American Aurora
Page 12
Extract of a letter … I find most good men look on the President’s Proclamation for Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer throughout the States as one of those apparently humble, hypocritical and delusive methods Tyrants have universally began the foundation for oppressing the people with …
The federalists … are giving daily proof of their love of order, decency, unanimity, &c. &c. In the Gazette of the United States, a paper patronized by Mr. Adams, Mr. Jefferson is spoken of as a man “infamous for his foreign correspondence.” Is this a stile suited to the second officer in the government …? Is this a language suited to this moment when the calls are so loud for union?
The Federalist mob is calling Young Men into their private army. They are vociferating at the theatre. Poor Richard feared the mob:
A Mob’s a Monster; Heads enough, but no brains.283
The President’s wife, Abigail, endorses the call for presidential music. Today, she fumes,
Bache has the malice & falshood of Satin … But the wretched will provoke to measures which will silence them e’er long. An abused and insulted publick cannot tollerate them much longer. In short they are so criminal that they ought to be Presented by the grand jurors.284
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
Bache’s observations on the call for the President’s March at the theatre is perfectly consistent with himself. Any expression indicative of attachment to the federal government is certain of his disapprobation & always serves to excite the corrosion that is destroying his malignant heart, where envy, baseness, and every passion which render a mortal detestable to those who have the slightest attachment to truth and virtue, have fixed their abode. Continue, base lying wretch; you cannot offer the public a more efficacious antidote to the poison you have disseminated than by publishing your remarks on the government and its friends.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
THE UNGUARDED CONFESSION.
Bache a few days past affected entire ignorance of the “high officer” alluded to in Mr. Fenno’s paper as “infamous for his foreign correspondence.” And this morning, by sudden illumination, he asserts and takes it for granted that Jefferson is the man.—Pray did Mr. Fenno tell him so, or has Mr. Jefferson been complaining to him of the blow? In either case, the application of the charge rests not with Mr. Fenno. Bache himself is the author of the slander (if such he deems it) against his beloved Vice President.
Tonight, Federalists are at Jim Cameron’s Tavern in Southwark for a dinner arranged by naval contractor Joshua Humphreys (whose son, Clement, assaulted Benny Bache last April), by Peter Miercken (who will someday assault me), and by Philadelphia Federalist leader and attorney Joseph Thomas,285 who reports, “the glow of enthusiasm … caught from man to man, and gave to the ears of Southwark a sound to which she had been too long unaccustomed!”286 The Gazette of the United States reports:
[N]ear a hundred staunch Federalists assembled at James Cameron’s tavern, Shippen-street, in the district of Southwark, to partake of an elegant dinner … For the convenience of accommodating so large a group, the tables were laid out in the Ball Alley, sheltered from the weather by two large sails extending from end to end. Over the head of the President waved … the banner of Freedom, the Eagle of the United States … During the intervals of the following toasts, several songs composed for the occasion were sung. The incessant huzzas gave … hearty acclamations of genuine Patriotism:
TOASTS.
1. The Constitution of the United States … 9 cheers … 2. The President of the United States … 9 cheers … 3. George Washington … 9 cheers … 5. The American people—May they banish … those who have shown a disposition to degrade their country—9 cheers … 9. Death to Jacobin principles throughout the world … 9 cheers. 10. May France soon learn … that we are not a divided people in the cause of our country … 9 cheers … 14. May the wretches among us on whom France calculates for our destruction be speedily detected and punished … 9 cheers … 19. May all men detest the wretch who would justify foreign depravity at the expense of his own country … 9 cheers …
VOLUNTEERS.
By … William Clifton, jun. Joseph Thomas … without whose patriotic exertions … the pleasures of this meeting would never have been enjoyed—9 cheers
After the President withdrew
Joshua Humphries [Federalist navy contractor]—9 cheers.287
At this dinner, Federalists sing some new words to an old tune, “The Sages of Old.” Its second verse includes:
Benny Bache and his crew
To the Devil we’ll throw …
Then Rebellion will cease
And the world be at peace
No longer we’ll fear the “dread nation.”288
From such songs and such dinners bad things can come, but, as Poor Richard said,
Tis easy to see, hard to foresee.289
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
If the sincerity of Mr. Adams to restore harmony among the two Republics had been equal to his professions, it would not have displayed itself in bustle and heat … Instead of listening to the voice of reason or the suggestions of sound policy, he girded on his sword, mounted his mighty [black] cockade, and stalked the hero. In pronouncing his war speech, rage almost choked his utterance, and if the combustibility of the people had been equal to his own, all America would have been in a flame.
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
A public dinner was given at Baltimore on the 19th inst. “in honour of JOHN ADAMS, our worthy President.”
