tendency to the fame object. In England the moft effectual way of injuring the caufe of monarchy, and of ferving France, is to make the filly people believe that out of the American rebellion has grown a government infinitely better than that which that rebellion deftroyed; but in America it is necessary to decry this fame excellent government, in order to prepare the way for its deftruction, and for fhifting its power into the hands of France. Thus was it with refpect to Switzerland. Till that country was overrun by France, its policy, its government, its laws, its religion, and its cuftoms, were the everlasting theme of applause with all those who wished to deftroy the monarchy of England. But no fooner did the infernal nation lay their rapacious and bloody hands on her, than thofe very fame men, and women too, who had before painted Switzerland as the paradise of freedom, began to difcover that it was the very hell of flavery; and were France to overturn the Federal Government, and all the State Governments in America, we should foon hear the Hiftorian of the New Annual Register, and other writers of the fame ftamp, reprefenting thofe governments as the worst of defpotifms. With them the interefts of the French Republic outweigh every other confideration; they regard her as the greatest and moft powerful patron of rebellion, and they ferve her with fidelity, zeal, and enthusiasm. A Sketch of the Hiftory of the Western Infurrection, by James Thomfon Callender, published at Philadelphia, 1798. The money for defraying the expenfe of the army was fupplied in direct oppofition to the Conftitution. That inftrument, Article I. Section ix. Clause 6. Lay's, fays, that "no money fhall be drawn from the Trea"fury, but in confequence of appropriations made by "law." There exifted a ftatute, authorizing the Prefident to call out the militia, in case of an insurrection; but, by an oversight in framing the law, he had no power to take money from the Treafury to fupport them. "The monies drawn from the Trea"fury on that occafion (the Western Expedition), '66 were paid out of a fund appropriated for other and "diftinct purposes; they were not drawn, agreeable "to the conftitution, in confequence of any appro"priation made by law. It might be a defect in the law, authorizing the expenfe, not to have pro"vided the means; but that defect fhould have "been remedied by the only competent authority, "by convening Congrefs *." This omiffion in the law fhows the mafterly ftyle in which our ftatutes are fometimes compofed. If the bombardment of a British fleet, or the dif embarkation of a French army, had not left one moment to fpare, ingulfing neceffity would juftly have fuperfeded all forms, and vindicated the irregular abftraction of a million of dollars. Yet even in that cafe, the President, at the next meeting of Congress, ought to have explained and apologized for the meafure. But no fuch imminent danger had a being. There was ample time to have affembled Congrefs. Neville the Infpector's houfe was burnt on the 17th of July, 1794. The firft proclamation by the Prefident was iffued on the 7th of Auguft, and the fecond on the 25th of September following. It was not till after the latter date that the militia were ordered to march. The feven weeks intervening between the two proclamations allowed full time for affembling the Legiflature. Of this Mr. Adams hath afforded an instance, in the first feffion of the fifth Congrefs. Inftead of this legal and practicable measure, the Prefident, Washington, walked firaight through the Conftitution, through the privileges of the Legiflature, and the duties of his own refpective office. If Congress had been previously called, the very report of their affembling would have ftruck a mortal damp into this thoughtlefs rabble, who had neither plans, leaders, nor refources. The folemnity of the step was fure of making a confiderable impresfion. Time would have been gained alfo for more accurate information; and as the fifteen thousand militia, who did march over the mountains, never faw an enemy, it is to be fuppofed that five thoufand could have done the bufinefs equally well. But Mr. Hamilton had many good reafons for not withing to call Congrefs. The found policy of the excife law would have met with a fevere difcuffion. The expenfe and danger of a civil war must have rendered excife completely odious. Every le nient measure was fure to have been tried before a fingle regiment would be ordered to march, and the fequel fhows that they must have been fuccessful.— The fober and fubftantial mass of the western citizens, though averfe to excife, were yet firm on the fide of Government. In the profpect of an agreement, Hamilton faw nothing but the reprobation of his measures, and the fracture of his importance. The parties in Congrefs are nicely poifed; but every legiflative affembly has a number of doubtful members; and the natural averfion to civil bloodshed held out an irresistible caufe, or a folid pretence, for univerfally deferting the fix per cent. ftandard. In this cafe, the latter could not, probably, have muftered one third of the members, and minorities are always dangerous to a political party. The republicans ab hor the ex-fecretary with a cordiality of hatred equal to his own. They confider him as a fecond Pando ra's ra's box, from whofe tranfcendent capacities for mifchief have exclufively and collectively fprung the whole political misfortunes of America. The utmost force of the party was certain, therefore, to have been levelled perfonally at him, and his vulnerable fides offered an ample verge for the quivers of invective. Hence he fhunned a previous meeting of Congrefs, where it was more than an equal chance that he Thould find not protection and triumph, but reproach and defeat. This feems to be the only rational key to his conduct in hazarding a civil war, and a rape upon the Treasury, without confulting the Legiflature. The infignificance of their conduct when they did meet, showed that the victory of Mr. Hamilton was as complete in Philadelphia as at Pittsburg. On the 19th of November, 1794, the Prefident addreffed the two Houses *. He began, as usual, with a reference to divine goodness, and to the riches, power, and happiness, for which America feems deftined. A pompous and exaggerated sketch was then given of the infurrection. Certain felf-created focieties were referred to, as having affumed the tone of condemnation towards the measures of Government. But the Prefident forgot to mention, and much less to apologize for, the self-created power of taking a million of dollars from the public Treafury. When he' related the outrages committed upon officers of Government, he overlooked the provocations by which they had been excited, the numerous inftances of mifmanagement on the part of the Secretary of the Treafury, by which they had been foftered, and the thoufand-fold enormities of the Federal army, and of that Secretary under which they had been overwhelmed. There is a French fable of a gardener, and * See this Speech, vol. ii. p. 157. a hare, a hare, that fometimes came through the hedge and cropt his cabbages. He reprefented the cafe to a gentleman, who, next day, with a pack of hounds, entered the garden in chafe of her. The dogs did more mischief in five minutes, than the hare could have done in seven years; and, after all, pufs got away. This is a concife and impartial picture of the Federal army, with one fmall diftinction, that the gardener was a fool, and the Secretary a knave. Never think that you understand the story of this infurrection, till you read Findley and Brackenridge. Mr. Brackenridge writes with more cafe and vivacity than Mr. Findley. His perfpicuity, his fimplicity, his picturefque minutenefs, conduct his reader into the scene of action. You fee, hear, and feel, juft as the author actually did; and this itfelf is a talent of high excellence. Amidft much entertainment, candour will forgive the ferious or affected vanity that fometimes peeps through the curtain of his mind. These two writers have been neglected. An estimate of the fales may induce a belief that they have never been perufed by more than two or three thousand American Citizens, that is to fay, by perhaps a two-hundredth part of the community at large. Without fuch a perufal, however, it is impoffible to comprehend the nature and effects of the western riots. The declamation that fills the Federal gazettes and pamphlets cannot afford a juft or luminous conception of this all-important subject; which is, therefore, grofsly and almoft univerfally mifunderflood. Next to the compofition of a good book by yourfelf, one of the beft fervices to the public is the recommending of another which has been overlooked. After thus explaining where a proper account of the infurrection may be found, we go back to the Prefident, his Congrefs, and his fpeech. "It has 4 "been |