THE NATIONAL REGISTER. (No. 14. general Gaines, in his principal official report Specification 9th. In this That the said major aforesaid of the battle of Fort Erie, honorably mentioned nearly all the officers who were in action in said battle, and eulogized and honorably mentioned officers and men, some of whom were but partially engaged, and others not at all; and with malice and unjustly and injuriously omitted and the men of the detachment of the 19th infanto mention major Trimble, several of the officers battle, in the honorable manner in which their try, which was stationed in Fort Erie during said services in said battle entitled them to be mentioned in said report; and altogether omitted to mention most of said officers-the good conduct in battle of said officers and men having been jor Trimble. reported to the said major general Gaines by ma mand the gorge of said bastion,' under cover of which line part of said detachment was thrown into the adjoining stone mess house, & that thence a constant and destructive fire was kept up on the enemy; that a part of said detachment without the mess-house, was posted in a situation which afforded it security, and enabled it to pour into the bastion a direct and deadly fire; that the enemy repeatedly advanced from the bastion to gain possession of the fort, and twice attempted to force the door of the mess-house aforesaid, and were driven back with loss by said detachment of the 19th infantry and a small detachment of artillery, which in the last attack were aided by Lieut. John Brady, who had just come into the fort with about twenty men of the 22d infantry,-several of which circumstances were communicated in a written statement to the said Major Gen. Gaines, before he forwarded or closed his said official report, and of all which circumstances and of the jor general Gaines, in his additional report to the Specification 10th. In this-That the said madefence of Fort Erie, generally, the said Majsecretary of war of the said battle of Fort Erie, Gen. Gaines might have obtained full information, dated August 26th, 1814, written for the purpose had he required it of Major Trimble, as it was his of honorably mentioning officers for their conduct duty to have done, and that the said Major Gen. in said battle, whom, he states in said report, he Gaines, in his said official report, with malice, || had inadvertently omitted to mention in his prin omitted to allude to said circumstances in the cipal report, and also to mention the services of particular manner in which they merited to be corps in said battle, which he had omitted in his spoken of in said report. The said Major Gen. Gaines, by said represen- tional report, with malice and contrary to his do principal report, &c. did still, in his said addi tations, wilfully incorrect statements, and design-ty, omit to mention major Trimble, or any of the ed suppression of facts, in his said official report, ascribing services to officers and men which they did not perform; displaying services, some of them performed in Fort Erie, with disproportionate emphasis and minuteness, and improper partiality, and unjustly concealing other services, of much greater importance and usefulness, performed in Fort Erie, grossly injuring and insulting Major Trimble, and the officers and men of the said detachment of the 19th infantry, and very materially misrepresenting the battle of Fort Erie to his government, to the injury of the service. || officers of the detachment of the 19th infantry general Gaines made a written official statement Specification 11th. In this-That the said major to the hon. James Monroe, then acting secretary 1814,' in which he stated, that several causes had of war, dated Hyde Park, N. Y. September 30th, Specification 8. In this-That the said Major under his command in that just point of view 'prevented his placing the conduct of the officers Gen. Gaines, in his official report aforesaid, stated which their relative stations and services merited, that at this moment every operation was arrest- (meaning their relative stations and services in the ed by the explosion of some cartridges, deposited army under his command, as aforesaid at Fort in the end of the stone building adjoining the contested bastion. The explosion was tremendous,|| further stated that 'having lately seen in the ga Erie, on and about the 15th August, 1814,) and it was decisive; the bastion was restored:' here- zettes a list of officers which the President had by very improperly misrepresenting the place of been pleased to brevet, and finding that some of the explosion-the cartrit being in the end of the storess, Jing adjoining the this pleasing evidence of the President's approthat exploded not the most meritorious have not been honored with contested bastion, but unase ter platform of the bation, I feel it to be a duty which I owe to the bastion; and the end of the stone building being public service, and to individual merit, to commuoccupied by his own troops, part of the 19th in-nicate to you without delay the names of those fantry, who poured from it a constant and destructive fire on the enemy; and further by said statement, unjustly and to the great injury of part of his army, ascribing to an untoward accident a victory which had been insured by the valor and good conduct of his troops, who had fought the enemy without intermission, and at first under the most disadvantageous circumstances, for more than two hours--and the said Major Gen. Gaines knowing, or it being his duty to have known, that the enemy had been repeatedly repulsed and driven from the interior of the fort; that they had suffered extremely from the fire of the garrison, to which they could do but little injury; and that had they remained in the bastion a few minutes longer, their capture or destruction might have been made certain. officers whose conduct in action, (meaning the action of Fort Erie on the 15th August, 1814, aforesaid) as well as in the previous and subsethe highest claims to the notice of the President.