<SPAN name="XVII"></SPAN>
<h1 align="center" style="margin-top: 2em;font-variant: small-caps">Chapter XVII</h1>
<h2 align="center" style="margin-top: 2em;font-variant: small-caps">Selwyn and Thor Defend Themselves</h2>
<p>In the meantime Selwyn and Thor had issued an address,
defending their course as warranted by both the facts
and the law.</p>
<p>They said that the Government had been honeycombed
by irresponsible demagogues, that were fattening upon
the credulity of the people to the great injury of
our commerce and prosperity, that no laws unfriendly
to the best interests had been planned, and no act
had been contemplated inconsistent with the dignity
and honor of the Nation. They contended that in protecting
capital against vicious assaults, they were serving
the cause of labor and advancing the welfare of all.</p>
<p>Thor’s whereabouts was a mystery, but Selwyn,
brave and defiant, pursued his usual way.</p>
<p>President Rockland also made a statement defending
his appointments of Justices of the Supreme Court,
and challenged anyone to prove them unfit. He said
that, from the foundation of the Government, it had
become customary for a President to make such appointments
from amongst those whose views were in harmony with
his own, that in this case he had selected men of
well known integrity, and of profound legal ability,
and, because they were such, they were brave enough
to stand for the right without regard to the clamor
of ill-advised and ignorant people. He stated that
he would continue to do his duty, and that he would
uphold the constitutional rights of all the people
without distinction to race, color or previous condition.</p>
<p>Acting under Selwyn’s advice, Rockland began
to concentrate quietly troops in the large centers
of population. He also ordered the fleets into home
waters. A careful inquiry was made regarding the views
of the several Governors within easy reach of Washington,
and, finding most of them favorable to the Government,
he told them that in case of disorder he would honor
their requisition for federal troops. He advised a
thorough overlooking of the militia, and the weeding
out of those likely to sympathize with the “mob.”
If trouble came, he promised to act promptly and forcefully,
and not to let mawkish sentiment encourage further
violence.</p>
<p>He recalled to them that the French Revolution was
caused, and continued, by the weakness and inertia
of Louis Fifteenth and his ministers and that the
moment the Directorate placed Bonaparte in command
of a handful of troops, and gave him power to act,
by the use of grape and ball he brought order in a
day. It only needed a quick and decisive use of force,
he thought, and untold suffering and bloodshed would
be averted.</p>
<p>President Rockland believed what he said. He seemed
not to know that Bonaparte dealt with a ragged, ignorant
mob, and had back of him a nation that had been in
a drunken and bloody orgy for a period of years and
wanted to sober up. He seemed not to know that in this
contest, the clear-brained, sturdy American patriot
was enlisted against him and what he represented,
and had determined to come once more into his own.</p>
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