American Aurora
Page 102
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
It is certainly a most interesting spectacle for the people of America to behold their rights and privileges guarded and defended by Messrs. Duane, Dallas, and Cooper against the encroachment of about thirty eminent characters [senators] chosen from various quarters of the union and associated together for constitutional purposes … [T]he above respectable triumvirate are deeply versed in all the arcana of revolutionary schemes, both foreign and domestic …
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
FROM THE ALBANY REGISTER. [New York.] The late proceedings of the Senate of the United States, in relation to that zealous and undaunted advocate of the liberties of his country, the editor of the Aurora, are viewed by all unbiased men as an arbitrary stretch of power …
[T]he privileges of the Senate of the United States are derived from a written constitution or supreme law of this land, and that, it will be found, bestows no such privilege as they contend for in the case of Mr. Duane. If he has violated the law, let him be convicted and punished according to law—but let us have no unconstitutional court of inquisition.
FROM THE N[EW] L[ONDON] BEE [ Connecticut. ] The present number of this paper probably closes the editorial career of the Printer of the Bee in this state. On the 18th instant he is bound to appear at the bar of the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Connecticut, then to sit at New-Haven, and to stand trial upon an indictment under the sedition law for publishing a piece in May last mitigating against the recruiting service. Situated in this predicament, he has heretofore forborne to detail the outrages of a set of men whose situation in society has protected their infamy …
Charles Holt will shortly have to close Connecticut’s only Republican newspaper, the Bee of New London.1930
THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
To-morrow will be the memorable festival so long celebrated in the Christian Church, commemorating the expiation of sinners offered by the founder of the Christian faith on the Cross—the pious people of Connecticut have also appointed that day for a solemn fast and prayer—and on the same day, a political Auto da-fé [sentence of Spanish Inquisition] is to be solemnized on the person of Mr. Charles Holt, a printer [of the New London Bee], who has been accused of the barbarous and heinous act of discouraging the recruiting of a standing army, for which he is that day (that is, on Good Friday, the day of solemn fast and prayer) he is to be tried under the Sedition law!—Else wherefore breathe we in a Christian land ?
Today, from Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson writes a friend,
The bill for the election of President & V. P. passed the Senate in a much worse form than that in which Duane published it, for they struck out the clause limiting the powers of the electoral committee and [accorded] it to all subjects of enquiry. What its fate will be in the lower house we know not …
You have heard of the proceedings against Duane. The marshal has not yet been able to get hold of him. Mr. Cooper … is indicted here …1931
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Franklin, a printer from the obscure colony of Pennsylvania, excited the admiration of the old world by the boldness of his ideas and the success of his grand experiments and discoveries … [I]n 1754, he framed that form of combination for the whole of the colonies by their Delegates which … properly assumed the name of Congress—a name and a system which was the basis of all the subsequent assemblies of the United States … but you will find not one in one hundred of our youth who know anything about him … This is a lamentable description of national degeneracy!
Today, the Adams administration brings a Sedition Act indictment against Thomas Cooper of Northumberland for a handbill Tom Cooper wrote in November (blaming John Adams for high interest rates, &c).1932 [H]aving offended the senate by the active part he took in the case of the editor of the Aurora persecuted by the senate … it was determined to crush him. He had been all the winter in Philadelphia, and every day seen in public, yet no process was taken against him until three days before the meeting of the court on the 11th … He was indicted for a pretended libel on the president in a publication of the 2d of November which was an answer to a very virulent attack made upon him by Fenno …1933 Tom Cooper’s trial begins on the 19th.
Today, the federal sedition trial of Charles Holt, publisher of the New London, Connecticut, Bee, begins at the Circuit Court in New Haven. His crime: describing John Adams’ new army as a “standing” rather than a “provisional” army. George Washington’s nephew, Judge Bushrod Washington, upholds the Sedition Act and demonstrates to the jury that Holt’s publication is, in the words of an observer, “libellous beyond even the possibility of a doubt.”1934
MONDAY, APRIL 14, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Much pains are taken in the federal papers, openly and covertly with the curious and malicious view of prepossessing the public mind against the proposed “History of General Washington by Mr. Scott.” The only objection to this work, as gathered from the railings of these candid men, is that the author is a republican.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
The condition of Church and State in America is such as to fill every considerate mind with the most unhappy sensations. In spite of that vanity and fastidiousness which led the Federal Convention, in founding their government, to preclude any connection … a strict and indissoluble alliance of religion to government has been ordained in the nature of things. Though formally sundered by Constitution and Laws; together they decline and together (it would seem) they are likely to perish … But here, Sir, Jacobinism is triumphant, and unless a different temper shall soon shew itself, it will soon trample underfoot all order, law, property, as it has done religion …
TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
[T]he important trial of John Fries for treason is now commencing …
[U.S.] CIRCUIT COURT
The Grand Jury returned yesterday morning the following bills [of indictment] as TRUE …
Thomas Cooper, of Northumberl. co. libel
William Duane, d[itt]o …
William Duane, Misdemeanor
in opening and publishing letters of a foreign minister
Though John Adams will have some difficulty in serving me with the papers (I am still in hiding from the Senate), he has ordered Timothy Pickering to reindict me under the Sedition Act (eliminating the “British influence” count which threatened to embarrass him at Norristown last October!).1935 He also has had me indicted for opening (and revealing) the dispatches of British Minister Robert Liston.
