Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1831-11-17


in Georgia, had presented Mr.. Binns for resolu-
ton he proposed in Philadelphia. Mr.. Binns has
replied, and it is but justice to lay his response
before the Public.
From the United State. Gazette
To THOMAS GREEN, Foreman, and the other
twenty one Grand Jurors of Scriven county, in
the State of Georgia, for the October Term,
1881:
Your station bcspeak you men of responsibility
and lovers of Justice; would fain believe you to
be what your stations prcsume; where you have
been guilty of injustice, would charitably hope
that You know not what you were doing; that your
interests and prejudiccs not only blinded the per-
ceptions of your minds, but buntcd your feelings,
and steelcd your hearts. Apprehcnsions arising
from local situation, seem entirely to have
centratcd all your faculties in se.presorvation,
that the rights and the sufGrngs of others were
but 9ross in your eyes, | pity more than /
blame you, and my mind is more clouded by sorry
than agitatod by anger. II would be passing
strange that, 70. effort to extricate you from
the critical and usafc situation in which circum-
stances, more than your own, misconduct, have
placed you, you should turn upon ana reud me, if
such had not been the too common practice of
mankind in all ages and countries. With a dispo-
siton to extenuHte rather than exaggerate, take
Iup my pen to trouble you with some remarks on
that portion of your prcscntment in which, with
out compunctious feeling, you deliver me over to
your public executioner to inllict the capital penal
ties of your laws.
A friend has obligiugly furnished me with copy
Of your prcscntmont published in the Savannah
mistake misunderstanding, | shall here re-
publish al that part of the presontmont which
object against uni Just and inhuman.
SAVANNAH GEORGIAN, Oct. %, 1891
Superior Court Scrren County,
October Term, 1881
"Recent occurrences in the South render it i'm
Portant, at this time, that watchfuoye should be
kept, not only to interest in Il certain species
of property, but also to the personal safcty Of the
community III which we live. In our own county
much excitement has recently existed in relation
to supposed insurrectory movements among our
coored Populaton;. and it is feared that n portion
OF our brethren In the north and east have becn
active and instrumental in exciting these deluded
beings to tllo premcditaten-of acts of violence and
bIoodshed. This belief is warranted by string
OF impolitc and dangerous resolutions, offered by
a John Binns Of PennsyIvania at a meeting held
in Philadelphia the substance of which was the
suggestion of Il scheme 10 liberate the slaves of
Tho South; in tGEtheraIce Of which measure it
was proposed to recommend TO Congress to apply
the surplus revenue of the United States after
paying off the National Debt, to the purchase and
liberation Of southern slaves. We cannot bat
present these resolutions as a movement prolific of
danger and mischief TO the people Of Georgia, in
common with those of tho other states Of the
south, and fraught with consequences which no
good citizen would willingly produce. We also
present their mover, John Blnns whom we have
previously known with advantage 10 himself as
covert, and therefore dangerous encmv-as a
criminal, who is alone protected from the capital
enalties Of laws by his absence from the
juriadictional limits Of the State of Georgia"
[SignedI THOMAS GREEN, Foreman
And by 81 Jurors.
I shnii briefly notice all the points in this
presentmon' I an, indeed loudly called mn
on 20 do 50, when in it am branded as an incen
diary and denounced criminal. Will not use
harsh language, nor rtde epithcts. Ny cause re
Jccts, would say, disdains such weapons They
are the resort OF the feeble and the angry; and
those who are in tho wrong. In their hands leave
them.
You eSprcas a belief that 'the insurrectionarv
movements" among portion of your colored po-
pHlation, and their acts Of "vio!onco and blood
shod," were caused by your "brcthren Of the north
and cast" and this horrible dcnuncialion of your
brethren you base upon ga string Of impolitc and
dan perous resolutions" which YOU assert l. Offer
ed at public meeting in Philadoighia, 'the sub
stance of which was (as you ASSERT the suggestion
Of scheme 10 iIbcrate the slaves Of the sonthD
You have so ia- mistaken, TO represent an RI
feet as the c0"ss. The "iusurrectonary move !
ncLts, and acts Of violence and b!oodshed," had |
akcn place bctore ] made eng suggestion on the |
subject. II was lygc!! reflection on the condition |
IF the south, and most anxious, perhaps nstakcn |
lcslre 10 render the country and humanity SER !
rice, which prompted me to act as I have done.
Perhaps, Gentlemen Strand JurDrs you will start |
md stand appalled,, when assure you, that on the
occasion referred 10, offered no 'StriHg" OF reso-
utions and that the idea of HbcrGting the slaves in
he South, never entertained or breathed by
ne, AT any time or on any occasion. ] offered but
single resolution, and neither in that resolution
Tor in the preamble to il, nor in the preliminary
emarks made to the meeting, there be found
they ell in PRINT syllable which can be tortu-
ed into the suggestion, hint, or counten1nce Of
chemc Of the nature you Lave suggested NY pro-
position was 80 raise q committee Of Congress TO
evIsc ways and means to cause all the slaves in |
he L. States "a be mot liberated butt as promptly