American Aurora
Page 74
Public expectation waits on tip toe for the results of that august assemblage which now graces the city by its presence. It seems to be a thing of general expectation, however, that the Provisional Army will be raised and appointed …
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Standing mercenary armies were first established in France in the fourteenth century—In America they were first attempted to be permanently established near the close of the eighteenth.
An enormous and unnecessary army—an equally unnecessary navy—and the institution of heavy taxes … has no doubt produced a species of influence where offices and appointments have been held out … and this influence … has given birth to a volume of adulation that will be, to future times, a painful monument [to] our rapid debasement from the sincerity of republican citizens to the humiliating manners and idiom of monarchical subjects …
The Presidential speech for the opening of Congress is said to be already on the Federal anvil—it is likely to undergo many severe strokes before it is fit for the public ear.
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
PEG BACHE, I hear, begins to cry, “peace in Europe!” She is like all the Poissarde crew [lower-class market women] … when they once feel the point of your shoe or the lash of your horsewhip, they instantly call out for a cessation of hostilities. MOTHER BACHE and her gang have tried what threats of war can do … [T]hey now wish to persuade people that Great Britain is going to make peace and that poor America will be left in the lurch …
PEG lies like her husband … However, if Great Britain is about to make peace, don’t you think, PEG, that we had better make peace along with her? And in order to be entitled to do that, don’t you think we had better join her in the war now? Lay the Poissarde aside a bit; leave talking bawdry, and give me a civil, modest answer.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
A very staunch Federalist, and who in our revolution displayed the strength of his British attachments, being asked his opinion of a standing army, said it was absolutely necessary to frighten the Virginians and Kentuckians !
At a very numerous meeting of the people of Orange, State of Virginia; at their court house … to take into account the alarming situation of the United States … Whereupon, the following address was presented …
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF … VIRGINIA …
Shall we act, or shall we perish ? Shall usurpation threaten us by war into its measures? Is it necessary to submit to one of these evils as the very means of escaping the other ?
Tonight, William Cobbett in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
There is no making any good of them … Once a Jew, a Jew always, and once a Jacobin, a Jacobin forever.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The echoes of our ministerial oracles assert that the army of mercenaries contemplated to be raised are intended entirely for home service—this declaration is as surprisingly candid as important.
Yesterday an armed brig in our harbor, in discharging her guns, sent a cannon ball thro’ the roof of Mr. Elgar’s store in Greenwich street … The ball entered the south side of the roof, went clear throughout the opposite side, and lodged at the door of the house No 74, opposite the circus. It is next to a miracle that no further injury was done.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
The people of the United States will cease to wonder at the increased vilification heaped on Great Britain from the press of the Aurora when they learn that the present “doer” of that infamous paper is a miscreant whose conduct as a Printer in the East-Indies had been such as to call for the most rigorous interposition of the government—
Lord Cornwallis found it necessary to put the forger “Jasper Dwight” in Irons with an intention of sending him to his account in England—from this situation the culprit contrived to escape to this country—
Quere. Does not the treaty with Great Britain provide for surrendering Fugitives from justice ? Or did the vagabond arrive in America anterior to this salutary provision ?
The Cornwallis who placed me in irons in India is the same Cornwallis whom America defeated, with French help, at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781 and the same Cornwallis whom Ireland failed to defeat, despite French help, two months ago on the Heights of Balhnamuck. Cornwallis was Governor-General of India when I published my newspaper in Bengal Province (1791–1794) before coming to America. My paper, the Bengal World, endorsed the French Revolution, criticized British slavery practices in Africa, disclosed abuses in the British East India Army, and, for such seditious writings, got me imprisoned at Fort Williams (site of Calcutta’s Black Hole) and, in January of 1795, deported in irons.1716 Whether Governor General of India, Viceroy of Ireland, or commander of the British army in Virginia, Charles Cornwallis is a soldier of the British monarch and an enemy to America, to Ireland, to France, and to me!
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Only one reporter was suffered to take the debates in the House of Representatives last session; it appears that there are to be two in the present … Be it remembered that the most important debate which took place in the House of Representatives last session, has not yet been published,— to wit, the debate on the execrated Sedition Bill.
By the management of affairs in the House of Representatives with regard to reporters, the party that puts the Speaker in the chair can always manage to have debates on odious measures suppressed by prohibiting any but a favored reporter who, though he may be the most able and honest man in the world, is liable to be influenced by the apprehension of a loss of bread for disobedience !
