American Aurora
Page 30
Today, Pennsylvania Federal District Court Judge Richard Peters writes Secretary of State Timothy Pickering that Philadelphia still contains “some rascals … both Aliens and infamous Citizens” whom the law should pursue.602
Today, a tent city for the poor is ready along the Schuylkill River. One account:
After most of the citizens whose circumstances would permit had fled to the country, the poor began generally to suffer … The Board of Health, in conjunction with the Guardians of the Poor, concerted measures for the construction of temporary tents. They were soon afterwards erected on the banks of Schuylkill, between Spruce and Chestnut-streets. They were ready by the 24th of August where fugitives crowded … The tents were made of canvas and floored with boards. Here nineteen hundred and fifty persons were fed and some of them clothed … Guards were stationed with arms to preserve order and prevent any individuals from trespassing the rules. Schools for the instruction of children were instituted, at which 137 male and 143 female children attended …603
MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The system of terror that has been countenanced by our administration and its understrappers: the animosity that has been stirred up in all parts of the union under that influence: and the threats and acts of violence which have been for some time put in practice in order to drive men into servility and dereliction of those principles for which America bled, are objects that republicans cannot too seriously consider nor too soon be prepared against.
The editor of the Aurora was educated in the lap of Republicanism; ever since he has thought and acted for himself, his thoughts and actions have been those of a democratic republican; he was taught to wish France a republic [rather than a monarchy] before the revolution was thought of. He rejoiced when the dawn of that revolution was witnessed. He grieved at the excesses which its masked enemies had the address to excite and falsely lay to the account of republicanism. He rejoiced at the victories of the French not because they were French but because they opened the bright prospect of universal enfranchisement, a prospect which has since with rapidity been realizing. He has uniformly opposed the measures of the late and present administration of the Federal government and always will oppose measures tending to … infringe the constitution and sap the liberty of the citizen. He was a member of the democratic society and continued to be one until its meetings were suspended. He then opposed excise laws as he now does alien, sedition and libel acts. If the editor has erred, the uniformity of his conduct proves at least that he erred from principle; this would not have been the conduct of a time-serving “hireling.”
Poor Richard wrote,
Observe all men; thy self most.604
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
Buried in the several Church burying grounds, exclusive of those at the Hospital, for the 48 hours ending at 8 o’clock last evening—48 adults— 17 children.
One hundred and eleven new cases for the last 48 hours, reported by 23 Physicians.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The encrease in the circulation of this paper has been beyond the editor’s most sanguine expectations; and since persecution has assumed against him a “form and pressure,” it has been rapid beyond parallel. Thus the daring hand of persecution already counteracts its own designs; disappointment and despair may prompt to more audacious stretches of illegal power—but under whatever form it may appear, of private assassination or public contempt of the established principles of the constitution and laws, or the more congenial instruments of oppressors, prisons, chains, gibbets, the axe or bowstring, it shall never shake the firm determination of the editor to discharge his duty conscientiously; he may be made a victim to the dark rage of the worst enemies of our government and liberties; but it shall not be said of him that he abandoned an important right guaranteed by the constitution because men, entrusted for a time with the authority of the people, dared to forget their duty, to trample on that right, and violate that constitution. It would be doubly criminal in him to shrink before the frowns of ambition or the malice of little men dazzled by the glory of power, at a time when the liberal support he received from various parts of the United States evince not only the stubborn consistency of freedom and the love of truth but a marked approbation of his past conduct as well as a determination to aid him in the arduous and expensive undertaking in which he is engaged.
[BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BACHE]
It appears certain that a [French] squadron sailed from Toulon up the Mediterranean … There can be no object … except the coast of England or Ireland; we have most repeatedly hinted at the latter as the most probable point of attack …
The silly Advertiser of New York exults at the provision of arms, &c. by the Virginians—but he forgets that the despotic spirit manifested in some of the Eastern [New England] states and also in Jersey towards men who adhere to republican principles and detest monarchy rendered it peculiarly necessary for the Virginians to be doubly guarded!
Today, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering writes the U.S. district attorney for Pennsylvania:
Judge Peters thinks there are some dangerous aliens in the neighborhood of Philadelphia who require his & your attention. I shall be happy to do anything to aid the measures you shall think proper respecting them.605
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
A correspondent of the Aurora from the true cut-throat principles which animate the writers of our foreign Gazettes proposed yesterday that the whole faction should arm.—This day, a correspondent in the same paper of the same cut insinuates that the State of Virginia is arming against the other states. There has been a fracas at New York at the Old Coffee House in which a number of persons, said to be foreigners, fell upon a citizen, supposed with a design to destroy him. Burk, the “Time Piece” man, says that 900 United Irishmen can be produced if necessary. Quere, whether persons of such description are those the Aurora proposes to arm? As to the state of Virginia, the foreign gang will find themselves mistaken in counting upon her cooperation in their villainous designs.
