TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Extract of a letter from an officer of the Northern Army, dated Miller’s Town April 11th, 1799. “With respect to military operations, they still continue; and the number of persons confined in heavy irons encreases … [A] number of troops who derive their authority from the federal government live at free quarters [in private homes] on the people … I cannot believe, however, that these troops are authorized to proceed thus; I rather conclude that it is the effect of that licentiousness into which ignorant men, or indeed enlightened men, will run, when possessed of an unnatural power over their fellow citizens …”
Extract of another letter of the same date. “The stationing of a body of troops here until the next election may induce the people to emigrate to some of the southern states, but it will not influence the vote of a single man who remains …”
A Gentleman now on the expedition against the insurgents writes, “that the only paper read in those parts of the country, where treason has raised her head, is the Aurora. This accounts in part for the defection of these ignorant and deluded wretches.” …
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE AT ELECTIONS …
Cobbett, the British printer Cobbett, who … reviles representative government, impudently insinuates that the Chief Justice [of Pennsylvania, Thomas McKean] is acting basely and the people stupidly … Mr. JAMES ROSS’S election is openly supported and advanced by this British agent …
Cobbett’s insidious propping of the British constitution at the expence of the constitutions of the United States is, to be sure, a most audacious foreign interference in our elections and attempt to sap our political principles …
Let him look at the judiciary of Ireland—a kingdom of three or four millions of people … [T]he Parliament of England is chosen for that great and injured people by fewer persons than are entitled to vote in a single American county.
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette, Peter Porcupine answers:
[T]his day’s paper … may serve as an answer to … Mother Bache’s filthy dishclout [dishcloth] of this morning—A propos: this delicate dame began her Editorial career by rejoicing at the abolition of “castration in Italy.” I quote her very words, and I will, one of these days, give the modest essay at length …
I hereby give notice that on Monday next, I shall publish an extract from WIDOW BACHE’s first paper which will render my Gazette of that day unfit for any decent woman to read. I have heard a good deal about the delicacy of this woman, and I therefore think it necessary to undeceive the duped publick.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
From Northampton … It is probable the army will return through Reading and visit some disturbed parts of Bucks and Montgomery [counties] in their march home … We are informed by a gentleman who has been continually with the troops that their conduct has not only been irreproachable but remarkable for discipline and good order …
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
[Adv.]
JUST PUBLISHED
At No. 118 Market Street
(Price A Quarter Of A Dollar)
THE PORCUPINIAD.
A HUDIBRASTIC POEM,
Addressed to WILLIAM COBBETT …
“Thank Heaven I am No citizen of America” …
Today, in Reading, Pennsylvania, troops of John Adams’ new federal army visit the newspaper office of Jacob Schnyder, editor and publisher of the Reading Eagle, which has published anonymous reports of military abuses. From Jacob Schnyder’s sworn declaration:
On the 20th of April 1799, John Fry, [Sergeant] Reichard, and three other of the Lancaster troop of horse came to my printing-office, while I was closely engaged at work. One … demanded the author of a piece published some time previous in the Reading Eagle.
I observed to him that it was not customary with printers to give their authors names … I did not think myself at liberty to comply with this request … [T]hey desired to go with them to the Captain … I was forc’d to Michael Wood’s Inn, where the captain lodged … I was accosted thus politely, Is this the damn’d rascal? Is this the damn’d son of a bitch? &c. His throat should be cut … [T]he captain ordered his praise worthy troops to take me to the market-house and ordered the trumpeter, the common whipper, to give me twenty-five lashes … [T]he troops … forced me to the market-house … I then pull’d off my vest, and the trumpeter gave me, to the best of my recollection, six strokes with a cowhide, when one observed it was sufficient.1799
MONDAY, APRIL 22, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The presses of the United States which favor British politics and connexions are constantly libelling the talents, character, &c. of America. They abuse Doctor Franklin, whose services in the revolution … entitle him to the esteem of every patriot …
Any man can see by whom and for what Mr. Cobbett has been sent to America. The service required a monstrous stock of confidence, if the British expected him to go the lengths he has done in meddling in our internal affairs, in our elections, in our intercourse with foreign nations …
Not long before the arrival of Mr. Cobbett in America, a formal and official report of the Lords of the British Council was made to the King of Great Britain, concerning the United States, in which it was stated to his Britannic Majesty that “a party was formed in favor of Great Britain.” They naturally wanted a printer or two, and the British government was so obliging as to send them Mr. Cobbett …
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette, William Cobbett writes:
MOTHER BACHE
Must hang bye ‘till to-morrow. I have no room for her today. The foreign intelligence is of importance, and were I to omit it, my readers would find themselves but badly compensated by the prose of Mrs. Bache, though it is excessively luscious.
