All this seems rather
inconsistent; but it shows how difficult it is to apply these juridical ideas to
our present case.
In this situation, let us seriously and coolly ponder. What is it we have got by
all our menaces, which have been many and ferocious? What advantage have we
derived from the penal laws we have passed, and which, for the time, have been
severe and numerous? What advances have we made towards our object by the
sending of a force which, by land and sea, is no contemptible strength? Has the
disorder abated? Nothing less. When I see things in this situation after such
confident hopes, bold promises, and active exertions, I cannot, for my life,
avoid a suspicion that the plan itself is not correctly right. [Footnote: 41]
If, then, the removal of the causes of this spirit of American liberty be for
the greater part, or rather entirely, impracticable; if the ideas of criminal
process be inapplicable--or, if applicable, are in the highest degree
inexpedient; what way yet remains? No way is open but the third and last,--to
comply with the American spirit as necessary; or, if you please, to submit to it
as a necessary evil.
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