* quent bombardment and skirmishing, give them And that the said major general Gaines, with malice, and in violation of his duty, did still omit to mention, in said official statement, the names of major Trimble, and several officers of the 19th infantry, under the command of the said major Trimble, in the action aforesaid, whose conduct in that statement; thereby aggravating the injuson that occasion entitled them to be mentioned tice and injury he had already done to them-to the injury of the service. Specification 12th. In this-That the said major general Gaines, in his aforesaid official reports he had the means, and it was his duty to strengthen and improve them. to the secretary of war, of the battle of the 15th August, 1814, at Fort Erie, made wilful mistate. ments on several material points, and designedly Specification 4. In this-That the said major concealed many material facts; and thereby im-general Gaines, being in command as aforesaid, properly misled his government and country as to on the 14th of August, 1814, and having every reathe matters reported, and grossly and unjustly son to expect an attack from the enemy's army, injured the officers and men of the detachment of under lieutenant general Drummond, neglected the 19th infantry, who were in Fort Erie during to make that arrangement and provision for the said battle-to the injury of the service. defence of Fort Erie, which the place required, Specification 13th. In this-That the said ma- and which, by a proper use of the means at his jor general Gaines, at Philadelphia, between the disposal, he might have made; and that he en4th and 10th of Dec. 1814, acknowledged to ma- trusted the defence of that place, the key of his jor Trimble, who commanded the garrison in position, to about sixty artillerists, and to about Fort Erie during the battle on the 15th Au- one hundred and eighteen infantry recruits, who gust, 1814, aforesaid, that he had done great had never seen service, and were placed in the injustice to him, said major Trimble, in rela- fort under the most embarrassing and unfavoura tion to said battle, and to the detachment || ble circumstances. of the 19th infantry under his command in said battle; and received and agreed to a written arrangement on the subject, and pledged himself to forward it to the secretary of war without loss of time, accompanied by an explanation which would be satisfactory to the parties aggrieved, and to request that the said communications should be immediately published; but the said major general Gaines, the promises thus made, and duty of atoning acknowledged injustice, hath not fulfilled, but altogether neglected and disregarded. CHARGE III. Misconduct in office. Specification 1. In this-That the said major general Gaines, at the fortified encampment aforesaid, between the 15th and 23d August, 1814, being then and there in command, as aforesaid, improperly ordered general Ripley to alter his official report of the conduct of his command, in the battle of Fort Erie aforesaid, so as to give the chief credit to him, the said major general Gaines. CHARGE IV. Neglect of duty and misconduct in office. Specification 1. In this-That the said major general Gaines, in his principal detailed official report, to the secretary of war, of the battle of Fort Erie, aforesaid, stated, that the small, unfinished Fort Erie, with a 24, 18, and 12 pounders, forms the north east, and the Douglass battery, with an 18 and 6 pounder near the edge of the Lake, the south-east angle of our right,' there being, as it was the duty of the said major general Gaines to have known, six pieces of cannon in Fort Erie, and but one, an 18 pounder, in the Douglass battery. Specification 2. In this-That the said major general Gaines, in his said official report, stated that the front of our position had been strengthened by temporary, &c. and abbatis; there being at the time, as it was the duty of the said major general Gaines to have known, on what he denominated the front of our position, no abbatis, nor any thing representing abbatis. Specification 5. In this-That the said major general Gaines, on the 15th August, 1814, at the fortified encampment aforesaid, being then and there in command, as aforesaid, made no attempt to intercept, capture or destroy the right column of the enemy, after it had been effectually repuls ed in the battle of the said 15th of August, from Towson's battery, and was retreating in great disorder, without flints or cartridges. Specification 6. In this-That the said major general Gaines, at the time and place last aforesaid, being then and there in command as aforesaid, neglected to make a sortie on the centre and the columns of the enemy, when they were in great confusion on the north east bastion of the fort, and its surrounding ditches, in which last place they could have made but little resistance to an attack on their flank or rear. Specification 7. In this-That the said major general Gaines, at the time and place aforesaid, after the explosion of some ammunition, under the platform of the before mentioned bastion, suffered the centre and left columns of the enemy in great confusion and disorder, and partly unarmed, to retire from Fort Erie, over a plain, without making, or having made, any effort or attempt to capture them. Specification 8. In