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
The Dagger-Men, it seems, had prepared something which was called, “the address of the United Irishmen.” This was put into the hands of Jasper [Dwight] in order to be pruned of its barbarities. He promised at the beginning of last week to give it place in the course of that week. But the keen indignation of the public, excited by the daring designs of these villains, has deprived them of their wonted assurance. The piece has not appeared.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Where are the soldiers for a mercenary army [of the federal government] to be had? … [S]ay the good federalists, we can raise an army of Irish emigrants—and these to a man are United Irishmen; there are dilemmas on all sides, but one thing is certain, we can find officers enough, so that an army of 20,000 officers may be a handsome military establishment—if the people will consent to pay them !
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Matthew Lyon, it appears, has been with astonishing generosity allowed to purchase a stove and fire wood, and most condescendingly permitted to have them in prison with him.
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
A Hint to the Federal Government on the subject of the ALIEN BILL … [Y]esterday, the … legacy of the molten Lightening Rod tells us that America cannot look … for a STANDING FORCE … to Ireland—for “ALL THE IRISH EMIGRANTS IN AMERICA ARE UNITED IRISHMEN.”—Nota Bene !
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
KENTUCKY LEGISLATURE …
The [Kentucky] House … moved the following RESOLUTIONS …
I. Resolved, That the several states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government … that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force …
Today, President Adams delivers his Second Annual Address at the opening of the Third Session of the Fifth Congress of the United States:1717
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives …
[N]othing is discoverable i
n the conduct of France which ought to change or relax our measures of defense. On the contrary, to extend and invigorate them is our true policy. We have no reason to regret that these measures have been thus far adopted …
[T]o send another minister [to France] without more determinate assurances that he would be received would be an act of humiliation to which the United States ought not to submit … [W]hether we negotiate with her or not, vigorous preparations for war will be alike indispensable …
We ought without loss of time to lay the foundation for an increase of our Navy …1718
MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
OF THE SPEECH …
[T]he speech says “nothing is discoverable in the conduct of France which ought to change or relax our measures of defence.” The plain English of this is that France is not desirous of peace with us … [W]e must unquestionably discredit the speech, for the free relinquishment of our property [American ships] to the amount of half a million of dollars, was a something in which a man not short-sighted or blind, must discern a disposition to peace …
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
The Dagger-Men shall hear from me again, anon.
N. B. If Jasper is determined to suppress the promised “Address of the United Irishmen,” bring it to me, and I will give it place.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The arrangements for the [President’s] speech on Saturday, whether by accident or otherwise, were remarkable; on the President’s right were the British minister [to the U.S. Robert Liston] … and, on the British minister’s left, General Washington; on the President’s left were … the general officers [of the new federal army], and, in their rear … the political and civil functionaries … [T]he poor devils of short-hand writers were, by order of Mr. Speaker, shoved still further in the rear merely to prove the strength of their oracular and intuitive faculties.
[PHILADELPHIA.] On Saturday evening, Lankford Heron, Brick-maker, a native of Virginia, was taken out of his house in Hickory Lane, sign of the Liberty cap and pole, and brought before alderman Jennings who committed him to the city gaol for damning the President, all that took his part, and that wore the Black Cockade, &c.
Today, in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Annals of Congress report:
ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS.
MR. HARPER [Federalist, S. Carolina] said no member of this House could be ignorant of the use made of [the alien and sedition laws] … No one could be ignorant of the ferment which had been raised and sedulously kept up on account of those laws. I do know, said he, of a certainty that this ferment has been raised and is kept up by a misrepresentation of the content of those laws … In order, therefore, to enable the people to judge for themselves … he offered a resolution …
“Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives, That the Secretary of State be, and he is hereby authorized, to cause to be printed and distributed throughout the United States —–copies of two acts [the Alien and Sedition Acts] …”1719
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
When General Washington came into Congress Hall to hear the President’s Speech, the members of both houses rose to him—an honor never paid to any but the President himself.
We are happy to learn that measures are pursuing to bring to justice the hardened villain who charged one of the most illustrious characters of our city with the horrid crime of MURDER. Indeed it is high time this infamous Jasper had resumed that iron situation which he fled from.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The French vessels Jaloux [captured September 5th] and Le Sanspareil [captured August 23rd], having been condemned as lawful prizes, are to be sold by the Marshal at the Coffee house on Saturday next.
