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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