Next Thursday is the day appointed by the President to be observed as a General Fast.—I hope the people of all religions will join us in a hearty prayer for the destruction of the French and their traitorous partizans.
TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The trial of prisoners charged with treasonable practices we are informed will come up in the course of this week before the [U.S.] district court … sitting in this city.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
The Grand Jury of the Circuit Court of the United States, now sitting in this city, have found Bills against three of the Northampton Insurgents for High Treason, of this number, [John] Fries is one … Yesterday afternoon several troops of this city arrived here from Reading …
Tonight, Peter Porcupine in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
MOTHER BACHE
Must hang bye for another day or two.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
ORDER and GOOD GOVERNMENT
A transaction that has taken place during the recent extraordinary military expedition merits the earnest and dispassionate consideration of every man who feels the least respect for the laws or holds the least pretension of regard for our free constitution and equal rights.
A troop of horse belonging to Lancaster, in this state, was ordered on the public service as a part of the body of volunteers that had proffered their services to the President of the United states.
On their march to join the army, they were guilty of some excesses in Reading … A statement of the transaction was … published in a German newspaper at Reading, the printer of which is a Mr. Schnyder.
Upon the breaking up of the army a few days ago, the Lancaster troop, under the command of Captain Montgomery, retraced its march through the same town where they halted. A sergeant and several troopers were dispatched to Mr. Schnyder’s house from which they took him by force.
He was brought before the captain, and after a series
of interrogatories, this self-appointed Dictator ordered Mr. Schnyder to be taken to the market-house, stripped naked, and there punished by the infliction of 25 lashes! …
This, among numerous others, is a striking evidence of the danger which a free state is exposed to from an army … The army, placed without that controul [that the people have over the militia,] requires but a very small accession of numbers to destroy the public liberties and to exalt some wicked villain over the national ruin of a despotic throne.
Tonight, William Cobbett in the Porcupine’s Gazette:
Pennsylvanians, recollect that the only press in this city which has had the audacity to espouse the cause of [Chief Justice Thomas] McKean is [the Aurora,] that prostituted, that infamous, that blasphemous press from which have issued Paine’s Age of Reason, Paine’s Letter to General Washington and from which the Atheistical Calendar [of the French Republic] is annually issued … This, Pennsylvanians, is the press, the only press, through which McKEAN is recommended to you as a proper person to be your Governor.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
Yesterday afternoon, returned to the city, Brigadier General MACPHERSON, Commander in chief of the forces lately employed against the Northampton rebels … A large concourse of people, whom the occasion had assembled, … received him with reiterated shouts. The General having passed the line of Infantry, they filed off by sections, joined the cavalry, and escorted him to his quarters in Eighth-street, where he retired amidst the customary honors of the Military and the again-repeated shouts of the multitude.
THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
[T]he deliberate and savage violation of the law—committed by men in military uniform and who had pledged themselves to the President to maintain law and order … marks the danger [to] the public liberties from men placed beyond the reach of civil institutions …
Application was made to General Macpherson upon the subject … he promised to enquire into it—but the men were marched off … !
By presidential proclamation, today is a national day for prayer and fasting. Life is relatively quiet. William Cobbett’s friend the Rev. James Abercrombie doesn’t preach! In Philadelphia’s Second Presbyterian Church, however, the Rev. Ashbel Green delivers his Fast Day sermon:
My brethren— … [T]he profanation of the name of God, the disregard of the public worship, the contempt of gospel institutions, the neglect of family government and family religion, the dissoluteness of youth, the wanton and wicked reviling of magistrates … the cherishing of seditious practices, the opposition to the laws of the country, the prevalence of dueling, the open practice of adultery and fornication, the multiplied instances of fraud and swindling … the devotedness of thousands to a covetous pursuit of wealth … have encreased upon us, with a rapid accumulation, within a short space … And shall I lay open the source … ? … an enthusiastic attachment, in multitudes of people in this country to the revolution and cause of the French. This attachment has given an easy introduction to the atheistical, infidel, and immoral principles of that people …
I am now to remark we have not been … free from the judgments of God … For six years past, the pestilence has been sent into our land in a manner that never was before known to us … With our prayers, let us resolve to join our endeavors for the suppression of vice …1800
FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Let it be known that JAMES ROSS is nominated and approved [for Governor of Pennsylvania] by PETER PORCUPINE, that Porcupine is a foreign emissary, that HE has reviled our revolution, despised our civil institutions, and has laboured assiduously to render our country subservient to Great Britain …
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
[The Rev. J. C. Ogden] has been confined in the cell of Litchfield [Connecticut] by the Secretary [of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott] of the United States for delivering the petitions of the western district of Vermont in behalf of col. Lyon … It was supposed that the parson had the sum with him which was raised in Philadelphia to pay col. Lyon’s fine …
This confinement was undoubtedly preconcerted in Philadelphia on the part of Mr. Secretary [of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott], and our Members of Congress. The time of the messenger’s departure [from Philadelphia] was known to Mr. Pickering and others. He left the stage house at twelve o’clock, came in the mail stage, halted two days in New York, and one in New-Milford [Connecticut]. It was universally known that this business led him by way of Litchfield …
All this malevolence arises solely from the wishes of col. Lyon’s foes to have detained him in the cell in Vergennes …
Who will be astonished if hereby we gain a LYON in Connecticut more formidable than him in Vermont? Do not such proceedings multiply Lyons ?
