At three succeeding sessions they have revised that act ...

and _you_ have actually paid more than a million of dollars on account of it.

But the four western counties of Pennsylvania undertake to rejudge and reverse your decrees.
_You_ have said, 'The Congress _shall have power_ to lay _excises_.' They say, 'The Congress shall _not have_ this power;' or, what is equivalent, they shall not exercise it, for a _power_ that may not be exercised is a nullity.

Your representatives have said, and four times repeated it, 'An excise on distilled spirits _shall_ be collected;' they say, 'It _shall not_ be collected.

We will punish, expel, and banish the officers who shall attempt the collection.'" The peace commissioners returned to Philadelphia and made their report on September 24.