Though outrages had been committed on excife έσ officers, yet no fheriff nor conftable had been "oppofed in arrefting the offenders. They had been 6.6 brought in upon procefs, and profecuted at the "court. There was no reafon in the diftinction; but it was made." If the fix per cent. orators want a fecond infurrection, their conftant yelping is the most certain way to raise it. The fhorteft method for making a rascal of any man, is by affuring him that you know him to be one. દ The fixth article of the Amendments to the Conftitution fays, that "no warrants fhall iffue, but upon probable caufe, fupported by oath or affirm"ation." In many of the cafes already quoted, the fpirit of this amendment was plainly violated, and, in that of Powers, even the letter; for, after being kept fo long a prifoner, the Judge difcharged him without even examination. The feventh amendment enjoins, that no perfon fhall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, with out due process of law." The ftipulation is illufive, by the generality of the ftyle; for the Conftitution hould either have defined what is meant by due process, or it iffues in mere words. The eighth amendment declares, that "in all criminal profecutions, the accufed fhall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 66 jury, of the ftate and district wherein the crime "thall have been committed." This amendment is, likewife, unfatisfactory; for a fpeedy trial is an indefinite phrafe, that may be firetched to an intolerable delay. Thus, in the cafes of the Western people, about fix months, or upwards, intervened between arrefiment and trial. This was any thing, furely, but speed. The word district lies, alfo, open to objection. The State of Pennfylvania * Brackenridge, chap. i. is a difirict four hundred miles broad. A person dragged to that distance, a whiskey rioter, for example, is completely feparated from his connexions, and lofes every benefit of trial by jury from the vicinage. The very length of the journey is, in itself, a fevere punishment to any man who has bufinefs to mind. Suppofe that he gets bail, returns home, comes back to Philadelphia, and is acquitted; or, perhaps, the grand jury throws out the bill, fo that he does not even stand a trial. His three journies amount to twelve hundred miles, which, at twenty miles per day, employ fixty days. His expenfes in travelling cannot be less than a dollar per day, and his lofs of time about as much more. Here is a fine of more than an hundred dollars; and, perhaps, he has not one dollar of his own. This calculation does not include his wafle of time in attending the court, and three prefatory months in prifon, before he could find bail for his appearance, or, perhaps, before Judge Peters found leifure to examine him. To the pooreft man brought from the Weftern country, the arreftment muft, in itself, have been equal to an exaction of three or four hundred dollars. The above three amendments to the Constitution point out no explicit principle to protect him. As for compenfation, I fufpect that no writer on law has ever fo much as fuggefted a hint of it. The extreme iniquity of this omiffion has already been explained. Amidst the numerous projects for political reformation, I have never met with an effectual remedy propofed for arbitrary imprisonment, before trial, on the part of Government *. In the criminal apartment of the jail of Philadelphia, a prifoner is restricted to the diet of the houfe, that is, to femi-ftarvation. He is not even allowed to buy food for himself, out of his own pocket. Thus, even before trial, he is feverely punished by famine. Americans ought not to speak of Algerine favagenefs,. while fuch enormities exist at home. After trial, there may be good caules for ftinting diet. We We have seen a few of the abufes in this way, which occurred during the Western infurrection. While they can be repeated with impunity, it is rafh to fay much about the rights and liberties of an American citizen. While your Government can apprehend you, make you walk four hundred miles on foot, and thereafter lie three months in jail, before examination, it is childish, it is even impertinent, to raise a racket about the fuperior public virtue of American citizens, or the fuperior purity of the Federal Conftitution. If the former had fhone with peculiar fplendour, it is likely that a certain Judge would, long fince, have been impeached, fined, and difmiffed. If the latter had been as excellent as it is faid to be, it would have held out a warning fufficient to deter him. 1 END OF THE WESTERN INSURRECTION. DISPUTE BETWEEN AMERICA AND GREAT BRITAIN. IN the Summary View I purpofely omitted all mention of this Difpute, in order to bring the hiftory of it under one head in this place. When France had effected a feparation between the mother-country and her colonies, the used all her efforts to engross the trade of thofe colonies. It was eafily perceived that the moment the war was over, the Americans, one half of whom never wifhed for a feparation, would returrn to their former commercial connexions with their friends in England, who alone had the commodities they wanted, and who alone were able to give them the credit of which they flood in need. To prevent the renewal of this intercourfe and the restoration of friendship, which would inevitably accompany it, France exhaufted all the resources of her intrigue and corruption. She paffed laws calculated to draw the Americans to her territory, and to induce them to ufe no manufactures but hers. JEFFERSON, a man who was deeply indebted to the English merchants, and who hated England because he had injured her, was, after the conclufion of the peace in 1783, appointed Minifter Plenipotentiary to France, where he refided till after the new Federal Government was formed and put in motion in 1789. This |