this-That the said major general Gaines, at the time and place aforesaid, being then and there in command as aforesaid, ne. glected to avail himself of the advantages gained by the valour of his troops, in the action fought between the American and British forces at Fort Erie and Towson's battery, on the said 15th of August; the situ an and condition of the British forces being s cuatrould have exposed them to inevitable destraction, had the American army || been properly commanded, Exhibited by W.A. TRIMBLE, Lieut. Col. 8th U. S. inf'y. R. H. WINDER, Army J. Adv. Friday, 1st November, 1816. The court proceeded to pronounce the follow Specification 3. In this-That the said majoring judgment. general Gaines, being in command of the army of The court, after having read over the whole of the United States at Fort Erie, and the adjoining the evidence, as well on the part of the prosecution fortified encampment, between the 5th and 15th as on that of the defence, and after the most maof August, 1814, and having good reason to ex- ture deliberation, do find the prisoner, major ge. pect an attack from the army of the enemy, un-neral Edmund P. Gaines, not guilty of either of der the command of lieutenant general Drummond, greatly superior in numbers to his own army, neglected to strengthen and improve the defence and works of his said position, to the extent || the charges or specifications exhibited against him. The court do therefore honourably acquit him of the same; aud the court feel it to be due to the good of the service to pronounce, that most House of Representatives, To enforce, as far as practicable, a more rigid discharge of the duties of justices of the peace, in relation to the petty crimes which may be placed within their jurisdiction, might be productive of salutary consequences. To annex penalties to crimes, if the perpetration of them shall be suffered, knowingly, to pass unheeded by those whose duty it may be to guard against the violation of the laws, with impunity, will, to a very considerable degree, result in a relaxation of morals, a consequent disregard of the laws, and a measurable contempt of the officers who may be appointed to administer them. The dissemina. tion of useful knowledge will be indispensably necessary as a support to morals and as a restraint to vice; and on this subject it will only be neces sary to direct your attention to the plan of education as prescribed by the constitution. In recommending a revision of the statute laws now in force, it can scarcely be necessary to offer any reasons for the measure, other than the obscurity which pervades them, and the amendments which they must necessarily undergo to adapt them to the present form of government. The organization of the judiciary of the state, as provided for by the constitution, with adequate salaries to its officers, on a plan calculated to render the administration of justice free from any unnecessary expense or delay, will engage your most serious attention. The incorporation of the banks now in operation within the limits of the state as state banks, if desirable on the part of those institutions, my be found less difficult at present, than at any future period. The period has arrived which has devolved on you the important duty of giving the first impulse to the government of the state. The result of your deliberations will be considered as indicative of its future character, as well as of the future To provide ways and means for the current happiness and prosperity of its citizens. The re-year, including demands on the state created by putation of the state, as well as its highest interest, will require that a just and generous policy tow. ard the general government, and a due regard to the rights of its members respectively, should invariably have their proper influence. the late convention will, no doubt, engage your particular attention. It is not to be expected that the annual revenue of the state, especially for the present year, will be equal to its annual expenditure, without resorting to taxes too heavy for the In the commencement of the state government, existing circumstances of the country. An adethe shackles of the colonial should be forgotten inquate loan, therefore, is recommended, if it can your united exertions to prove, by happy expe- be obtained on suitable terms, to supply such defi rience, that an uniform adherence to the first cit of the revenue, in preference to an emission of principles of our government, and a virtuous ex-treasury bilis, inasmuch as interest will also accrue ercise of its powers, will best secure efficiency to thereon, and be liable to counterfeiting and other its measures and stability to its character. With-improper practices. Upon this view of the subout a frequent recurrence to those principles, theject, it will be proper to liquidate and cancel the administration of the government will become demands existing upon the former government, more and more arduous, until simplicity of under the character of territorial warrants. A our republican institutions materially be lost state debt, although it may be found unavoidable in dangerous expedients and political design.