American Aurora
Page 99
SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
We learn by a citizen who remained in the gallery of the Senate after we had left it on Tuesday that a resolution was laid on the table, tending to authorize the committee of privileges to make enquiries who is the Editor of “the Aurora,” and how he came to the publication of the Bill which we gave in the paper a few days ago, concerning a committee of both houses for deciding on disputed elections and other matters which our friend could not recollect.
A free press is an alarming eye-sore to men whose actions cannot bear the test of enquiry nor admit of defense by the same medium.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
THE AMERICAN ENVOYS have arrived at Lisbon.
MONDAY, MARCH 3, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES …
A Motion was made that it be Resolved, That the committee of privileges be, and they are hereby, directed to enquire who is the Editor of the news-paper printed in the city of Philadelphia, called the General Advertiser, or Aurora, and by what means the Editor became possessed of the copy of a bill [&c.] …
It is curious to see wise men searching with a lantern at noon day for a man whom they commonly see before them without the aid of spectacles.
THE CAUCUS
On Saturday Evening last, these gentlemen who heretofore met at the Senate Chamber held a meeting or Caucus at a private lodging house of one of the members of the party. We had not time to go in search of their subject, but it was suspected to have been held to consider what was best to be done with that dangerously active fellow the Editor of the Aurora and to advise certain persons thereof accordingly.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
“REPUBLICANISM”
The following … is extracted from the Kentucky Gazette …
“On Wednesday last, a considerable number of republican citizens assembled at Thomas Stephensen’s spring … [T]he following toasts were drank … 9. The memory of Gen. Washington, may his illustrious actions and services be faithfully recorded down to the year 1787, but no further …”
(Here may be seen … the confession of faith of those devoted to the principles of Jacobinism …)
A poor Maniac at Lancaster knocked Excellence [McKean] down with a brick … [T]he people who conduct the Aurora actually insinuated … a design of assassination. These things come from the same audacious miscreants who proclaim assassination to be no crime in ridding the earth of one whom they choose to call a tyrant.
TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
WHAT GOOD HAVE THE REPUBLICANS DONE?
This is a question often asked by their enemies. The answer is they have saved our country from war … in the face of the most constant and foul calumny, abuse, and reproach from the great Porcupines and the little Porcupines, the British spies and hirelings, and all their Tory party in this country …
TO THE EDITOR OF THE AURORA.
SIR … [A] committee of privileges is appointed to arraign an Editor for even publishing facts which relate to a branch of the Legislature … acting in their legislative capacity …
[T]he object of the leaders of the federal party is to trample under foot those who … are advocates for representative government … Scarcely a day passes over our head without some sarcasm upon the Sovereign people, some innuendo against republican government …
LOOK OUT.
The Caucus of Saturday evening was not as numerously attended as might have been expected; nor did they sit as long as usual. [T]here was some thundering for a moment or two …
Today, in the Senate of the United States, the Annals of Congress report:
The Senate resumed the second reading of the bill prescribing the mode of deciding disputed elections of President and Vice President of the United States.1900
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Some time ago Fenno exulted much at the supposed effect of the wit of that paper … [and] declared that the Democrats were sheered by it. Surely this pack of wits forgot to remember the poetical beads of the Aurora in 1796 …
Today, in the Senate of the United States, the Annals of Congress report:
BREACH OF PRIVILEGE
The Senate took into consideration the motion made on the 26th of February last, that an inquiry be had relative to a publication in a newspaper called the “Aurora” on the 19th of the said month …
Mr. COCKE [Republican, Tennessee] said he would not suffer a measure of this kind … What did the gentleman [Mr. TRACY] mean … ? [D]id he mean to get the consent of the Senate, acting in the character of an inquest, to an acknowledgment that the editor of the Aurora had been guilty of a crime, without any inquiry whether the publication in itself was criminal, or whether, if it was criminal, the Senate, as an independent and a single branch of the Legislature, had of itself the power to define the crime and inflict the punishment? …
Mr. TRACY [Federalist, Connecticut] … The committee are desired to inquire who is the editor of the Aurora; this will appear to be a proper inquiry, for the person is not publicly known: the imprint declares the paper to be published for the heirs of Benjamin Franklin Bache, but we do not know who are the heirs. The gentleman has told us that it is no crime to publish the doings of this body; but is it nothing to publish untruths respecting the official conduct of the members of this body? is it no crime to publish a bill while before this House? But are printers at liberty to tell lies about our transactions? The Aurora says that the bill which it published had passed the Senate; this every member knows to be contrary to the fact …
Mr. COCKE [Republican, Tennessee] … supposed the resolutions considered the publications in the Aurora as criminal, otherwise they would not make this stir about them. Gentlemen have asked, are the newspapers to be permitted to go on and villify the members of the Legislature without punishment? He answered [that] the printers of papers published on their own responsibility, and if they had no authority for any scandalous assertions respecting the Senate, they could be punished in the way pointed out by law. But would the members wish to draw the printers before the House and assume the judiciary power of the courts of justice ? …1901
Today, Peggy Bache and I enter an agreement whereby I become owner and publisher of the Philadelphia Aurora. By the transaction, I have been put into conditional possession of the printing presses, types, utensils, &c. employed in conducting the newspaper … [U]ntil the purchase money … be fully paid, the presses, types, utensils, &c. are mortgaged to … Margaret …1902 This transaction assures that I, not Peggy, will be held responsible for the paper’s operation in any of the Federalist legal actions. More important, Peggy’s mortgage lien on the paper’s assets will assure that Peggy, not the Federalists, will end up with the paper’s assets (should the Federalists win a lawsuit and try to foreclose on the paper in satisfaction of their claim).