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
In the cause of liberty and the general promotion of republican sentiment … it is … in the power of every citizen to contribute … and he who does not do it, has abandoned duty …
Today, I write Jimmy Callender at the Richmond Examiner:
You will be surprised to learn that an indictment has been found against me for publishing the celebrated letters of [British Ambassador] Liston found on Sweezey … I am told they have withdrawn the indictment found against me at Norris Town last fall, predicated on an assertion concerning British influence as declared by Mr. Adams. It seems they found I had the actual letter of Mr. Adams in my possession.
Mr. Cooper, late of Manchester (you know him personally & well), is to be tried for sedition on Saturday. He pleads his own cause. He applied for a subpoena for the president yesterday. The court refused … so that we have ONE MAN above the law …
I have not been out of town, have lived in my own house, and have been several times on parade with the Legion. I keep retired only because there is no magistrate to be found who has … virtue or courage to act upon the habeas corpus right. If there was, I should take care to be arrested immediately. In the present
circumstances, my only course is to defeat their malice and give a good example to others.1936
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
REPUBLICAN GREENS. ATTENTION.
ATTEND a meeting of the corp, TOMORROW, (Saturday 19th inst.) at your usual parade …JOHN RONEY, Lieutenant
I can’t captain my militia corps while I am hiding. Tonight, the Gazette of the United States poetically suggests I am at George Logan’s:
From the Senate D—–[uan]e flying,
As advised by Mr. D—–[alias];
Out at St[e]nt[o]n snugly lying,
Bids defiance to the gallows.
There with L—–[ogan], hatching treason,
Sowing seed on his plantation,
Brooding o’er Paine’s Age of Reason,
D—–[uan]e seeks for consolation.
Owl-like skulking, during day-light,
In a dark and gloomy garret,
Where with L—–[ogan], does he rail at,
Bingham’s caucus, like a parrot …
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
NEW HAVEN [Conn.] April 15. The Circuit Court of the United States commenced its session in this town yesterday. Mr. Holt, Editor of the (New London) Bee, we understand, is to receive his trial on Thursday.
Today, Thomas Jefferson writes Edmund Pendleton:
Duane’s and Cooper’s trials come on to-day. Such a selection of jurors has been made by the [Federalist] marshal as insures the event. The same may be said as to Fries &c … We have not yet heard the fate of Holt, editor of the Bee in Connecticut. A printer in Vermont is prosecuted for reprinting Mr. McHenry’s letter to Gen. Darke …1937
Today, at the U.S. Circuit Court in Philadelphia, Thomas Cooper goes on trial for seditious libel of the President of the United States.1938 U.S. District Court Judge Richard Peters and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase preside. The Adams administration attend in force! Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, Secretary of War James McHenry, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert, John Adams’ private secretary (William Shaw), and Senators Uriah Tracy (Federalist, Connecticut) and Jacob Read (Federalist, South Carolina) of the Senate Committee on Privileges all attend. Tom Cooper acts as his own lawyer, though assisted by Alexander James Dallas who represented Benny and, with Tom Cooper, helped me in my appearance before the Senate. From the trial record:
Mr. COOPER then addressed the jury as follows: …
Directly or indirectly, the public if not the private character of the President of the United States is involved in the present trial. Who nominates the judges who are to preside? the juries who are to judge of the evidence? the marshal who has the summoning of the jury? The President …
Gentlemen of the Jury, I acknowledge, as freely as any of you can, the necessity of a certain degree of confidence in the executive government of the country. But this confidence ought not to be unlimited …
But in the present state of affairs, the press is open to those who will praise, while the threats of the law hang over those who blame the conduct of the men in power …
Judge CHASE then charged the jury as follows: Gentlemen of the jury— …
It appears from the evidence that the traverser went to the house of a justice of the peace with this [seditious] paper … It was indecent to deliver such a paper to the justice of the peace … This conduct showed that he intended to dare and defy the government and to provoke them …
You will find the traverser speaking of the President in the following words: “Even those who doubted his capacity, thought well of his intentions.” This the traverser might suppose would be considered as a compliment … but I have no doubt that it was meant to carry a sting … [I]t was in substance saying of the President, “you may have good intentions, but I doubt your capacity.” …
The traverser states that, under the auspices of the President, “our credit is so low, that we are obliged to borrow money at eight per cent in time of peace.” I cannot suppress my feelings at this gross attack upon the President …
Taking this publication in all its parts, it is the boldest attempt I have known to poison the minds of the people …
This publication is evidently intended to mislead the ignorant and inflame their minds against the President and to influence their votes in the next election …
After the jury had returned with a verdict of Guilty:—
Judge CHASE. Mr. Cooper, as the jury have found you guilty … you will attend the court some time the latter end of the week—(the court appointed Wednesday).1939
MONDAY, APRIL 21, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The People of North Carolina have commenced the choice of their Electors of President and Vice President of the United States. The republican ticket, it is said, will succeed.
