ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
I. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF INTO REPUTATION, continued ...
Partly as a result of Tully's appeal, there was such a large enlistment of volunteers that the enlistment period was ended earlier than planned.
Fortunately, the entire episode ended without serious incident.
A year later, in 1795, Hamilton rose to an occasion which needed a defense at least as much as the proposed Constitution had needed the Federalist essays.
John Jay had gone to England and agreed to a treaty which was most unsatisfactory.
He went even farther toward conciliating England than Hamilton would have preferred, for all his admiration of the British system of government.
After some hesitation, however, he decided to support Jay's‘ Treaty.
Just as he had felt in the case of the Constitution, Jay's Treaty seemed to Hamilton to be better than nothing and worthy of defense on that ground.
He viewed it as the very necessary first step of getting detente going with an old enemy and as a means of giving the new nation the necessary security it would need to be left alone.
He wrote no fewer than thirty-eight letters as Camillus in defense of the treaty, at least eight of which were written together with Rufus King. 34
It is more than a little ironic that the first twenty-one essays were originally published by Thomas Greenleaf in the New York Argus, not only a Republican paper, but one which Hamilton was later to prosecute for libeling him.
The unpopular Jay Treaty was an even more difficult document to defend than the Constitution had been.
Not only was it detested by the Republicans for being Anglophilic, but it failed to please leading businessmen in Hamilton's own party.
It is significant, then, that the effect of the Camillus pieces was as great and probably greater than that of the Publius essays.
Camillus "made a tremendous impression on the country and did much to allay the agitation against the treaty." 35
One indication of Camillus' impact is another letter of Jefferson's to Madison.
Again he urged Madison to answer his political antagonist: Hamilton is really a colossus to the anti—republican party.
Without numbers, he is an host within himself....In truth, when he comes forward, there is nobody but yourself who can meet him....For god's sake take up your pen. 36
Coming from Jefferson, this was extraordinary praise indeed.
And yet again Jefferson was to write Madison with a plea to answer Hamilton in the press.
The third time occurred three years later, during the administration of President John Adams.
It was an incredibly chaotic year, during which the country was gearing up for war with France at a frenetic pace.
By this time Hamilton was no longer an official of the government.
He was an embittered ex-Secretary of the Treasury, who still held great influence among a large number of Federalists.
34 Schachner, Hamilton, p. 350.
35 Schachner, Hamilton, p. 427.
36 "Letter to James Madison," September 21,1795, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed., Andrew A. Lipscomb and Albert E. Bergh, vol. 8 (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903), pp. 192-193.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
Re: HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
I. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF INTO REPUTATION, continued ...
Between March 10 and April 21, Hamilton wrote a series of seven articles called "The Stand" and signed them Titus Manlius.
The partisan Hamilton, eager to be divisive, was in full control as Titus Manlius.
He dropped all diplomatic sensibility and became the same reckless exhorter to hate and passion that had governed his "Remarks on the Quebec Bill."
His invective against France was bitter.
He reviewed "the disgusting spectacle of the French Revolution" and found that "the attempt bythe rulers of a nation to destroy all religious opinion, and to pervert a whole nation to atheism,is a phenomenon of profligacy reserved to consummate the infamy of the unprincipled reformers of France." 37
France was "a den of pillage and slaughter" and Frenchmen were "foul birds of prey."
By he sixth piece in the series, Hamilton emotionally concluded: The inevitable conclusion, from the facts which have been presented, is that revolutionary France has been & continues to be governed by a spirit of proselytism, conquest, domination, and rapine.
The detail well justifies the position that we may have to contend at our very doors for our independence and liberty. 38
Hamilton's encouragement of war fever was particularly dishonorable because his motive was largely his desire to maintain a large and permanent standing army.
An atmosphere of cold war was the best means to that end.
37 Works, vol.6, pp. 275,277.
38 Works, vol.6, p.302.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
I. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF INTO REPUTATION, continued ...
Between March 10 and April 21, Hamilton wrote a series of seven articles called "The Stand" and signed them Titus Manlius.
The partisan Hamilton, eager to be divisive, was in full control as Titus Manlius.
He dropped all diplomatic sensibility and became the same reckless exhorter to hate and passion that had governed his "Remarks on the Quebec Bill."
His invective against France was bitter.
He reviewed "the disgusting spectacle of the French Revolution" and found that "the attempt bythe rulers of a nation to destroy all religious opinion, and to pervert a whole nation to atheism,is a phenomenon of profligacy reserved to consummate the infamy of the unprincipled reformers of France." 37
France was "a den of pillage and slaughter" and Frenchmen were "foul birds of prey."
