monwealth of Pennsylvania.* The assembled statesmen divided themselves, at this meeting, upon the issue which has ever since vexed the councils of the country. The Federalists, or supporters of a strong central government, argued the necessity of sending an army to crush the rebels at once. The Republicans or Democrats held that the courts were sufficient to punish the offenders, Chief-Justice McKean declaring that "the employment of a military force would be as bad as anything the rioters had done-equally unconstitutional and illegal." There was also some doubt as to the proper way in which the state and general governments should co-operate. On August 6 Governor Mifflin appointed the Chief Justice of the State and Gen. Wm. Irvine, a prominent officer who had been engaged on frontier service and held important civil trusts, as commissioners to proceed to the scene of the disturbance, and endeavor to bring the people to their senses before the President should send his army of 13,000 men against them. The next day (August 7) the troops were ordered to be raised in Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey and Maryland. On the 8th of August, President Washington appointed Senator James Ross, Jasper Yeates and William Bradford as commissioners on the part of the general government.

It is neither necessary, to arrive at a clear understanding of the situation, nor possible in a paper of this length to go into details as to the events leading up to the actual appearance of some of Washington's troops. Suffice it to say, that Bradford's influence was decidedly on the wane, and that, although he was one of the delegates appointed from the counties to meet the state and government commissioners at Pittsburgh, the counsels of such men as James Edgar, Associate Judge of Washington County, Edward Cook and Albert Gallatin, of Lafayette, and H. H. Brackenridge, of Allegheny, were in the ascendant. Yet, while the convention was in session at Pittsburgh, a very seditious libel was posted up on the market-house and afterwards published in the Gazette, especially insulting to the militia of New Jersey. The uncompromising "Tom-theTinker" men were greatly inflamed against the delegates, because they did not demand an unconditional repeal of the excise law, instead of listening to the offer of the commissioners to grant a general amnesty in return for a general submission. The representatives of the western counties had as

*Account of Conference at the President's.-Pa. Archives, Vol. VI., pages 144-146.

The paragraph which caused so much hard feeling was this one: "Brothers, you must not think to frighten us with finely arranged lists of infantry, cavalry and artillery, composed of your watermelon armies from the Jersey shores; they would cut a much better figure warring with the crabs and oysters about the capes of Delaware."-Pa. Archives, Vol. IV., p. 547.

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yet not given their decision to the government, but finally, after meetings had been held at Parkinson's Ferry and Brownsville, they decided, by a vote of 34 to 23, to submit and accept the amnesty. Bradford was still for war, and at the latter meeting delivered a violent and extravagant speech, threatening with his men to defeat the first army that crossed the mountains, and then organize another which should checkmate any further attempt of the government to subdue the western counties. He even urged the propriety of erecting an independent government. But, although he still had a following, his star of destiny was plainly growing dim; and soon after the vote was announced, the typical "Tom-theTinker" man, ex-Major-General" Bradford, withdrew and was not heard of for some time, when he was among the first to take the benefit of the amnesty. The rebellious subjects of the government were therefore required to sign a test of submission,* on or before September 11, although they attempted to obtain an extension of time, in order to properly acquaint the people with the facts throughout the large extent of country covered by the amnesty. It is very probable that the acts of violence which occurred and the stubborn refusals to sign the test were largely the result of this incompleteness of information.t Bradford and Marshall signed on the day appointed, the former making a long speech exhorting the people to submit. Those who had been most deeply engaged in the excesses generally signed. In some places the papers were torn in pieces and those who wished to sign were prevented from doing so by violence. In the townships next to the frontier, the people said, "Let them sign who are involved," and refused to do an act which had an odor of taint attached to it. The whole county of Fayette, which had submitted to the authority of the Marshal, would not sign the test, but, in convention assembled, passed resolutions agreeing to submit to the laws and not oppose the collection of the excise. Senator Ross, the government commissioner, who had remained behind to receive the lists. of subscribers, brought such discouraging accounts of tumult and rebellion to Philadelphia, that the army was put in motion toward Carlisle, with President Washington close in its wake. This town was situated in Cumberland County, about half-way between the national capital and the scene of the rebellion.

* The test was in the following words: "I do solemnly promise henceforth to submit to the laws of the United States, and that I will not directly or indirectly oppose the execution of the act for raising a revenue on distilled spirits and stills, and that I will support as far as the law requires the civil authority in affording the protection due to all officers and other citizens."

Findley, pp. 132-33.

