American Aurora
Page 111
It may be asked what Mr. Adams and the other New Englandmen in the general government have to do … The ready answer is, let them do as Mr. Jefferson did, in 1776, immediately on the commencement of the American revolution. Virginia then had an established church that had such exclusive rights. Mr. Jefferson (though of that established church) introduced and carried a bill in the legislature by which all religious societies were made equal to and independent of each other.
In 1792, republicans in France dethroned King Louis XVI and disestablished the Catholic Church (France’s First Estate). In 1798, republicans in Ireland sought to expel Britain’s King George III and disestablish the Church of England. In 1800, Republicans in the United States want to unseat “His Rotundity” and disestablish the Congregational Church!
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
A great part of the abuse of the Administrators of the Federal Government issues from jail-birds—From Cooper, through the sewer of the Aurora; and from Callender, who dates his productions from “Richmond gaol.” Such fellows, thus situated, it is true, have prescriptive right to rail at government:
“For all goes wrong in Church and State,
Seen through perspective of the grate.”
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
NEW YORK, August 19. Capt. Gardiner, who arrived here on Saturday … informs that, at the time he left Paris, which was about the 12th of June, the negociations between our commissioners and those of the French republic were going on but somewhat retarded …
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
THAT arch-politician and sapient news-monger Duane has favoured the public with … intelligence from France concerning the rupture of negociations between our Envoys and the French government … Everyone knows how extremely favorable to France and oppressive to America was the treaty of 1778 made by old Franklin, and nothing could be more likely than that the French commissioners should … insist upon the unqualified renewal of that fatal treaty … and nothing could be more likely than that the American envoys were instructed to consent or to agree to no such disgraceful condition …PLUTARCH
SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 1800
This morning, from his pulpit at Philadelphia’s Christ Church (the “English” church on Second-street), Porcupine’s friend the Episcopal minister James Abercrombie sermonizes about Thomas Jefferson:
Beware—Men, Brethren, and fellow Christians—Beware of ever placing at the Head of Civil Society a man who is not an avowed Christian and an exemplary believer in our Holy Religion which … will be dishonored by such a choice … Can a Blessing from [God] be expected upon the community under such circumstances?—No, verily! but a curse may be justly expected …2002
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
An episcopal clergyman in this City who has injured not only his church but his family by his intimacy and connexion with PORCUPINE has, we understand, re-commenced his career of pulpit politics … This man … on Sunday last in his sermon several times exhorted his hearers to oppose Mr. Jefferson … Profligate men such as Porcupine and Fenno openly advocated a National Church … [H]ow superior is the toleration of our happy country over that of the established churches …
Long John Allen of Connecticut … attributed the change of public opinion on public affairs to the newspapers—Thus he speaketh—“If so much mischief can be produced by one Aurora and its underlings, what would happen provided publications of a similar tendency were scattered throughout the country?” There is much force in what Long John Allen saith, and it is hoped the republicans will attend to it.
A LETTER OF JOHN ADAMS (COPY)
Quincy, May, 1792.
DEAR SIR, … The legislature of Massachusetts last winter, upon a petition of the North Parish in Braintree, separated it from the rest of the town … and gave it the name of Quincy. By this measure, you see, they have deprived me of my title of “Duke of Braintree” … I should have been happy to see [our new British ambassador] Mr. [Thomas] Pinckney before his departure … [O]ur new ambassador has many old friends in England … [which] contributed to limit the duration of my commission [as ambassador to Britain] to three years in order to make way for themselves to succeed me … [K]nowing as I do the long intrigue and suspecting as I do much British influence in the appointment, were I in any executive department, I should take the liberty to keep a vigilant eye upon them …
JOHN ADAMS
This letter of Mr. Adams was written while the venerated general Washington was president and Mr. Adams vice-president … [I]t proves British influence …
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The author of the following interesting document is known to the Editor; several other gentlemen of the first reputation also knows the author …
TO GEORGE WASHINGTON FROM AN
OLD FELLOW SOLDIER. New York, April 25, 1795 …
SIR … Why is it that people already begin to express an uneasy solicitude for your honor? … Have you ever examined the characters by which you are surrounded? … a man … who in the Federal Convention proposed, avowed and advocated a system bearing all the strong marked features of a monarchy … who proposed early in your cabinet questions of doubt on the acknowledgment of the French republic … who invariably applied the influence of the government to shackle the freedom of the press …
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
THE REV. MR. ABERCROMBIE’S SERMON.
TO THE PUBLIC … [T]he SERMON which I preached on Sunday last in Christ-Church and St. Peter’s … has given rise to the calumnies … As a member of the community, I have a right to express my sentiments on subjects of a political nature, and I WILL express them. As a Christian minister, I not only have a right, but I conceive it my duty …
JAMES ABERCROMBIE
MODESTY OF AN UNITED IRISHMAN.