By he sixth piece in the series, Hamilton emotionally concluded: The inevitable conclusion, from the facts which have been presented, is that revolutionary France has been & continues to be governed by a spirit of proselytism, conquest, domination, and rapine.
The detail well justifies the position that we may have to contend at our very doors for our independence and liberty. 38
Hamilton's encouragement of war fever was particularly dishonorable because his motive was largely his desire to maintain a large and permanent standing army.
An atmosphere of cold war was the best means to that end.
37 Works, vol.6, pp. 275,277.
38 Works, vol.6, p.302.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
I. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF INTO REPUTATION, continued ...
So strongly did he feel about the importance of a regular army, that he did not hesitate to contribute to the outpouring of propaganda against France.
He did so even though "no one, including Hamilton, believed that France had the most remote notion of warring on the United States." 39
In response to the Titus Manlius series, Jefferson wrote Madison for the third time, his tone even more insistent than before:
You must, my dear Sir, take up your pen against this champion. You know the ingenuity of his talents; and there is not a person but yourself who can foil him. For heaven's sake, then, take up your pen and do not desert the public cause altogether. 40
"The Stand" was to be Hamilton's last major press contribution, excepting his later sponsorship of the New York Evening Post.
His public pieces nearly all had some impact.
Each one further sealed his reputation as a writer to be reckoned with -- one to be feared by his political opposition and one to be grateful for among his own party.
Hamilton did not always use his talent for ennobling or wise purposes.
He could write out of the emotions of prejudice and anger.
When he did so, when he took the offensive, he was rarely at his best.
0n the attack he could be intolerant, divisive, partisan, and thoughtless, as witnessed in the "Remarks on the Quebec Act," as Publius on the offensive against Congressman Chase, and as Titus Manlius in stirring up the nation's fears and hatreds.
But he was positively effective and helped to unify a revolutionary cause and a new nation in several other press contributions: in two early revolutionary pamphlets, as Phocion in defense of the Loyalists, as Publius in defense of the proposed Constitution, and as Camillus in defense of the Jay Treaty.
Taken together, these pieces illustrate the theory that "he is far more admirable in defence than when he delivers the attack." 41
As a public figure, Hamilton had been used both to the access he had to the press and also to the strong support of the Federalist press.
But his party's press found itself in a weakened condition after the Federalists were badly beaten by the Republicans in 1800.
Hamilton was dismayed by the lack of any really energetic newspaper of national circulation.
He looked around for an editor and a journal which "could give leadership and tone to the whole Federalist press, for a sad lack of vigor was evident from Maine to Charleston."42
Several years earlier, in 1793, Hamilton had helped to provide the capital necessary to establish the Minerva, an administration mouthpiece in New York, edited by Noah Webster. 43
Now again, he contributed a sizeable sum and, "under a promise of reimbursement from future earnings, prominent Federalists were persuaded to contribute." 44
William Coleman was chosen as editor of the New York Evening Post, though the journal was often referred to as "Hamilton's gazette" or "Hamilton's journal."
39 Bowers, Jefferson and Hamilton, p. 421.
40 "Letter to James Madison," April 5, 1798, Writings, vol.10, p.23.
41 Oliver, Hamilton,p. 296.
42 Allan Nevins, The Evening Post: A Century of Journalism (New York: Boni and Liveright, Publishers 1922) p. 12.
43 Donald Stewart, The Opposition Press of the Federalist Period (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1969), p. 11.
44 Miller, Hamilton, p. 550.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
I. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF INTO REPUTATION, continued ...
So strongly did he feel about the importance of a regular army, that he did not hesitate to contribute to the outpouring of propaganda against France.
He did so even though "no one, including Hamilton, believed that France had the most remote notion of warring on the United States." 39
In response to the Titus Manlius series, Jefferson wrote Madison for the third time, his tone even more insistent than before:
You must, my dear Sir, take up your pen against this champion. You know the ingenuity of his talents; and there is not a person but yourself who can foil him. For heaven's sake, then, take up your pen and do not desert the public cause altogether. 40
"The Stand" was to be Hamilton's last major press contribution, excepting his later sponsorship of the New York Evening Post.
His public pieces nearly all had some impact.
Each one further sealed his reputation as a writer to be reckoned with -- one to be feared by his political opposition and one to be grateful for among his own party.
