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sity of character as to constitute from that circumstance CHAPTER the natural division of our parties. A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their 1798. spells dissolved, and the people recovering their true right and restoring their government to its true principles. It is true that in the mean time we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war, and long oppression of enormous public debt. But who can say what would be the evils of a scission, and when and where they would end? Better keep together as we are, haul off from Europe as soon as we can, and from all attachments to any portion of it; and if they show their powers just sufficiently to hoop us together, it will be the happiest situation in which we can exist. If the game runs some time against us at home, we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake. Better luck, therefore, to us all, and health, and happiness, and friendly salutations to yourself." But in spite of the good advice contained in this letter-at once a remarkable specimen of Jefferson's hatred and jealousy of New England and of his political sagacity-we shall find him within a few months so carried away by passion as to be planning and setting on foot a scheme of state resistance to Federal authority, which, if pushed to its natural results, could only have ended in a scission of the Union.

Simultaneously with the new energy exhibited by Congress, the spirit of resistance to French aggression kept on rising out of doors. Addresses to the president continued to pour in. Numerous volunteer companies enrolled themselves as a part of the provisional army. The Legislatures of the four Eastern states, at their summer sessions, successively declared their appro

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support it.

CHAPTER bation of the president's policy and their resolution to The General Court of Massachusetts pro1798. posed so to amend the Constitution of the United States as to disqualify all naturalized citizens from holding office, a proposal concurred in by five other states. The fourth of July was every where celebrated by the Federalists with great enthusiasm. The black cockade was very generally mounted. There were symptoms of the same spirit even in Virginia. Marshall, on his return to Richmond, was affectionately received, and the northern part of that state, at least, seemed likely to break away from the hitherto absolute control of the opposition. Indications of the same kind appeared in North Carolina. Jefferson looked anxiously for an adjournment as affording the opposition the only chance to rally. "To sepaJune 21. rate Congress now," he wrote, "will be withdrawing the fire from under a boiling pot." The wished-for adjournJuly 16. ment came at last, but it did not immediately produce all the consequences which Jefferson had hoped.

Among so many measures of merely temporary importance, two acts were passed at this session permanent in their operation and philanthropic in their character. Under one of these acts, debtors of the United States held in execution, on proof to the satisfaction of the Secretary of State of their inability to pay, and of having attempted no concealment or fraudulent conveyance of their property, were to be discharged from prison. But the judgment was to remain good against their property; nor was the act to apply to cases of imprisonment for any fine, forfeiture, or penalty, or of breach of trust.

The other act authorized the detention of twenty cents per month from the wages of all seamen, to be paid over to the collectors of the ports where the ships might enter on their return voyage, toward a fund for the erection

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and support of hospitals for the relief and comfort of mer- CHAPTER chant seamen a fund out of which hospitals have since been erected at most of the principal ports.

In the course of the session a resolution had been introduced authorizing Thomas Pinckney to accept the presents which, according to an old diplomatic usage, had been tendered to him by the courts of Madrid and London at the termination of his missions thither, but which, on account of the clause in the Constitution respecting presents from foreign powers and princes, he had declined to receive till leave should be given by Congress. Though passed by the Senate, this resolution was lost in the House. But another resolution was subsequently adopted by a unanimous vote, ascribing the rejection to motives of general policy, and expressly disclaiming any thing in it personal to Pinckney. The subsequent usage has been for ministers to receive the presents tendered, but to deposit them, on their return, with the Department of State.

Pending the session of Congress, the Constitution of Georgia had undergone a new revisal, under the provision to that effect contained in the Constitution of 1789. The pecuniary qualification of governor and members of the Legislature was slightly diminished, but new qualifications of citizenship and of residence in the state were added; in case of the governor, six years' residence and twelve years' citizenship; in case of members of the Legislature, three years' residence, with nine years citizenship for senators, and seven years' for representatives. Representation in the House was henceforth to be regulated by a compound basis of territory and population, including in the count "three fifths of the people of color." Three thousand inhabitants, according to this ratio, were to entitle a county to two members;

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CHAPTER seven thousand, to three members; and twelve thousand, XII. to four members; but no county was to have less than 1798. one member, nor more than four. Each house was ex

pressly vested with power to expel, censure, fine, or imprison its own members for disorderly conduct, and to take like steps against any person not a member guilty of disrespectful behavior toward either house in its presence, or of threats against or assaults upon any member for any thing said or done in the Assembly.

The further importation of slaves into the state "from Africa or any foreign place" was expressly prohibited. A similar prohibition, by a law renewed from time to time, had existed in South Carolina ever since the adop tion of the Federal Constitution; and a like act had also been enacted in North Carolina. Events in the West Indies had no doubt contributed to these enactments; but, even with allowance for this, were they not sufficient to show that, in yielding to the imperious demands of the delegates from South Carolina and Georgia a twenty years' continuance of the slave trade, the New England members of the Federal convention had been influenced either by unnecessary fears, or, if not by fears, by too excessive an anxiety to purchase a power over commerce, of which, after all, the practical value amounted to very little?

By a clause copied from the Constitution of Kentucky, the Legislature of Georgia were prohibited to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves except with the previous consent of the individual owners; nor were they to prohibit immigrants from bringing with them "such persons as may be deemed slaves by the law of any one of the United States." By a further provision, any person maliciously killing or dismembering a slave was to suffer the same punishment as if the acts had been committed

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on a free white person, except in cases of insurrection, CHAPTER or "unless such death should happen by accident, in giving such slave moderate correction."

A clause, inserted for that express purpose, claimed as the property of the free citizens of the state, held by them in sovereignty, and unalienable except with their consent, the whole territory as far west as the Mississippi, between the thirty-first degree of north latitude and a due west continuation of the northern line of Georgia. The Legislature were authorized to transfer to the United States any part of this territory west of the Chattahoochee; but no sales were to be made to individuals or private companies, unless a county had first been marked off and the Indian title extinguished. The Legislature were also enjoined to provide immediate means for refunding all such sums as had hitherto been paid into the state treasury for the purchase of lands under contracts, which this constitution did not recognize as binding. All these latter provisions had reference to the Yazoo purchases.

Provision was made for amending the Constitution in future by bills for that purpose, to be passed by a two thirds' vote in both houses of two successive Legislatures, with an intervening publication for at least six months. prior to the election of the members of the second Legislature. This Constitution, amended in divers particu lars according to the method just pointed out, still constitutes the fundamental law of the State of Georgia.

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