The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-04-03
How Washington, Jefferson and
jackson pllt down Armed Re-
sistaMcc to the Governments.

] jackson palt down Armed Ase.
sistancc to the Government.
From very interesting address by Judge
William johnson of Cincinnati, recently de-
livered in that city, we take the following ex-
tract.
| propose to inquire what THREE Presi-
dents have done in cases Of armed resistance
to tie law-two of ITEM the most popular
Presidents we ever had, and the third filing
place in the common heart Of America and
the world, far, very far, above all or cor
ceptions Of popularity.
In the, first era of treason and secession,
there was singular resemblance between
the conduct of the insurrectionists in Wes-
tern Pennsylvania, and that of our deluded
brethren in the Gulf States. They killed,
they whipped, they tarred and feathered,
they banished; they burned barns, houses,
and dstilleries, and stopped short OF seizing
the United States arsenal in Pittsburg only
for the want Of sufficient force, Fl is said
1 that this insurrection at one time numbered
seven thousand men in arms. There was
great allowance to be made for these people.
Most of them were from the south of Ireland,
where they had been accustomed both to
drink whisky and hate excise laws. This
excise law, though warranted by the Consti-
tuition, Cart. l, Sec. 81 and uniform through
out the United States, bore hard on the peo-
pie Of the West, who so remote from market
that whisky was the only form in which
their produce could be TRANSPORTED and turn
ed into money. They were urged on by ambi-
tious demagogues, and refused to wait for
the constitutional remedy--flew to arms and
defied the Federal Government. The excise
law was modified to relieve them of their
burdens; still they resisted. Washington
sent out commissioners to remonatrate with
them; still they resisted. Washington's
language on this occasion was worthy of a
great ruler, "Cost what it may, the people
must be taught to obey the law" He called
out the militia of New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
MARYLAND, and Virginia, put them under the
command of Gen. Henry Lee, then Governor
of Virginia, and marched an army Of four
teen thousand men to Pittsburg. AS they
marched over the ground on which the in
s, rrectionists paraded but yesterday, not a
dog moved his tongue. The leaders fled to
the Spanish dominions below, and there was
an end of insurrecton, treason, and secession.
At this day there is no spot in America
where the name of Washington is more re-
vered than the spot where this insurrection
was put down. No people truer to the Con-
sttution and the Union, than the sons and
grandsons,of these insurrectionists.
In the second era of treason and secession,
which occurred during the administration of
Mr. Jefferson, military force was used, by
order of the President, to suppress insurrec.
ton and punish treason. Burr had fallen
from his pristine glory. His homes in the
East were blasted Still,
"To reign was worth ambition, though in hell"
He came to the West with his head and
heart both full of treason. There were Q
second and third project in contemplation
if the first should fall; but the primary OBJ
! ject was to divide the Union-to revive and
infiame the old prejudices of the people in
the Mississippi valley, against the people
of the Atlantic States, disrupt the Union
: and set up Southern Confederacy.
Burr's confederate traitor, Gen. Wilkin
~ NJ, TaH TN.
: bare attempt at s1ch thing by man o
Burr's sagacity, strongly suggested its i'm
possibility. Mr.. Jefferson, in sight of dan
ger, did not bold still for fear ofirritating th'
:, Western people. Hes prepared for th'
! worst. By his order Gov. Tiffsn called GU
the militia If Ohio, and by armed force inter
: cepted and captured fourteen of Burr
transport boats near the mouth of the Mus
kingum, for which he received the thanks o
! the President. The Territorial Governor o.
Louisiana, in like manner called out the mil
itia to seize his transports and intercept hi
fight. Hew arrested, carried to Richmond
! Virginia, and there indicted and tried 70
; treason.
By the Constitution, every one accused o
) crime is entitled to a trial in the same
State or district where the crime was com
: mitted. BY the same instrument, (Art. III
y Sec. 81 treason is confined within very
narrow limits: "Treason against the Uni
ted States shall consist only in levying wa
against them, or in adhering to their enc
mics, giving them aid and comfort" Chic
Il Justice Marshal held that there must be, nc
J design merely, but some overt act of trea
son to sustain an indictment. The Govern
ment failed to prove any overt act of wa
against the United States within the Dis
trct of Virginia, and Burr was acquitted
The moral effect was the same as if he ha
been hanged. The rublic were advertise
~ of the estimate in which traitors were helt
er and treason did not show her head unit
y 1882.
The third era Of treason and secession OF
CURED in 1882, during the administration I
General jackson. The ostensible object ,
' complaint then, was the revenue laws, whc
'e as was said, were oppressive to the people
IT. the planting States. General jackson b
lieyed this a mere pretext on the part of II
le, leaders. Whether he was right in this
will not undertake to say. Whatever Il
cu .... ...o, tho,, rororfad fnr their ro,n