Hamilton did not always use his talent for ennobling or wise purposes.
He could write out of the emotions of prejudice and anger.
When he did so, when he took the offensive, he was rarely at his best.
0n the attack he could be intolerant, divisive, partisan, and thoughtless, as witnessed in the "Remarks on the Quebec Act," as Publius on the offensive against Congressman Chase, and as Titus Manlius in stirring up the nation's fears and hatreds.
But he was positively effective and helped to unify a revolutionary cause and a new nation in several other press contributions: in two early revolutionary pamphlets, as Phocion in defense of the Loyalists, as Publius in defense of the proposed Constitution, and as Camillus in defense of the Jay Treaty.
Taken together, these pieces illustrate the theory that "he is far more admirable in defence than when he delivers the attack." 41
As a public figure, Hamilton had been used both to the access he had to the press and also to the strong support of the Federalist press.
But his party's press found itself in a weakened condition after the Federalists were badly beaten by the Republicans in 1800.
Hamilton was dismayed by the lack of any really energetic newspaper of national circulation.
He looked around for an editor and a journal which "could give leadership and tone to the whole Federalist press, for a sad lack of vigor was evident from Maine to Charleston."42
Several years earlier, in 1793, Hamilton had helped to provide the capital necessary to establish the Minerva, an administration mouthpiece in New York, edited by Noah Webster. 43
Now again, he contributed a sizeable sum and, "under a promise of reimbursement from future earnings, prominent Federalists were persuaded to contribute." 44
William Coleman was chosen as editor of the New York Evening Post, though the journal was often referred to as "Hamilton's gazette" or "Hamilton's journal."
39 Bowers, Jefferson and Hamilton, p. 421.
40 "Letter to James Madison," April 5, 1798, Writings, vol.10, p.23.
41 Oliver, Hamilton,p. 296.
42 Allan Nevins, The Evening Post: A Century of Journalism (New York: Boni and Liveright, Publishers 1922) p. 12.
43 Donald Stewart, The Opposition Press of the Federalist Period (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1969), p. 11.
44 Miller, Hamilton, p. 550.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
I. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF INTO REPUTATION, concluded ...
The best evidence of Hamilton's own contribution to the Post's columns comes from the autobiography of Jeremiah Mason — a senator who once practiced law with Coleman.
Coleman told Mason that Hamilton never wrote a word in the Post; himself.
But he assisted in the following way, in Coleman's words:
Whenever anything occurs on which I feel the want of information I state matters to him, sometimes a note; he appoints a time when I may see him, usually a late hour in the evening. He always keeps himself minutely informed on all political matters. As soon as I see him, he begins in a deliberate manner to dictate and I to note down in shorthand; when he stops, my article is completed. 45
In the first issue, dated November 16, 1801, the editor promised to support Federalism, but without partisan intolerance, announced "that honest and virtuous men are to be found in each party," and left the paper open to address by Republicans.” 46
The first issue "struck a note of high-mindedness and dedication to principle which, in general, it succeeded in maintaining over its long career.” 47
Hamilton was not to be part of that long career, for he did not live beyond 1804.
But he can be credited with sponsoring the newspaper which gave the Federalists whatever cohesion they could manage after 1800.
A weekly edition of the Post, named the Herald, was sent all over the country.
"Enjoying a larger circulation than the Evening Post itself, the Herald served to keep alive the Federalist pretensions to be a national party." 48
Perhaps its influence lasted even longer in Hamilton's home town.
"The Federalist party in the nation at large gradually crumbled away, but fortunately for the Evening Post, it remained powerful in New York city until near 1820." 49
45 Cited by Nevins, Post, pp.25-26.
46 Nevins, Post, p. 19.
47 Miller, Hamilton, p. 550.
48 Miller, Hamilton, p. 550.
49 Nevins, Post, p.33.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
I. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF INTO REPUTATION, concluded ...
The best evidence of Hamilton's own contribution to the Post's columns comes from the autobiography of Jeremiah Mason — a senator who once practiced law with Coleman.
Coleman told Mason that Hamilton never wrote a word in the Post; himself.
But he assisted in the following way, in Coleman's words:
Whenever anything occurs on which I feel the want of information I state matters to him, sometimes a note; he appoints a time when I may see him, usually a late hour in the evening. He always keeps himself minutely informed on all political matters. As soon as I see him, he begins in a deliberate manner to dictate and I to note down in shorthand; when he stops, my article is completed. 45
In the first issue, dated November 16, 1801, the editor promised to support Federalism, but without partisan intolerance, announced "that honest and virtuous men are to be found in each party," and left the paper open to address by Republicans.” 46
The first issue "struck a note of high-mindedness and dedication to principle which, in general, it succeeded in maintaining over its long career.” 47
Hamilton was not to be part of that long career, for he did not live beyond 1804.