Today, the President’s Lady, Abigail Adams, writes her sister:
At a late festival in Kentucky, amongst a number of Jacobin toasts is one to the memory of Genll. Washington to the year 17[8]9 and no longer, by which they mean to cast a slur upon the whole of his administration of the government. But Hence, wretches, to your native dens—the bogs of Ireland, the dens of Scotland, and the outcasts of Britain.1903
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
Forlorn and destitute indeed must be the condition of a party which can look with idiot admiration on the drunken blackguardisms of a Callender, the brazen impositions of a Duane … There is a difficulty in deciding which of these two classes is sunk the lowest in moral and mental degradation—the seditious Herd who worship these uncouth idols or the self-conceited nothings who court with so much avidity the foul incense of their praise.
THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
In the Senate ye
sterday, the resolution concerning the editor of the Aurora was called up and underwent some warm investigation. We were not aware of the Intention or should have attended, but we have been promised minutes of the debates and motions.
Some extraordinary doctrines were broached in the senate yesterday … on the privileges of the Senate, amounting in fact to a more arbitrary extent than any thing ever attempted in the British house of lords.
QUERIES TO A SENATOR.
1. Does the unbounded privilege of a Legislator extend to protect his public conduct from public investigation? …
The public appears anxious to learn the result of the late disgraceful violence in our state legislature—We have refrained from communication on this subject, because it is under the scrutiny of a committee …
Today, in the United States Senate, the Annals of Congress report:
The Senate resumed the consideration of the motion made on the 26th of February last, that an inquiry be had relative to a publication in a newspaper called the Aurora …
And after debate, the Senate adjourned.1904
FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
IN SENATE
Yesterday, the consideration of the resolution respecting the Editor of the Aurora being called for, Mr. Pinckney read in his place two or three resolutions … on the independence of the press …
Mr. Tracy of the senate declares that in his opinion “the Aurora” is the very worst paper in the United States—“O righteous Judge !—a second Daniel !”
Today, in the Senate of the United States, the Annals of Congress report:
The Senate took into consideration the motion made yesterday for amending the motion … that an inquiry be had relative to a publication … in a newspaper called the Aurora … And, after debate, the Senate adjourned.1905
Today, Republican U.S. Senator Stevens Thomson Mason of Virginia writes James Madison:
Ross’s Bill for deciding on the Election of Pres[iden]dt & V P[residen]t is still before the Senate … still retaining the obnoxious principles of it …
We have been three days upon and are now discussing a resolution ag[ains]t the Editor of the Aurora for a publication of the 19th of Feby. An amendment to connect with it an equally or more offensive publication of Fenno of the 13th was rejected by the usual Vote …1906
Thomas Jefferson notes:
Heretical doctrines maintained in Senate. On the motion against the Aurora. That there is, in every legal body of men, a right of self-preservation … That the common law authorizes the proceeding proposed ag[ains]t the Aurora … That the privileges of Congress are and ought to be indefinite …1907
SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Published (DAILY) By WILLIAM DUANE, Successor of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BACHE, at No. 112 Market Street, Philadelphia. EIGHT DOLLARS per ann.
TO SUBSCRIBERS
Those who are in arrear to this office for subscriptions and whose periods are near a close are requested to make immediate payment—as no paper will be forwarded to those who do not pay regularly, a rule necessary to the support of the liberal expenditures of a paper whose circulation is greater and more feared by the enemies of republicanism than any other in the nation.
The change in today’s masthead proclaims my new position as the paper’s publisher. Does “successor” suggest something more?