Duane has long been notorious for modesty. The following is the top of the climax: In this morning’s Aurora, he prefaces a letter to Gen. Washington (which he, in his usual stile, calls a Document) in the following manner—“The author is known to the EDITOR; Several OTHER GENTLEMEN ! (how long since you, citizen Equality, became a gentleman?) of the FIRST REPUTATION!!!!! (Good Luck!) also KNOWS the Author. Quere. Would it not be well for a Gentleman to be a Grammarian?
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
TO THE REV. MR. ABERCROMBIE
In your discourse on the last Lord’s Day, you took occasion to introduce political opinions with religious topics—you called Mr. Jefferson a deist and augured the destruction of the country should he be raised to the presidential chair.
I have ever been thought to believe that the duties of the ministry of God’s holy church was to inculcate among other doctrines this sublime maxim, “Peace on earth, and good will among men.” … yet you have endeavored to arm brother against brother, you have prostituted God’s holy word to further the cause of a faction, and under the semblance of Religion, you have inculcated doctrines of which you ought to be ashamed …
[Y]ou are a free man, you are an independent citizen of a free country, you have therefore a privilege of opening your sentiments when and where you please, but, in the name of God, whose gospel you profess, never profane his temple with the mere temporal concerns of this world … [I]ntroduce not the religion of Jesus to further private ends …
VALERIUS
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
POLITICAL …
It is a fact … that the most profligate and malicious and false public newspaper that ever existed in any country and under any government is now … printed in the city of Philadelphia … This paper (since I have begun, I may as well go through with its history) has existed now about ten years altogether … A grandson of Benjamin Franklin (it is almost too notorious to tell) was the Editor of this paper for
the space of eight years. This circumstance … will further explain (to such as are strangers to the influence Mr. Franklin possessed in the State of Pennsylvania) the reason why this newspaper, under the superintendance of his grandson, has been able to effect such mischief in opposing, from the beginning, the measures and systems of the federal government—Benjamin Franklin Bache, received the greater part of his juvenile education, under the immediate care and supervision of his Grandfather. He accompanied him to France when Mr. Franklin went over to negotiate the treaty of Alliance between the United States and the French Monarchy and was placed at Passy, near Paris, where his grandfather chiefly resided—here it was that young Benjamin acquired a proficiency in the French language—here he formed that invincible attachment for France and everything that was French, which early habit, united and assisted with his Grandfather’s notorious partiality for and commendation of them, must naturally inspire—He saw his old—fond and amorous Grand Sire in the habit of caressing and being caressed by the seducing females of France, and his youthful blood was doubtless often fired by scenes of tenderness and love, though his infant years were an obstacle to his participation in the full delight they were calculated to confer. After an absence of several years, young Benjamin returned to his native country. He was yet a youth and not entitled to assume the “Toga virilis.” He therefore completed his education …
With these qualifications and little previous apprenticeship to the trade did young Benjamin commence … A set of types and a printing press, which had been bequeathed to him as a legacy by his Grandfather, composed the apparatus with which he began his professional career …
The French Revolution came and it operated like an electric shock upon the Editor … A new day, in short had dawned. This was the proud and natal day of “the Aurora.” We shall mark the course he took, [ere] he sunk into the still slumbers of the silent grave.
MUTIUS SCAEVOLA
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
We learn that a pretended pious christian who, on hearing that B. F. Bache was dead, wished that his soul was in hell, burning at that instant—is now advocating Mr. Abercrombie’s political sermon.
Today, from the new federal city of Washington, Treasury Secretary Oliver Wolcott responds to Alexander Hamilton’s letter of August 3rd:
I have attended to the publications in the Aurora. We may regret but we cannot prevent the mischiefs which these falshoods produce … [W]e may as well attempt to arrest the progress of fire in a mess of gun powder as to suppress these calumnies; they must have their course and the vindication of official characters must be left to an enquiry by Congress … Colo. Pickerings conduct will be found correct; Mr. Dayton’s incorrect …2003
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
POLITICAL …
Bache spoke and translated the French language … He always had the earliest intelligence of … the French Republic … to pass it through his newspaper to the enamored partisans of the Republic here. Civic festivals were continually advertized, and all the Sans Culottes were invited to attend the celebration. The Federal Government, but more especially President Washington, was held up to scorn and ridicule because resistance was made to the fitting out of French privateers in our ports and to the sale of French prizes …
“[T]he Aurora” continued faithful to the [French] republic in every change of her mutable condition. The federal government and all who had any share in the administration were themes of daily reproach, misrepresentation, and slander. The form no less than the manner in which the government was administered were condemned, because they approached to a resemblance of the British constitution, and because the French had adopted and were then practicing upon the model which Monsieur Franklin had always recommended and admired. It is well known that the present [two-chamber legislature, single executive] constitution of the State of Pennsylvania (which in good hands would be the most perfect system of State government in the Union) could never have been ratified in the life time of Mr. Franklin. A single democratic representative assembly was his darling theory. In no other form could the happiness of the people be promoted. Nor could the true dignity of man’s nature be displayed where the doctrine of a chief or control over his passions was an ingredient in the constitution.