But he can be credited with sponsoring the newspaper which gave the Federalists whatever cohesion they could manage after 1800.
A weekly edition of the Post, named the Herald, was sent all over the country.
"Enjoying a larger circulation than the Evening Post itself, the Herald served to keep alive the Federalist pretensions to be a national party." 48
Perhaps its influence lasted even longer in Hamilton's home town.
"The Federalist party in the nation at large gradually crumbled away, but fortunately for the Evening Post, it remained powerful in New York city until near 1820." 49
45 Cited by Nevins, Post, pp.25-26.
46 Nevins, Post, p. 19.
47 Miller, Hamilton, p. 550.
48 Miller, Hamilton, p. 550.
49 Nevins, Post, p.33.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION
Hamilton's sponsorship of the New York Evening Post reflects the fact that he came to discover the value of and necessity for a free press and not just those publications supportive of the party in power.
Yet he showed very little enthusiasm for the opposition press when he was a public official.
When Hamilton was criticized in the Republican press of the 1790's, he "too often acted as passion, rather than as reason, dictated."
"He was too apt to believe that he could overwhelm his enemies with a rhetorical onslaught, forgetting in his anger that it was at least as easy to write himself out of reputation as it was to destroy the good name of his adversary." 50
Writing himself out of reputation was exactly what he did in at least three episodes, the first being his involvement in a newspaper feud in Philadelphia.
In 1792 both the Federalists in power and their Republican competition were represented by newspapers, though the former had a distinct advantage in terms of numbers, financial support, and access to official reports.
In 1790 there were about ninety papers, but the Republican ones among them were outnumbered in the ratio of four to one until 1796.
In Boston the Independent Chronicle of Thomas Adams was Republican in sympathy, but its competition was Benjamin Russell's Columbian Centinel, whose 4,000 circulation figure was the largest in the nation during the Federalist period. 51
Of the twelve Philadelphia papers, two were Republican in sentiment, though not very forcefully so: Benjamin Franklin Bache's Pennsylvania Daily Advertiser (later to become effective as the Aurora) and John Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser.
The most powerful paper in Philadelphia, and the only national one, was John Fenno's Gazette of the United States, begun in 1789 and transported to the new capital from New York when the administration relocated.
Fenno was a great admirer of President Washington's Federalist administration.
Supported by the large government printing contracts, Fenno's Gazette was the organ through which the administration's policies were communicated in a favorable way.
Fenno admitted to being a party mouthpiece: he said the paper's purpose was "to hold up the people's own government in a favorable point of light -- and ... by every exertion, to endear the general government to the people." 52
50 Miller, Hamilton, p. 352.
51 Stewart, Opposition Press, pp. 15, 17, 622.
52 Gazette of the United States, April 27, 1791.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION
Hamilton's sponsorship of the New York Evening Post reflects the fact that he came to discover the value of and necessity for a free press and not just those publications supportive of the party in power.
Yet he showed very little enthusiasm for the opposition press when he was a public official.
When Hamilton was criticized in the Republican press of the 1790's, he "too often acted as passion, rather than as reason, dictated."
"He was too apt to believe that he could overwhelm his enemies with a rhetorical onslaught, forgetting in his anger that it was at least as easy to write himself out of reputation as it was to destroy the good name of his adversary." 50
Writing himself out of reputation was exactly what he did in at least three episodes, the first being his involvement in a newspaper feud in Philadelphia.
In 1792 both the Federalists in power and their Republican competition were represented by newspapers, though the former had a distinct advantage in terms of numbers, financial support, and access to official reports.
In 1790 there were about ninety papers, but the Republican ones among them were outnumbered in the ratio of four to one until 1796.
In Boston the Independent Chronicle of Thomas Adams was Republican in sympathy, but its competition was Benjamin Russell's Columbian Centinel, whose 4,000 circulation figure was the largest in the nation during the Federalist period. 51
Of the twelve Philadelphia papers, two were Republican in sentiment, though not very forcefully so: Benjamin Franklin Bache's Pennsylvania Daily Advertiser (later to become effective as the Aurora) and John Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser.