Today, in the Senate of the United States, the Annals of Congress report:
The Senate resumed the consideration of the motion … that an inquiry be had relative to a publication on the 19th of said month, in a newspaper called the Aurora …
And, on the motion to agree to the original motion as amended, it was passed in the affirmative—yeas 19, nays 8 …
So it was
Resolved, That the Committee of Privileges be and are hereby directed to consider and report what measures it will be proper for the Senate to adopt in relation to the newspaper, printed in the city of Philadelphia, on Wednesday morning the 19th of February, 1800, called the General Advertiser, or Aurora; in which it is asserted that the bill prescribing the mode of deciding disputed elections of President and Vice President of the United States had passed the Senate, when, in fact, it had not passed … and generally to report what measures ought to be adopted in relation to sundry expressions contained in said paper, respecting the Senate of the United States, and the members thereof, in their official capacity.1908
Today, Thomas Jefferson writes James Madison,
We have this day also decided in Senate on the motion for overhauling the editor of the Aurora. It was carried, as usual, by about 2 to 1 …
The feds begin to be very seriously alarmed about their election next fall. Their speeches in private, as well as their public and private demeanor to me, indicate it strongly. This seems to be the prospect. Keep out Pennsylv[ania], Jersey & N. York, & the rest of the states are about equally divided … [T]he event depends on the 3. middle states above men[tioned]. As to them, Pennsylvania passes no law for an election at present …
In N. York, all depends on the success of the city election which is of 12 members … which is sufficient to make the two houses joined together republican in their vote [for presidential electors] … If Pennsylvania votes, then either Jersey or New York giving a republican vote decides the election. If Pennsylv[ania] does not vote, then New York determines the election. In any event, we may say that if the city election of N. York is in favor of the Republican ticket, the issue will be republican … The election of New York being in April it becomes an early & interesting object …1909
If New York’s Republicans elect a majority to New York’s state legislature, that majority can award New York’s presidential electors to Thomas Jefferson. Because New York City has so many seats in the state legislature, New York City is critical to that majority.
MONDAY, MARCH 10, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
A certain federal Senator was heard to say some days ago “If the Aurora is not blown up soon, Jefferson will be elected in defiance of every thing!”
Today, in the Senate of the United States, the Annals of Congress report:
The Senate resumed the second reading of the bill prescribing the mode of deciding disputed elections of President and Vice President of the United States and, after debate,
Ordered, That it be recommitted to the original committee, further to consider and report thereon to the Senate …1910
TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The bill for instituting a kind of tribunal to decide upon elections for President and Vice President, and about the publication of which by the Editor of this paper so much alarm has been excited in the Senate of the United States … was taken up in the Senate yesterday …
If there was nothing dangerous or hostile to the liberties of the people in this Bill, why has its publication given those who support it so much and such extraordinary alarm?
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
TO SUBSCRIBERS.
THE Editor respectfully requests the attention of the Patrons of “The Aurora” to the following considerations. He enters on the proprietorship of this paper without any other capital than public confidence, and personal credit, and his industry. The funds for the maintenance of this paper must, therefore, be derived wholly from itself—and as the expenditures are considerable and necessarily regular, the income must be equally punctual to secure the editor from pecuniary embarrassment …
It is for these reasons determined that no paper shall be furnished from this office to any subscriber who shall not pay up all arrears due to this office …
Four years further continuance of such measures as we have seen for four years back would … not only bring this republic closer in its resemblance to the British monarchy; but the public liberties … would be all destroyed. [T]o save us from these multiplied evils �
�� unite all hearts in placing at the head of government the author of the declaration of independence [Thomas Jefferson].
The Argus, a republican paper published for several years in New-York by the late worthy citizen Thomas Greenleaf, has been transferred to a new proprietor and its title changed …
Bad news for Republicans! Beleaguered by Federalist sedition prosecutions, Anne Greenleaf has closed the New York Argus and sold its equipment. Without the Argus and without the New York Time Piece, New York City has no established Republican paper1911 to influence the upcoming election of state legislators (who will choose the state’s presidential electors). What role will the Aurora play? Will we distribute the Aurora free?1912 New York’s sedition trials are coming up just before the New York election. John Adams’ methods of intimidation are clear.
THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
On Monday, we propose commencing a report of the recent extraordinary proceedings in the Senate concerning the Editor of this paper …
We consider the security of the press of at least equal moment with the privileges, real or assumed, of the Senate and hold ourselves bound to maintain that freedom established by the Constitution, and in the spirit of the Constitution, against every effort of an illegal or unconstitutional nature which may be made to destroy it.