The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5 (of 5)
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[Footnote 26: The inspector had left the house and secreted
himself. The demand of the papers was acceded to.]
The marshal and Colonel Pressly Nevil were seized on their way to
General 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 individuals who possessed more humanity, or more
prudence, than those with whom they were associated. He could obtain
his liberty only by entering into a solemn engagement, which was
guaranteed by Colonel 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 danger 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, being desirous to
ascertain their strength, and to discover any latent enemies who might
remain unsuspected in the bosom of the disaffected country, despatched
a party which stopped the mail from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, cut it
open, and took out the letters which it contained. In some of these
letters, a direct disapprobation of the violent measures which had
been adopted was 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 in Braddock's field, in
order to carry into effect such further measures as might be deemed
adviseable with respect to the excise and its friends. 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
President.
The opposition had now reached to a point which seemed to forbid the
continuance of a temporizing 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 avowed. The alternative of subduing this
resistance, or of submitting to it was presented to the government.
The act of congress which provided for calling forth the militia "to
execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel
invasions," required as a pre-requisite 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."
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.
The executive being now authorized to adopt such measures as the
crisis might require, the subject was again seriously considered in
the cabinet; and the governor of Pennsylvania was also consulted
respecting it. To avoid military coercion, if obedience to the laws
could be produced by other means, was the universal wish; and
therefore, all concurred in advising the appointment of commissioners
from the governments of both the union, and the state, who should warn
the deluded insurgents of the impending danger, and should convey a
full pardon for past offences, upon the condition of future
submission. But, respecting ulterior and eventual measures, a
difference of opinion prevailed. The act already mentioned, made it
the duty of the President, previous to the employment of military
force, to issue his proclamation, commanding the insurgents to
disperse within a limited time. The secretary of state (and the
governor of Pennsylvania is understood to have concurred with him) was
of opinion, that this conciliatory mission should be unaccompanied by
any measure which might wear the appearance of coercion. He was
alarmed at the strength of the insurgents, at their connexion with
other parts of the country, at the extensive-ness of the prevailing
discontents with the administration, and at the difficulty and expense
of bringing the militia into the field. The governor of Pennsylvania
having declared his opinion, that the militia of that state, who could
be drawn forth, would be incompetent to enforce obedience, the aid of
the neighbouring states would consequently be necessary. The secretary
of state feared that the militia of the neighbouring states would
refuse to march; and that, should he be mistaken in this, their
compliance with the orders of the executive might be not less fatal
than their disobedience. The introduction of a foreign militia into
Pennsylvania might greatly increase the discontents prevailing in that
state. His apprehensions of a failure, in the attempt to restore
tranquillity by coercive means, were extreme; and the tremendous
consequences of a failure were strongly depicted. From the highly
inflamed state of parties, he anticipated a civil war, which would
pervade the whole union, and drench every part of it with the blood of
American citizens.
The secretary of the treasury, the secretary of war, and the attorney
general, were of opinion that the President was bound by the most high
and solemn obligations to employ the force which the legislature had
placed at his disposal, for the suppression of a criminal and
unprovoked insurrection. The case contemplated by congress had clearly
occurred; and the President was urged by considerations the most
awful, to perform the duty imposed on him by the constitution, of
providing "that the laws be faithfully executed." The long forbearance
of government, and its patient endeavours to recall the deluded people
to a sense of their duty and interest by appeals to their reason, had
produced only increase of violence, and a more determined opposition.
Perseverance in that system could only give a more extensive range to
disaffection, and multiply the dangers resulting from it.
Those who were of opinion that the occasion demanded a full trial of
the ability of the government to enforce obedience to the laws, were
also of opinion, that policy and humanity equally dictated the
employment of a force which would render resistance desperate. The
insurgent country contained sixteen thousand men able to bear arms;
and the computation was, that they could bring seven thousand into the
field. If the army of the government should amount to twelve thousand
men, it would present an imposing force which the insurgents would not
venture to meet.