The most powerful paper in Philadelphia, and the only national one, was John Fenno's Gazette of the United States, begun in 1789 and transported to the new capital from New York when the administration relocated.
Fenno was a great admirer of President Washington's Federalist administration.
Supported by the large government printing contracts, Fenno's Gazette was the organ through which the administration's policies were communicated in a favorable way.
Fenno admitted to being a party mouthpiece: he said the paper's purpose was "to hold up the people's own government in a favorable point of light -- and ... by every exertion, to endear the general government to the people." 52
50 Miller, Hamilton, p. 352.
51 Stewart, Opposition Press, pp. 15, 17, 622.
52 Gazette of the United States, April 27, 1791.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
A thirteenth Philadelphia paper, and an unlucky one for the Federalists, was soon to appear.
Then Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson hoped for a newspaper of comparable circulation and influence with Fenno's Gazette to articulate the Republican positions.
James Madison was also eager to see a Republican paper established and brought the name of Philip Freneau to Jefferson's attention.
Madison had roomed with Freneau at Princeton and could highly recommend his friend's literary talents as well as his democratic zeal.
Jefferson wrote Freneau when a position in the State Department became available.
He offered the post of clerk of foreign languages, for $250 a year, acknowledging the low pay but broadly hinting that the minimum amount of time required for the job would not interfere with any other activity the editor might have in mind.
But Freneau turned the offer down.
He had been planning to establish a paper in New Jersey and did not want to let his committed subscribers down.
He was also awaiting the birth of his first child, and perhaps he felt his knowledge of French alone did not quality him for the position.
Madison was not put off, however, and tried to persuade Freneau to reconsider during the spring.
Again the editor decided against the venture.
Jefferson was genuinely sorry.
He wrote a friend that "we have been trying to get another weekly or half—weekly set up ... so that it might go through the States and furnish a whig vehicle of intelligence."
"We hoped at one time to have persuaded Freneau to set up here, but failed." 53
A third attempt was made to persuade Freneau to come to Philadelphia and possibly a fourth. 54
When Freneau at last agreed, he did so because he had arranged for a firm financial base for a Philadelphia paper with publishers John Swaine and Francis Childs.
Swaine and Childs, with whom Freneau had worked at the New York Daily Advertiser, agreed to accept any losses, while Freneau was guaranteed one third of any profits.
This brief history of the genesis of the National Gazette, as Freneau was to name his paper, indicates that the State Department position of clerk played a minor role in Freneau's decision.
The $250 was probably "more bait than anchor." 55
The first issue of the National Gazette, which appeared on October 31,1791, left no doubt about who was responsible for its content: Freneau's name stood out at the top in large, bold type.
Its proposals promised a thorough, well-balanced, and patriotic paper.
There was to be complete domestic news, entertainment, coverage of the legislature, and foreign news collected from British, French, and Dutch newspapers.
Also promised were "such essays as have a tendency to promote the general interest of the Union." 56
Such a proposal sounded circumspect enough.
No one, including Freneau, could have anticipated the degree of antagonism the paper was soon to elicit from two Federalists -- Hamilton and his favored editor, Fenno.
The first months' issues appeared to be bipartisan.
There were essays by libertarians Thomas Paine, on the establishment of a mint, and Robespierre, on press freedom, but there was also Hamilton's Report on Manufactures, published in five successive issues without editorial comment.
Soon, however, the National Gazette's sympathies became more evident in columns that denunciated displays of nobility and wealth and that criticized the funding system and taxes and almost anything Hamilton did.
By 1792 the National Gazette's issues began to alarm Hamilton and Fenno.
Freneau suggested that "nothing but the perpetual jealousy of the governed has ever been found effectual against the machinations of ambition" (January 16).
While the people should of course be loyal to the government's authority, he
wrote, they should be loyal only" as delineated in the great charters, derived not from the usurped power of kings, but from the legitimate authority of the people" (January 19).
In the same issue, in an essay on nobility, the analogy was made that "the downfall of Nobility in France has operated like an early frost towards killing the germ of it in America."
53 "Letter to Edmund Randolph," May 15, 1792; cited by Harry H. Clark, Introduction to Poem of Freneau (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1929), p. 22.
54 See Philip M. Marsh, Philip Freneau: Poet and Journalist (Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1967), p. 142, and Jacob Axelrad, Philip Freneau: Champion of Democracy (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967), p. 206.
55[/b Axelrad, Champion of Democracy, p. 204.
56 National Gazette, October 31,1791. Further references will be dated in the narrative.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
A thirteenth Philadelphia paper, and an unlucky one for the Federalists, was soon to appear.