- for a time, may with facility be reimbursed hereUnder every free government, the happiness of after, without additional taxation, when the subthe citizens must be identified with their morals.jects of taxation shall continue to increase, in and while a constitutional exercise of their rights proportion to the increased purchases of the lands shall continue to have its due weight in the dis-of the United States, and when other sources of charge of the duties required of the constituted revenue, to arise from grants made to this state, authorities of the state, too much attention cannot can be resorted to and realized. be bestowed to the encouragement and promotion I recommend to your consideration the propriof every moral virtue, and to the enactment of ety of providing by law, to prevent more effeclaws, calculated to restrain the vicious, and pre-tually any unlawful attempts to seize and carry scribe punishment for every crime commensurate into bondage, persons of colour, legally entito its enormity. In measuring, however, to each tled to their freedom, and at the same time, as crime its adequate punishment, it will be well to far as practicable, to prevent those who rightfully recollect, that the certainty of punishment has owe services to the citizens of any other state or generally the surest effect to prevent crime, while territory, from seeking within the limits of this punishment unnecessarily severe, too often pro-state a refuge from the possession of their lawful duces the acquittal of the guilty, and disappoint one of the greatest objects of legislation and good government. owners. Such a measure will tend to secure those who are free from any unlawful attempts, and secure the rights of the citizens of the other states and territories, as far as ought reasonably | whose zeal for the public service, and ability in to be expected. With a full confidence that your legislative duties will be characterized by a strict regard to the constitutional rights of the citizens, the rising prosperity and importance of the state, my cordial co-operation will be cheerfully afforded. GEORGIA. SPEECH OF THE GOVERNOR TO THE LEGISLATURE. Executive department, Georgia, Fellow citizens of the Senate, and House of Representatives, When we contemplate the present condition of other nations, and contrast their situation with our own, what sentiments of gratitude does it not inspire towards that divine providence under whose protection and indulgence we enjoy so many blessings, of which it is their unhappy lot to be deprived? conducting us to our present envied eminence, entitle them to the best gifts of the republicthe confidence and gratitude of a free people. What a weight of obligation does not our present happy and enviable situation impose upon us, to cherish, support, and maintain our invaluable constitution in its present shape and form? Let us zealously endeavour to discharge this obligation by all the means in our power. It has been often said, & I think truly, that knowledge is one of the surest means by which liberty is either to be obtained or preserved; and that knowledge which is improved, enlarged, and refined by a liberal education, is undoubtedly the best. If we turn to the historic page, we shall find, that all those nations who encouraged and patronized learned men, and institutions for the education of their youth, were the most free; and if for a time they fell under oppression, they seldom failed to embrace the first favourable opportunity to break their fetters, and re-establish their freedom. Even In Europe, military despotism occupies the in Europe, at this day, it is the gross ignorance, place of civil liberty, and in many instances ag-bigotry, and superstition, of the great mass of the gravated by bigotry and religious intolerance, tramples under foot the sacred rights of man :nor is the condition of the greater part of Asia less wretched; whilst at least two thirds of the mise-condition. rable inhabitants of Africa are lost, as it were, in one eternal night of gross ignorance, superstition, and paganism; and the rest have, for centuries past, subsisted by the precarious and licentious means of piracy and plunder. In turning our eyes from those scenes of despotism, ignorance, superstition, and rapine, our sympathy is excited in behalf of the struggling sons of liberty in the Spanish possessions on our own continent; nor will the amicable relations subsisting between our government and that of old Spain, forbid the hope that their efforts may be crowned with suc cess. people (with very little exception) which enables a few military despots to lord it over their fellow creatures, and keep them in their present slavish The human mind, unimproved by education, has been very aptly compared to a block of marble in its native state. It is the artist who gives it the polish, and presents to the cye its hidden beauties which we so much admire just so is the influence of education upon the human mind. It is, therefore, by education that we are to increase our knowledge, and thereby establish one of the firmest supports to our present republican form of government. Our state has, in this respect, done much, but she ought still to do much more. Thirty years experience has proven that the legislative provision for the establishment and support of our county academies, is altogether insufficient: but few of them have gone into operation, and those that have, it is well known, have been greatly aided by individual patronage. The great increase of our territory and population, and the inadequacy of the fund heretofore appropriated for this purpose seems to me to require further legislative provision. In our happy country, the government of which is founded upon the basis of equal rights, and where the military is subordinate to the civil authority, and merit is the only sure passport to distinction and office, the efforts of one of the most powerful nations on earth, in attempting to enforce her illegitimate pretensions to controul our commerce, and regulate our intercourse with foreign nations, at their will, has only served to exalt the American character to a proud eminence, It is highly gratifying to witness the individual to cement our union, unfold our resources, and efforts now making in many parts of the state, for falsify the assertion, that our constitution had not the establishme,cuated support of private schools sufficient energy to maintain the independence of and academies will the legislature of Georthe nation. But whilst theorists, and the advo-gia refuse to encourage and promote such laudacates of monarchy are indulging themselves in the belief of the weakness of our system, it is both our pride and happiness to know, that our gallant army and navy, although, as it were, in their infancy, and composed of citizens hastily collected from the private walks of life, and unaccustomed to military discipline, gave the enemy in our recent contest such proofs of republican energy, as made them glad to withdraw their royal mercenaries from the conflict, under a succession of disasters which confounded themselves, and astonished all Europe. || ble exertions? Surely they will not. Our present state of tranquility and prosperity, with ample resources at command, is peculiarly favourable for the prosecution of this object. Enlighten the rising generation, and their liberties will be secure: leave them in ignorance and they may be made slaves. Whilst on the subject of education, permit me to recommend for your consideration, a careful revision of the laws heretofore passed, for suppressing vice and immorality. Good morals are all important in estimating the value of a liberal The nation now reposing in the lap of peace, education. A public seminary of learning withenjoying a much larger share of prosperity and out morals, would be a stain upon our character, happiness than any other people on earth, we and a curse to our country; and with them, not ought not to be unmindful of the merits and ser- only one of the brightest ornaments, but one of vices of those eminent statesmen and patriots," the greatest blessings we can possess. A disre THE NATIONAL REGISTER. gard to moral instruction, will have an inevitable tendency to promote luxury and vice, and ultimately endanger, if it does not entirely overthrow, our present happy government. It is true, that much of the luxury which we ought to dread, as the parent of vice, must be imported from abroad, and that the regulation and controul of our external relations depend upon the acts of the general government; but it is, nevertheless, in the power of the state legislatures to afford important aid to the laws of the Union in this respect. The revision of our penal code has been com. mitted, agreeably to the wish of the last legislature, to two gentlemen of eminent legal talents and general knowledge; and the result of their labour is herewith communicated. I trust it will be found worthy of your acceptance. FINANCIAL. IMPORTANT REPORT. [No.14 In the house of representatives of Massachu ject of the sale of stock owned by the state in the setts, Mr. Codman, from a committee on the subreported, That in February last the treasurer, a Boston and Union banks, [one million of dollars] greeably to law, directed these banks to purchase such stock, at par, within nine months, on the terms specified in their acts of incorporation; and whole of the 600,000 dollars of state stock in that that the Boston bank was willing to purchase the bank, on the following terms: To pay the treasurer's notes for monies In United States six per cents, being a table. Making, 32,003 183,000 1 ་ 113.136 271.864 $ 600,000 By the appropriation law for the present year, a specific sum and fund was designated, from which to pay the states' quota of the direct tax to the United States, for the year 1816: but, upon examination, it was found to be doubtful whether the fund designated could be relied upon for this payment, so as to give the state the advantage of the discount of 10 or 15 per centum on the amount of the tax and the state being in posses-der these terms and conditions to be just and equi sion of drafts of the treasurer of the United States The committee further report that they consi to a competent amount, payment was tendered in those drafts, and after some difficulty, on the part of the secretary of the treasury, accepted; leaving a question which arose on the subject of no. tice, for the decision of congress. pondence between the executive and the secretary of the treasury, herewith submitted, will furnish all the requisite light to a clear and full understanding of this subject. It may, however, be proper to appropriate the amount, so as to authorize a warrant to be drawn; for although the amount in money never was in our treasury, the payment having been made by way of discount, yet it may be the safest course to consider the drafts as money, since they have been received in payment as such. been made by the Union bank for the purchase of the 400,000 dollars stock in that bank, but They further reported, That no proposition had they propose, in case that corporation should abe allowed to pay therefor as follows: The corres-gree to purchase the whole stock, that they should In treasurer's notes for money borrowed Massachusetts six per cents, by the state, Residue in money, . The treasurer's abstract, which will be laid be- Some paragraphs of a local nature are omitted. $ 10,000 148,250 241,750 $ 400,000 The committee propose, should this purchase, tal to 1,200,000 dollars; and that the Union bank at par, be made prior to the 20th instant, that the Boston bank should be allowed to reduce its capi 800,000 dollars. should also be allowed to reduce its capital to USEFUL ARTS. invented bridge by an ingenious and respectable the best judges in securing a patent right, but the |