It was impossible that the President could hesitate to embrace the
latter of these opinions. That a government entrusted to him should be
trampled under foot by a lawless section of the union, which set at
defiance the will of the nation, as expressed by its representatives,
was an abasement to which neither his judgment nor his feelings could
submit. He resolved, therefore, to issue the proclamation, which, by
law, was to precede the employment of force.
On the same day, a requisition was made on the governors of New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, for their several quotas
of militia to compose an army of twelve thousand[27] men; who were to
be immediately organized, and prepared to march at a minute's warning.
[Footnote 27: This requisition was afterwards augmented to
fifteen thousand.]
While steps were taking to bring this force into the field, a last
essay was made to render its employment unnecessary. Three
distinguished and popular citizens of Pennsylvania were deputed by the
government to be the bearers of a general amnesty for past offences,
on the sole condition of future obedience to the laws.
It having been deemed adviseable that the executive of the state
should act in concert with that of the United States, Governor Mifflin
also issued a proclamation, and appointed commissioners to act with
those of the general government.
Meanwhile, the insurgents omitted nothing which might enlarge the
circle of disaffection. Attempts were made to embark the adjacent
counties of Virginia in their cause, and their violence was extended
to Morgantown, at which place an inspector resided, who saved himself
by flight, and protected his property by advertising on his own door
that he had resigned his office. They also made similar excursions
into the contiguous counties of Pennsylvania, lying east of the
Alleghany mountains, where numbers were ready to join them. These
deluded men, giving too much faith to the publications of democratic
societies, and to the furious sentiments of general hostility to the
administration, and particularly to the internal taxes, with which the
papers in the opposition abounded, seem to have entertained the
opinion, that the great body of the people were ready to take up arms
against their government, and that the resistance commenced by them
would spread throughout the union, and terminate in a revolution.
The convention at Parkinson's ferry had appointed a committee of
safety consisting of sixty members, who chose fifteen of their body to
confer with the commissioners of the United States, and of the state
of Pennsylvania. This committee of conference was not empowered to
conclude on any thing. They could only receive and report the
propositions which might be made to them.
Men of property and intelligence, who had contributed to kindle the
flame under the common error of being able to regulate its heat, now
trembled at the extent of the conflagration. It had passed the limits
they had assigned to it, and was no longer subject to their control.
The committee of conference expressed themselves unanimously in favour
of accepting the terms offered by the government, and exerted
themselves in the committee of safety to obtain a decision to the same
effect. In that committee, the question whether they would submit
peaceably to the execution of the law, retaining expressly the
privilege of using all constitutional means to effect its repeal, was
debated with great zeal. The less violent party carried it by a small
majority; but, not thinking themselves authorized to decide for their
constituents on so momentous a question, they afterwards resolved that
it should be referred to the people.
This reference resulted in demonstrating that, though many were
disposed to demean themselves peaceably, yet a vast mass of opposition
remained, determined to obstruct the re-establishment of civil
authority.
From some causes, among which was disaffection to the particular
service, the prospect of bringing the quota of troops required from
Pennsylvania into the field, was at first unpromising. But the
assembly, which had been summoned by the governor to meet on the first
of September, expressed in strong terms its abhorrence of this daring
attempt to resist the laws, and to subvert the government of the
country; and a degree of ardour and unanimity was displayed by the
people of other states, which exceeded the hopes of the most sanguine
friends of the administration. Some feeble attempts were indeed made
to produce a disobedience to the requisition of the President, by
declaring that the people would never be made the instruments of the
secretary of the treasury to shed the blood of their fellow citizens;
that the representatives of the people ought to be assembled before a
civil war was commenced; and by avowing the extravagant opinion that
the President could not lawfully call forth the militia of any other
state, until actual experiment had ascertained the insufficiency of
that of Pennsylvania. But these insidious suggestions were silenced by
the general sense of the nation, which loudly and strongly proclaimed
that the government and laws must be supported. The officers displayed
an unexampled activity; and intelligence from every quarter gave full
assurance that, with respect to both numbers and time, the
requisitions of the President would be punctually observed.