At Carlisle General Washington was met by David Redick, Clerk of the Washington County Courts, and William Findley, of Allegheny County, acting as commissioners from the people of the "West," to explain to the Chief Executive "more circumstantially the state of the country, in order to enable him to judge whether an armed force would now be necessary to support the civil authority." Taking Mr. Findley's own account as our guide, the commissioners found themselves surrounded by the most disorderly and dangerous characters, and were subjected to continual insult, not only from drunken and carousing soldiers but from the officers themselves. The President received them with the courtesy of a born gentleman and the consideration of a wise statesman; but while they were conversing with him, during their last interview, a general officer, with others, walked before the window, and railed against him for "countenancing insurgents."* Owing, however, to his salutary restraint, all their fire was spent in threatening what they would do. Laying their hands on their swords, which many of them had not been accustomed to wear, they would swear that there was no need of judges and juries; let them only see the rebels and they would "skewer" them. Before Washington's arrival, and while the army was marching toward Carlisle, two men had already been killed. While there liquor was drunk quite freely, and especially before this "salutary restraint" was present, insubordination and disorder were so rife that the people of Carlisle were in great apprehension lest their town should be burned. One reason for this alarming state of affairs was that the military corps were composed mostly of substitutes, who came prepared to do any mischief or outrage, and who were impatient at the restraint which cautious officers and the volunteer corps, who were generally men of liberal education and honor, placed upon them.

All these facts, and many more, the commissioners learned during their stay at Carlisle, and they justly felt alarmed at the thought of this motley gathering of soldiers overrunning the western counties. Messrs. Redick and Findley hastened home, and assurances couched in more submissive language than ever were given the government that citizens and distillers would strictly comply with the law. Never was the backbone of a rebellion more thoroughly broken; and it may be permitted an humble historian to suggest that the national government showed a little weakness in making a foolish exhibit of its strength. But the army clamored to be "doing something," as did Bradford's men at Braddock's Field. The New Jersey troops, in particular, were anxious to wipe out the stigma of the Findley, p. 147.

Pittsburgh libel. So the President returned to Philadelphia, and the army under General Thomas S. Lee, of Maryland, proceeded to Uniontown, Fayette County, and soon were scouring the country for delinquents to bear away for trial beyond the mountains. Grave outrages truly were committed, and none of the troops acted more ingloriously than a portion of the Jersey horsemen who were sent to make arrests in the hot-bed of the insurrection, the Mingo Creek settlement. But it is not germane to the objects of this paper to discuss the particulars—the arrest of Sheriff Hamilton, Brackenridge and others-the wholesale arrests of November 13, called in that region to this day "the dreadful night." Some of the arrested were released through the interposition of influential friends. Others were sent to Philadelphia for trial, where they were imprisoned for ten or twelve months and then discharged. Several were finally tried, and one or two convicted but subsequently pardoned.

But the government had established its authority, for the first time as a government. It was the country's first decisive test; and it is the touchstone of any government's inherent strength, that it shall be able to put down a civil dissension and eventually retain the respect if not the love of the subdued. Whatever may be said of some of the military leaders of General Washington's army, it is the truth, beyond a doubt, that the President's discreet course in his dealings with those who were "railed against" as insurgents gained him friends even in the opposition ranks. As to the Excise law itself, the victory of Wayne over the Indians opened the navigation of the Ohio, made the markets of the West again accessible to the former rebellious country, and brought money into the counties, with which the tax was readily paid: while in 1802 the hated law was repealed.

M & Cutler.

TRIBUTE TO THE LATE ORSAMUS H. MARSHALL

In the Summer of 1860, feeling diffident in regard to the merits of my unfinished Life of Sir William Johnson, I sent a few of its chapters to Orsamus H. Marshall, of Buffalo (to whom I was at the time a perfect stranger, though, of course, he was not unknown to me), with the request that he would kindly examine the manuscript, and give me his opinion as to the advisability of its publication. His letter in reply was so kind and so full of genial encouragement-as well as that of Mr. Francis Parkman, of Boston, to whom I had also written-that the work was completed and given to the public. This was the beginning of a friendship terminated only by the recent and lamented death of Mr. Marshall. The niche which this excellent gentleman filled in the social, literary and business world, and the fact that he was a frequent and valued contributor to the MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY, add peculiar interest to the fine steel portrait of him which forms the frontispiece to the present number. He wrote the first and leading article, published in the first issue of this periodical—in January, 1877. It was entitled, "Champlain's Expedition in 1613-15 against the Onondagas." It was charmingly as well as ably written, and attracted wide attention. It stands now in the richly bound Vol. I. (of the Magazine volumes) like an usher to the long line of excellent productions which have rendered this now popular and rapidly growing Maga zine indispensable to every lover of American history.

Mr. Marshall has deservedly won high rank as an historical writer, and in his own particular province stands perhaps without a rival. What the term genre expresses as applied to paintings, may with equal force be used to illustrate the character of his writings. He chose chiefly for his subjects the aboriginals of Western New York, and the early explorerssubjects fraught with all the elements of picturesque romance, and the attractiveness which surrounds narratives of adventure and personal prowess; and the results of his fidelity in searching for original authorities, and in clearing from false exaggeration and obscurity the real story, is presented in a style always agreeable, and with a minuteness of detail which has given to his many historical monographs and contributions to magazine literature an authoritative value. The old documents, "crisp with age and covered with the dust of centuries," which he has collected, and for the first time turned to account in the matter of verification and