550

CONSEQUENCES OF THE ASSUMPTION. [CHAP. VII.

cause of all, but for expenses which had, in other States, been defrayed by taxes levied on the people of those States, the assumption was an injustice to those last mentioned States; and it was unwise, on the score of policy, since the States most in debt were also the principal creditor States, and the balances due from them could have been more easily paid by them than the whole amount assumed could be paid by the General government; since it was thus compelled to resort to a course of taxation which was at once burdensome and unpopular, and which, by favoring the suspicion that the Federal party wished to afford more field for speculation, and to increase the public debt, gave more strength to the enemies of the government than to its friends. But in the steadily augmenting resources of the country by reason of its natural growth, and the gains derived from its neutral commerce, this financial error was soon forgotten, and at the present time, when a single State owes nine or ten times as much as the debts then due from Massachusetts or South Carolina, the whole amount of injustice and inconvenience caused by the assumption are regarded as one looks back on the petty sorrows and distresses of his childhood.

The session ended on the ninth day of June, and the third day of November was appointed for the next meeting of Congress.

The nation and the government now had the satisfaction to hear of General Wayne's success against the Indians on the Maumee River,' in what is now the State of Ohio. This force amounted to two thousand warriors, and Wayne's consisted of nearly that number of regulars,

'This river is sometimes called, in the histories of the day, the Miami of the Lakes, to distinguish it from the river of the same name which empties into the Ohio.

1794.]

WAYNE DEFEATS THE INDIANS.

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and about eleven hundred mounted volunteers from Kentucky. The Indians were strongly posted behind a thick wood near the fort recently built by the British, and were defended from the attack of the mounted volunteers by the trees with which a late hurricane had covered the ground. Wayne had formed his Kentucky legion into two lines, but so impetuous was the attack of the first line, that the Indians were routed and dispersed before many of the second line could take part in the action. Wayne's loss, in killed and wounded, was one hundred and seven men; that of the Indians was estimated at twice that number.

After this victory, the whole Indian country in the North-west was laid waste, and forts were erected by Wayne to prevent the future hostilities of the savages. Under the belief that the Indians had been stimulated by the British, the houses and corn-fields round their fort, even to its verge, had been destroyed, including those of an English trader, known to have great influence with those people, which gave rise to an angry correspondence between the Commander of the fort and General Wayne.

This success, and the decisive measures which followed it, prevented a general war with the Indians north-west of the Ohio, and produced a salutary effect on the Southern tribes within the limits of Georgia.

In the course of this summer an open resistance to the law caused pain and mortification to every patriotic American, whether he thought the complaints of a portion of the people against the Government were well or ill-founded.

In every part of the United States except Pennsylvania, and in by far the larger number of the counties of that State, the officers of the Federal Government had been able to carry the excise law, unpopular as it gene

552

RESISTANCE TO THE EXCISE LAW. [CHAP. VII.

rally was, into execution; but resistance having been made in a few of the western counties, and their defiance of law increasing with the forbearance of the Government in that State, prosecutions had been ordered against the offenders. In July, the Marshal of the District, Lenox, who was serving the process, and General Neville, the Inspector, were attacked by a body of armed men, and compelled to desist from the execution of their official duties.

The next day, a much larger number, amounting to five hundred men, assembled, and endeavored to seize the person of General Neville. Failing in that, they exacted a promise from the Marshal that he would serve no more process on the west side of the Alleghany; and attacking the Inspector's house, they set fire to it, and destroyed it with its contents. On this occasion, the leader of the assailants was killed, and several of them wounded. Both the Inspector and Marshal were required to resign; but they refused, and sought safety in flight.

A meeting was held a few days later, at Mingo Creek meeting-house, which recommended to all the townships in the four western counties of Pennsylvania, and the neighboring counties of Virginia, to meet, by their delegates, at Parkinson's ferry, on the Monongahela, on the fourteenth of August, "to take into consideration the situation of the western country."

Three days after this meeting, a party of the malcontents seized the mail, carried it to Canonsburg, seven miles distant, and there opened the letters from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, to discover who were hostile to them. They then addressed a circular letter to the officers of the militia in the disaffected counties, informing them of the intercepted letters, and calling on them to rendezvous at Braddock's Field on the first of August,

1794.]

PROCEEDINGS OF THE MALCONTENTS.

.

553

with arms in good order, and four days' provision. "Here," they said, "was an expedition in which they would have an opportunity of displaying their military talents, and of rendering service to their country." This circular was signed by seven persons, but the prime mover was David Bradford, a lawyer, who was the prosecuting attorney of Washington County.

In consequence of this summons, a large body of men, which has been estimated at from five to seven thousand, assembled at Braddock's Field on the day appointed. Many of them were prepared, both by arms and inclination, for action; but some also were men of respectability, who attended for the purpose of preventing mischief. Bradford took upon himself the military command, which was readily yielded to him; and by his denunciation of "traitors and cowards," stimulated the violent, and awed the more moderate into silence.

At a council of the principal officers, it was decided to choose a committee of three persons from each regiment to deliberate on their future course. The committee accordingly assembled, and having appointed Edward Cook their chairman, Bradford proposed the expulsion from Pittsburg of several persons whose hostility had been discovered by the letters they had intercepted; but his motion was carried only as to two persons, Gibson and Neville, son of the Inspector. They then decided to proceed to Pittsburg. Some assented to this, to prevent the mischief which others meditated. But for this, and the liberal refreshments furnished by the people of Pittsburg, it was thought that the town would have been burnt. At night, however, the barn of Kirkpatrick, an obnoxious citizen, was set on fire, after which the rioters dispersed.

Judge Wilson, an Associate Justice of the Supreme

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MILITIA ORDERED OUT.

[CHAP. VII. Court of the United States, having certified that in the Counties of Washington and Alleghany, in Pennsylvania, the laws of the United States were obstructed "by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings"-a preliminary step required by the act of Congress in such cases-the President issued a proclamation reciting the acts of treason, commanding the insurgents to disperse, and warning others against abetting them. He, at the same time, wishing to try lenient measures, appointed three Commissioners' to repair to the scene of the insurrection, to confer with the insurgents, and to offer them pardon on condition of a satisfactory assurance of their future obedience to the laws.

Before the President decided on this course of forbearance, the policy of calling out the militia had been discussed in the Cabinet. Messrs. Hamilton, Knox, and Bradford, as soon as the violent proceedings against the Marshal and Inspector were known, thought that course should be adopted without delay. Mr. Randolph was opposed to it, as likely to inflame opposition, and unite the people of the State. Governor Mifflin, who was consulted, inclined to the same opinion. The President, not entirely concurring in the views of either party, made requisitions of twelve thousand, subsequently raised to fifteen thousand militia of the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, but, content with requiring them to be held in readiness, he did not at once order them into the field.

Governor Mifflin followed the example of the President in appointing Commissioners to confer with the

1

These were James Ross of Pittsburg, one of the Senators from Pennsylvania, Mr. Bradford, the Attorney-General, and Jasper Gates, a Judge of the Supreme Court of the same State.