American Aurora
Page 114
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
A Virginia paper says that some WHITE PEOPLE have been concerned in the late Negro insurrection … What say the United Irishmen ? Do they know any who were concerned? … We are fond of asking questions, Duane.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Attempts were lately made to impress the public mind with a belief that the republicans of the United States had instigated the late conspiracy of the negroes in the neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia … The reports … [are] wholly false.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
DUANE, Dare you name the villain who called Washington a MURDERER? We are fond of asking questions, Jasper.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
QUESTIONING!
There are some questions that answer themselves … Who was the villain that called Jefferson an Atheist? Who was the knave that said Alexander Hamilton was not an adulterer? Who was it that said John Adams was not a monarchist? … Who pays the expence of printing the Gazette of the United States? …
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
Tommy Cooper … would make a much more capable Editor, we think, than Duane, having the advantage of being in jail already, for which the latter is only a pretty and fair candidate.—No punishment can reach Cooper at present; Duane is still at large and has less leisure by far than the former.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
MATTER OF FACT
The following letter was received by the Editor … “What will the Federalists now say of Mr. Adams’ republicanism? What will they say of Alexander Hamilton’s federalism?”—O ! Shame !
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1800.
SIR, … I affirm that Alexander Hamilton, esq. did declare to me, at a meeting on official business, that he was a monarchist: that I stated the fact in 1795, from a sense of duty, to Timothy Pickering, esq., then Secretary of State and War … in the presidency of General Washington, and that Mr. Hamilton was afterwards appointed, in effect, commander of the army by Mr. Adams and the senate … I assert also that an examination of Doctor Benjamin Rush … will prove Mr. Adams to be a monarchist. I assert also that an examination of col. John Taylor, of Caroline, in Virginia, and of col. John Langdon, [U.S. senator] of New Hampshire, will prove that Mr. Adams made, in their hearing before 1797, the declaration that he expected or hoped to see the time … that the people of the United States would not be happy without an hereditary chief magistrate and a senate that should be hereditary or for life …
[Former U.S. Commissioner of Revenue] TENCH COXE.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
THE GRAND QUESTION STATED
At the present solemn and momentous epoch, the only question to be asked by every American, laying his hand on his heart, is “shall I continue in allegiance to
GOD—AND A RELIGIOUS PRESIDENT;
Or impiously declare for
JEFFERSON—AND NO GOD!!!”
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
JOHN ADAMS’s POLITICAL OPINIONS …
No. 3—“I believe, however, that the difference of aristocrat and democrat, however odious and pernicious it may be rendered by political artifice at particular conjectures, will never be done away, as long as some men are taller and others shorter, some wiser and others sillier, some more virtuous and others more vicious, some richer and others poorer. The distinction is grounded on unalterable nature, and human wisdom can do no more than reconcile the parties … securing as far as possible to every one his own. The distinction was intended by nature, for the order of society and the benefit of mankind …”
Fellow-Citizens, … Mr. [Thomas] Paine’s assertion is that he has the authority of one or two persons for saying that Mr. Adams had declared that the presidency should be made hereditary. It is true that the manner in which Mr. Paine has stated this matter is such as not to give all possible effect to the assertion … Such assertions as those concerning Mr. Adams have been in circulation for some years … The very serious report of what was said to two senators has occasioned an alarm which can never be allayed or suppressed without the obvious and natural satisfaction which so very important a matter requires * …
A CONSTITUTIONALIST
* It has been asserted upon information from two senators of the United States that Mr. Adams, when Vice President, declared to them in the Senate Chamber that “he expected or hoped to see the time when a conviction would exist that the people of the United States cannot be happy without an hereditary Chief Magistrate and a Senate hereditary for life.”
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
SCENE, “The AURORA OFFICE.” …
In one corner appears a face, with Spectacles, on which there is a perpetual and ghastly smile … Duane, sitting in a melancholy attitude by a table, on which lie Paine’s Age of Reason, Volney’s Ruins … and the accomplished letter writer [Jefferson]. His right hand rests on the table; his left hand grasps a will by which he was nominated the successor and appointed to perform the business of B.[enjamin] F.[ranklin] B.[ache]. On one side appears a door which opens into an entry. This entry leads to a parlour where the object of his adoration is at work. Duane throws his head back, strikes it violently with his left hand, and, in plaintive tone, sings!
Whene’re with love-struck eyes I view,
This room where Treason first drew breath,
I think of thee, my widow true,
And him who left thee late for Plu-
to’s dark and dreary shades of death,
to’s dark and dreary shades of death …
(Looks at the Wall.)