Today, in the United States House of Representatives, the Annals of Congress report:
ELECTION OF PRESIDENT, &c.
Mr. HARPER [Federalist, South Carolina] moved that the Committee of the Whole should be discharged from further consideration of the bill from the Senate, respecting the election of President and Vice President … He thought some essential alterations were wanting, which could not be incorporated in the present bill in the House; he particularly referred to the powers of the Committee …
The motion was carried—yeas 54 …1940
The House of Representatives can’t accept the Ross Bill as it came down from the Senate. The bright light of the Aurora won’t allow that to happen.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
THE seat of Government being about to be transferred to the City of Washington [by June 15th] …, the Subscriber … offers for sale his Printing Establishment in Philadelphia, with all the stock of materials, &c. including the right and title to the GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STATES …
I need not say how much I should prefer to devolve the paper upon any other character than a Jacobin … It is not without a degree of regret that I resolve to cease my labors …J. W. FENNO
TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Poor Fenno is really selling off! … The actual state of Fenno’s Gazette for two years past is really a curious political subject to discuss—we can approach it upon grounds that few can conceive. The Aurora, during the first seven years of its existence, had double the circulation of Fenno’s gazette and, taken altogether, was conducted at an expence about 25 per cent less than Fenno’s paper—Benjamin Franklin Bache actually sunk fourteen thousand seven hundred dollars of his private fortune in supporting his paper.—The question thence arises … how many dollars must have been sunk in a paper of half its circulation in ten years? … [W]ho can tell whence the funds proceeded, for Fenno had no more private fortune than principle … [D]id it come out of the contingencies of our treasury or the secret service money of Great Britain ?
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
In the year 1774, when the infamous David Williams of Deistical memory resided at Chelsea in the vicinity of London, Dr. Franklin, with whom he was intimate, took refuge in his house … Here the Philosopher of Pennsylvania concocted with his pious friend the plan of a deistical and philosophical lecture … a school of vice and irreligion …
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
[A] faction devoted to a foreign king and a monarchical system exists within our country …
Today, U.S. Senator Stevens Thomson Mason of Virginia writes James Madison:
The most vigorous and undisguised efforts are making to crush the republican presses and stifle enquiry as it may respect the ensuing election of P[resident] & V[ice] P[residen]t. Holt the Editor of the Bee at New London in Con[necticu]t is condemned to imprisonment for 3 months & a fine of $200. [A] Printer in N York has been fined & imprisoned I know not for what. Hazewell a printer in Vermont is indicted & will no doubt be convi
cted for reprinting from another paper a copy of McHenry’s letter to Genl Darke, which letter was actually published by [Secretary at War] McHenry himself in Fenno’s paper.
Thos. Cooper of Northumberland was tried and convicted on last Saturday for a libel on the Pres[i]d[en]t. A more oppressive and disgusting proceeding I never saw. Chase in his charge to the jury (in a speech of an hour) shewed all the zeal of a well fee’d Lawyer … Cooper is to receive his sentence this day …1941
Today, at the U.S. Circuit Court sitting in Philadelphia, Judge Samuel Chase addresses Thomas Cooper. From the record:
Judge CHASE. Mr. Cooper, have you anything to offer to the court previous to passing sentence?
Mr. COOPER … I have been accustomed to make sacrifices to opinion, and I can make this. As to circumstances in extenuation, not being conscious that I have set down aught in malice, I have nothing to extenuate …
Judge CHASE … Mr. Cooper, you may attend here again.
Tomorrow is set for sentencing.1942
Today, John Adams proposes to his cabinet that the government start its own newspaper:
The President of the United States proposes to the heads of department a subject … of great importance to the honor, dignity and consistency of the government.
In every service of Europe, I believe, there is a gazette in the service of the government, and a printer acknowledged and avowed by it—in every regular government at least. The Gazette of France before the Revolution answered the same purpose with the London Gazette in England … This Gazette is said by lawyers and judges to be prima facie evidence in courts of justice in matters of state and of public acts of the government … It is a high misdemeanor to publish any thing as from royal authority which is not so … Addresses of the subjects, in bodies or otherwise, to the King and his answers, are considered as matters of State when published in the Gazette …1943