VII,

to sustain the troops in the field had been made out of CHAPTER a sum in the treasury of about $800,000, the unexpended balance of the foreign loans, Congress being trusted 1794. to for making good the deficiency.

About the time that the troops entered the disaffected counties, an election had taken place, at which were chosen not only members of the state Assembly, but members of Congress also. When the Legislature of Pennsylvania met, a question was raised as to the validity of Dec. these elections. Of those returned to the Assembly, Gallatin was one; and he had the greater interest in the question, since he had been elected at the same time a member of the fourth Congress, and that body might be influenced, perhaps, by the example of the Pennsylvania Assembly. In 'the course of an able speech, Gallatin confessed his "political sin" in having been concerned in the preparation and adoption of the Pittsburg résolutions of Aug. 24, 1792, which, though not illegal, he admitted to have been "violent, intemperate, and reprehensible;" but all the rest of the opposition made to the Excise Law by means of public meetings he was inclined to justify, and to shift off the blame of the whole affair upon a few obscure rioters. Order, he maintained, had been substantially re-established before the elections took place. The Assembly, however, judged differently, and a new election' was ordered.

Of all the prisoners tried before the Circuit Court at Philadelphia, only two were found guilty of capital of fenses, one of arson, and the other of robbing the mail, both of whom, from some palliating circumstances, were ultimately pardoned by the president. According to Findley, Hamilton made great efforts to obtain evidence against himself, Smilie, and Gallatin. But, however reprehensible their conduct might have been in encour

CHAPTER aging and stimulating the original opposition to the exVIL cise, the late outbreak, as Gallatin maintained in his 1794. speech, and Findley afterward at great length in his His

tory, seems to have been a sudden, unpremeditated, and, in its particular circumstances, an accidental thing, with which they had no immediate concern. They had only prepared the combustibles to which others set the torch; and they seem to have exerted themselves with good faith, and Gallatin at some personal risk, and with a good deal of courage, in quenching the flame when actually kindled.

1

The vigor, energy, promptitude, and decision, with which the federal authority had been vindicated; the general rally in its support, even on the part of many who had leaned more or less to the opposition; the reprobation every where expressed against violent resistance to the law; and the subdued tone, especially of the Democratic societies, made a great addition to the strength of the government. The Federalists exulted in this energetic display of authority, and Hamilton declared that proof at last had been given of the capacity of the government to sustain itself. In that point of view, both he and Washington considered the outbreak, however much to be lamented in other respects, as a fortunate

occurrence.

In due proportion to the exultation of the Federalists was the vexation of the chief leaders of the opposition; a vexation the keener, because, to a great extent, it was necessary to withhold the expression of it. This vexation was largely shared by Fauchet, the French minister, whose communications on the subject to his own government contained statements and reflections sufficiently remarkable. In his private dispatch, No. 6, the precise date of which does not appear, but which must have been written some time in August, was given, ac

VII.

fording to an extract afterward furnished by himself, the CHAPTER following extraordinary piece of information. "Scarce was the commotion known"-the disturbances, that is, 1794. in the Western country-"when the Secretary of State came to my house. All his countenance was grief. He requested of me a private conversation. It is all over, he said to me; a civil war is about to ravage our unhappy country. Four men, by their talents, their influence, their energy, may save it. But, debtors of English merchants, they will be deprived of their liberty if they take the smallest step. Could you lend them instantaneous funds sufficient to shelter them from English persecution?""This inquiry," the dispatch continued, "astonished me. It was impossible for me to make a satisfactory answer. You know my want of power, and my defect of pecuniary means. I shall draw myself from the affair by some common-place remarks, and by throwing myself on the pure and disinterested principles of the republic."

To this subject Fauchet returned in his dispatch, No. 10, dated the 31st of October. It commenced with a sketch of the rise of parties in the United States, in substantial accordance with the views of Jefferson as exhibited in previous chapters, and evidently derived from some one of the Republican party, who had undertaken, as Jefferson himself had in Genet's case, to initiate Fauchet into "the mysteries" of American politics. In this initiation Mr. Secretary Randolph would seem to have had a principal share, since Fauchet speaks, in the commencement of the dispatch, of his "precious confessions" as alone throwing "a satisfactory light upon every thing which comes to pass." The disturbances in Western Pennsylvania were represented by Fauchet as having grown out of political hostility to Hamilton, and Ham

CHAPTER ilton himself as taking the advantage which they affordVII. ed to make the president regard as a blow at the Con1794. stitution what, in fact, was only a protest against the minister. Hence the persistence in enforcing the excise, it being Hamilton's intention-and this piece of information was ascribed expressly to Randolph to mislead the president into unpopular courses, and to introduce absolute power under pretext of giving energy to the government." Such, according to Fauchet, was the origin of the expedition into the western counties of Pennsylvania. His disgust at the general co-operation it had called forth, and at the behavior in the matter of certain professed Republicans, is sufficiently evinced in what follows. "Of the governors whose duty it was to appear at the head of the requisitions, the Governor of Pennsylvania alone enjoyed the name of Republican. His opinions of the Secretary of the Treasury and of his systems were known to be, unfavorable. The secretary of this state [Dallas] possessed great influence in the popular society of Philadelphia, which, in its turn, influenced those of other states; of course, he merited attention. It appears that these men, with others unknown to me, were balancing to decide on their party. Two or three days before the proclamation was published, and, of course, before the cabinet had resolved on its measures, Mr. Randolph came to see me with an air of great eagerness, and made to me the overtures of which I have given an account in my No. 6. Thus, with some thousands of dollars, the republic could have decided on civil war or on peace! Thus the consciences of the pretended patriots of America already have their prices!

"Such, citizen, is the evident consequence of the system of finances conceived by Mr. Hamilton. He has made of a whole nation a stock-jobbing, speculating,

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selfish people. Riches alone here fix consideration, and, chapter as no one likes to be despised, they are universally sought, after. Nevertheless, this depravity has not yet embraced 1794. the mass of the people. Still there are patriots of whom I delight to entertain an idea worthy of that imposing title. Consult Monroe-he is of this number; he had apprised me of the men whom the current of events has dragged along as bodies devoid of weight. His friend Madison is also an honest man. Jefferson, on whom the patriots cast their eyes to succeed the president, had foreseen these crises; he prudently retired in order to avoid making a figure in scenes the secret of which will, sooner or later, be brought to light.

"As soon as it was decided that the French republic purchased no men to do their duty, there were to be seen individuals about whose conduct the government could, at least, form uneasy conjectures, giving themselves up with a scandalous ostentation to its views, and even seconding its declarations. The popular societies soon emitted resolutions stamped with the same spirit, which, although they may have been prompted by love of order, might nevertheless have been omitted, or uttered with less solemnity. Then were seen coming from the very men whom we have been accustomed to regard as having little friendship for the system of the treasurer, harangues without end, in order to give a new direction to the public mind."

We shall have occasion to state hereafter the joint explanation, lamely attempted by Fauchet and Randolph, of the unofficial intercourse between them, disclosed in these extraordinary dispatches. They are given here, not for any weight to be attached to their allegations or conjectures, but as going to show the opinions which Fauchet had imbibed of the state of politics and the char