Who are the characters that are intended to be stigmatized [by the Republicans] as Old Tories? They are Adams, Washington, Jay … Was the firm and virtuous Adams who signed the Declaration of Independence and managed affairs of the highest importance to foreign courts, was he an enemy and traitor to this country? Was the great and illustrious Washington, who led our armies in the field and whose fame as a guardian genius hovers over this land, was he opposed to the principles of our revolution and to our national independence?
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Tyrants (or … men who are aiming to subjugate the people to their arbitrary control) always pursue a preparatory system to answer their purposes. They begin by employing a number of hirelings to extol their patriotism, to represent them but little short of deities. Songs are composed in praise of their political virtues by sycophant poet laureats. Baccanalians sing them over the bottle, and a tribe of courtiers introduce them in their festivals. They pursue measures to irritate those governments who are friendly to freedom, and seek an alliance by treaty with those who favor despotism. They employ venal presses … They deceive the people by publications which they stile official… [A]fter alarming the fears of the people on the invasion of their enemies, they acquire means to borrow money, raise a standing army, equip a navy, impose innumerable taxes …
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
NEW YORK Aug. 25. The Time Piece… having as usual abused one of our citizens, a Mr. M’Dougal, he called at the office … The foreman of the press … told him he was willing to be considered as Mr. [John Daly] Burk himself and … would meet him … and give him satisfaction. The Old Coffee House was agreed … Mr. M’Dougal went at the time appointed … After a few words M’Dougal struck him, but before a second of time could pass, the door was burst in by
a gang … Enquiry was instantly set on foot to identify the names and persons of some of the villains … [T]hey appeared to be a band of Irish … It will be useless, however, for any person of curiosity to go to his shop to look at him, for … they could [not] discover the hole where the envenomed Irish spider had retreated from the light and spins his daily web of slander for the Time Piece …
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
It behooves every republican who values the liberties of his country, his own security and that of his family to provide himself with arms and to habituate himself to the constant use of them—for the tenets preached up by the wretches who follow in the train of our administration are calculated to convert the people of these free states into two classes— Janisaries [Indians] and Mutes !
Cornwallis is appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland with full powers to coerce or conciliate as circumstances may require.
In 1781, when France was helping American rebels gain independence from the British monarch, Britain’s Lord Charles Cornwallis commanded Britain’s army at the final battle at Yorktown, Virginia. Now, in 1798, when France is helping Irish rebels gain independence from the British monarch, Britain’s Lord Charles Cornwallis commands Britain’s army in Ireland.
Today, the New York Time Piece closes. No final “good-bye.” Just a final regular edition. John Daly Burk, its former co-editor, remains under indictment for sedition.606 That sedition action and the threat of violence have closed the paper.
Benny Bache’s sedition trial is more than a month away. Others have offered to pay any fine. Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
It appears that all the honor of persecution for violating the Sedition Law will not accumulate on citizen Aurora … It has been stated that some of the printers who have incurred the penalty of the law against seditious publications are to be indemnified from a purse raised among the faction …
The encrease of subscribers to Bache’s publications is a circumstance that merits attention … Bache says the encrease is beyond his most sanguine expectations, and since he has been persecuted, “has been rapid beyond parallel.” However false or true this may be, there is no doubt that the more recent and outrageous attacks on the government and its administration have been made in the spirit of enterprize and experiment in order to try the strength of the laws and to excite the lukewarm partizans of the faction to come forward with their patronage.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
I do solemnly declare that … the majority of the legislature of the United States who voted for the [Sedition] act … have violated the clause in the constitution of the United States which declares that “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech or of the liberty of the press …” And I do further solemnly declare, and I verily believe, if the president of the United States hath approved the said act; and if any of the judges have, by any official transaction endeavored to enforce it, that they have also violated that part of the constitution.
GEORGE NICHOLAS [Lexington, Kentucky]
Today, this notice:
THE HEALTH OFFICE.
Fellow Citizens,
September 1, 1798
Impelled by the awful progress and unparalleled malignity of the prevailing fever, we are constrained to address your feelings, as well as your reason, in order to avert the fatal destruction which, with rapid strides, is pervading our ill-fated city and suburbs.
