American Aurora
Page 23
Today, John Adams writes the Students of Dickinson College:
If there are any who plead the cause of France and attempt to paralyse the efforts of your government, I agree with you they ought to be esteemed our greatest enemies.464
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
[T]he “wayward splinter of old Lightening Rod” … Bache … has been an admirer of French politics—the organ of sedition—and the calumniator of WASHINGTON; in fact, the Aurora has been the focus where all productions inimical to the peace, happiness, and above all, the Independence of America centered.
Bache informs his readers that he has at last received a packet with Talleyrand’s seal of office! This packet … contained, they say, two pamphlets … Thus the fact of a correspondence with the enemies of the United States is fully ascertained. It yet remains to satisfy the public how the letter of Talleyrand got to Bache’s hands …
What can be a more complete refutation of all the charges against the sincerity and integrity of our government by Talleyrand, Bache, and Co. than the admirable answer of our ministers?
TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Fenno senselessly asserts that our receiving two printed pamphlets is a proof of our being in correspondence with the enemies of our country … The fellow is a fool … He wants very much yet to know where we got Talleyrand’s letter. We are at liberty to tell but will not gratify his curiosity so far. He asserted that we received it from France; we have proved we did not: Now let him guess again.
John Fenno begs the questions—What can be a more effectual answer to the letter of Talleyrand, &c. than the reply of our commissioners? The question will be answered some time in the [presidential election] year 1800—by the People of the United States.
Today, the U.S. District of Pennsylvania’s federal marshal, William Nichols (whose son was among those who broke windows at the Aurora’s offices),465 enters the offices of the Philadelphia Aurora and, on behalf of the United States of America, arrests Benjamin Franklin Bache for the crime of sedition. He takes Benny to Philadelphia’s Federal District Court to answer an indictment for “libelling the President & the Executive Government in a manner tending to excite sedition and opposition to the laws, by sundry publications and republications.” John Adams hasn’t waited for a federal sedition law to pass. The government has based the indictment on Pennsylvania’s common criminal law of sedition, arguing that the U.S. Constitution has adopted Pennsylvania law as a “federal common law.” Benny’s lawyers believe no such “federal common law” exists, and Benny sees his primary defence as the First Amendment’s freedom of the press. Poor Richard believed,
Innocence is its own Defence.466
Judge Peters grants a delay until Friday and paroles Benny to the district marshal.467
This afternoon, in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
The notorious BACHE, it is said, is at this moment before the honourable Judge Peters.
This afternoon, in the Gazette of the United States:
The President with good intent,
Three Envoys sent to Paris,
But cinq Tetes would not with ’em treat,
Of honor France so bare is …
Chorus Yankee doodle (mind the tune)
Yankee doodle dandy,
If Frenchmen come with naked bum,
We’ll spank ’em hard and handy …
That Talleyrand might us trappan,
And o’er the country sound it;
He sent his pill, t’ Aurora’s mill,
And Benny Faction ground it.
Yankee doodle, &c …
Bold ADAMS did in seventy-six,
Our Independence sign, Sir:
And he will not, give up a jot,
Tho’ all the world combine, Sir.
Yankee doodle, &c…
[E]very native of the United States who now stands opposed to the government thereof must be either a fool or a knave … I believe it will be readily granted that Mr. Bache is bad enough … [N]o doubt he is of the greatest use to [French] leaders in disseminating their poison. He works the most noted engine for throwing filth and spreads it over the continent like a blasting mildew in the pestilential pages of the Aurora which has been prostituted to the vilest purposes … I have no doubt that he will hereafter be execrated by the French as heartily as ever any of our internal traitors were by the English in the American war. They both, more or less, encourage the treason and, alike, despise the traitor. Like all true Americans, I am,
An enemy to Traitors
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The Editor of the Aurora was yesterday arrested on a warrant from Judge Peters of the Federal Circuit Court on the charge of libelling the President & the Executive Government in a manner tending to excite sedition and opposition to the laws by sundry publications and republications. At the request of his counsel (who were not applied to till the very moment fixed for attendance at the Judge’s), the proceedings were postponed till Friday next, and the Marshall of the district held him upon his parole then to appear. So much may be stated, we presume with propriety, to satisfy the anxiety of the Public, and, for the same purpose, the Editor adds:
That the present prosecution cannot be supported in the Federal Court, according to the recent opinion of Judge CHASE against the opinion of Judge PETERS. He trusts, however, the ultimate decision will turn, not on the right of jurisdiction, but on THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.
We hope sincerely for the honor of our country and the safety of the Aurora that, if [Mr. Bache] is innocent, he may most cordially prove himself so … We cannot be persuaded to believe that … any native American, much less a descendant of the illustrious Franklin … that HIS grandson has turned assassin and conspirator and aimed the first dagger at our vitals.—But time, we trust, will ere long develop the truth …
Daily Adv.
