"The Marshal, Colonel Priefily Neville, and feveral others, were taken by the infurgents going to the Infpector's houfe. All, except the Marthal and Colonel Neville, foon made their efcape; but these were carried on fome diftance from the place where the affray had happened, and detained till one or two o'clock the next morning. In the courfe of their detention, the Marshal, in particular, fuffered very fevere and humiliating treatment, and was frequently in imminent danger of his life. Several of the party repeatedly prefented their pieces at him, with every appearance of a defign to affaffinate, from which they were, with difficulty, reftrained by the efforts of a few more humane and more prudent. "Nor could he obtain fafety or liberty, but upon the condition of a promife guarantied by Colonel Neville, that he would ferve no other procefs on the weft fide of the Alleghany mountain. The alternative being immediate death, extorted from the Marshal a compliance with this condition, notwithftanding the juft fenfe of official dignity, and the firmness of character which were witneffed by his conduct throughout the trying fcenes he had experienced. "The infurgents, on the 18th, fent a deputation of two of their number (one a juftice of the peace) to Pittsburg, to require of the Marthal a furrender of the proceffes in his poffeffion, intimating that his compliance would fatisfy the people and add to his fafety; and alfo to demand of General Neville, in peremptory terms, the refignation of his office, threatening, in case of refufal, to attack the place and take him by force: demands which both these officers did not hesitate to reject, as alike incompatible with their honour and their duty. "As it was well afcertained that no protection was to be expected from the magiftrates or inhabitants of Pittsburg, it became neceffary to the fafety, fafety, both of the Infpector and the Marshal, to quit that place; and, as it was known that all the ufual routes to Philadelphia were befet by the infurgents, they concluded to defcend the Ohio, and proceed, by a circuitous route, to the feat of Government, which they began to put in execution on the night of the 19th of July. "Information has alfo been received of a meeting. of a confiderable number of perfons at a place called Mingo Creek Meeting-house, in the county of Washington, to confult about the further measures which it might be advisable to purfue; that at this meeting a motion was made to approve and agree to fupport the proceedings which had taken place, until the excite law was repealed, and an act of oblivion paffed. But that, instead of this, it had been agreed that the four western counties of Pennfylvania, and the neighbouring counties of Virginia, fhould be invited to meet in a convention of delegates, on the 14th of the prefent month, at Parkinfon's, on Mingo Creek, in the county of Washington, to take into confideration the fituation of the western country, and concert fuch measures as fhould appear fuited to the occafion. "It appears, moreover, that on the 25th of July laft, the mail of the United States, on the road from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, was stopped by two armed men, who cut it open, and took out all the letters, except those contained in one packet: these armed men, from all the circumftances which occurred, were manifeftly acting on the part of the infurgents. "The declared object of the foregoing proceedings is to obftruct the execution, and compel a repeal of the laws laying duties on fpirits diftilled within the United States, and upon ftills. There is juft caufe to believe that this is connected with an indifpofition too general in that quarter to fhare in the common burdens of the community; and with a wish, a wifh, among fome perfons of influence, to embarrass the Government. It is affirmed, by wellinformed perfons, to be a fact of notoriety, that the revenue laws of the State itfelf have always been either refifted, or very defectively complied with in the fame quarter. "With the moft perfect refpect, I have the honour to be, Sir, "Your most obedient humble fervant, "The Prefident of the United States." Upon receiving this Report, the President iffued the following Proclamation : By the Prefident of the United States of America. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas combinations to defeat the execution of the laws laying duties upon fpirits diftilled within the United States, and upon ftills, have, from the time of the commencement of those laws, exifted in fome of the western parts of Pennsylvania: And whereas the faid combinations, proceeding in a manner fubverfive equally of the juft authority of Government, and of the rights of individuals, have hitherto effected their dangerous and criminal purpose, by the influence of certain irregular meetings, whofe proceedings have tended to encourage and uphold the fpirit of oppofition, by mifreprefentations of the laws, calculated to render them odious, by endeavours to deter those who might be fo difpofed, from accepting offices under them, through fear of public refentment and of injury to perfon and property, and to compel those who had accepted fuch offices by actual violence to furrender or forbear the execution of them, by circulating vindictive menaces against all thofe who fhould otherwife directly or indirectly aid in the execution of the faid laws, or who, yield ing to the dictates of confcience, and to a sense of obligation, fhould themselves comply therewith, by actually injuring and deftroying the property of perfons who were understood to have fo complied; by inflicting cruel and humiliating punishments upon private citizens for no other caufe than that of appearing to be the friends of the laws; by intercepting the public officers on the highways, abufing, affaulting, and otherwife ill-treating them; by going to their houses in the night, gaining admittance by force, taking away their papers, and committing other outrages; employing for these unwarrantable purposes the agency of armed banditti, disguised in fuch manner as for the most part to escape discovery: And whereas the endeavours of the Legislature to obviate objections to the faid laws, by lowering the duties, and by other alterations conducive to the convenience of thofe whom they immediately affect (though they have given fatisfaction in other quarters), and the endeavours of the executive officers to conciliate a compliance with the laws, by explanations, by forbearance, and even by particular accommodations founded on the fuggeftion of local confiderations, have been difappointed of their effect by the machinations of perfons whose industry to excite resistance has increafed with every appearance of a difpofition among the people to relax in their oppofition, and to acquiefce in the laws, infomuch that many perfons in the faid western parts of Pennfyl vania have, at length, been hardy enough to perpetrate acts which, I am advised, amount to treafon, being overt acts of levying war against the United States; the faid perfons having, on the 16th and 17th of July laft paft, proceeded in arms (on the fecond day amounting to feveral hundreds) to the house of John Neville, Inspector of the revenue for the fourth furvey of the diftrict of Pennfylvania, having repeatedly attacked the said house with the perfons therein, therein, wounding fome of them; having feized David Lenox, Marfhal of the diftrict of Pennsylvania, who previous thereto had been fired upon while in the execution of his duty, by a party of armed men, detaining him for fome time prisoner, till for the prefervation of his life, and the obtaining of his liberty, he found it neceffary to enter into ftipulations to forbear the execution of certain official duties touching proceffes iffuing out of a Court of the United States, and having finally obliged the faid Infpector of the revenue and the faid Marshal, from confiderations of perfonal fafety to fly from that part of the country, in order, by a circuitous route, to proceed to the feat of Government; avowing as the motives of thefe outrageous proceedings, an intention to prevent by force of arms the execution of the faid laws, to oblige the faid Infpector of the revenue to renounce his faid office, to withstand by open violence the lawful authority of the Government of the United States, and to compel thereby an alteration in the meatures of the Legislature and a repeal of the laws aforefaid: And whereas by a law of the United States, entitled, "An Act to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, fupprefs Infurrections, and repel Invafions," it is enacted, “that whenever the laws of the United States fhall be oppofed, or the execution thercof obfiructed in any State by combinations too powerful to be fuppreffed by the ordinary courfe of judicial proceedings or by the powers vefted in the Marshals by that act, the fame being notified by an affociate Juftice or the diftrict Judge, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia of such State, to fupprefs fuch combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed and if the militia of a State where fuch combinations may happen fhall refuse or be infufficient to fupprefs the fame, it fhall be lawful for |
