sse comitatus_ is therefore a direct application of force, and
can not be otherwise regarded than as the employment of the whole
militia force of the county, and in an equally efficient form under a
different name. No proceeding which resorts to this power to the extent
contemplated by the act can be properly denominated peaceable.

The act of South Carolina, however, does not rely altogether upon this
forcible remedy. For even attempting to resist or disobey, though by the
aid only of the ordinary officers of the customs, the process of
replevin, the collector and all concerned are subjected to a further
proceeding in the nature of a distress of their personal effects, and
are, moreover, made guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to be punished
by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 and to
imprisonment not exceeding two years and not less than six months; and
for even attempting to execute the order of the court for retaking the
property the marshal and all assisting would be guilty of a misdemeanor
and liable to a fine of not less than $3,000 nor more than $10,000 and
to imprisonment not exceeding two years nor less than one: and in case
the goods should be retaken under such process it is made the absolute
duty of the sheriff to retake them.

It is not to be supposed that in the face of these penalties, aided by
the powerful force of the county, which would doubtless be brought to
sustain the State officers, either that the collector would retain the
custody in the first instance or that the marshal could summon
sufficient aid to retake the property pursuant to the order or other
process of the court.

It is, moreover, obvious that in this conflict between the powers of the
officers of the United States and of the State (unless the latter be
passively submitted to) the destruction to which the property of the
officers of the customs would be exposed, the commission of actual
violence, and the loss of lives would be scarcely avoidable.

Under these circumstances and the provisions of the acts of South
Carolina the execution of the laws is rendered impracticable even
through the ordinary judicial tribunals of the United States. There
would certainly be fewer difficulties, and less opportunity of actual
collision between the officers of the United States and of the State,
and the collection of the revenue would be more effectually secured--if,
indeed, it can be done in any other way--by placing the cust