illustrious patriot, with professions of undiminished attachment for him, unabated love for retirement and repugnance to politicswith such expressions as "I cherish tranquillity too much to suffer political things to enter my mind at all," "it is a great pleasure to me to retain the esteem and approbation of the President," "I put away this disgusting dish of old fragments, and talk to you about my peas and clover," with "the Albany pea"-"the hog pea""the true winter vetch"-"the Carolina drill"-and "the Scotch threshing machine," he was collecting from "an extensive circle of observation and information," and transmitting to the head of the opposition in Congress, the most unjust and poisonous opinions that could possibly be fabricated of the President's character and conduct. This would of itself have furnished cause sufficient for Gen. Lee, or any other sincere friend of the President, to put him on his guard, to open his eyes to the ambush from which this pretended friend and philosopher was secretly wounding him-where too his great and patriotic soul felt injury the most acutely-in the love and confidence of his country.*

The next subject of crimination against Gen. Washington, grows out of that which has been considered the second in importance and advantage among the measures of his administration, viz: the suppression of the western insurrection. As by the first, his proclamation of neutrality, he gave a just and independent direction to our character as a nation, and averted the calamities of foreign war, so by his repression of this extravagant rebellion, he confirmed the power of our institutions at home, and saved us from the horrors of civil bloodshed. To form a correct estimate of this censure, it will be necessary to attend to a fair and unprejudiced account of that event in our history which is taken from Marshall's life of Washington,† and is confirmed in every particular by Ramsay in his history of the United States.‡

From these authorities it appears, that when in the year 1791 it was found that the revenue arising from duties which had been laid

[* Lest any one should suspect that the political activity of Mr. Jefferson at this period is exaggerated in the text-seeing how opposite such conduct was to his invariable declarations to friend and foe-I will cite from the reference in the last note the following scrap. "It is certain that Monticello was in this (1794) and the two succeeding years, the head-quarters of those opposed to the federal policy, and that few measures of the republican party in Congress were undertaken without his advice or concurrence. He even had an agency in directing the attacks of the opposition journals; and manuscript draughts, bills, resolutions and reports, prepared by him about that period, are yet exhibited by those who are curious in autographs, or in the political history of the times. Some of the members of Congress from Virginia, Kentucky and the Southern States were his intimate friends; and with a part of these he communicated not only by letter, but also by a personal intercourse during the summer on their visits to the watering places in the mountains of Virginia. Among his most frequent visiters were Mr. Madison, Mr. Monroe and Mr. Giles."]

+ Vol. V. pp. 286 to 93, and 575 to 90.

+ Vol. III. pp. 74, 5, 6, 7, 8.

on imported articles, though carried to the highest productive limit, would not be sufficient to discharge the current expenses of the government, and maintain the public credit, it was proposed by the executive that a duty should be laid on spirits distilled within the United States. This proposition was resisted by the opposition in Congress, as an excise law, odious in name and oppressive in character-and as a substitute for it, that party recommended a stamp act. The bill, however, for laying a duty on domestic spirits passed into a law by a vote of 35 to 21, in the House of Representatives, and by a more decided majority in the Senate.

The opposition it encountered in Congress was soon distributed through various parts of the Union, and took root with peculiar strength and tenacity in the tramontane counties of Pennsylvania; a district, the inhabitants of which had manifested a general dislike to the constitution under the authority of which the obnoxious duty was imposed. It advanced through all the stages of seditious violence-from loud discontent to frequent acts of treason, and from these to open and general insurrection. Marshall thus describes these outrages and the conduct of the government on this critical occasion.

"On the part of the Executive, this open defiance of the laws, and of the authority of the government, was believed imperiously to require that the strength and efficacy of those laws should be tried. Against the perpetrators of some of the outrages which had been committed, bills of indictment had been found in the courts of the United States, upon which process was directed to issue; and at the same time process was also issued against a great number of noncomplying distillers. Charging himself with the service of these processes, the marshal repaired in person to the country which was the scene of these disorders. On the 15th of July (1794) while employed in the execution of his duty, he was beset on the road by a body of armed men, who fired on him, but fortunately did him no personal injury. At day break the ensuing morning, a party attacked the house of Gen. Nevil, the inspector; but he defended himself resolutely, and obliged the assailants to retreat. Knowing well that this attack had been preconcerted, and consequently apprehending that it would be repeated, he applied to the militia officers and magistrates of the county for protection. The answer was, that owing to the too general combination of the people to oppose the revenue system, the laws could not be executed so as to afford him protection: that should the posse comitatus be ordered out to support the civil authority, few could be got that were not of the party of rioters. On the succeeding day, the insurgents re-assembled to the number of about 500, to renew their attack on the house of the inspector. On finding that no protection could be afforded by the civil authority, he applied to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt, and had obtained a detachment of eleven men from that garrison, who were

