He knew his duty, and did not swerve one hair from the line it prompted.

In no part of his long, varied, and useful political life does he appear to better advantage than in this exciting episode of the Whiskey Insurrection.

His self-possession, his cool judgment, swayed neither by timidity nor rashness, never for a moment failed him.

Here he displayed that remarkable combination of persuasion and control,--the indispensable equipment of a political chief,--which, in later days, gave him the leadership of the Republican party.

With intuitive perception of the political situation he saw that the only path to safety, beset with difficulty and danger though it were, was through the convention at Parkinson's Ferry.