I’ll bore a hole, like that one thro’
Which Pyramus felt Thisbe’s breath,
Thro’ this, sweet Widow, I to you
Will sigh and sing, “Ah! love me do,
’Ere deep-despair sends me to Plu-
to’s dark and dreary shades of death,
to’s dark [and dreary shades of death.]
If you will listen to me thro’
This Hole, I’ll waste my Irish breath,
In telling how I’ll be true,
How pleas’d thy Benny’s trade pursue,
Till time shall send me down to Plu-
to’s dark and dreary shades of death,
to’s dark [and dreary shades of death.]
Rises from the table and beckons to the figure with Spectacles who brings him a bottle, &c.
From the Boston Commercial Gazette. IT seems to be the lot of our Independence that the French never will let us alone to exercise and enjoy it. They tampered with old Doctor Franklin and coaxed him and wheedled him till they got him willing to accept a scrap of it for the country—a little dirty scrap, for the terms would have been such as to keep us poor and dependent on France … The true patriots Jay and Adams, whom neither flattery nor gold could buy, spurned at the idea and insisted on independence absolute and unlimited … Let the people mark the men who are tools to her, let none such be Elected.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Thursday last, completing the period of confinement adjudged by [Judge Samuel] CHASE under the sentence of a packed jury, on the estimable and intelligent THOMAS COOPER of Northumberland, he was received by the republicans of Philadelphia in a manner suitable to the dignity and constancy of his character …
Tom Cooper has completed his prison sentence for criticizing the President of the United States. His release, however, is hardly a joyous occasion. Alice Cooper—Tom’s wife of more than twenty years and the mother of his five children—died a week ago, just days before Tom left prison.2018
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1800
War … Late today, in the Atlantic, the U.S. Navy’s twenty-eight-gun, two-hundre
d-man ship Boston attacks the twenty-four-gun, 230-man ship-of-war Le Berceau of the French Republic. U.S. Navy Captain George Little reports:
At Meridian the Chase bore S. West distance about 3 Leagues. At 4 P.M. the ship was Clear for Action. At 1/2 past 4 P.M. hoisted our Collers and gave the chace a shot from the bow Gun. She hoisted french collers and Fired a Gun to Windward and began to Shorten Sail for Action …
[T]his ship proved to be the French National Ship Le Berceau. Mounting 24 Guns on one Deck, 22 long French Nines and 2 twelve pounders, and 230 Men Commanded by Louis Andre Senes …
With regret I mention our loss on board the Boston—4 killed in the action, 3 mortally wounded, since dead … Eight were wounded, but are on the recovery … [T]he captain of le Berceau fought his ship gallantly, so long as she was in a situation capable of being defended. Soon after he had struck, his fore and main masts went over the side, and his ship was otherwise in a very shattered condition …2019
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
REPUBLICAN NOTIFICATIONS …
Information on the business of the election will be received and forwarded if left at the Aurora Office, Franklin court—the Editor’s house, No. 17 Filbert-street, [&c.]
JOHN ADAMS’s POLITICAL OPINIONS …
“If there are any who still plead the cause of France and attempt to paralyze the efforts of your government, I agree with you, they ought to be esteemed our greatest enemies.”Folsome 239.
“Whatever pretexts the French people … had for their efforts in the annihilation of the monarchy, we certainly, far from being under any obligation had no right or excuse to interfere for their assistance … The French revolution has ever been incomprehensible to me …”
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
The American who recollects the important services, as well as the eminent public and private virtues of George Washington [will remember that] … wretches, with the cruelty of United Irishmen and the audacity of foreign miscreants, attempted to brand our American hero with the epithet MONOCRAT, MURDERER, and TRAITOR; and from the press of the Aurora in 1797, they declare that “Mr. Washington has at length become TREACHEROUS even to his own fame.” …
And now all you who prefer the present settled order of things to Mr. Jefferson’s “political convulsions” and “tempestuous sea of liberty,” ATTEND to the following extract from the Aurora press, for this declares the designs of the faction, and you may profit by it on the election ground.
EXTRACT
“To prevent any other man from availing himself of a like dangerous ascendancy, as Mr. Washington, to do mischief, it is necessary to revise the federal and state constitutions without delay … The same experience which tells us that America ought not to place confidence in individuals tells us nevertheless that she is too prone to do it … If evil once in fifty years results from having an exclusive President in a country, it is sufficient reason for changing the present institution of a solitary President [to] … a plural Directory, gradually renewed. The person at present chosen as Vice President would, in this case, no longer, as now, be an inert personage. The executive government would no longer exhibit the fluctuating character of an individual but approach nearer to the fixed abstract of the American nation. The French Directory, consisting of five persons, of which one is yearly replaced, has exhibited vigor, secrecy and celerity …”
TO THE PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA …
At the ensuing election of a President and Vice President, the … importance of the vote of Pennsylvania in deciding this momentous question is known and acknowledged by both parties …
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
ATTENTION
CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA TAKE YOUR CHOICE
FEDERAL REPUBLICAN
THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE
THERE is no part of our Constitution more sacred than that which secures to the people the right of suffrage. This is the essential principle and characteristic of republican government; the means by which the general will prevails and the people are truly said to govern themselves … In the election of President, the people exercise the highest act of sovereignty … What think you then of a law to subject the election of president, without appeal, to the decision of 13 men; sitting with closed doors; the votes of all the electors before them; with affidavits tending to invalidate them taken perhaps ex parte from ANYBODY …?
