"SIR, Treafury Department, August 16, 1794. "It appears probable, that advantages will result from giving to the citizens at large full information on the fubject of the difturbances which exift in the western parts of Pennsylvania. With this view, if no objection to the measure should occur to you, I would caufe a publication to be made of the Report which I had the honour to addrefs to you, dated the 5th inft. "With the most perfect refpect, "I have the honour to be, Sir, "Your moft obedient and humble fervant, "ALEXANDER HAMILTON. "SIR, United States, 19th August, 1794. "I am directed by the Prefident to inform you, in reply to your letter of the 16th inftant, that, relying that the facts contained in the Report have been ftated with due care, and from authentic fources, he perceives no objection to the publication of it, as propofed. I am, &c. "Your moft obedient fervant, "The Secretary of the Treafury." "SIR, Treasury Department, August 5th, 1799. "The difagreeable crifis at which matters have lately arrived in fome of the western counties of Pennsylvania, with regard to the laws laying duties on fpirits diftilled within the United States, and on ftills, seems to render proper a review of the circumftances which have attended thofe laws in that scene, from their commencement to the present time, and of the conduct which has hitherto been obferved on the part of the Government, its motive and effect-in order Order to a better judgment of the measures neceffary to be pursued in the exifting emergency. "The oppofition to thofe laws in the four moft western counties of Pennsylvania (Alleghany, Washington, Fayette, and Weftmoreland) commenced as early as they were known to have been paffed. It has continued, with different degrees of violence, in the different counties, and at different periods. But Washington has uniformly diftinguifhed its refiftance, by a more exceffive spirit than has appeared in the other counties, and feems to have been chiefly inftrumental in kindling and keeping alive the flame. "The oppofition firft manifefted itself in the milder fhape of the circulation of opinions unfavourable to the law, and calculated, by the influence of public difefteem, to difcourage the accepting or holding of offices under it, or the complying with it by those who might be fo difpofed; to which was added the show of a difcontinuance of the business of diftilling. "Thefe expedients were shortly after fucceeded by private affociations to forbear compliance with the law. But it was not long before thefe more negative modes of oppofition were perceived to be likely to prove ineffectual. And in proportion as this was the cafe, and as the means of introducing the laws into operation were put into execution, the difpofition to refiftance became more turbulent and more inclined to adopt and practife violent expedients. The officers now began to experience marks of contempt and infult. Threats against them became frequent and loud; and after fome time, these threats were ripened into acts of ill treatment and outrage. "These acts of violence were preceded by certain meetings of malcontent perfons, who entered into refolutions calculated at once to confirm, inflame, and fyftematize the fpirit of oppofition. "The first of thefe meetings was holden at a place VOL. I. called called Red Stone Old Fort, on the 27th of July, 1791, where it was concerted that county committees fhould be convened in the four counties, at the respective feats of justice therein. On the 23d of Auguft following, one of these committees affembled in the county of Washington. "This meeting paffed fome intemperate refolutions, which were afterwards printed in the Pittsburg Gazette, containing a ftrong cenfure on the law, declaring that any perfon who had accepted or might accept an office under Congrefs, in order to carry it into effect, fhould be confidered as inimical to the interests of the country; and recommending to the Citizens of Wafhington county to treat every perfon who had accepted or might hereafter accept any fuch office, with contempt, and abfolutely to refuse all kinds of communication or intercourfe with the officers, and to withhold from them all aid, fupport, or comfort. "Not content with this vindictive profcription of those who might efteem it their duty, in the capacity. of officers, to aid in the execution of the conftitutional laws of the land, the meeting proceeded to accumulate topics of crimination of the Government, though foreign to each other; authorizing, by this, zeal for cenfure, a fufpicion that they were actuated, not merely by the diflike of a particular law, but by a difpofition to render the Government itself unpopular and odious. "This meeting, in further profecution of their plan, deputed three of their members to meet delegates from the counties of Weftmoreland, Fayette, and Alleghany, on the 1ft Tuesday of September following, for the purpofe of expreffing the fenfe of the people of thofe counties in an addrefs to the Legiflature of the United States, upon the subject of the Excife Law and other grievances. "Another meeting accordingly took place on the 7th of September, 1791, at Pittsburg, in the county of of Alleghany, at which there appeared perfons in character of delegates from the four western counties. "This meeting entered into refolutions more comprehenfive in their objects, and not lefs inflammatory in their tendency, than those which had before paffed the meeting in Washington. Their refolutions contained severe cenfures not only on the law which was the immediate fubject of objection, but upon what they termed the exorbitant falaries of officers; the unreasonable intereft of the public debt; the want of difcrimination between original holders and tranfferrees, and the inftitution of a national bank. "The fame unfriendly temper towards the Government of the United States, which feemed to have led out of their way the meeting at Washington, appears to have produced a fimilar wandering in that at Pittsburg. "A representation to Congrefs, and a remonftrance to the Legiflature of Pennfylvania against the law more particularly complained of, were prepared by this meeting, publifhed together with their other proceedings in the Pittsburg Gazette, and afterwards prefented to the refpective bodies to whom they were addreffed. "These meetings, compofed of very influential individuals, and conducted without moderation or prudence, are justly chargeable with the exceffes which have been from time to time committed; ferving to give confiftency to an oppofition which has at length matured to a point that threatens the foundations of the Government and of the Union, unless speedily and effectually fubdued. "On the 6th of the fame month of September, the oppofition broke out in an act of violence upon the perfon and property of Robert Johnson, collector of the revenue for the counties of Alleghany and Washington. "A party of men, armed and disguised, waylaid him at a place on Pigeon Creek, in Washington county, feized, tarred and feathered him, cut off his hair, and deprived him of his horfe, obliging him to travel on foot a confiderable diftance in that mortifying and painful fituation. "The cafe was brought before the district court of Pennsylvania, out of which proceffes iffued against John Robertfon, John Hamilton, and Thomas M'Comb, three of the perfons concerned in the outrage. "The ferving of thefe proceffes was confided by the then Marshal, Clement Biddle, to his deputy Jofeph Fox, who in the month of October went into Alleghany county for the purpose of ferving them. "The appearance and circumstances, which Mr. Fox obferved himself in the course of his journey, and learnt afterwards upon his arrival at Pittsburg, had the effect of deterring him from the fervice of the proceffes, and unfortunately led to adopt the injudicious and fruitless expedient of fending them to the parties by a private messenger, under cover. "The Deputy's report to the Marshal fiates a number of particulars, evincing a confiderable fermentation in the part of the county to which he was fent, and inducing a belief on his part, that he could not with fafety have executed the proceffes. The Marfhal, tranfmitting this report to the district attorney, makes the following obfervations upon it. "I am forry to add, that he (the Deputy) found the people in general in the western part of the State at, and particularly beyond, the Alleghany mountains, in fuch a ferment on account of the act of Congrefs for laying a duty on diftilled fpirits, and fo many opposed to the execution of the faid act, and from a variety of threats to himself perfonally, although he took the utmost precaution to conceal his errand, that he was not only convinced of the impoffibility of ferving the proccfs, but that any attempt to |