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THE LOUISVILLE GAZETTE. l—■————— —mmr*mm m— '' . ' —.-- - r j i 1 UES D A \,. Atr i l 1799* £No,i2, ' fi ~ —REASON' AND TRUTH IMPARTIAL GUIDE THE WAY . [p • Publilhed every Tuelday, by AMBROSE DAY, at three dollars per aim. payable half yearly in advance. jX)UIS v * L,Lj , u Tvcrutive Department, Georgia, Louifvillty Apri* 3’ 1 799• HIS honor Judge Walton in discharges in Striven and Mont 20rnery counties, having indi jedly refleftedon the Executive department; and charged the Officer filling it, with influencing Grand furies in Burke and Han cock. to make certain prefent menrs, it becomes a duty in the Department to defend itfelf. And it is there fort ORDERED , That the following letter, be written to his honor the Judg~, and be published in the Colum bian Mufeum, of Savannah— the Gazettes of Louifvdle, and the Augufla Chronicle, where thole charges have been pub lilhed, ‘ Executive Department, Loiiifville , April 3 , 1799. S ! R, A HIGH refpcdl for the con tituted authorities of my coun ty, would compel my filence m judici A proceedings, did they ilFefl me only as an individual— Jut your charges of the prefent Circuit, contain fuch affertions nd implications again ft the Ex cutivc Department, asnow filled, hat fdence would not only con irm the afperities you have exer ted, but criminate the Execu te Officer—Duty therefore to lie dignified Ration to which my Blow- citizens have been pleafed 0 cad me, and not a defire of etaliation, commands rpe to cpel the attack, and to contra- even judicial authority on he occafion. 1 It is in my opinion, fir, im )ropcr and unconftitutional, for iny other Department of the government, to impair, in the maileft degree, the independ nce of the judiciary fyitem— ! t 0 ta^ e fr°m its refpeftability ~ or to inteifere with its rules— luc“ more to deprive it of the i t,ce of the people, whofe Ves a J d property fo eflentially -pen ° n it s j u ji deeijions, u * ir , Uis equally improper, e 9’idlly as unconftitutional, , r fudge, whilfl [ r ot l^s Inqucfts to e ‘J n ’ Public tranfadlions be !r / he * r county—himfeif, /.°- U a Grand fury to prefent nis charges, the other De -1 Government, and tr upt to imp a i r their inde lenc! Ce, p an u Cftr ? nge the con ‘ em. ° tne c^izens from Whether you have in effedl "«>I»E„ cotiveoe '“'„ a inde d V tempted t 0 impair iCs * or the citizens in the Officer filling it— a candid . view of your charges muff de termine. Take the fecond fe&ion of your Sciiven charge, and there can be little doubt, but that the Executive as now filled , was the objedl of your animadvetfions. You as plainly pointed him out, as if you had named the perfon. In the commencement of that fe6f ion, you rake up the aflies of a tranfadlion, which 1 dare fay, the gentleman there alluded to, neither defired your remem brance of, nor your approba tionary comment on his releafe. For what other purpofe could you have brought it into view, but to defignate the Executive Officer, as the primary objedl of your new modelled prefentment —furely it was not to wound that gentleman’s feelings by a painful remembrance of his late fixa tion, nor to flamp an irnpreffion that you were friendly to his re lease-—it is clearly afeertained that neither you nor your con ne£lon% political, or natural, afforded him aid on the occafion; and that h d he depended on you, his fitu ition would not have been changed, it is a feene fir, which I wifh buried in oblivion ; but which whenever brought into view, for party or political nurpofes, I affure you 1 fhall reflation that part of it, his re leaf cment, with moreconfolation than vou will derive fatisfadlion from flirring its cinders, and making your extra judicial com ments on it. If I poffeffed re fentment at one flage of that tranfadlion, I believe my conduct at another, when his former friends deferted him, would meet applaufe from any tongue but your’s. There can beno| doubt, but that the tranlaclion was ripped up, to exhibit the prefent Executive Officer, as the target for all your fubfequent attacks—it is fo pointedly done, as to be impoflible to miflake it —nor will the jefuitical falvo at ( the conclufion of your charge j of recommending confidence in the Executive, change one atom, of the irnpreffion, you had pre vioufly made. You proceed by faying that | from the time of that tranfadlion u to the prefent. have the Grand Juries of this Hate, been made, 1 moreorlefs,tbe degraded inftr*' ments of a political ( As you frequently travel f your Department, permu ic fir, to accompany you here and requefl you to inform me, whom you mean by the word fad’ll on t it muft either be the whole peo