From all the preceding detail of facts, some of which are merely historical, I shall draw this inference—That the ghost of Benjamin Franklin still haunts and hovers over the destinies of the federal government, that his apparition will never be allayed … and lastly that the people of this country must make their election between the alternative of abandoning the haunted castle, commonly called the federal constitution, or submit to the impertinent daily visits of a troublesome spectre, commonly called “the Aurora.”
By what strange fatality it has happened, I know not, but this is the fact, that the successor to Benjamin Franklin Bache, as Editor of the Aurora, is a British subject. Yes, Billy Duane, who was sort of an upper workman in the “Aurora office” at the time Benjamin Franklin Bache died, is a British refugee from Bengal or some other British possession in the East Indies, where he superintended and published a newspaper and whence he was suddenly compelled to depart for fear of a prosecution against him for libelling the government. Thus we see that his present occupation is no new thing to him—he was proficient in the trade when he came here …
That such a newspaper should be tolerated in the capital city of the United States is no proof that our laws are more favorable to the liberty of the press than those of other nations. On the contrary, it is proof that our laws are incompetent to restrain or suppress its daring licentiousness; and any one may venture to predict with the utmost certainty the speedy downfall of any government that tolerates such a sapping engine within its jurisdiction … To the shame of my country, be it confessed that the newspaper called “the Aurora” … enjoys more patronage both at home and abroad than any public newspaper in America …
MUTIUS SCAEVOLA
There is no question that “the ghost of Benjamin Franklin still haunts and hovers over the destinies of the federal government.” That friendly ghost, spectacles and all, presides at the Philadelphia Aurora.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Parson Abercrombie and his adherents avow a love of monarchy—they wish for an established church. Monarchy and established churches have ever been favourable to servility and hypocrisy, because the whole influence and power of the throne and the church centered in one, or a few individuals … [T]his in substance comprehends the causes which have arisen from kingly governments and the interests of churches connected with those of States.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
POLITICAL
IT is no difficult thing to account for the celebrity of “the Aurora” when we take into view the following peculiarities which distinguish it from all other newspapers. First, its origin and operation for several years under the superintendence of a grand-son of Benjamin Franklin. Secondly, its publication at Philadelphia, the capital of the United States and hitherto the Seat of Government. Third, that it is the official governmental paper of the French Republic … Fourthly, that the writers of it are chiefly foreign desperados who came or were sent here to write down the government. Fifthly, and lastly, that its present Editor is a British subject. Each of these are powerful operative causes of the success of “the Aurora” at home and abroad …
In the course of this investigation, I have attributed much importance to “the Aurora” in supposing it capable of destroying the federal Government. It is extensively circulated; it is read by all who take it and by many more who do not pay for it. It is the model and the standard for all the underling Jacobin prints throughout the country. It is copied by them. It is the “people’s paper” in the same sense that Mr. Jefferson is “the man of the people.”
It is published in the capital of the State of P
ennsylvania where the Governor of the state and almost every state officer are [now] its immediate influential patrons. It is conducted with a diabolical zeal and activity, and it has also this peculiar advantage, that, whether it publishes lies or truth, the assertions are equally credited at a distance and equally assist the democratic cause.
Such is the paper called “the Aurora.”—By exposing it to the American public, “what it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be” so long as it endures, I have not been without a hope that it might be rendered odious in their sight and that some of its mischievous effects might be thereby counteracted … I shall still cherish the hope that there is yet left among us … enough attachment to the federal government and to those who administer it to secure federal majorities at the approaching election; and lastly, enough of religion to reject the creed of atheism and revolution which is daily preached as orthodox by their great High Priest William Duane, the editor of “the Aurora.”
MUTIUS SCAEVOLA.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
Toleration in religion, complete and perfect, was not known, except among the Hindus, in any part of the earth before our revolution. In Pennsylvania, a few years before the revolution … even here in this city of brotherhood … Papist was a term of reproach as constant as Democrat or Jacobin in the mouth of good federalists two years ago! … In the state of Virginia before the war, a Quaker on going into that state a third time was liable to the punishment of death ! A Roman Catholic clergyman dared not to go even once within its boundary to exercise even an office of charity!