he held
in just abhorrence, an opposition to the civil authority of his
country. He was put on his trial and acquitted.[9]

[87] Events such as those which have been narrated, serve to shew the
state of things which existed at that day; and to point out the evils
necessarily resulting, from an absence of municipal regulations. Man,
in every station and condition of life, requires the controlling hand
of civil power, to confine him in his proper sphere, and to check
every advance of invasion, on the rights of others. Unrestrained
liberty speedily degenerates into licentiousness. Without the
necessary curbs and restraints of law, men would relapse into a state
of nature; [88] and although the obligations of justice (the basis of
society) be natural obligations; yet such are the depravity and
corruption of human nature, that without some superintending and
coercive power, they would be wholly disregarded; and human society,
would become the field of oppression and outrage--instead of a theatre
for the interchange of good offices. Civil institutions and judicial
establishments; the comminations of punishment and the denunciations
of law, are barely sufficient to repress the evil propensities of man.
Left to themselves, they spurn all natural restrictions, and riot in
the unrestrained indulgence of every passion.

-----
[1] At Dickenson's fort in 1755.

[2] When the Indians were most troublesome, and threatening
even the destruction of Winchester, Lord Fairfax who was
commandant of the militia of Frederick and Hampshire, ordered
them out. Three days active exertion on his part, brought only
20 in the field.

[3] Rather rangers, who seem to have been enlisted to serve
a year, and were re-engaged when necessary.--L. C. D.

[4] Peter Williamson had singular adventures. When a boy he
was kidnapped at Aberdeen, and sent to America, for which he
afterwards recovered damages. It is said that he passed a
considerable period among the Cherokees. He instituted the
first penny post at Edinburgh, for which, when the government
assumed it, he received a pension. His _Memoirs_, and _French
and Indian Cruelty Examplified_, were works of interest. He
died in Edinburgh in 1799.--L. C. D.

[5] Col. James Smith was born in Franklin county, Pa., in
1737; was captured by Indians in 1755, remaining in captivity
until his escap