hany mountains, this duty was, from local considerations,
peculiarly odious; nor was their hostility to the measure diminished
by any affection for the source in which it originated. The
constitution itself had encountered the most decided opposition from
that part of the state; and that early enmity to the government which
exerted every faculty to prevent its adoption, had sustained no
abatement. Its measures generally, and the whole system of finance
particularly, had been reprobated with peculiar bitterness by many of
the most popular men of that district. With these dispositions, a tax
law, the operation of which was extended to them, could not be
favourably received, however generally it might be supported in other
parts of the union. But when, to this pre-existing temper, were
superadded the motives which arose from perceiving that the measure
was censured on the floor of congress as unnecessary and tyrannical;
that resistance to its execution was treated as probable; that a
powerful and active party, pervading the union, arraigned with extreme
acrimony the whole system of finance as being hostile to liberty; and,
with all the passionate vehemence of conviction, charged its advocates
with designing to subvert the republican institutions of America; we
ought not to be surprised that the awful impressions, which usually
restrain combinations to resist the laws, were lessened; and that the
malcontents were emboldened to hope that those combinations might be
successful.

[Sidenote: Opposition to the excise law.]

Some discontents had been manifested in several parts of the union on
the first introduction of the act; but the prudence and firmness of
the government and its officers had dissipated them; and the law had
been carried into general operation. But in the western district of
Pennsylvania, the resistance wore the appearance of system, and was
regularly progressive. In its commencement, it manifested itself by
the circulation of opinions calculated to increase the odium in which
the duty was held, and by endeavours to defeat its collection by
directing the public resentments against those who were inclined
either to comply with the law, or to accept the offices through which
it was to be executed. These indications of ill temper were succeeded
by neighbourhood meetings, in which resolutions of extreme violence
were adopted, and by acts of outrage against the persons of revenue
officers. At length, in September