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I, (MI I S V [ L I, F.,
TUAT, 7 79 *7Q9*
—- 11 1 ix— » •*s<*< |y 1
ST A T E of G EC! RG I A.
M E S.S \ O E
0 f his Fxrrllrvr.v GOVERNOR
| \ TKSON, to both lloufts of
the I e%iflat are.
Mr. Prefldent, an I Gentlemen of
the Senate,
Mr. Speaker, end Grn'femrn of the
lint ft of Repre/entaUvrs,
THE political year hiving
expired, it becomes rny duty,
under the eighth lection of the
freond artule of the ronfli u
tioo, 10 give you information
of the ft ite of the republic, and
to recommend to your confidc
ration, fuch me dares, as I may
deem nea (Tary and expedient
for its Idfcy, profperity and
welfare.
In d i f«-barging this trull,
wlii h as far as my fmall ability
will permit, I fhall cheatfully
perform; I fhall vo’untarily
glance at forne parts of the exe
cutive adminidration, in order
to give you at once a clear view'
of the p ill, and a more coin
pre hen five view of the prefen t
fitua ion of the date ; knowing
it. however, to he impoflible to
attain general approbation in the
executive office, a’though con
fims of the pureft reditude
and intention in my public ac
tions : I have only to {latter
mvfelf, that on examination you
will find my adrniniflration, as
firm in the paths of duty as any
of my predeceffors ; mod of|
whom had beaten roads ro tiavel
in, not a track to fee k for them-j
felves, and whofe dens, if thor
ny. were not fo affiduoufly tra
ced.
The pad year has been pro
ductive of fo .many events, at
once fo clafhing and fo varied, 1
that it required, I muflconfcfs,
a more able head than mine, to
deer the political huk entirely
free of the whirlpool of difeou
tpnt— For, exclufive of the new
order of things, by the adop
tion of a new confutation, |
fcarcely had the legiflaturc riien •
in February lad when two ope
ra'ions look p ace, in diredl op
pofiSon to the vvill of that
bodv r .
7 he fird of thofe operations
which I didl notice, was the
r folu T ion of the legifltture,
directing the executive to recall j
the commidloners, appointed
hvthe late executive, from run
ning the temporary boundary
line, between the date's ordi
► nary jurifdidion, and the neigh
lb airing tribes of Indians—This
refolutinß was immediately at
tended to, and Cent by exprefs;
but the line was already run
when it reached the romtniftion
ers, and I have to lament that
feveral of our unfortunate fel
low citizens were left without
the boundary as then decided
, on.
JuHice elite *n
immediate applica- 1
linn to the general government, a
for j’S intvrpofiiion to procure <
the land aderted to be unpro-c
petty Icf. out, and free from all
nurOi n, and legal y\
wqui'cd and fettled. Applica
rion h s already Hern m de, and|
the agent of Indian affiirs ap
pears to have the ext
ern be requefl, but I have as yet
learnt no determined refift.
\\ c have to hope that the like
a'teniion. which has been paid
to the citizens left out by the
running of the line in I ennflee,
will he paid to thofe kit without
the temporary boundary of th s
(late; the ncceflary pipers for
your information on (his lubjebl
will be found marked No. 1.
While the line was running,
an outrage of an enormous na
ture took place in [addon coun
ty, no lets than the ravifbment
of a Mrs. Hilton, by an Indian
chief, called Hig Feared or Tuf-
Tuftunnawgee—• The a-
O u ,
gent gave him up to the civil
power of the Ran*, and a happy
event it would h ive proved,
could he have been tried, con
vided and punifhed.
I ordered a guard over Oglc
tho pe goal, where he was con
fined, as well to preferve his life
for examplary juflice, as to pre
vent an efcape; but 1 was too
Coon mortified, in learning that
an a*tack had been made on the i
goal, and that feme relatives to
this women, weie implicated as
belonging to the attacking par
ty. The attack 'however, f died ;
but whether the defign was to
take private fatisfadion for the
infult by his death, or to relieve
| him from a trial, as has been af
fc ted, is not fufficientiy a'cer
tained to determine : but it is
[(range to add, that, on a habeas
cor jus being brought for the In*
, dian, the woman declined to ap
pear agnnft him, and, either for
the want of teftimony or a wifh
to Qiew the lenhy of Georgia to
wards her red breihern, the In
feiior liidgcs of Oglethorpe
county difcharged him.— Iheir
proceedings marked No. will
I more fully inform you on this
head. But I cannot leave the
I
fuhjed without this comment
that improper as their proceed
ings may have been they do not
wear that alped of cruelty to
ward the Indians, which Geor
gia h's been too long, and too
ignorantly charged with.
1 The other occurrence oppof
ed to the will of the legiflaturc,
was a proceeding of the corpora
tion of Savannah, which body
|a6ling as it declared under the
j 3d led ion of the ad of the 22d
day of February 1796, entitled,
41 an ad to organize the militia
in the ( veral new counties in
this flate" forcih y detained, in
oppofition to a rcfolruion of the
legiflaturc for their fale, thirty
five perfons of colon'', as coming
under the defeription of Wtfl
india negroes or biigands.