The best skill of our physicians, and all the powers of medicine, it must be acknowledged, have proven unequal in the contest with this devouring poison …
We call your attention to the actual and undisguised state of our city. Consider the mortality and rapid increase of the sick at so early a period.—View the list of your physicians, and mark how few are at their posts; and we believe you will think, with us, that the preservation of health is only to be attained by flight…
WILLIAM JONES, President607
As Poor Richard wrote,
He’s the best physician that knows the worthlessness of most medicines.608
Benjamin Bache will not leave. If Federalist attacks and sedition prosecutions can’t intimidate him, neither will the yellow fever!
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
In consequence of a number of families removing from this city and leaving casks in their yards containing water which, from the late warm weather, has become putrid, thereby contaminating the air and breeding innumerable mosquitoes, would it not be prudent in the health committee to cause all tubs, casks, &c. to be turned bottom upwards to prevent a collection of stagnant water until the return of their owners?
THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICANS of the City are invited to meet at Fouquet’s Hotel in Tenth, between Arch and Race streets, on Friday next, September 7, at two o’clock in the afternoon,—in order to determine upon candidates to be supported at the ensuing election for representatives in the Federal, State, and City Legislatures.
Today, Benny’s fourth child is born. It’s a boy. Benny and Peggy name the child Hartman to honor Peggy’s deceased mother (whose maiden name was Hartman).
Today, the following notice:
MEDICAL ADVICE
To The Citizens of Philadelphia.
The following directions for the prevention and treatment of the prevailing fever are affectionately recommended to those citizens who are unable to procure the regular attendance of physicians by
BENJAMIN RUSH
SAMUEL P. GRIFFITTS
September 3d, 1798.
[Yellow fever] comes on like a cold … In the forming state of the fever, when the patient feels slightly indisposed, and before he is confined to bed, the following remedies generally check the disease:
A purge [to empty the bowels] of salts, castor oil, or a dose of jalap [a yellowish powder from morning glory plant roots] and calomel [a white tasteless powder]. If these fail of giving relief, a gentle sweat should be excited in the usual way. If there be much pain in the head or back, and the pulse be full or tense, ten or twelve ounces of blood should be lost before the use of the sweat and either before or after taking the purge …
After the disease is formed and appears with more or less of the following symptoms, viz. chills, great heat, head-ache, a redness in the eyes, sickness in the stomach, vomiting, pain in the back, limbs and bowels, &c. the following remedies are proper.
1. The loss of ten or twelve ounces of blood, two or three times a-day …
2. The bowels should be purged at the same time with calomel mixed with jalap and rhubarb, in powder or in pills—The operation of the purging medicine should be aided, when practicable, by clysters [enemas], composed of half an ounce of glauber salts [colorless sulfate crystals] dissolved in half a pint of warm water or a half a pint of warm water with sweet oil [olive oil], molasses, and common salt, of each a tablespoonful, in it …
3. If the stomach should be sick and oppressed with bile, a vomit of ipecacuanha [the dried root from a shrubby South American plant], or tartar emetic [a poisonous, white, metallic-tasting powder] may be given at any time on the 3rd or 4th day …
5. After the pulse is reduced by bleeding and purging, if the disease has not yielded, a profuse sweat should be excited by wrapping the patient up in blankets, with five or six hot bricks wetted with vinegar applied to different parts of his body, and giving him at the same time large and repeated draughts of hot camomile or sage tea, hot lemonade or weak punch, or any other hot liquor that is agreeable to him to drink …
6. Blisters should be applied to the wrists and ankles in common cases about the third or fourth day of the fever …
7. In case of delirious with a languid pulse, poultices [hot, moist coverings] of raw garlic, with a little mustard, should be applied to the feet …
It will be improper to depend exclusively upon any one of the above remedies. The combined force of them all is barely
sufficient, in many cases, to overcome this formidable disease.609
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
ELECTION NEWS. From the Albany Centinel. Poor Bache, the Aurora man, at Philadelphia, has calculated that … the “republican” interest will receive an accession of fourteen props when the election of members of Congress is completed in the several states … [I]n this state … Bache & Co. will find little other support … than to give effect to the “sedition bill” as a check on the libelous and government defaming conduct of himself and his coadjutors …
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
A PRESSMAN WANTED
AT the OFFICE of the AURORA.
The situation is airy and healthful.
The malignant yellow fever is conquering the Aurora. Eight who work at the paper will die. Sixty-two who work for printers throughout the city will die.610 Today, the fever takes Mary Fenno, John Fenno’s wife of more than twenty years.611
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1798
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
HEALTH OFFICE