Richmond Enquirer

GEORGIA LEGISLATURE.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Nov. 3.—The Legislature of Georgia convened at this place yesterday, agreeably to law. Matthew Talbott was re-elected President, and William Robertson Secretary, of the Senate.

Benj. Williams was chosen Speaker, and William Turner Clerk of the House of Representatives. At 12 o'clock to-day, the Governor laid before the General Assembly a communication from which we make the following extract: —

Fellow Citizens of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

It is with no ordinary feelings of gratification and thankfulness, that I am again, by the blessing of Divine Providence, permitted to meet you in this place. A retrospect of the period elapsed since we last assembled, together with something to regret, furnishes abundant motive for gratitude, and exultation. For altho' the unexampled prosperity of our beloved country, has experienced some abatement, arising from unfavorable seasons, and other natural visitations, yet not to an extent calculated to alarm or depress, but rather to stimulate to vigilance and exertion, and to awaken in us a suitable recollection of our dependence on the Almighty Disposer of events, of which man, uninterruptedly prosperous, is too prone to be forgetful.

The war which had commenced during the last year, between the United States and the Seminole Indians, bordering on our southern frontier, has been terminated by a mutual cessation of hostilities, without any particular stipulations for peace.

I should not enlarge my remarks on this subject, but for an event connected with it, which has excited great unrest throughout the state. The circumstances to which I allude, is the late expedition, undertaken to retaliate, and thus to repress and chastise the atrocious audacity of the savage inhabitants of two hostile villages, designated from their chief men, Hopaunee and Phcemue.

From these dens, it was ascertained, they made frequent and formidable inroads upon our defenceless frontier, marking their course with the butchery of our women and children, and the other terrific enormities peculiar to their barbarous warfare. Alarming and afflicting intelligence of these depredations, accompanied by urgent demands for protection from those whose situations were most exposed, reached the Executive almost daily.

An early application was made to the commanding General of the military District, for a force competent to the defence of our frontier, but it was several months before it was even noticed. Under these circumstances, I should have been chargeable with insensibility to the sufferings of my fellow citizens and to the duties of the high and important trust with which you have honored me, had I hesitated what course to pursue. I determined to organize a force sufficient to inflict condign punishment on this miscreant tribe, and make them feel that the frontier of Georgia was not to be devastated with impunity. At this juncture, Capt. Wright presented himself, as a gentleman recently holding a commission in the service of the United States, and bearing recommendatory testimonials from persons of high and unquestionable respectability.—

This person by a General Order of the 14th of April, (a copy of which, and copies of all the documents relative to this subject, will be laid before you,) was authorized to collect the troops and march them upon the two villages notorious as the residence of the murderers. On nearing the Chehaw town, they were informed that one of the hostile chiefs was harbored there, and conceiving the spirit of their instructions warranted the measure, they attacked the town, and stung with the recollections of the merciless barbarities exercised on their neighbors and relatives, and their supposed perfidy committed in harboring the enemy, proceeded to extremities, over which humanity weeps, and which I deeply and sincerely lament.

In the General Orders. it will be seen, that Captain Wright was directed to call on Captain Bothwell of the militia of this state, then in the service of the U. States, commanding at Fort Early, for part of his force if necessary. I was not certain that I had the right to call on these troops, but the emergency of the case left on my mind no doubt of its propriety. On the return of the troops and the report of the Commanding Officer, whose statement was corroborated by the testimony of other officers of the detachment, some of whom are gentlemen of high standing and character in the state; I felt satisfied that although the orders given, had been manifestly violated, yet, that the motives which influenced the conduct, both of the troops and their officers, were more the result of a sincere desire to prevent a recurrence of the distressing scenes which had recently been witnessed on the frontier. than any deliberate cruelty or premeditated severity. The subject, however, became a theatre of animadversion. and a number of opposite statements be- came made, both to the Executive, and in the public prints, I deemed it necessary, for the purpose of doing justice to the Indians, as well as to the character of Captain Wright, to have him arrested...