Then Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson hoped for a newspaper of comparable circulation and influence with Fenno's Gazette to articulate the Republican positions.
James Madison was also eager to see a Republican paper established and brought the name of Philip Freneau to Jefferson's attention.
Madison had roomed with Freneau at Princeton and could highly recommend his friend's literary talents as well as his democratic zeal.
Jefferson wrote Freneau when a position in the State Department became available.
He offered the post of clerk of foreign languages, for $250 a year, acknowledging the low pay but broadly hinting that the minimum amount of time required for the job would not interfere with any other activity the editor might have in mind.
But Freneau turned the offer down.
He had been planning to establish a paper in New Jersey and did not want to let his committed subscribers down.
He was also awaiting the birth of his first child, and perhaps he felt his knowledge of French alone did not quality him for the position.
Madison was not put off, however, and tried to persuade Freneau to reconsider during the spring.
Again the editor decided against the venture.
Jefferson was genuinely sorry.
He wrote a friend that "we have been trying to get another weekly or half—weekly set up ... so that it might go through the States and furnish a whig vehicle of intelligence."
"We hoped at one time to have persuaded Freneau to set up here, but failed." 53
A third attempt was made to persuade Freneau to come to Philadelphia and possibly a fourth. 54
When Freneau at last agreed, he did so because he had arranged for a firm financial base for a Philadelphia paper with publishers John Swaine and Francis Childs.
Swaine and Childs, with whom Freneau had worked at the New York Daily Advertiser, agreed to accept any losses, while Freneau was guaranteed one third of any profits.
This brief history of the genesis of the National Gazette, as Freneau was to name his paper, indicates that the State Department position of clerk played a minor role in Freneau's decision.
The $250 was probably "more bait than anchor." 55
The first issue of the National Gazette, which appeared on October 31,1791, left no doubt about who was responsible for its content: Freneau's name stood out at the top in large, bold type.
Its proposals promised a thorough, well-balanced, and patriotic paper.
There was to be complete domestic news, entertainment, coverage of the legislature, and foreign news collected from British, French, and Dutch newspapers.
Also promised were "such essays as have a tendency to promote the general interest of the Union." 56
Such a proposal sounded circumspect enough.
No one, including Freneau, could have anticipated the degree of antagonism the paper was soon to elicit from two Federalists -- Hamilton and his favored editor, Fenno.
The first months' issues appeared to be bipartisan.
There were essays by libertarians Thomas Paine, on the establishment of a mint, and Robespierre, on press freedom, but there was also Hamilton's Report on Manufactures, published in five successive issues without editorial comment.
Soon, however, the National Gazette's sympathies became more evident in columns that denunciated displays of nobility and wealth and that criticized the funding system and taxes and almost anything Hamilton did.
By 1792 the National Gazette's issues began to alarm Hamilton and Fenno.
Freneau suggested that "nothing but the perpetual jealousy of the governed has ever been found effectual against the machinations of ambition" (January 16).
While the people should of course be loyal to the government's authority, he
wrote, they should be loyal only" as delineated in the great charters, derived not from the usurped power of kings, but from the legitimate authority of the people" (January 19).
In the same issue, in an essay on nobility, the analogy was made that "the downfall of Nobility in France has operated like an early frost towards killing the germ of it in America."
53 "Letter to Edmund Randolph," May 15, 1792; cited by Harry H. Clark, Introduction to Poem of Freneau (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1929), p. 22.
54 See Philip M. Marsh, Philip Freneau: Poet and Journalist (Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1967), p. 142, and Jacob Axelrad, Philip Freneau: Champion of Democracy (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967), p. 206.
55[/b Axelrad, Champion of Democracy, p. 204.
56 National Gazette, October 31,1791. Further references will be dated in the narrative.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
Next, Freneau was so bold as to suggest that distinct parties might be a healthy element for a republican form of government in that they could serve as mutual checks (January 23).
These statements challenged the basic assumptions held by Washington's Federalist administration and they irritated Hamilton considerably.
The National Gazette stepped up its criticism.
In March "A Farmer" attacked the aristocratic appearance of the administration and "Brutus" began a series of attacks on the funding system.
In the spring, "Sidney" continued the attacks on Hamilton's actions as Secretary of the Treasury, particularly against the hated whiskey tax.
In defense of his cherished Secretary, Fenno tried to crush the democratic talk issuing from his new rival.
But he was no match for Freneau's satire and, worse, he often played into his competition's hands.