—Now, BACHE, what will you say to this?
Much has been said by BACHE, the printer, and other hirelings of France to deceive the people of this country with respect to the late infamous decree by which the French plunderers are authorized to seize and condemn the property of this country.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
Mr. Bache has issued a threat at the managers of the Theatre, stating that their … national music may occasion the jacobins to withdraw … [T]he enemies of the country should be driven out of all respectable places and associations, and it is also a fact that the creditors of these reprobates are frequently in want of the money thus expended.
TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
It is rather hard upon the people that they should be driven into a war and be loaded with an expense … in support of Mr. Adams’s speech [against France on May 16th of last year]. The true ground of the non reception of our envoys was the speech …
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
In the Aurora of [Saturday], of which in the absence of Bache it is presumed [Callender] is the sole editor, he … says, “most good men look on the President’s late Proclamation for fasting humiliation, and prayer, as one of those … methods tyrants have began the foundation for oppressing the people with.” … Do not the times approach when it must and ought to be dangerous for this wretch, or any other, thus to vilify our country and government …?
PATRIOTIC SONG
We understand the Public will be gratified at Mr. Fox’s Benefit with a Patriotic Song—A NATIVE AMERICAN, and glowing with the true love of our own country. It is hoped this first attempt to introduce a National Song will be encouraged.
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
Now is the time … to set a mark upon the enemies of their country … He, therefore, who still perseveres in his attachment to [the French] and in his justification of their abominable measures ought to be branded as a hired villain or a natural seeker of pillage and blood. Let, therefore, a mark be set upon the miscreant; let all men stand aloof from him; let him be banished from the converse of honesty and virtue; let him associate with BACHE, the Printer, and his patricide crew, and with them let him sink through the vault of poverty into oblivion with the curse of the country on his head.
It is not often I interest myself in the success of T
heatrical Representations; but, I cannot help bestowing a word or two in approbation of what is advertised for tomorrow night. Mr. Fox has, with singular propriety, admitted a SONG, written by a gentleman of Philadelphia, adapted to the PRESIDENT’S MARCH, which has long been the national and is now the popular tune. Long, much too long, have the lovers of the drama been shocked and insulted with the sacrilegious hymns of atheism and murder [like “The Marseillaise”] …
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
NEW THEATRE
—Mr. Fox’s Night.—
THIS EVENING, April 25,
(BY DESIRE)
Will be presented (for the second time in America) a Play interspersed with songs, in 3 acts called
THE ITALIAN MONK.
Today, handbills for the New Theatre announce that, at the conclusion of this evening’s performance, Gilbert Fox will sing a new patriotic song, “Hail Columbia,” which young Philadelphian lawyer Joseph Hopkinson (son of John Adams’ friend Francis Hopkinson) has written to the tune of the traditional “President’s March.”290
War measures … Today, in the U.S. Senate, the Annals report:
A motion was made by Mr. HILLHOUSE [Federalist, Connecticut].
That a committee be appointed to consider … removing from the territory of the United States such aliens … as may be dangerous to its peace and safety …291
War measures … Today, in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Annals of Congress report:
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
Mr. HARPER [Federalist, South Carolina]: called for the order of the day on the bill for establishing an Executive Department, to be denominated The Department of the Navy …
Mr. GALLATIN [Republican, Pennsylvania]: He did not think it necessary to establish a Navy Department … He called for the yeas and nays upon the question … The yeas and nays were taken upon this bill … and decided in the affirmative—yeas 47, nays 41 …292
Many Republicans have abandoned the effort to stop John Adams’ war measures. Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
ALARMING DESERTION.
“[S]trange to tell, never has there been such a general and early desertion from Congress as at this time—Upon a call of yeas and nays a few days since in the House of Representatives, it appeared that one fourth of the whole house was absent—They are daily dropping off.”
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
Sure ne’er was paper better call’d
Than the Aurora is,
The sun hast ris’n half enthral’d
Twixt light and darkness ’tis.
Now six years since it began
To light the fed’ral morn,
Yet not advanced a single span
From where it first was born.
’Midst democratic fogs and clouds
Its course it first begun;
In scandal’s drab its face it shrouds
And sets a rising sun!