An order was accordingly issued on the 20th of May, directed to Col. Marshall, at Savannah, the late residence of Capt. Wright, and to which place, it was supposed, he would immediately return..... Before he reached there, however, he was overtaken by an officer sent by General Jackson, who arrested him. On their way to Fort Hawkins, passing through this place, Capt. Wright was released from the custody of the officer. by a writ of Habeas Corpus, before the Inferior court of this county.

On the same evening. I issued an order to the Adjutant General to arrest and confine him, determining to refer the mode of trying him to the President of the U. States : which course I was the more willing to pursue, as it seemed to have been the one contemplated by Gen. Jackson.—

But before a proper warrant could be obtained, to enable the Marshal to take him into custody, by means of a paragraph in one of the Savannah papers. he ascertained that the President had directed him to be prosecuted, for the murder of friendly Indians, before a special commission to be issued for that purpose, conformably to an act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1802, and being alarmed I presume, at this intimation of the danger that might result to him from such trial, effected his escape, and has not yet been apprehended.

I have felt it a duty, to the outraged character of the state, fellow citizens, to be thus particular in noticing this transaction, as mistaken one sided humanity, and meddling malignity. have been perseveringly busy in distorting and disguising. almost every circumstance connected with the expedition.

The operation of our Penal Code has been attended with considerable expense during the political year just ended: the articles necessary for the completion of the building, raw materials for the employment of the convicts. and provisions for their support, have all been procured at extravagant prices. From the experiment of the new system, as far as it has proceeded, we may safely conclude, the period is yet distant, when the profits arising from the labor of the persons confined. will meet the expenditure incurred.

And I grieve to remark. it furnishes but little ground, for the benevolent expectation so frequently realized, of their moral reformation, or of restoring them to society in the character of good citizens We have, however, the consolation of believing. that this system has been efficacious, and by prudent management, will continue to be so, in restraining villainy within much narrower limits, than those to which they have been accustomed, and of course, importantly diminishing their depredations on society.

During the year past, I have received from the United States. in drafts on the Banks at Savannah and Charleston, three hundred and seventy-seven thousand and forty-two 73-100 dollars. being the balance due by the General Government, to the state of Georgia. on account of the sale of our western lands; these drafts were deposited in the State Bank for collection, where they were realized and placed to the credit of the Treasurer, and have been drawn for by him as exigencies required.

By an act of the last Legislature the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, was appropriated for the establishment and support of Free Schools. A like amount was appropriated for the improvement of the internal navigation of the state. These sums I was directed to vest in Bank, or other profitable stock, the proceeds of which, were intended to be applied to the purposes above mentioned. The necessary enquiry was accordingly made, relative to the terms on which stock could be procured in the several chartered Banks of this state, and it was ascertained, that it could not be obtained without giving an extravagant premium, which I did not feel myself authorized to do. I was however, enabled to procure two hundred shares in the stock of the Steam Boat Company, amounting to one hundred thousand dollars at par; and I have taken the five hundred shares re- served for the state in the stock of the Augusta Bank, as directed by a Resolution of the Legislature of 10th Dec. last.

Owing I apprehend to a press of business at the seat of government, it was not until the month of August last, that I re- ceived an answer from the Secretary of War. to several letters I had written on the subject. informing me that the President had appointed the Hon. Wilson Lumpkin, a commissioner, to run and mark the lines designated in the late cession of lands from the Indians to the U. States, by which a tract of country of considerable extent and value, has been acquired for the use of this state. Mr. Lumpkin has also been appointed to run the line from the junction of Flint and Chattahoochee rivers. to the head of St. Mary's, which will form the boundary be- tween this state and the province of East Florida. Conformably to the directions of the Legislature, commissioners have been appointed on the part of the state to attend Mr. Lumpkin in the performance of these duties. It will probably be some time before the lines are com- pleted, but that circumstance should not prevent the present Legislature from making a disposition of the land, that must eventually belong to Georgia.

(Signed)

WILLIAM RABUN.