The governor of Pennsylvania compensated for the defects in the
militia law of that state by his personal exertions. From some
inadvertence, as was said, on the part of the brigade inspectors, the
militia could not be drafted, and consequently the quota of
Pennsylvania could be completed only by volunteers. The governor, who
was endowed with a high degree of popular elocution, made a circuit
through the lower counties of the state, and publicly addressed the
militia, at different places where he had caused them to be assembled,
on the crisis in the affairs of their country. So successful were
these animating exhortations, that Pennsylvania was not behind her
sister states in furnishing the quota required from her.
On the 25th of September, the President issued a second proclamation,
describing in terms of great energy the obstinate and perverse spirit
with which the lenient propositions of the government had been
received; and declaring his fixed determination, in obedience to the
high and irresistible duty consigned to him by the constitution, "to
take care that the laws be faithfully executed," to reduce the
refractory to obedience.
The troops of New Jersey and Pennsylvania were directed to rendezvous
at Bedford, and those of Maryland and Virginia at Cumberland, on the
Potomac.[28] The command of the expedition had been conferred on
Governor Lee of Virginia; and the governors of New Jersey and
Pennsylvania commanded the militia of their respective states under
him.
[Footnote 28: The spirit of disaffection was rapidly
spreading, and had it not been checked by this vigorous
exertion of the powers of the government, it would be
difficult to say what might have been its extent. Even while
the militia were assembling, it broke out in more than one
county in Pennsylvania, and showed itself in a part of
Maryland.]
The President, in person, visited each division of the army; but,
being confident that the force employed must look down all resistance,
he left the secretary of the treasury to accompany it, and returned
himself to Philadelphia, where the approaching session of congress
required his presence.
[Sidenote: Quelled by the prompt and vigorous measures of the
government.]
From Cumberland and Bedford, the army marched in two divisions into
the country of the insurgents. The greatness of the force prevented
the effusion of blood. The disaffected did not venture to 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.
But although no direct and open opposition was made, the spirit of
insurrection was not subdued. A sour and malignant temper displayed
itself, which indicated, but too plainly, that the disposition to
resist had only sunk under the pressure of the great military force
brought into the country, but would rise again should that force be
withdrawn. It was, therefore, thought adviseable to station for the
winter, a detachment to be commanded by Major General 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. That so
perverse a spirit should have been excited in the bosom of prosperity,
without the pressure of a single grievance, is among those political
phenomena which occur not unfrequently in the course of human affairs,
and which the statesman can never safely disregard. When real ills are
felt, there is something positive and perceptible to which the
judgment may be directed, the actual extent of which may be
ascertained, and the cause of which may be discerned. But when the
mind, inflamed by supposititious dangers, gives a full loose to the
imagination, and fastens upon some object with which to disturb
itself, the belief that the danger exists seems to become a matter of
faith, with which reason combats in vain. Under a government emanating
entirely from the people, and with an administration whose sole object
was their happiness, the public mind was violently agitated with
apprehensions of a powerful and secret combination against liberty,
which was to discover itself by the total overthrow of the republican
system. That those who were charged with these designs were as
destitute of the means, as of the will to effect them, did not shake
the firm belief of their existence. Disregarding the apparent
partiality of the administration for France, so far as that partiality
was compatible with an honest neutrality, the zealots of the day
ascribed its incessant labours for the preservation of peace, to a
temper hostile to the French republic; and, while themselves loudly
imprecating the vengeance of heaven and earth on one of the
belligerents, and openly rejoicing in the victories of the other;
while impetuously rushing into a war with Britain, and pressing
measures which would render accommodation impracticable; they
attributed a system calculated to check them in this furious career,
not to that genuine American spirit which produced it, but to an
influence which, so far as opinions are to depend on facts, has at no
time insinuated itself into the councils of the United States.
