we-have no doubt the above-stated sentiments in regard to Mr. Stewart would, upon application, receive the united concurrence of all his acquaintances in this part of the country.

"Jno. H. Pendergrass, W. H. Jones, George Shaw, Samuel Watson, W. B. Winters, Charles Bacon, Edward Adams, A. J. Brown, Benj. S. Adams, H. Webb, Middleton Witt, William Cowan, Jackson Bell, Sylvanus Ripley, John Appleby.”

It appears from the above documents that Clanton made his inquiry to the Georgians on the 11th of August, and, after receiving the above reply, we find him writing to Arthur, Fulton, & Co., on the 25th of September, charging Mr. Stewart with forgery. What dependance is to be put in the assertions of such an unblushing villain? Would he not swear away the life of Mr. Stewart? Do we not see his latter accusation against Mr. S. made in the very teeth of light and knowledge? We leave the reader and the world to determine his merits, and shall only add, that he and his associates in crime may revel in all the infamy of their profession, and heap abuse on abuse, without giving offence or attracting notice in future.

K 2

PROCEEDINGS AT LIVINGSTON.

AFTER the exposition and discomfiture of the clan and their designs, a fragment of its more daring members conspired to carry out the plans of their chieftain on the 4th of July, instead of the 25th of December, and thus anticipated the vigilance of the community; but, being deprived of the management of their arch demon, who had successfully directed the clan and conspiracy over thirteen states, for eight years, without miscarriage, their plans were unsuccessfully managed, which exposed them to the fury of an injured and incensed community, as will be seen from the following history of Madison county, Mississippi.

Proceedings of the citizens of Madison county, in the

State of Mississippi, at Livingston, in July, 1835, in relation to the Trial and Punishment of several individuals, implicated in a contemplated Insurrection of the Slaves in that state, as reported by the Committee of Safety.

ADDRESS OF THE COMMITTEE.

THE Committee of Livingston have caused to be laid before their fellow-citizens and the public the grounds upon which an imperious necessity, as they conceived, and still firmly believe, compelled them to act, and cause the lives of a number of their fellow-beings to be taken. No one need be informed that the principle of self

defence is the first law of nature, derived from our Creator as essential to the preservation of life.

When, too, it is recollected, that all we hold most dear in this world was involved in the common danger, and calling for every manly energy in its defence, the odds will be found very great between the cold reasoning of statesmen and lawyers, and the vituperations of fanatics at a distance. But imminent and pressing as was the danger, the organization of a committee, chosen by the unanimous consent of their fellow-citizens, assembled on the occasion, and invested by them (however unclothed with the forms of law) with the fearful power of life and death, was the result. This may, nevertheless, be considered salutary, not only as providing against and checking the impending danger, but as wresting and restraining those wild sallies of passion, and not unfrequently of private revenge, which mark the devastating career of an excited and enraged people. The awful responsibility which thus, by the unsolicited suffrages of their fellow-citizens, devolved upon the committee, called for the most patient exercise and calm deliberation of their judgments, not only to break the force of the coming storm, but to shield the innocent from being confounded with the guiltyno very easy task in times of great public excitement, and when the people are driven, from the urgency of the occasion, to resort to natural law for safety. If the committee have in any instance erred, in consigning the innocent to death, of which they remain yet to be convinced, it has not been produced by precipitation on their part-for due deliberation and an earnest desire to find out the truth, rather than the guilt of the accused, have been attested by the length of time devoted to the examination of each case. To those acquainted with the circumstances and condition of the surrounding country and population at the time, an apology for the strong measures adopted by the citizens, and by the committee, under the authority confided to them, would be unnecessary; it may not be to those at a distance.

The question may arise among the latter, why was not the civil authority appealed to? and which, the committee are free to declare, is always greatly to be preferred, when its powers are competent to restrain the evil. The civil authority was inadequate to this end in

Madison county; for there is no jail in that county sufficient to contain more than six or eight prisoners, and even those very insecurely; and, whenever prisoners would have been despatched to any other county, a guard would have been required, which would have left many families defenceless; and it was unknown at what moment this protection might be required; besides, immediate example, and its consequent terror, without hope from the law's delay or evasion, seemed, as in truth it was, indispensable to safety.

Already had many of the slaves marked out the victims of their lust or revenge; and no time to convince them of the fatal attempts of their rash enterprise was to be lost. If they had been permitted to commence it, though a failure must have eventually taken place, horrid would their momentary triumph have been. That the plot was headed by a daring band of villanous white men, there now remains no doubt, and the desperate evil required a prompt and efficient remedy, to the extent of the one resorted to by the citizens of Madison county, and carried into effect by the committee.

PROCEEDINGS.

ABOUT the middle of the month of June, 1835, a rumour was afloat through Madison county that an insurrection of the slaves was meditated; no authentic information, however, having been obtained how or where the report originated, most of the citizens were disposed to treat it as unfounded, and consequently took no steps to ascertain its truth or falsehood, until within a few days previous to the fourth of July.

After ascertaining that the report had emanated from a lady residing at Beatie's Bluff, in this county, about nine miles from Livingston, a number of gentlemen waited upon her, for the purpose of learning upon what grounds or suspicions she had given publicity to it. The lady, in compliance with their request, informed them that she was induced to believe an insurrection of the negroes was in contemplation, from the following circumstances, and parts of conversation she had overheard among her house-girls.