that under any tolerable system of criminal jurisprudence, punishment could be dispensed with, and yet the object of re form accomplished. This, however, is our sys tem iu practice. There is not even the appear ance ol punishment connected with our Peniten tiary establishment, unless the restraint upon the liberty of roaming at large for the commission of crime, be considered so. The far greater propor tion of the convicts at all times are better fed, clothed and lodged, than they have been accus tomed to be; and whilst they perforin the work necessary to keep the body in a healthful state, they enjoy, not merely the benefits of society, hut exactly that description of it which, in or out of the establishment, they would seek and court. The punishment in ordinary cases, should be hard labour and solitary confinement—hard labour by day and solitary confinement by night. The practice of crowding four or six convicts in the same dormitory, is replete with evils which inevi tably and directly defeat the very end of the in stitution. Not only is vice rendered more vicious by it, but the hope of reformation is forever cut off from those who, not hardened in iniquity, are willing to contemplate in darkness and solitude their first offences against the law, and the gloomy consequences which never fail to follow them. Every species ot association or intercouise be tween the convicts ought to he suppressed, unless it he that kind of it, which is indispensably neces sary to the performance of the work in which they are engaged. Some lessons have been taught by the experience of the oldest institutions in the U. States, which ought not be lost to us in looking to the improvement of our own. The oldest and most obdurate offenders acknowledge that contin ued solitary confinement is the severest, the most irksome aud tedious of all the punishments they have suffered, nevertheless they continue obdu rate and unreclaimed. This fact, whilst it affords additionol proof of the policy which would pre vent association or intercourse between older and younger offenders, and between these and stran gers of every description, may show also the ex pediency of dispensing with continued solitary confinement in most of the aggravated cases, and in place of it, prolonging the time for which they are committed. The report of the Principal Keep er of the Penitentiary, will disclose some judicious observations relative to the present state of police, discipline and financial economy of the institu tion, and certain suggestions for reform and im provement in each. With unfeigned regret 1 feel myself constrained to expose the state of the controversy in which Georgia has been reluctantly involved with the U. States. That every disposition existed origi nally on the part of this government to pursue our claims against the general government with mode ration and good temper, is manifest from the pro ceedings themselves. The Executive branch of it unequivocally disclaims to have been prompted on his part by any other than the most friendly feelings towards the constituted authorities of the U. States, and he fondly trusts that whatever of irritation has been engendered, or unkind senti ments expressed, the cause is to be sought excla- sively in the deep conviction felt by the Govern- I ment of Georgia, that Georgia was about to suffer ! flagrant wrong and injustice, by the course of po- : licy adopted by the U. States in their intercourse ! with the Indians. Nor were any complaints eli cited of this, other than such as were made in the most decorous and respectful terms, before the delegation of Georgia found themselves in an atti tude of humiliation at Washington, by the com parison, forced upon them, between their own relation and that of certain other delegation, to the Executive government of the U. States, in their Intercourse with it. Nor was any measure resorted to here of an imcourteous character, un til the President of the United States, in a mes sage to Congress, had so treated the claims of Georgia and the rights of the Indians as to fore close the former forever from making any further claim or demand upon the latter, provided there should be a recognition by Congress or by Geor gia, of the doctrine a*serled by that message. The Governour would have been wanting in duty to the people, whom on that occasion he represen ted, if he had not seized the first moment to pro test, in the strongest language, against such doc trines; and whatever may have been offensive in the manner of the protest which lie interposed, he insists that in regard to the matter, truth was in every part of it maintained with the most scrupu lous fidelity. The principle asserted by the mes sage was, essentially, that the Cherokees were now the fee simple proprietors of the soil they oc cupy, and of consequence that no right of territo ry could lawfully pass from them without their voluntary and express consent—A principle so strange and novel, asserted for the first time in the history of the government, connected as it was with the declaration just previously obtained from the same Indians, that they never would consent to part with another foot of territory, amounted to an absolute denial of our rights and the destruction of our claims either upon the U. States or upon the Indians now and forever. It was in contestation of this novel and strange prin ciple the Governour of Georgia found it to be his duty to address himself to the Executive govern ment of the United States, in very plain language. The United States government seemed not to have understood our motto or our emblem, or un derstanding, to have disrespected them. All our obligations, therefore, to the U.States aud to our selves, our love of peace,of harmony and of union, prompted to this as the only means of warning the United States government, in due time, that they were precipitating