When, for instance, he accused the National Gazette of being supported by a faction, 57 Freneau could respond that this was certainly true if a faction meant "a very respectable number of anti-aristocratical and anti-monarchial people of the United States" (June 21).
When Fenno chauvinistically suggested that "a majority of [the abusers of government] are persons from other countries who having lately escaped from bondage, know not how to enjoy liberty," 58 Freneau took advantage of reaching the large foreign-born population.
He reported Fenno's opinion: "that you foreigners are a set of rebellious turbulent dogs" (June 11).
Fenno gave Freneau still another piece of bait by suggesting that "a king at the head of a nation to whom all men of property cling ... is able to crush the first rising against the laws." 59
To have the administration's own mouthpiece speak of the superiority of a king was tremendous grist for Freneau's libertarian mill.
Of all his favorite objects of attack, "it was Freneau's particular delight to rake Hamilton over the coals and to watch his reputation go up in smoke." 60
The Secretary of the Treasury had been watching the journalistic battle carefully.
The many accusations against his national funding system had damaged his reputation and had outraged the sensitive Hamilton.
And since he was not satisfied with Fenno's ability to answer Freneau adequately, he entered the press war personally, and as anonymously as ever.
57 Gazette of the United States, June 20,1792.
58 Gazette of the United States, June 9,1792.
59 Gazette of the United States, June 6,1792
60 Miller, Hamilton, p. 344.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
Next, Freneau was so bold as to suggest that distinct parties might be a healthy element for a republican form of government in that they could serve as mutual checks (January 23).
These statements challenged the basic assumptions held by Washington's Federalist administration and they irritated Hamilton considerably.
The National Gazette stepped up its criticism.
In March "A Farmer" attacked the aristocratic appearance of the administration and "Brutus" began a series of attacks on the funding system.
In the spring, "Sidney" continued the attacks on Hamilton's actions as Secretary of the Treasury, particularly against the hated whiskey tax.
In defense of his cherished Secretary, Fenno tried to crush the democratic talk issuing from his new rival.
But he was no match for Freneau's satire and, worse, he often played into his competition's hands.
When, for instance, he accused the National Gazette of being supported by a faction, 57 Freneau could respond that this was certainly true if a faction meant "a very respectable number of anti-aristocratical and anti-monarchial people of the United States" (June 21).
When Fenno chauvinistically suggested that "a majority of [the abusers of government] are persons from other countries who having lately escaped from bondage, know not how to enjoy liberty," 58 Freneau took advantage of reaching the large foreign-born population.
He reported Fenno's opinion: "that you foreigners are a set of rebellious turbulent dogs" (June 11).
Fenno gave Freneau still another piece of bait by suggesting that "a king at the head of a nation to whom all men of property cling ... is able to crush the first rising against the laws." 59
To have the administration's own mouthpiece speak of the superiority of a king was tremendous grist for Freneau's libertarian mill.
Of all his favorite objects of attack, "it was Freneau's particular delight to rake Hamilton over the coals and to watch his reputation go up in smoke." 60
The Secretary of the Treasury had been watching the journalistic battle carefully.
The many accusations against his national funding system had damaged his reputation and had outraged the sensitive Hamilton.
And since he was not satisfied with Fenno's ability to answer Freneau adequately, he entered the press war personally, and as anonymously as ever.
57 Gazette of the United States, June 20,1792.
58 Gazette of the United States, June 9,1792.
59 Gazette of the United States, June 6,1792
60 Miller, Hamilton, p. 344.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
There is no doubt that Hamilton genuinely believed the National Gazette was a threat to the stability and authority of the national government, always his main concern.
He wrote Vice-President John Adams of his suspicions.
"If you have seen some of the last numbers of the National Gazette," he wrote, "you will have perceived that the plot thickens, and that something very like a serious design to subvert the government discloses itself." 61
Hamilton suspected that Jefferson himself was trying to discredit him and his measures through the pages of the National Gazette.
Perhaps he underestimated Freneau's ability or the degree of his democratic passion.
Perhaps he put himself in Jefferson's place and concluded that he would have contributed to the paper.
At any rate, he suspected that his political archrival was at least dictating, if not writing, opinions for Freneau's paper.
With elections approaching in the fall, Hamilton felt compelled to stem the influence of the Republican journal by discrediting it.
He knew of Freneau's clerkship in the State Department and sought information about the origin of the National Gazette.
He asked a friend to do a little private investigating, supposedly for a mysterious third party.