joined by Major Kirkpatrick. Successful resistance to so great a force being obviously impracticable, a parley took place, at which the assailants, after requiring that the inspector and all his papers* should be delivered up, demanded that the party in the house should march out and ground their arms. This being refused the parley terminated and the assault commenced. The action lasted until the assailants set fire to several adjacent buildings, the heat from which was so intense, that the house could be no longer occupied. From this cause, and from the apprehension that the fire would soon be communicated to the main building, Major Kirkpatrick and his party surrendered themselves. The marshal and Col. Pressly Nevil were seized on their way to Gen. Nevil's house, and detained until two the next morning. The marshal, especially, was treated with extreme rudeness. His life was frequently threatened, and was probably saved by the interposition of some leading characters who possessed more humanity, or more prudence than those with whom they were associated. He could only obtain his safety or liberty by entering into a solemn engagement, which was guaranteed by Col. Nevil, to serve no more process on the western side of the Alleghany Mountains. The marshal and inspector having both retired to Pittsburg, the insurgents deputed two of their body, one of whom was a justice of the peace, to demand that the former should surrender all his process, and that the latter should resign his office: threatening in case of refusal to attack the place, and seize their persons. These demands were not acceded to; but Pittsburg affording no security, these officers escaped from the dangers which threatened them, by descending the Ohio, after which, they found their way by a circuitous route to the seat of government. The perpetrators of these treasonable practices would, of course, be desirous to ascertain their strength, and to discover any latent enemies who might remain unsuspected in the bosom of the disaffected country. To obtain this information, the mail from Pittsburg to Philadelphia was stopped by armed men, who cut it open, and took out the letters it contained. In some of these letters, a direct disapprobation of the violent measures which had been adopted was openly avowed; and in others expressions were used which indicated unfriendly dispositions towards them. Upon acquiring this intelligence, delegates were deputed from the town of Washington to Pittsburg where the writers of the offensive letters resided, to demand the banishment of the offenders. A prompt obedience to this demand was unavoidable, and the inhabitants of Pittsburg, who were convened on the occasion, engaged to attend a general meeting of the people, who were to assemble the next day at Braddock's field, in order to carry into effect such further measures as might be deemed advisa

* "The inspector had left the house and secreted himself—the demand of the papers was acceded to."-Note by Marshall.

ble, with respect to the excise and its advocates. They also determined to elect delegates to a convention which was to meet on the 14th of August, at Parkinson's ferry. The avowed motives to these outrages were to compel the resignation of all officers engaged in the collection of the duties on distilled spirits; to withstand by force of arms the authority of the United States, and thereby to extort a repeal of the law imposing those duties, and an alteration in the conduct of government. Affidavits attesting this serious state of things were laid before the Executive. The opposition had now progressed to a point which seemed to forbid the continuance of a temporising system. The efforts at conciliation, which, for more than three years the government had persisted to make, and the alterations repeatedly introduced into the act, for the purpose of rendering it less exceptionable, instead of diminishing the arrogance of those who opposed their will to the sense of the nation, had drawn forth sentiments indicative of designs much deeper than the evasion of a single act. The execution of the laws had at length been resisted by open force, and a determination to persevere in these measures was unequivocally manifested. To the government was presented the alternative of subduing, or of submitting to, this resistance. The act of Congress which provided for calling forth the militia "to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection, and repel invasions," required as a prerequisite to the exercise of this power, "that an associate justice, or the judge of the district, should certify that the laws of the United States were opposed, or their execution obstructed, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals." In the same act it was provided, "that if the militia of the State where such combinations may happen, shall refuse, or be insufficient to suppress the same, the President may employ the militia of other states." By the unanimous advice of the cabinet, the evidence which had been transmitted to the President was laid before one of the associate justices, who gave the certificate, which enabled the chief magistrate to employ the militia in aid of the civil power."

After relating the deliberations of the Cabinet on the amount of force and mode of proceeding, advisable on the occasion, stating that Gen. Mifflin, the governor of Pennsylvania, when consulted, was of opinion that the militia of his state would not be competent to the object of putting down the insurgents; that the President issued one proclamation, recapitulating the steps that had been taken by the insurgents in violation of the law, and by the government in support of it; and requiring the insurgents to "disperse and retire peaceably to their homes, on or before the first of September;" that a requisition was made on the governors of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, for quotas of militia to compose an army of 15,000 men, in the hope that the greatness of the

force would prevent bloodshed; that a deputation consisting of Judge Yates of the superior court, Mr. Ross, a senator from Pennsylvania and a gentleman of great popularity in the disaffected country, and the Attorney-General of the United States, also a citizen of Pennsylvania, were despatched by Gen. Washington to offer to the insurgents a general amnesty upon the sole condition of future submission to the laws; and that at the request of the executive, and for the purpose of giving success to this last effort, to avoid the employment of military force; the governor of Pennsylvania appointed commissioners to act in concert with these deputies; that this last effort at conciliation was unavailing; that the insurgents proceeded in their outrageous spirit, and in extending the circle of resistance into the neighbouring states of Maryland and Virginia, that the President issued a second proclamation on the 25th September, describing to the public, the "obstinate and perverse spirit," in which the lenient propositions of the government had been received, and declaring his fixed determination to do his duty, to see the laws faithfully executed, and to bring the refractory to obedience; that the command of the expedition was conferred on Governor Lee of Virginia, and that the governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey commanded under him the militia of their respective states, and that the President in person visited the two divisions of the party at Cumberland and Bedford. Marshall thus proceeds: "From Cumberland and Bedford the army marched in two divisions into the country of the insurgents. As had been foreseen, the greatness of the force prevented the effusion of blood. The disaffected did not assemble in arms. Several of the leaders who had refused to give assurances of future submission to the laws, were seized, and some of them detained for legal prosecution. A Mr. Bradford, who, in the latter stages of the insurrection, had manifested peculiar violence, and had openly advocated an appeal to arms, made his escape into the territories of Spain. But although no direct and open opposition was made, the spirit of insurrection was by no means subdued. A sour and malignant temper displayed itself, which indicated but too plainly that the disposition to resist, had only sunk under the presence of the great military force brought into the country, but would rise again, should that force be suddenly removed. It was therefore thought advisable to station for the winter, a detachment, to be commanded by Major Gen. Morgan, in the centre of the disaffected country. Thus without shedding a drop of blood,* did the prudent vigour of the Executive, terminate an insurrection which, at one time, threatened to shake the government of the United States to its foundation."

Here we see from two historians, whose narrations concur, and

* "Two persons who were convicted of treason, received pardon."

Note by Marshall.