In popular governments, the resentments, the suspicions, and the
disgusts, produced in the legislature by warm debate, and the chagrin
of defeat; by the desire of gaining, or the fear of losing power; and
which are created by personal views among the leaders of parties, will
infallibly extend to the body of the nation. Not only will those
causes of dissatisfaction be urged which really operate on the minds
of intelligent men, but every instrument will be seized which can
effect the purpose, and the passions will be inflamed by whatever may
serve to irritate them. Among the multiplied evils generated by
faction, it is perhaps not the least, that it has a tendency to
abolish all distinction between virtue and vice; and to prostrate
those barriers which the wise and good have erected for the protection
of morals, and which are defended solely by opinion. The victory of
the party becomes the great object; and, too often, all measures are
deemed right or wrong, as they tend to promote or impede it. The
attainment of the end is considered as the supreme good, and the
detestable doctrine is adopted that the end will justify the means.
The mind, habituated to the extenuation of acts of moral turpitude,
becomes gradually contaminated, and loses that delicate sensibility
which instinctively inspires horror for vice, and respect for virtue.
In the intemperate abuse which was cast on the principal measures of
the government, and on those who supported them; in the violence with
which the discontents of the opponents to those measures were
expressed; and especially in the denunciations which were uttered
against them by the democratic societies; the friends of the
administration searched for the causes of that criminal attempt which
had been made in the western parts of Pennsylvania, to oppose the will
of the nation by force of arms. Had those misguided men believed that
this opposition was to be confined within their own narrow limits,
they could not have been so mad, or so weak as to have engaged in it.
The ideas of the President on this subject were freely given to
several of his confidential friends. "The _real people_" he said,
"occasionally assembled in order to express their sentiments on
political subjects, ought never to be confounded with permanent
self-appointed societies, usurping the right to control the
constituted authorities, and to dictate to public opinion. While the
former was entitled to respect, the latter was incompatible with all
government, and must either sink into general disesteem, or finally
overturn the established order of things."
[Sidenote: Meeting of congress.]
In his speech, at the opening of congress, the President detailed at
considerable length the progress of opposition to the laws, the means
employed both by the legislature and executive to appease the
discontents which had been fomented,[29] and the measures which he had
finally taken to reduce the refractory to submission.
[Footnote 29: The impression, he said, made by this
moderation on the discontented, did not correspond with what
it deserved. The acts of delusion were no longer confined to
the efforts of designing individuals. The very forbearance
to press prosecutions was misinterpreted into a fear of
urging the execution of the laws, and associations of men
began to denounce threats against the officers employed.
From a belief that by a more formal concert their operations
might be defeated, certain self-created societies assumed
the tone of condemnation.]
As Commander-in-chief of the militia when called into actual service,
he had, he said, visited the places of general rendezvous, to obtain
more correct information, and to direct a plan for ulterior movements.
Had there been room for a persuasion that the laws were secure from
obstruction, he should have caught with avidity at the opportunity of
restoring the militia to their families and homes. But succeeding
intelligence had tended to manifest the necessity of what had been
done, it being now confessed by those who were not inclined to
exaggerate the ill conduct of the insurgents, that their malevolence
was not pointed merely to a particular law; but that a spirit inimical
to all order had actuated many of the offenders.
After bestowing a high encomium on the alacrity and promptitude with
which persons in every station had come forward to assert the dignity
of the laws, thereby furnishing an additional proof that they
understood the true principles of government and liberty, and felt
their inseparable union; he added--
[Sidenote: Democratic societies.]
"To every description indeed of citizens, let praise be given. But let
them persevere in their affectionate vigilance over that precious
depository of American happiness,--the constitution of the United
States. And when in the calm moments of reflection, they shall have
retraced the origin and progress of the insurrection, let them
determine whether it has not been fomented by combinations of men,
who, careless of consequences, and disregarding the unerring truth
that those who rouse can not always appease a civil convulsion, have
disseminated, from an ignorance or perversion of facts, suspicions,
jealousies, and accusations of the whole government."
The President could not omit this fair occasion, once more to press on
congress a subject which had always been near his heart. After
mentioning the defectiveness of the existing system, he said--
"The devising and establishing of a well regulated militia, would be a
genuine source of legislative honour, and a perfect title to public
gratitude. I therefore entertain a hope that the present session will
not pass without carrying to its full energy the power of organizing,
arming, and disciplining the militia; and thus providing, in the
language of the constitution, for calling them forth to execute the
laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions."