VL

CHAPTER the creditor states their share of the amount due from the others. But this plan, which would have made the 1794. entire settlement thoroughly equitable, had been rejected by Congress as tending to add to the public debt. Though the subject was repeatedly brought before Congress in the course of the next ten years, no means were ever found of inducing the debtor states to pay; nor was any thing ever obtained, except a small amount from New York, expended by that state on fortifications.

The opponents of slavery and the slave trade, not discouraged by their past experience, had again presented themselves before Congress, and now with better success. Upon the proposal of the New York Society for the Abolition of Slavery, a Convention had met at Philadelphia, on the first day of the year, of delegates from all the Abolition Societies in the country-a meeting which continued to be repeated for several years follow ing. A memorial was agreed upon by this Convention. carefully worded, so as to avoid constitutional objections, praying Congress to do whatever they could for the suppression of the slave trade. Together with a number of Quaker petitions, this memorial was referred to a select committee, and the bill which they reported seems to have passed without opposition. It prohibited the fitting out of ships in the United States for supplying any foreign country with slaves under penalty of forfeiture of the vessel and a fine of $2000.

During the late struggle carried on in behalf of the neutrality of the United States by the president against Genet and his adherents, very little support had been

The judges had

derived from any statute provisions.
declared that, as treaties were the supreme law of the
land, any acts of hostility against nations with whom the
United States were at peace, committed or prepared for

VI.

within their jurisdiction, were criminal, and might be in- CHAPTER dicted and punished. But in the acquittal of Henfield, the jury had taken it upon themselves to disregard this 1794. opinion. Several of the district courts, that of Pennsylvania among the others, had declined to take any jurisliction of cases in which restoration of prizes was claimed on the ground of illegal capture. In their opinion, these were not mere questions of ownership, but involved political relations, of which the decision belonged to the government, and not to the courts. The president had thus been driven to a direct exertion of power, or, rather, an indirect exertion of it, in calling out detachments of militia through the agency of the governors of the states -a resource the more delicate, as these governors did not always sympathize with his political views. He had urged the necessity of legislation on this subject in his opening speech, and toward the close of the session he May 20 enforced it by a special message, inclosing a correspondence with Governor Shelby respecting the enterprise on foot in that state for an expedition under French commissions against Louisiana. Shelby started many dif ficulties as to his right to interfere, and emphatically expressed his disinclination to do so against "men whom he considered as friends and brethren," against the King of Spain, whom he viewed as "an enemy and a tyrant." Though hitherto delayed for want of money, this enterprise might be pushed again at any time. The ener getic interference of the Legislature of South Corolina had broken up the organization in that state for invading Florida. But that undertaking was by no means given up. The parties concerned in it had begun to collect again in the Creek nation, and further action might become necessary in that quarter.

A bill embracing this whole subject had already passed

CHAPTER the Senate by the casting vote of the vice-president. It VL contained also a provision prohibiting the sale of prizes 1794. within the United States, a practice which had hitherto

been allowed out of courtesy to the French, but to which they were not thought to be entitled under the treaty. This bill encountered in the House a very violent opposition; but by a very great triumph on the part of the June 5. administration it finally passed, with the exception of the clause respecting the sale of prizes.

By this important act, which still remains in force, all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States, themselves entering, or enlisting others into the military service of any foreign prince or state, whether by sea or land, are made liable to a fine of $1000, and imprisonment not exceeding three years; but those enlisted may avoid the penalty by information lodged with any magistrate leading to the conviction of those by whom they had been enlisted.

The fitting out of cruisers in the United States for the service of any foreign power, or the issuing commissions to such vessels, or the setting on foot of any military expedition against any foreign power with whom the United States were at peace, is made punishable, at the discretion of the court, by fine not exceeding $5000, and imprisonment not exceeding three years, with forfeiture of the vessel. Increasing the armament of any foreign ship or cruiser is subject to similar, but less penalties. Jurisdiction is expressly given to the District Courts in all cases of capture within the waters of the United States; and in all cases of violation of this law, or of resistance by any cruiser or armed vessel to the process of the United States Courts, the president, or those whom he may empower, are authorized to employ the federal land and naval forces, as well as

the militia, in enforcing the authority of the govern- CHAPTER ment.

VI.

As an additional means toward this same end, the pres- 1794. ident was authorized to build or purchase a number of vessels, to be equipped as galleys for harbor service. The sum of $80,000 was appropriated to this object, which seems, however, not to have been carried into effect, as the money was reappropriated at the next session toward the completion of the frigates.

At the end of sixty days the embargo had been suffered to expire; but a temporary act authorized the president to renew it at any time before the next session.of Congress, which was fixed by another act for the first Monday of November

IV. II

CHAPTER

VII.

CHAPTER VII.

INSURRECTION IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. WAYNE'S

VICTORY OVER THE INDIANS. SECOND SESSION OF THE
THIRD CONGRESS.

VERY shortly after the adjournment of Congress,

steps were taken, under the new act on that subject, 1794. for enforcing the collection of the excise duty in the western counties of Pennsylvania. Indictments were found against a number of distillers who had neglected to enter their stills; and thirty warrants were issued, which the marshal of the district undertook to serve He succeeded as to twenty-nine of them; but as, in company with General Neville, the inspector of the district, he was going to serve the thirtieth, they were intercepted by a party of armed men, who fired upon them, and compelled them to fly for their lives. The next July 16. morning Neville's house, in the vicinity of Pittsburg, was attacked by an armed party of forty or more. expectation of some such violence, the windows had been barricaded; Neville's negroes and other servants had been armed; and the assailants were repulsed with the loss of six men wounded, one of them mortally. Neville immediately applied for protection to two magis. trates and militia officers of the county. Upon their declaration that, however willing, it was utterly out of their power to give it, he obtained a detachment of eleven men from the neighboring garrison of Fort Pitt. The July 17. next morning the assailants reappeared, five hundred strong, led on by one John Holcroft, who, under the as

In