A letter received by way of New York … dated the 11th of October, says that the whole of [Ireland] was at that time in a general convulsion … The letter further adds that [British] General Lake had been defeated in several actions, and that the Irish rebels were carrying everything before them …
Today, with a gibe at George Logan, President Adams issues a public reply to a message from the United States Senate, including:
I have seen no real evidence of any change of system or disposition in the French Republic toward the United States. Although the officious interference of individuals without public character or authority is not entitled to any credit, yet it deserves to be considered whether that temerity and impertinence of individuals affecting to interfere in public affairs between France and the United States, whether by their secret correspondence or otherwise, and intended to impose upon the people and separate them from their Government, ought not to be inquired into and corrected.1720
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Mr. Harper having moved without success for the printing of several thousands of the Sedition Bill in order to have them dispersed through the United States, as the Aurora has at this time the most extensive circulation of any Daily American Paper, we are solicitous to shew our readiness on any occasion, where the member [of Congress] is in a reasonable disposition, to agree with him—We, therefore, republish the Sedition Bill, commonly called
THE GAG BILL
[Complete text of the Sedition Act follows.]
Today, George Washington writes the Secretary of War:
Nothing has been communicated to me respecting our foreign relations to induce the opinion that there has been any change in the situation of the country as to external danger which dictates an abandonment of the policy of the law in question … [N]o decisive indications have been given by France of a disposition to redress our past wrongs and do us future justice …1721
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
It was observed that the President’s reply to the Senate was “confoundedly confused”—upon which it was neatly remarked that it was hastily written. No praise could be more decisive than what DR. LOGAN has received in the form of an implied censure—for having rescued his country from a wanton and fruitless war.
Today, in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Annals of Congress report:
ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS.
The House having again taken up Mr. HARPER’S proposition for printing 20,000 copies of the above laws …
Mr. DAWSON [Republican, Virginia] would move [an amendment] to have printed with these laws all parts of the Constitution which appeared to him to relate to the subject …
Mr. HARPER [Federalist, S. Carolina] desired to pass by the extreme futility of publishing to the people, at this day, parts of a Constitution which had been in force ten years …
Mr. GALLATIN [Republican, Pennsylvania] … was convinced that there was as much necessity for the proposed amendment [to publish the Constitution] as for the original resolution [to publish the Sedition Act]; and that, therefore, if the resolution was adopted, the amendment ought to be adopted also …
The question on the original resolution was then taken and decided in the negative—yeas 34, nays 45 …1722
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The reply of the President to the Senate … merits a serious regard … The interference of an unauthorized person [Dr. Logan] to save his country from the horrible evils of a war is not only censurable but also ought to be corrected, says the public servant of the people.
It is wondered how [Mr. Adams] will reconcile his own conduct whilst in Europe in 1778, during our revolutionary war, when trying to impress into our service a state to which he was not sent. In that case, was he not also an unauthorized individual endeavoring to bring an unconnected nation into the situation which all abhor?
A majority of the house of representatives, having refused to circulate copies of the constitution with the unconstitutional [alien a
nd sedition] bills, a subscription was opened yesterday evening for the circulation of a suitable number [of constitutions]—One hundred and eleven dollars were directly subscribed. Subscriptions received by the editor of the Aurora.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
Yesterday morning, Lieut. Gen. WASHINGTON left this city on his journey to Mount Vernon, Virginia.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The Legislature of Virginia it appears have granted leave for the introduction of a Bill for “securing the members of the Legislature from prosecutions under the Sedition Bill in case they should think proper, in the course of their proceedings, to charge the Congress with an infraction of the constitution in the passage of it.”
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
FABRICATING.
The other day Mother Bache’s paper … contained a letter fabricated by some United Irishmen of New York. This letter stated that the French had made a successful landing in Ireland, that they were joined by numerous friends, that they had … beaten General Lake in three separate engagements.
Those who first fabricated and published this knew well that nobody but rabble would believe it …
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
What is a United Irishman? May not Irishmen unite as well as we ? Look to Ireland for his character, and behold it is written in blood … An Irish gentleman is one of the finest characters in nature. The rest of the nation is represented by the bulk of those who came to this country—such men as Burke, Lyon, Reynolds … and Duane, the bare mention of whom is sufficient without the trouble of elucidation …