Tonight, the President’s Lady, Abigail Adams, attends Philadelphia’s New Theatre to hear the new patriotic song “Hail Columbia.” An Aurora reporter also attends.293 Moreau de St. Méry describes the theatre:
The interior is pretty, and three tiers of boxes are pleasingly arranged in a semi-ellipse … The seats in the pit descend … from the bottom tier of boxes to the orchestra …
The hall is painted gray with gilded scrolls and carvings. The upper tier of boxes has small gilded balustrades which are quite elegant … separated in the front by small columns [and] … papered with red paper in extremely bad taste. The theater is lighted by small four-branched chandeliers placed on every second box … They are supported by gilded iron S’s …
The orchestra holds thirty musicians in two rows facing each other. The front of the stage is huge. Its wings represent portions of facades of beautiful houses … The stage, which is large, is lighted by oil lamps, as in France. These can be changed from high to low for night scenes and those that require dimness. The wings have illumination lamps …
Women go in the pit like men; but these are not women of any social standing. The upper gallery admits women and colored people who can’t sit anywhere else …
The performance is boisterous, and the interludes are even indecent. It is not unusual to hear such words as Goddamn, Bastard, Rascal, Son of a Bitch. Women turn their backs to the performance during the interludes …
People eat and drink in the pit. The refreshments, of which there is a store in a pretty little shop in the lobby … cost fifty per cent more than in the city which is the natural result of the rental cost of the shop.294
The President’s Lady describes her evening:
I had a Great curiosity to see for myself the Effect. I got Mr. Otis to take a Box … 7 meant now to be perfectly in cogg [incognito], so [I] did not sit in what is calld the President’s Box. After the principle peice was perfor[m]ed, Mr. Fox came upon the stage to sing the song. He was welcomed by applause. The House was very full, and, at every Choruss, the most unbounded applause ensued. In short it was enough to stund one. They had the song repeated—After this, Rossina was acted. When Fox came upon the stage, after the Curtain dropt, to announce the peice for fryday, they calld again for the song and made him repeat it to the fourth time. And the last time, the whole Audience broke forth in the Chorus whilst the thunder from their Hands was incessant, and, at the close, they rose, gave three Huzzas that you might have heard a mile—My Head aches in consequence of it.295
The last of four verses and the refrain:
Behold, THE CHIEF WHO NOW COMMANDS,
Once more to serve his country, stands
The Rock on which the storm will beat,
The Rock on which the storm will beat,
But arm’d in virtue, firm and true,
His hopes are fix’d on Heav’n and YOU.
When Hope was sinking in dismay,
When glooms obscur’d Columbia’s day
His steady mind, from changes free,
Resolv’d on Death or Liberty,
[and chorus] Firm—united—let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of Brothers join’d,
Peace and safety we shall find.297
“Hail Columbia” (1798)296
2
Immortal Patriots, rise once more,
Defend your rights, defend your shore,
Let no rude foe with Impious hand,
Let no rude foe with Impious hand,
Invade the shrine where sacred lies,
Of toil and blood the well earn’d prize,
While offering Peace sincere and just,
In Heav’n we place a manly trust,
That truth and Justice may prevail,
And ev’ry scheme of bondage fail,
Firm, united, &c.
3
Sound. Sound, the trump of fame,
Let Washington’s Great Name,
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Let ev’ry clime to freedom dear,
Listen with a Joyful ear,
With equal skill, with god-like pow’r,
He governs in the fearful hour,
Of horrid war, or guides with ease,
The happier time of honest peace,
Firm, united, &c.
4
Behold, the Chief who now Commands,
Once more to serve his Country, stands,
The Rock on which the storm will beat,
The Rock on which the storm will beat,
But arm’d in virtue, firm and true,
His hopes are fix’d on Heav’n and You,
When Hope was sinking in dismay,
When glooms obscur’d Columbia’s day,
His steady mind, from changes free,
Resolv’d on Death or LIBERTY,
Firm, united, &c.
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1798
GENERAL * AURO
RA * ADVERTISER
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
SIR … You had an active part in bringing about that glorious revolution that made us an independent nation.—But … your ideas of government and policy have become warped … You left this country [to get French help during the American Revolution], Sir, with the warm affections of the people of America & with violent prejudices in your favor. The first public act which induced them to doubt the sincerity of your principles was your book, entitled “A[D]efence of the [C]onstitutions of America.” In this book, an aristocratical form of government … you boldly avow … is the only one conducive to the happiness of the people … [Y]ou may remember … [t]he universal acclamation … that you were an enemy of equal rights, and sorry am I to acknowledge that your subsequent conduct has evinced the truth of this assertion …
VALERIUS
Today, President Adams answers the address from the Philadelphia Federalists who met at Dunwoody’s Tavern on April 12th:
To the Citizens of Philadelphia, The District of Southwark, and the Northern Liberties.
GENTLEMEN, [Y]our implicit approbation of the general system and the particular measures of the government; your generous feelings of resentment at the Wrongs and Offences committed against it and at the menaces of others still more intolerable … do you great honour as patriots and citizens …
JOHN ADAMS298
As John Adams answers laudatory addresses from various parts of the country, he might remember Poor Richard’s warning,