Resolutions of this character, if not criminal, reach the utmost limit of indiscretion, and political indiscretion is quite as dangerous as crime.

The petition to Congress, subscribed by the inhabitants of western Pennsylvania, was drawn by Gallatin; while explicit in terms, it was moderate in tone.

It represented the unequal operation of the act.

"A duty laid on the common drink of a nation, instead of taxing the citizens in proportion to their property, falls as heavy on the poorest class as on the rich;" and it ingeniously pointed out that the distance of the inhabitants of the western counties from market prevented their bringing the produce of their lands to sale, either in grain or meal.

"We are therefore distillers through necessity, not choice; that we may comprehend the greatest value in the smallest size and weight." Hamilton, indignant, reported the proceedings to the President on September 9, 1792, and demanded instant punishment.