The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-07-31

the crisis Of the armed protest lht4lo
a0ainst the, Excise law, there are some
Tsmarkable reflections on the power OF
the Federal Government to coerce Q mi,
nnritv of its citizens, and the right OF
tbat minority TO seCede. Of course, the
case Is not precisely parallel 70 that pre-
kented In 1880, because the insurgents
ma not sovereign States, but represent
| ha only fraction Of single common
wealth. YetW when we consider thai TINS
/ dfst strain upon our Consultation TOOK
place only Ave years after ,its adoption;
and when nearly all its trainers We're
alive. It il most instructive to examine
l Mr. Gallatin's views on this matter, con-
fruned 40 they are by his opinions ex'
pressed some years later, during the lepe'
cies Of deadlock produced by the ballot.
ing for Jefferson and Burr--a state oi
thinga not unlike the perplexity ana
peril which attended the electoral count
Of 1875. In the Fayette declaration,
which was penned by Mr.. Gallstin1, 1t
was not disputed that occasions might
arise when oppression on the part Of the
majority would justify resistance or So
cession in the minority. The principle
seems to have been recognized, and only
the question of eXpediency was discuss
ed, whether the actual harm resulting
from the Excise law justified the 80, call
ed whisky insurrection, In Mr.. Galla-
tins Judgment, resistance and civil war
at that stage Of the national existence
Would have meant anarchy and ruin to
western Pennsylvania, and a probable
annihilation of the Union He goes on
to point out that in order to conCiliate SO
many and various interests as those OF
the several parts of the Union, mutual
forbearance, manifestations OF good Will
one to another, and reciprocal acts OF
| friendship are as essentially necessary
as a strict adherence to the Constitution
which binds us together. He adds, in
words of notable significance, that IF
ever the fatal lesson is taught the inhab.
itants of this extensive republic to shed
one another's blood, we may forever bid
farewell to harmony, to mutual conf
dence, and to peace. The seeds Of dis
sension, a spirit of hatred and revenge
will be implanted in every mans heart,
and whatever might be the future dura.
tion of nominal Union, its reality will
no longer exist"
The letters which passed between
Mr.. Gallatin and President Jefferson or
| President Madison during the formers
twelve years tenure of the Treasury,
throw much light on the peculiar fiscal
difficulties which he surmounted, and
upon the prudent and astute manage
ment which gained him the reputation
ofa great fnanCier. Hs was now in posi-
ton to apply the convictions set forth in
the treatises published before he had Ia
ken office, and entitled "a Sketch of Fl.
nances," and "Views of Public Debt"
As is we'll known, he opposed the increase
of national debt, and promoted its
gradual extinction. A glance at these
letters will attest that his influence was
by no means corfned to his depart
ment, but swept over the whole field of
foreign and domestic politics. 1t is in
teresting to find, for example, message
of Thomas Jefferson submitted to Mr..
Gallatin for correction, and returned
with large amount of erasures and ad-
ditions. It appears that President Mad
ison in 1909 offered him the State De-
partment, which he refused, preferring
to continue in the Treasury. But when
the war with England broke out and
the Emperor of Russia proffered his me-
diation, the President insisted that Mr.
Gallatin should 60 as Envoy to st. Pe-
tersburg. As it turned out, that project
miscarried, but his residence in the Rus
sian capital at q most eventful juncture,
brought him intointimate relations with
some of the most distinguished men of
the Napoleonic era. His letters, accord
ingly, from st. Petersburg, while they are
less useful to the student of American
politics, are more generally entertaining.
One, for instance, is addressed to Gen.
Moreau, who had lately returned from
his exile in America, and was on
the eve of the battle where he was to
lose his life. Another short epistle was
addressed to the American Envoy by
Nine. de Staal, who, by the way, was a
distant connection of his family; third
is addressed to Lafayette, and we OBJ
serve that in all of Mr.. Gallatin's CORE.
spondenCe at this epoch, while he is out
spoken enough in his loyalty to free in
stitutions, he has quite outgrown his ear
lier indiscriminate sympathy for France
and declines to recognize in Bonaparte
anything but a usurper. No doubt his
situation was delicate, and he felt con.
strained to countenanee the attitude of
those through whom he hoped to further
his country's interests; and yet there is
something strange in Mr.. Gallatin's in.
difference to the military glories of the
first Empire, and In his prompt adoption
of the contemptuous phrases applied to
Stein and Castlereigh to the Corsican
phenomenon. The truth is, Mr.. Gala
tin was not only skilled tinancier, but
an adroit diplomast, and oftbis he gave
such proof when the negotiations aban-
doned at st. Petersburg were resumed at
Ghent, that President Madison besought
him to remain in Europe as American
Minister at Paris. His letter to the Pres
ident on this occasion is worth citing.
Mr.. Gallatin says briefly that the com.
pensation allowed to foreign ministers is
incom petent to the support of an envoy
at Paris in the style in which he is ex-
pected to live, and which. it is of some
Importance to the country that he sho'd
maintain. Ny private resources are too
scant to supply the deficiency, without
making sacrifices which would leave my
family at mysdeath dependent on others.
supposing he could barely exist in the
French capital for Q few years, he. would
return with children having acquired
expensive and foreign hsbits,r and hay-
ing lost the opportunities FOX entering
into, the active pursuits by which they
must support themselves, and myself TOO
old TO assist, and too poor to maintain
them. Nevertheless, measures MF.Mad.
ison that these saOFi6oes would have
been made without hesitation, If the
mission had in view any important and
sttainable object Of public utility. 1t
turned out that the interests of the Uni
ted States imperatively demanded at that
time in Paris the services Of q thorough
ly competent representative, and within
less than year after his return to New
E0tk, Mr.. dGallAtino was prevailed upon