OF THE RECENT AND PREVAILING POLICY OF THR STATE OF GEORGIA, BOTH IN REFERENCE TO ITS INTERNAL AFFAIRS, AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT. IN TWO SERIES OF ESSAYS, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE “COLUMBIAN CENTINELY ATTICUS." DÓ WHICH IS NOW PREFIXED A 'PREFATORY ADDRESS,' BY THE AUTHOR. (A. 3. Claytong PUBLISHED BY O. P. SHAW, AT THE OFFICE OF "THE ATHENIAN,” ATHENS, (GEORGIA.) 1827 Checked Av PREFATORY ADDRESS. TO THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA. THE worst condition into which either men or rations may be placed by the hand of power, receives some alleviation from the fact, that their sufferings have not proceeded from an abuse of principle, and much less from a want of understanding. To lose a privilege by fraud or force, is nothing to the same misfortune produced by folly or weakness; and there is a firmness in human nature equal to every misery, except that which is criminal from profligacy, or contemptible from ignorance.→ That your rights have been invaded by the former will now scarcely be doubted; and if they should be finally lost, there is some consolation in the recollection that no part of the latter can enter into the reproach of your calamity. All will accord to you this truth, that you will have gone down protesting to the last against that usurpation which shall have triumphed over your liberties. Our conflict with the General Government seems destined never to end; and whether for the sake of revenge or example, this state is pur. sued with a spirit of injury, and a temper of insult, as reckless of con sequences as unrelenting in purpose. The Essays which are now presented to the public in a more conso lidated form, were written at a time of great state excitement; and though they contain some things which refer to a question that greatly agitated the people of Georgia, the final settlement of which has restored the public feeling to comparative harmony, and on that account might be forgotten; yet they contain others in relation to the exercise of power on the part of the General Government that is altogether worthy of perpetuation. It is also believed they present a statement of facts, and embrace a course of reasoning calculated, in some degree, to break the force of that last, though not least, attack upon the character of Georgia, distinguished by the name of "EVERETT'S REPORT." This fresh instance of outrage, committed in violation of all the social moralities of life, without regard to common decency, so unmindful of public character and private reputation, is not felt and resented as becomes the people of Georgia; and there can be no other reason why it has not produced one wide and universal burst of indignation, than that its unwieldy form has prevented a knowledge of its contents. The limits of this address cannot afford a proper view of its character; but it may be safely pronounced one of the most ungracious LIBELS that was ever uttered against any people in any country. It is a cool, deliberate, and premeditated slander against a sister State, into which there has entered the most studied and malignant intention to disgrace her standing at home, and to degrade her reputation abroad: and to render the mischief more certain in its purpose, and more deadly in its ef |