The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1913-08-30
Doubts About England.

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Doubts About England.
The air might have cleared alto
gether had the right method of deal
Ing with France been the only ques-
ton that pressed; but the Ill fortune
Of the time forced the president to
seem not only the recreant friend Of
France. but also the too complacent
partisan Of England.
Great Britain seemed as mischiev-
ously bent upon forcing the United
States to war as Genet himself had
been. She would not withdraw her
garrisons from the border posts; It
was believed that she was melting
the Indians to their savage inroads
upon the border, as the French had
done in the old days; she set herself
TO- destroy neutral trade by selling
all vessels that carried the products
OF the French islands or were laden
with provisions for their ports; she
would admit American vessels to her
own West Indian harbors only upon
sufferance, and within the limits of q
most jealous restriction.
It gave touch Of added bitterness
to. the country's feeling against her
that she should thus levy as It were
covert war upon the Union while at
fecting to be at peace with it, as if
she counted on its weakness, especial
ly on the seas; and congress would
have taken measures of retaliation,
which must certainly have led to open
hostilities. had not Washington inter-
vened, despatching John Jay the
trusted chief justice, across sea as
minister extraordinary, to negotiate
terms of accommodation; and so Civ.
Ing pause to the trouble.
Whisky Riots Suppressed.
While the country waited upon the
negotiation, 1t witnessed wholesome
object-lesson in the power Of it's new
government. In March, 1871, congress
had passed an act laying taxes on dis
titled spirits: twas part of Hamilton's
plan to show that the federal govern
ment could and would use it's great
authority. The act bore nowhere so
hard upon the people as In the vast
far counties Of Pennsylvania and Vir-
ginia, beyond the mountains-and
there the very allegiance Of the peo-
pie had been but the other day doubt
full, as Washington very well knew.
How were they to get their corn to
market over the long roads If they
were not to be permitted to reduce it's
bulk and increase it's value by turn.
ing 1t into whisky! The tax seemed
to them lntolerable, and the remedy
plain! They would not pay it. They
had not been punctilious to obey the
laws of the states; they would not be.
gin obedience now by submitting to
the worst laws Of the United States.
At first they only amused them.
selves by tarring and feathering an ex.
ciseman here and there; but resist
ance could not stop with that in the
face Of a government bent upon hav.
ing its own way. Opposition organized
itself and spread; till the writs Of
federal courts had been defled by VIC
lent mobs and the western counties
of Pennsylvania were fairly quick with
incipient insurrection.
For two years Washington watched
the slow gathering of the storm, warn
ing those who resisted. keeping con-
gress abreast Of him in preparation
for action when the right time should
come, letting all the country know
what was afoot and prepare its mind
for what was to come. It must have
won him to a stern hurnor to learn
that seven thousand armed men had
gathered in mass-meeting on Brad
docks field to defy him. At last he
summoned an army Of militia out Of
the states, sent it straight to the law
less counties. going with 1t himself till
he learned there would be no serious
resistance-and taught the country
what was back of federal law. Hamil-
ton had had his way, the country it's
lesson.
=: Jefferson's Sheer. " 49,
1.-THE servile copyist OF Mr.. Pitt
thought he must have his alarms, his
Instructions and plots against the
constitution" sneered Jefferson. 1T
aroused the favorite purposes Of
Strengthening government and increas.
ing the public debt; and therefore an
instruction was announced and pro-
claimed and armed against and
marched against, but could never be
found. And all this under the sane.
ton Of a name which has done too
much good not to be sufficient to Gov
er harm also.'
1.-The powers Of the executive of
this country are more definite and bet
ter understood, perhaps, than those
of any other country" Washington
had said, land my aim has been, and
will continue to be, neither to stretch
nor to relax from them in any in.
stance whatever, unless compelled to
it by imperious circumstances,"'S@a and
that was what he meant the country
to know. whether the laws purpose
was pood or had "a; 7:
! Wrath Over English Treaty. -
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