(We thank the editor of the Daily Advertiser that he was not so far led away by party spirit to condemn the Editor of the Aurora …)
Benny will return to court in two days. Republicans are frightened. Jimmy Callender will soon be gone. Many Republican senators and congressmen have already left. Non-citizens are leaving. Today, Thomas Jefferson leaves for Virginia.468
This afternoon, in the Gazette of the United States:
To THOMAS JEFFERSON, Esq.
SIR, I have accidentally heard today that you are about to return to Virginia immediately; pray stay a little longer … leave not your country at this critical period when it is seeking the most effectual means of self-preservation. But if considerations of this kind will not persuade you to tarry a day or two, recollect that your friend Bache is just now prosecuted for some of his false and scandalous stories concerning the Government of the United States which he has published in the Aurora—the same newspaper which you have seditiously endeavored to circulate among your countrymen and for which you have condescended to solicit subscriptions—the same which your fellow laborers on the iniquitous work of alienating the affections and confidence of the people from the administration of their government have used for their engine … &c.—Let me entreat you not to leave the city at a time so interesting to your friend, who you know is also a friend of Monroe, the friend of Logan the implacable enemy to the measures of America, and the devoted friend of France. I beg, I pray, I beseech you not to forsake him, but stay and assist him with your best advice—A friend in need is a friend indeed.
PLINY.
This afternoon’s Porcupine’s Gazette chronicles other occasions when Thomas Jefferson avoided danger:
MUCH has been said of MR. JEFFERSON’S celebrity as a philosopher … [I]t comes to shew … the use he has made of his philosophy, or rather, the manner in which it has operated upon him.
In the latter part of 1776 [during the American Revolution], Mr. Jefferson was elected … to go to Europe in order to solicit foreign alliances; the ocean was at this time covere
d with the British cruisers … [H]e declined the office.
In 1781, while he was governor of Virginia, the state was invaded by the [British] enemy, and the post of honor became a post of considerable danger … [H]e abandoned it … [T]he state of Virginia suffered very materially by the confusion, loss, and distress which such a sudden resignation produced.
At the close of the American war [of Independence], he obtained the appointment of minister plenipotentiary [to France] … But as soon as the French Revolution began to break out, the times grew too turbulent for his repose, and he returned to America …
[In the Washington administration, S]ecretary of State [Jefferson] … was obliged to speak [on the question of helping France] …; the office became irksome, and Mr. Jefferson most philosophically retreated from it at a period of the greatest difficulty and danger …469
Fenno and Porcupine have their point! Mr. Jefferson is an intellectual, not a fighter. Scribblers like Benny and me must take the risks. The general fault which Mr. Jefferson’s friends impute to him is that he is a quiescent and indifferent spectator of public measures … [H]is own friends blame him for too much inactivity, and with justice too … [W]hether Mr. Jefferson thinks his situation as Vice President precludes him from an active concern in politics or that he thinks the evil will work its own cure, he is censured by his most steadfast friends for his coldness and reserve on political issues.470 Jefferson won’t even write a “Letter to the Editor.”471
Benny is frightened, but he’ll do what’s right. Today, he writes a childhood friend who wants to leave Switzerland and seek his fortune in America:
You are better where you are … At this moment, Frenchmen are leaving America in a crowd …
For my part, I have worked nearly eight years for what I believed was the good of my country, but I made no fortune. I have been exposed to political persecutions of every kind. I will triumph, I hope. Meantime, it’s a day of every difficulty. But I am determined to pay whatever the price of doing what I believe to be my duty as a printer who is a zealous friend to liberty.472
Poor Richard advised:
The nearest way to come at glory is to do that for conscience which we do for glory.473
Today, Benny’s French friend, Moreau de St. Méry, receives a letter from the French vice-consul in New York:
I am told your departure for France is at hand. I envy your lot … I had hoped to see you and say good-bye, but I must give that up. This disappointment is an added reason for me to damn all these busybodies, all these rascals, who are trying to throw this country into turmoil. All those who have no love for Robespierism [despotism] had better get out and get out quick!474
Today, Moreau de St. Méry writes in his diary:
People acted as though a French invasion force might land in America at any moment. Everybody was suspicious of everybody else: everywhere one saw murderous glances.475
Today, a Philadelphia doctor by the name of Currie records:
June 27th, cool, thermometer only 76°, at two P.M. Mark Miller died to-day under the care of Drs. Wistar and Hodge with symptoms of the yellow fever at Mrs. Reeves’s in Callowhill-street. He had been much fatigued and debilitated from loading a vessel at Almond-street wharf, a mile from his lodgings, in the heat of the day, to which he had walked daily for sometime.476
An independent report affirms:
Drs. Hodge and Wistars who attended him declared it to have been a true case of yellow fever: the black vomit, one of its most sure and violent characteristics, appeared previous to death.477
THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
A BILL …
Be it enacted … That the government and people of France … are declared to be enemies to the United States and the people thereof; and any person … giving them aid and comfort … shall suffer death …
And be it further enacted. That if any person shall, by writing, printing, publishing, or speaking, attempt to defame or weaken the government … or to defame the President of the United States … [he] shall be punished by fine … and imprisonment …
The foregoing bill was brought into the Senate by Mr. Lloyd [Federalist, Maryland] …
Under the late emanation of superlative wisdom making it high treason to aid, abet or comfort persons from France, will it be considered high treason to cure a Frenchman of the cholic?