ple, a few excepted, who bv v* uniform and an unparallelicd ! ( conduft, through their represen tatives, for four Succeffive Jegif latures, and one general con vention, have annulled and an nihilated an ufurped aft, barter ing their rights—or it mull be thole, for whole private interoits that aft was obtained. The latter it is not likely to be in tended for, as few Grand Juries have been difpofed to favor them —the appellation of a political faftion, therefore, mud allude to the former—and if fo fir, you judicially ilander all thole le gislatures, the general conven tion, and what may be expreSSed, the whole people of the (late of Georgia. This is rather exceed ing the limits you prefix for G*and Juries, but probably— and you have a right to condrue your own powers—you have no limits for yourfelf. The presentments which Suc ceeded the tranfaftion before alluded to, were relpefting that ufurped aft—and as the impli cation is, that the prefent Exe cutive Officer was a prime mover of them, let us examine from whom they flowed, and who prelided at the time on the bench, and it will be Seen, that either you are cloathed with greater powers, whilft thofe of Grand Juries are diminiflied— or that you have cflablidled a new fydem of jurisprudence. Thofe prefentments flowed fir, from univerfal indignation, and you prelided at the time on the bench. At the Chatham Superior Court in February term, 1795, as enlightened and refpcftable a Grand fury as ever appeared in this date, notwithdanding you had invited their approval of it, prefented that diigraceful aft, ' and declared their right of taking 1 cognizance of it, in the follow- O 9 ing firm and manly language. “ The Grand Jury are Sorry there Should be occahon to bring j forward any matters as grievan- I ces : but it becomes a more pain : ful tafle to them, when they feel themfelves under the neccffity of reprobating public meafurcs. 1 At the fame time, the duty they owe to their country, and tlv oath they have taken, r.'npel them to brfog into the view of their fellow-citizens, all Such Hauers as they conceive will has f* a tendency to injure the ; community, and ro exprefs their Senfe of the fame, in plain, de cent, and firm language." Without attempting to define your powers, or to encourage Grand furies in oppolition to our will, or to influence them > make preferments to Support , he Executives "finking 1% For larity / orthc <{ domineering fac tion of all the flate—one quM tion naturally arifes—Why did you not bar the Chatham Grand jury from prefenting alcgiflative and why did you receive the prefentment and permit it to be recorded ? Was it f. om a prior knowledge of their fnm nefs and independence, and an experience that the Grand juries of Chatham, neither permit tho tyranny of Judges, nor public (peculations to pals with impu nity ? But the Chatham prefentment, was not the only one on that fubjeft, yoa met fimilar prefent ments, throughout your C ircuit,- even in the very County of Scri ven, where you (o pofuivcly fixed limits for Grand Inqucfls, and where you delivered that prefentment like charge againfk the Executive. I was at the time this 4< firing*' of them took place, attending my duty in Congrefs, neaily one thoufand miles off. Having concluded what pre fatory obfervations I thought it neceflary to make, artd in which fhouldany thing ofFenfive to the judicial ear be expreffed you have only to rcfledl that you have fought the occafion by at tacking a department equally as independent, equally as firm, and podellcd of an equal right to defend itfclf when attacked, as your own. I (ball now pro ceed to the ultimate obje6l of this add refs. In the latter part of the fecond fedlion of your Scrivcn cha ge, you affert “ on the prefent circuit at Burke. Court , was a prefentment offered to the Grand Jury, generally under flood , from a fnurce of author ity t and a new refentment ; hut which was re jetted in a b< coming manner Take the tranfaftion fir ft alluded to by you, and your expreflions of the refentment p which you aver occafioned it:, and compare them with the cx prcflions in this cafe, “from a fource of authority and a new *' feniment” and he that run;’ miy that yni.” /.onor a A r mean, no othbc but th piefcnt Executive Officer, and that improper influence and of courfe corruption had pro ceeded fiom the Department, to procure the prefentment allu ded to —mv frrfl intimation of which, or an attempt to procure one, came from your charge, and I am yet ignorant of its nature. In your Montgomery charge, although not fo pointedly ex prelled, there can little doubt exift from the whole tenor of th# fcntencc in which it is men tioned, but that you alfo imput#