The proofs the c'ty council at
f ?r fl Adduced of their being fo,
were hv no means fatislaftor) , ]
airl ilie taken by the cxe- ■
aiiive, and the proceedings of
the corporation, will be found |
matked No. 3—from fome of.
diofe documents, however, (ftir-J
niftied the executive hnce the,
rcfo'ution ha'd palfed) there is ;
lit:! doubt but they came under,
the fe&ion, and were dangerous
to the community —hut the pro
ceedings of thecorpor tion were
fo hignly dihefpeftfiil in the
commencement < f this bu finds,
and (he ultimate fitps t ken to
ih'p them o(F under that aft,
were fo very ineffectual, that
nothing but their being an elec
tive body, and not anfwerable
individually, whofet’me exp'red
in a very (hort period thereafter,
land their declaration that the)
intended no infult to the govern
ment, with a confideration that
it would be unjuff lo punifh the
many citizens of Savannah for
the mifdoings of a few, prevent
ed me bom (u(pending the city
council under the aft of the 23d
day of December, 1789, until
your plca'ure fhould be known.
During the couife of thofe
I O
events, leveral irruptions tcok
place bom the Indian tribes.
Jn the month of Feb’uary laft,
exc ufive of the ravifhment ol
Mis. Hilton on the 3d, Nicholas
jVmes, of Hancock county, was
(hot dead on the 11th, and Wii
j
liam Allen,of Washington conn
' O
ty, was mmdered on the 14th,
and depredations and robberies
were committed by them from
the Tugaloo all along the Fron
tier to the St Mary's—Com
plaints were continually reaching
the executive, of the Indians be
ing enticed on this fide the line
to trade, and lo this, in part, Was
imputed the murdeis and depre
dations of thole people—- I he
fettleis on the Oconee, in Mont-
gornery county, as you will lea n
by a letter to (he executive, f. orn
|ohn Jones Efq. accompanying
a remonltrance from thence
rnaiked No # 4, in cafe their ap
plication (houli not be attended
to, had come to a re r olutiort to
kill a 1 Indian and bring matters
lo a cribs at once. The icmon
ftrancc charged one Fosd as the
perion who inticcd the Indians
on this lide the line to trade in
that county, and major Gaffer
the commanding officer of its mi
litia, as encounging Ford in
the illicit commerce, as we 1 as
having procured Ford to be ille
gally ele£led captain. 1 he only
points (or executive confiderati
on wese, either to invefligate the
charge*, or, by difregarcting the
complaint, indi edly to fan&ion
hoflility, and in all probability
to bring on an Indian wa 1— Du
ty, as well as prudence, without
rc 'peft to pen Tons, required the
former, in order to invade the
heavy expence and lavage cruel*
tics unavoidably attending the
latter—|uff ice alfo, to major
Guild's reputation, as well as
the cfiaradcr of the fa‘e, demrj
that his conduct as romrr.andij
officer, Ihould be enquired into!
for if guilty, it was unothccr-liW
behaviour, and if innocent, t'l
major ought not to lay under tIJ
. imitations alledged agninft hinl
•1 there*ore arretted him, and ol
der a cou t to ht at Icu TvillJ
for the trial of the different rhal
1 ges againll him ; the extrad frcJ
col. Hawkins's letter, among thl
papers on ths head, will tvinrl
his opinion, that no harmor!
could be expeded, until foml
(top could be put to thole iliicil
pradices. I
I he court corrpofed of a ref*
pcdable fet of officers, fome cl
whom are within your wallsl
met, and I fincerely wifh thal
m>jor Gatter had attended an®
cleared up his condud ; but ini
(lead of doing fo, he cnclofed Lisi
cornmilhon to brigadier gene?all
Monifon, prettdent of the courrl
too late for acceptance, and wasl
unanirnoufly found guilty cfl
three charges out of four, and!
fentenred to be cafhiered ; as|
you wil find by the pipyeedings
of the court maikcd No. 5.
A prefen ment has fines ap.
peared, from the grand jury of
Montgomery county, againfl the
trial of the major out of his
county in a military way, for a
chaige of a civil narure—this is a
: pe fedmittake : he was tried for
I unofficer-like condud as com
mandant of the Montgomery mr
llitia, not as a civil magiftraie;
and as to trying him out of hii
; county, how could it liave been
. avoided? fhe 2id (edion of
. the militi \ law declares, “ that for
. the trial of a field officer the com t
r (hall confill of one brigadier ge
. neral, three field officers and five
; captains." Could thofe be tak
-3 en from a county which hid but
. one field officer, and that officer
» charged? Was it more proper
. then, that a brigadier general and
three field officers (hould have
been ordered 10 Montgomery
from different counties, }o try the
major, or that the major fhould
attend his trial at the leat of go
vernment, the moft convenient
place, and the middle ground of
the brigade he belonged to ? If
it.be decided that an officer of
your militia cannot be tried out
of his county, it may ealily be
difeovered, that cafes may arife,
where he cannot be tried at all,
however henious bis .offence,
I have barely difehvged my du
ty ; and the oath of Braze!
Qve'ftreet, one of the jury who
prtfented the trial, will prove,
that tlie grand jury were deceiv
ed'in their presentment, and on
| ly thought it a petition for a new
trial. It is certain, thatfmee '’l
major’s trial, lefs damage 1 *
been fuftained from Indian
predations, and the execu <
with pleafure informs.thc leg.il
ture, that not a .nan has :11
called into Service, of courf* *
a (billing expended, for I a
defence, notwithflandi ig tl U1I “
• promising afpeci of tho *“
d