The people may be gagged by alien and sedition bills; but at elections they will make their voice heard.
It is a curious fact, America is making war with France for not treating [negotiating] at the very moment the [French] minister for foreign affairs fixes … for opening negotiation with Mr. Gerry [the remaining American envoy in Paris].
“What” says a writer in the Daily Gazette, “are the heads of C.[allender] and B.[ache] …? [T]hey are far lighter (continues he) than smoke”—That is, in plain English, it would be as easy to assassinate them as for smoke to ascend! This tory, federalist … or terrorist (which are now become synonymous terms) is hereby informed that the heads of these respectable printers are of more worth, in the estimation of every honest man, than those of all the ministerial hirelings and tories on the continent.— Let this cowardly cutthroat or any other of the British faction touch a hair of their head, and the swift vengeance of the Republicans would fall like lightning on every pensioned [Federalist] printer in the United States—This should be another hint to the republicans to be armed against personal violence. A man must be blind indeed not to perceive that the leaders of the federalists meditate a blow against them …
It is highly interesting to see a nation, after invoking heaven in a solemn manner, a nation boasting of knowledge and religion, opening without any one visible motive a career of tyranny which blushes before high heaven and that must stink in the nose of all posterity!
[Adv.] SOUTHWARK LIGHT INFANTRY
CITIZENS of Philadelphia … are informed that the Committee of Election for the above Company meet every WEDNESDAY and SATURDAY evening, between 6 & 9 o’clock at No. 299, South Front-street, to receive applications from such as propose to become Members.
N. B. REPUBLICANS ONLY, are admitted.—–
Five advertisements for Republican militias appear in today’s Aurora. Benny carries a cane for personal protection.478 Republicans are in fear. So are their families.
Six months pregnant with her fourth child, Peggy Bache suffered mob attacks on her home in May, the arrest of her husband two days ago, and continuing threats of violence.479 Today, she writes her brother, Francis Markoe, on the family estate in St. Croix. Her brother will advise Peggy to abandon Benny Bache and come to St. Croix with the children!480
Whatever Peggy Bache does, Benny won’t leave Philadelphia. Perhaps he hears the whisper of his grandfather, Poor Richard,
Fear not Death; for the sooner we die,
the longer shall we be immortal.481
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
Bache is desirous of knowing whether it would be high treason to cure a Frenchmen of cholic. This is a very pertinent question; the [Republican] party being at present violently convulsed with the gripes.
FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The Constitution is ever in the mouth of the federalists … Mr. Lloyd introduced a bill into the Senate defining treason and sedition. The constitution declares that “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech nor of the press“—the same constitution declares that every member of the Senate shall take an oath or affirmation to support the constitution. Quere, was Mr. Lloyd exempted from this oath?
The period is now at hand when it will be a question difficult to determine, Whether there is more safety and liberty to be enjoyed at Constantinople or Philadelphia?
This morning, at ten o’clock, Benny Bache appears before Pennsylvania’s Federal District Court Judge Richard Peters. Benny’s lawyers are Moses Levy, a Republican lawyer of Jewish ancestry,482 and Alex
ander James Dallas, a Republican lawyer of Scottish ancestry who is Pennsylvania’s state secretary. Mr. William Rawle, the federal district attorney, appears for the federal government.
Judge Peters sets bail at the extraordinary sum of $2,000 and demands two sureties of $1,000 each to guarantee Benny’s appearance on October 11th (when Federal Circuit Court reconvenes).483 Benny’s bail is put up by Philadelphia tobacconist Thomas Leiper (Jimmy Callender’s good friend) and by Israel Israel, a Philadelphia tavernkeeper and stableowner, also of Jewish extraction.484 (Benny defended Israel Israel, in February, against lawyer Joseph Thomas and other Federalists who wrongfully denied him a seat in the Pennsylvania state senate.)485 Two other friends of Benny, Robert Smith, a hatter, and Colonel Barker, a tailor, also appear.486 Jimmy Callender:
If Bache had not been able to give surety, he must have remained in jail for probably six months before he was brought to trial. The interval is sufficient for bringing many people to ruin.487
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States, John Fenno ridicules Benny’s friends:
What a group! What a concatenation of characters! How … birds of a feather flock together! I question whether a farrago of such pure, genuine Jacobinical democratical spirits could be selected and collected, as was exemplified at the Judge’s—and are seen held up to public observation as the anti-federal Printer, the two Law-ware men, the Scottish Quarrier alias quarrelsome man, the Synagogue stabler, and would-be Senator, the warlike Taylor and the Don Quixote Hatter. Reader! bless thyself that thou art not like one of these men but one who believeth that justice and truth will always be an over match for treason and rebellion.