Their creed is, that the property of the United States has been protected from confiscation by the joint exertions of all, and therefore ought to be common to all.

And he that attempts opposition to this creed is an enemy to equity and justice, and ought to be swept from the face of the earth." The force of this party throughout New England was computed by General Knox at twelve or fifteen thousand men.

"They were chiefly," he said, "of the young and active part of the community, who were more easily collected than kept together.

Desperate and unprincipled, they would probably commit overt acts of treason which would compel them, for their own safety, to embody and submit to discipline.

Thus would there be a formidable rebellion against reason, the principle of all government, and the very name of liberty.