themselves upon a crisis, the least deplorable of the results of which would be the entire destruction of the weaker party— results which could not be sought by the United States, and which we on our part, had the strong est motives to avoid. There is yet time to avert them, and it is confidently believed they will be averted. It is impossible for the United States, upon a deliberate re-examination of the subject, ever to persuade themselves that it would be pos sible for the State of Georgia, or any other State possessing even limited sovereignty, to make a tame abandoiv-'o.it and surrender of indisputable and sacred lermorial rights, to such pretensions as the U States government have thought proper to urge in behalf of the Cherokees. The docu ments having relation to this unpleasant subject, accompany this message, and I will add little else to the matter of them, save a simple fact, to show how much the United States government have deceived themselves by asserting the principle just adverted to. In the year 1785, the United States concluded a treaty at Hopewell, with the Cherokees, in the first article of which it is decla red “that the United States give peace to them and receive them into the favour and protection of the United States,” and in the 4th article of which it is further declared, “ that the boundary allotted to the Cherokees for theirhuntinggrourids shall be” so and so, comprehending these very lands which we now demand of the United States. And this concession of even a usufructuary inter est is made on certain conditions stipulated in the treaty and which of course, if violated en the part of the Cherokees, would cause a forfeiture of even this right of hunting. The treaties of Gal phinton and Shoulderbone, between Georgia and the Creeks, held in the years ’BS and ’B6, contain similar stipulations, recognizing the right of soil, sovereignty and jurisdiction to be in Georgia and the United States, and the right of hunting only in the Indians, and within such limits as Georgia and the United States have designated. You will perceive, therefore, that whatever might hate been the kind of tenure by which lands were ac knowledged to be holden by the Indians before the treaty of Hopewell, after that treaty, so far as respects the Cherokee title to their lands, the tenure was definitively settled. If the fee simple had been with them before, from that moment it departed from them, and vested in Georgia. It could vest nowhere else, because the United States at that time rt cognized the paramount claim of Georgia. Now it would behoove the United States to show how Georgia was divested of this title. She could not be divested but in virtue of her own express consent, aud then it be hooves the United States to shew the treaty, grant, or concession, in which such consent was given. So far from the United States being able to do this, we produce the articles of agreement and cession to show a confirmation to us of this same territory thus acquired by the treaty of Hopewell. Suffer me to add that the United States have, in theory and practice, uniformly acted upon the principle of the treaty of Hope well with regard to all other Indians; that is to say, conceding the right of use to the Indians, they have reserved to themselves the allodial title, with which is essentially connected jurisdiction and sovereignty. And that lor some reasons or other altogether unexplained, the case of Georgia has been made an exception, both in theory or 1 practice. The Commissioners of the U. States in their negotiations at Ghent, asserted the rights of the sovereignty and soil of all the Indian country within their boundaries to the United States, and consequently that the Indians were mete tenants at will. They asserted moreover, what is un doubtedly true, that the system adopted by the United Stages towards the aborigines is more lib eral and humane than that practised by any other nation before them. The treaty of Hopewell is the basis of all other treaties with the Cherokees. Its provisions are confirmed expressly by the sub sequent ones of Philadelphia in ’94, Tellico in’ ’9B, and Tellico in 1805. Disregarding the stip-1 ulations of these treaties, the U. S. acknowledge [ the fee simple to be in the Indians. The Indiaus therefore may rightfully cede certain portions of j territory in fee simple, to private citizens of Geor- 1 gia. Georgia in the last resort is forced to draw j the sword against her own flesh and blood. The j Unite ! States will then be the primary agent m fomenting cjvil war between the citizens of [Price $3 50 per aim. Georgia ; and what will be more unnatural—the citizens of Georgia resident in the Cherokee coun try, will appeal to the government of the United States to vindicate their supposed rights, against the assaults of their own brothers. Thus the U. States, by their new doctrine, overthrow the en tire system of polity before established in their in tercourse with the Indians, and will, if they per severe, reduce Georgia to the necessity of resort ing for redress to measures depending* on herself alone. As to the guaranties contained in these treaties, they are guaranties to the Indians of the right of hunting on the grounds alloted them as securities against the trespasses of the whites, who might in terfere with that use, and not guaranties of fee simple title. How could the treaties expressly take from the Indians the fee simple in one article and guaiantee it to them in another? If the Unit ed States have encouraged the Cherokees to make expensive improvements on the lands of Georgia, and such improvements are assigned as the reason for not making the relinquishment, the U. States are bound in honour and justice to pay the full value of them, and to give to the Cherokees terri tory of their own elsewhere, corresponding in extent arid fertility with that which they abandon. The