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette, Peter Porcupine writes:
I know [Democratick Judge] M’Kean … I will never live six months under his sovereign sway … I look upon it as my duty to the publick to assist in opposing M’Kean’s election …
This was day fixed on for Mother Bache, &c., &c. but, as I forgot to inform the ladies of it on Saturday, I must put it off till to-morrow.—If, after this warning, they should be incautious enough to look at Peg’s bawdry, it will be no fault of mine …
TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
THE FAST DAY.
Unlike the political festival of 1798, that of the 25th of April, 1799, passed over with a composed and impressive silence—our streets were not thronged with boisterous ruffians, “mad with the Tuscan grape and ripe for blood”—the pomp of military parade was not seen in our peaceful streets—the windows of our citizens were not assailed with stones—and the President did not send back the Aurora unread—because it has never been served him since the fast day of 1798 …
Joe Thomas who, with a sword drawn, led a phalanx of Bacchanals through our streets on the fast day of 1798—has since fled from the uplifted hand of justice …
It is a very striking evidence of the growing moderation of politicians that the Rev. Mr. Abercrombie did not preach …
Today, in Philadelphia, the U.S. Circuit Court for Pennsylvania, with Judge James Iredell presiding, opens a nine-day trial for high treason of John Fries, the German-speaking auctioneer who, on March 7th, led a throng of Northampton residents to release seventeen or eighteen fellow war tax protesters who were in the custody of U.S. Marshal John Nichols at Reiter’s Tavern House near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Prosecution testimony includes:
COLONEL NICHOLS, the marshal: … The prisoner at the bar was at the head of the infantry, with his sword drawn; the horse marched into the yard and formed in front of the house; the infantry marched round the house … I had a good deal of conversation with … Captain Fries … His reason was that he was opposed to those laws—the alien law, the stamp act, and the house-act; and said they were unconstitutional … I then begged him to use his influence in persuading the people to disperse … His answer was that he had no influence; that he could do nothing. After this, I consulted with Judge Henry and others, what was best to be done; it seemed to be their opinion that I had better submit and give up the prisoners.1801
JACOB EVERLY: … I was out with the marshal … I looked out of the window and saw a company of rifleman, all with three-coloured cockades, marching Indian file around the house. I counted them; there were forty-two in that company …1802
JOSEPH HORSEFIELD: … The marshal still continued to hesitate. By this time, a number of persons got into the house, adorned with three-coloured French cockades … I then worked my way downstairs again, in order to be ready for a jump. By this time, I understand that the prisoners were delivered.1803
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1799
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
BOSTON, April 25. yesterday, Mr. ABIJAH ADAMS [of Boston’s Independent Chronicle] was discharged from his i
mprisonment … Mr. ADAMS returns his thanks to his numerous friends …
Tonight, in the Porcupine’s Gazette, Peter Porcupine writes:
MOTHER BACHE.
This impudent woman, in the first number of her paper, published a most infamous libel against me in which my wife was in some sort mentioned. I was preparing to render her famous at that time; but, upon consideration, I desisted …
It is said by some silly wretches that the woman is not to blame; for it is not she who writes in the paper. I have been informed to the contrary; and I have every reason to believe that she wrote, with her own hand, the paragraphs I am about to quote. Besides, if the paper be published by her, every one but a soft-brained sot must know that she is answerable for its contents, both in the eye of reason and of the law.
In order to avoid the lash of satire and, perhaps, the penalty of the law also, she has lately taken her name from the head of the paper and put “the heirs of Benjamin F. Bache” in its stead. This is a miserable trick. Every one knows that she is one of the heirs and that the paper is the joint property of her and her children..
[T]he notice of her resolution to continue the paper [proves incontestably that the publication was a voluntary deliberate act on her part]. Poor Ben expired about midnight, and, as appears by the date, “HIS WIDOW” had this notice (which appears in a handbill) struck off before his corpse was cold! It was actually hawked about the city before daylight had scarcely made its appearance, and long before the husband’s dead body was put under ground. There’s “delicacy”, there’s “sensibility” for you! This noble act alone would, I think entitle the “WIDOW” to the honourable rank of Citoyenne Française …
American Aurora Page 83
