Phenix Gazette

GEORGIA AND THE UNITED STATES.

Reached us yesterday, and seem to belong materially to the history of the times:

The following letter and General Orders, appear in the Milledgeville papers, which reached us yesterday.

Reply of Governor Troup to the Secretary of War.

[Nat. Journal.]

Executive Department, Ga.
Milledgeville, 17th February, 1827.
Sir: I received this afternoon from Lieut. Vinton, your letter of the 29th ult. and read it, as published in the National Intelligencer, of the 7th instant. No room was left to mistake the meaning of this despatch. Lieut. Vinton announced himself in an introductory note, (a copy of which is herewith transmitted) as the aid of the Commanding General, and you are sufficiently explicit as to the means by which you propose to carry your resolution into effect. Thus, the military character of the menace is established, and I am only at liberty to give to it the defiance which it merits. You will distinctly understand, therefore, that I feel it to be my duty to resist, to the utmost, any military attack which the Government of the U States shall think proper to make on the territory, the People, or the sovereignty of Georgia; and all the measures necessary to the performance of this duty, according to our limited means, are in progress. From the first decisive act of hostility, you will be considered and treated as a public enemy, and with the less repugnance, because you, to whom we might constitutionally have appealed for our defence against invasion, are yourselves the invaders; and, what is more, the unblushing allies of the savages, whose cause you have adopted.

You have referred me for the rule of my conduct to the Treaty of Washington, "which, like all other treaties which have received the constitutional sanction, is among the Supreme laws of the land," and which the President is, therefore, bound to carry into effect "by all the means under his control." In turn, I take the liberty to refer you to a treaty of prior date, and prior ratification, concluded at the Indian Springs, a copy of the Proclamation of which, under the sign manual of the President, I have the honor to enclose. On the comparison of dates, the President may think proper to remind me why the old grant has preference of the new.

You have deemed it necessary to the personal safety of Lieutenant Vinton to impose on him the injunction of profound secrecy in the execution of your orders, whilst you cause to be published at Washington the very instructions which disclose those orders, and enjoin that secrecy, and which, in fact, reached this place by the public prints, even before Lt. Vinton had an opportunity to deliver your despatch. You mistake the character of the People of Georgia: officers of the United States, engaged in the performance of their lawful duties, have only to deport themselves as gentlemen, to find the same security and protection in Georgia, as under the Egis of the Government at Washington.

I have the honor to be your ob'dt. servant,
G. M. TROUP.
Hon. James Barbour,
Secretary of War.

Executive Department, Ga.
Milledgeville, 17th Feb, 1827.

Ordered, That the Attorney and Solicitors General of this State, in every instance of complaint made of the arrest of any Surveyor engaged in the survey of the late ceded Territory, by any civil process under authority of the Government of the United States, do take all necessary and legal measures to effect the liberation of the person so arrested, and to bring to justice either by indictment or otherwise, the officers or parties concerned in such arrestation as offenders against the laws and violators of the peace and personal security of the public officers and citizens of this State; that they give professional advice and assistance in their defence against any prosecution or action which may be instituted against them as officers in the service of the State, and that they promptly make known to this Department their acts and doings in the premises.

It is moreover enjoined on the civil magistrates of this State, having competent jurisdiction of the same, to be aiding and assisting in inquiring into the cause of every such arrest or detention as aforesaid, that the person may be discharged forthwith if illegally or unjustly detained, and in affording such redress to the aggrieved or injured party as by law he may be entitled to receive.

By the Governor,
E H. PIERCE, Sec'ry.

Head-Quarters,
Milledgeville, 17th Feb 1827.

ORDERS.

The Major Generals commanding the 6th and 7th Divisions will immediately issue orders to hold in readiness the several regiments and battalions within their respective commands, to repel any hostile invasion of the territory of this State. Depots of arms and ammunition central to each Division, will be established in due time.

By the Commander-in-Chief:
JOHN W. A. SANFORD,
Aid de Camp.