government of Georgia solemnly disavows any intention to do the least injustice to the Cherokees. On the contrary it would respect their rights, as it would those of any other people, and will contribute its full quota at all times, as it has done in past times, to civilize, improve aud perpetuate, a race of men of great nobleness of spirit, and with whom she has generally lived on terms of peace and friendship, but it can scarcely be expected by the Cherokees themselves, that obvicus aud indisputable rights of citizens of Georgia should he yielded to any interest of theirs whether real or imaginary. The government of the United States have thought proper to state an account current with, the state of Georgia. In this account Geo-gia is charged with an aggregate of $7,735,243, made up of the following items, viz: $1,250,000 under the articles of agreement and cession—s9sß,9s4. paid in extinguishment of Indian claims—sl,244,- 137 (or 995,310 acres of Arkansas land at the minimum price of $1 25—and $4,284,151 paid to the Yazoo claimants. It is perfectly fair and quite consistent with usage, that Georgia, on her part should state an account also ; and taking the rule adopted by the U. States government, viz: the present minimum price of the publick lands, the account would stand thus—Bo,ooo.ooo acres ceded to the United States at $1 25 per acre, $100,000,000 —from which deducting the above amount, charged to Georgia by the United States, will leave a nett balance of $92,264,757, gratui tously presented by Georgia to the United -States. It will be recollected, however, that from Ihe date of the contract with Georgia in 1802, until the 24th day ol April, 1820, the minimum price of the publick lands, have been fixed at $2 per acre, and when it is considered that between the two periods no lands were sold fur less, and large quantities were sold for more, the account can thus be stated—Bo,ooo,ooo at $2 per acre, $160,- 000,000; making the same allowance for Atkah sas lands exchanged with the Cherokees, and giving credit to the Uuited States for $1,990,620, instead of $1,244,137, the balance due to Geor gia would be $151,518,274. The whole revenue of the United States would not pay it in seven yearsto pay it in one year would involve the mass of the population of the U. S. in infinite dis tress. The interest would have enabled Geor gia to dispense with taxes—to educate all her cit izens at the publick expense—to have armed and equipped her militia—to have made a garden of the face of the country, intersected every where by turnpikes and canids and studded with the monuments of art. Foregoing these advantages for the benefit of the U. States, Georgia would have been the last to remind the Uuited States that sacrifices had been made on their account, if the federal government postponing the rights and interests of Georgia, to the imaginary rights of the Indians, had not forced upoD her a comparison of what she is, with what she might have been. But it cannot even be conjectured upon what grounds Georgia has been charged with the amount paid to the Yazoo claimants. Georgia was not consulted iu the compromise with those claimants. She never therefore gave her assent to the com promise. On the coutrary, so firr as she could, she did, by her delegation in Congress, resist it. Georgia, so long as she remained a moral agent, could never assent. The act was, in effect and substance, a formal decree of the highest authori ties known to the constitution of the U. States, in perpetual testimony of the reward which awaits those who shall in future time successfully bribe and corrupt the representatives of the people to sell their country: and as in this case it was the Legislature of Georgia which had been so bribed and corrupted, it could aot be expected by the U. States that her assent ever could be given. It would have been equally reasonable, if the U. S. had surrendered the entire country to the claim ants, and charged Georgia with the value of it. No time was lost in transmitting to the Presi dent the Memorial of the last Legislature on the subject of citizens’ claims against the Creek In dians, which had been provided for by the treaty concluded at the Indian Springs. The answer of Ihe President, communicated through the Secre tary of War, is submitted. You will see that the decision of which we complained is considered final, and that no revisal of it need be expected. The provision of the treaty was undoubtedly de signed to cover the whole amount of every descrip tion, and of every date, up to the year 1802, the justness and fairness of which could be substanti ated by sufficient evidence—Nevertheless the President has thought proper to reject claims for property takeu and destroyed, only because it happened to be destroyed, although the broad and comprehensive words of the treaty are “Pro perty taken or destroyed,” and he has moreover resorted to the rules of interpretation prescribed by the law of nations to expound treaties conclu ded with savages, by which a farther considerable amount is deducted from the claims of Georgia, pre-existing treaties, not having, according to those rules, specifically provided for them. This construction is the more unreasonable, as those treaties were concluded, not by Georgia, fcut by the U. States, who ought not now to cause the j citizens of Georgia to suffer by their own neglect :or omission. Georgia, however, haviDg improv- I idently assented to refer those claims to the arbi . trement of the 1 resident alone without appeal, ! whatever reason she may have to complain of the | injuttice of the decision, she is precluded from j resorting to any measures of her own for rt-dresa. I The Indißns well understanding that the aggregate 1 of the claims amounted to more than $250,000, i intended that the entire sum should be applied to J the satisfaction of them. According to tbe rules