The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1914-03-03

sts aa1a, and within the Iinaiks Of Q
most jealous restriction
It gave touch Of added bitterness
to the country's feeling against her
that she should thus levy - II were
covert war upon the Union while az
fecting to be at peace with 1t, as IL
he counted on its weakness, especial
x On the seas; and congress- would
me taken measures of retaliation,
Itch must certainly have led to open
osslities, had not Washington inter
aaed, despatching John Jay, the
listed chief Justice, across sea as
ninister extraordinary, to negotiate
terms of accommodation; and so Civ
ing pause to the trouble.
Whisky Riots Suppressed.
While the country waited upon the
negotiation, it witnessed wholesome
cbiect-lesson in the power of its new
ern9iert. In March, 1871, congress
ssed Il act laying taxes on dis
apirhs twas part of Hamilton's
e 10 show that the federal govern
could and would use its great
~ Gritty. The act bore nowhere so
"a upon the people as in the vast
counties Of Pennsylvania and 'Vir-
d, beyond the mountains-and
the very allegiance of the peo-
had been but the other day doubt
III, 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 its
bulk and increase it's value by turn
ing it into whisky? The tax seemed
to them intolerable, 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 government bent upon hav-
ing its own way. Opposition organized
itself and spread, till the writs of
federal courts had been def1ed by VIC
lent mobs and the western counties
Of Pennsylvania were fairly quick with
incipient instruction.
l. Vi IWO 1SdI6 w WdLCuOu
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 humor 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 its
lesson.
Jefferson's Sheer.
"The servile copyist of Mr.. Pitt
|. thought he must have his alarms. his
instructions and plots against the
constitution" sneered Jefferson. ut
aroused the favorite purposes of
Strengthening government and increas-
ing the public debt; and therefore an
insurrection 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 coy-
er harm ALSO"
"The powers of the executive of
this country are more definite and bet
of any other country" Washington
had said, "and 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" and
that was what he meant the country
| to know, whether the laws purpose
was good or bad.
Wrath Over English Treaty.
The next year the people knew what
Mr. Jay had done. He reached New
York May %, 1895: and the treaty
he brought with him was laid before
the senate on the Sth of June. On
the I'd OF July the country knew what
he had agreed to and the senate had
ratified. There was an instant out
burst of wrath. It swept from one
end Of the country to the other.
The treaty yielded so much, gained
so little, that to accept 1t seemed
veritable humiliation. The northwest
ern posts we're, indeed, to be given up
at last; the boundaries between Eng
lish and American territory were to
be determined by commissioners; un-
restricted commerce with England
herself, and free direct trade with
her East Indian possessions, were con-
ceded; but not word was said about
the impressment of American seamen;
American claims for damages Tor un-
coveted trade with the West Indian
referred TO commission, along with
American debts to Englishmen; the
coveted trade with the West Indies
islands was secured only to vessels
of seventy tons and under, and at the
cost of renouncing the right to ex-
port sugar, molasses, coffee, cocoa, or
cotton to Europe.
Washington agreed with the senate
that ratifcations of the treaty ought
not to be exchanged without modif-
cation of the clauses respecting the
West Indian trade, and October had
come before new and better terms
could be agreed upon; but he mad no
doubt that the treaty as whole ought
to be accepted. The opposition party
in congress had refused to vote money
for an efficient navy, and so had made
it impossible to check British aggres-
sions; they must now accept this IN
pafatable treaty as better at any rate