Fellow Citizens, NOW OR NEVER …
A WATCHMAN.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
FEDERALISTS TO YOUR POSTS.
Your enemies are this moment on the Election Ground …
DELAY NO LONGER.
If you have not voted, go instantly …
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
A federal writer in the N.C. Raleigh Register … says, speaking of the Sedition Law, “not one native American has been prosecuted under it.” … [T]his statement was untrue, as besides Bache, Greenleaf, Durell, Peck, Frothingham, Durell, Haswell, Spooner and Holt, some other names of native Americans might be added who have been prosecuted under this act; and out of the nine mentioned, only two (Peck and Spooner) have had the actions against them entirely withdrawn;—Bache and Greenleaf escaped by death—Duane is yet holden for trial; Durell was pardoned by the President after a short imprisonment; and Haswell, Frothingham & Holt suffered the full terms of confinement …
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
[T]he Monster still lives who called Washington—a MURDERER!!!!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Another Republican Newspaper has been published in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, under the title of The Sun …
Today, from Maryland, former Maryland Congressman Gabriel Duvall writes James Madison:
The result of our elections … has exceeded our most sanguine expectations … The consequence will be that Mr. Jefferson will get five, perhaps six [electoral] votes in Maryland … A good deal of the opposition which has been made to the re-election of Mr. Adams has proceeded from a belief in many that he is a Monarchist …2020
Today, at the U.S. Circuit Court sitting in Philadelphia (it has not adjourned to Norristown as it did last fall), I am indicted under the Sedition Act, by instruction of President Adams, for libeling the Senate of the United States.2021
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT
This court is now sitting in Philadelphia, Judges PATERSON and PETERS preside. On Friday, a Bill was found by a Grand Jury against WILLIAM DUANE, Editor of this paper, for publishing certain matters alleged to be libelous against the Senate of the United States under the memo-rabie Sedition law. This is the same subject which occupied the attention of the Senate in April last … Mr. Dallas on the part of the defendant stated that … it was sufficiently known that an attempt was made under the name of privilege to decide upon the case in the Senate itself. The refusal of the defendant to submit … prevented any further steps being taken; and it was not until after nearly all the persons whose testimony would be necessary … had left the city that the charge was, by the recommendation of the President, known to have been referred to this tribunal. The evidence of several members of the senate and others were deemed essential …
JUDGE PATERSON. If the evidence in question is indispensable, then it may be proper to afford time … Let the cause be postponed.
War … Today, in the French West Indies, the United States Navy’s twenty-four-gun, 220-man ship Merrimack, Captain Moses Brown in command, captures the French Sloop Phoenix and takes it to St. Kitts.2022
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
From the STATE & FEDERAL CAROLINA GAZETTES … His [British influence] letter, it is understood, was written to Mr. Tench Coxe of
Philadelphia who, at the time of its date, possessed an office under the government … [It was] the famous Duane, Editor of the Aurora, to whom the letter was given (as Candour observes) for him “to publish his remarks upon it.” … Duane asserted in his paper that the American government has been influenced by British gold, and the attorney general, convinced that the charge was the opposite of truth, initiated a prosecution, and the letter was lodged with Mr. Dallas, the Lawyer, as a justification of Duane, who … was to have the use of it in case of need. The prosecution has been stopped, and with propriety, because although an honest jury would no doubt be of opinion that the assertion was untrue, yet they probably would acquit the defendant upon his exhibiting Mr. Adams’s letter as a ground, or a pretended ground, for that assertion …
ALEXANDER HAMILTON has been some time occupied in writing another Vindication of himself, contra JOHN ADAMS. It is already printed at New York … We expect soon to be able to exhibit this secret curiosity …
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
Congress are to hold their first session at the city of Washington on the third Monday in next month. The President is expected in town on his way thither this day or to-morrow.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The arrival of the Cartel ship Benjamin Franklin in 47 days from Bordeaux. By this vessel there are dispatches for the president of the United States … Generals La Fayette and Kosciusko were both at Paris and attended at a public entertainment on the 4th July, commemorative of American Independence. There were present the American Envoys, four of the former French ministers to this country [&c.]