Hamilton must have learned of Madison's talks with Freneau, since he later contacted his friend for further information.
"You will oblige me," he wrote Elias Boudinot, "by forwarding to me without delay the particulars of all the steps taken by Mr. Madison -- the when and the where -- and with liberty to use the name of the informant."
"His affidavit to the facts, if obtainable, would be of infinite value." 62
Who the informant was is not clear, but Hamilton must have had all the facts he needed when he wrote Colonel Edward Carrington in May that "it is reduced to a certainty that [Freneau] was brought to Philadelphia by Mr. Jefferson to be the conductor of a newspaper." 63
With his circumstantial case in hand, Hamilton set out to expose Freneauas a hired character assassin and his newspaper as Jefferson's own weapon.
He chose the initials "T.L." for his first challenge to the credibility of the National Gazette, which ran in the Gazette of the United States as follows:
The editor of the National Gazette receives a salary from government. Quere -- Whether this salary is paid him for translations, or for publications, the design of which is to villify those to whom the voice of the people has committed the administration of our public affairs -- to oppose the measures of government, and, by false insinuations, to disturb the public peace? In common life it is thought ungrateful for a man to bite the hand that puts bread in his mouth; but if the man is hired to do it, the case is altered. 64
Freneau was glad to reprint the challenge immediately, in his July 28 issue.
He assumed Fenno was behind the challenge.
After calling the inquiry "beneath reply," he went on to ask a question of his own.
How much, he asked, could the small stipend for translating work influence him?
Could it compare with the emoluments that Fenno received as government printer?
It was true that Fenno profited ten times more by the government than Freneau.
As official printer, he received about $2,500 a year
61 "Letter to John Adams," June 25, 1792, The Works of John Adams, ed., Charles Francis Adams, vol 8 ((Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1853), p. 514.
62 "Letter to Elias Boudinot," August 13, 1792, Works, vol. 10, p.14.
63 "Letter to Edward Carrington," May 26, 1792, Works, vol. 9, p.519.
64 Gazette of the United States, July 25, 1792, in Works, vol.7, p.229.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
There is no doubt that Hamilton genuinely believed the National Gazette was a threat to the stability and authority of the national government, always his main concern.
He wrote Vice-President John Adams of his suspicions.
"If you have seen some of the last numbers of the National Gazette," he wrote, "you will have perceived that the plot thickens, and that something very like a serious design to subvert the government discloses itself." 61
Hamilton suspected that Jefferson himself was trying to discredit him and his measures through the pages of the National Gazette.
Perhaps he underestimated Freneau's ability or the degree of his democratic passion.
Perhaps he put himself in Jefferson's place and concluded that he would have contributed to the paper.
At any rate, he suspected that his political archrival was at least dictating, if not writing, opinions for Freneau's paper.
With elections approaching in the fall, Hamilton felt compelled to stem the influence of the Republican journal by discrediting it.
He knew of Freneau's clerkship in the State Department and sought information about the origin of the National Gazette.
He asked a friend to do a little private investigating, supposedly for a mysterious third party.
Hamilton must have learned of Madison's talks with Freneau, since he later contacted his friend for further information.
"You will oblige me," he wrote Elias Boudinot, "by forwarding to me without delay the particulars of all the steps taken by Mr. Madison -- the when and the where -- and with liberty to use the name of the informant."
"His affidavit to the facts, if obtainable, would be of infinite value." 62
Who the informant was is not clear, but Hamilton must have had all the facts he needed when he wrote Colonel Edward Carrington in May that "it is reduced to a certainty that [Freneau] was brought to Philadelphia by Mr. Jefferson to be the conductor of a newspaper." 63
With his circumstantial case in hand, Hamilton set out to expose Freneauas a hired character assassin and his newspaper as Jefferson's own weapon.
He chose the initials "T.L." for his first challenge to the credibility of the National Gazette, which ran in the Gazette of the United States as follows:
The editor of the National Gazette receives a salary from government. Quere -- Whether this salary is paid him for translations, or for publications, the design of which is to villify those to whom the voice of the people has committed the administration of our public affairs -- to oppose the measures of government, and, by false insinuations, to disturb the public peace? In common life it is thought ungrateful for a man to bite the hand that puts bread in his mouth; but if the man is hired to do it, the case is altered. 64
Freneau was glad to reprint the challenge immediately, in his July 28 issue.
He assumed Fenno was behind the challenge.
After calling the inquiry "beneath reply," he went on to ask a question of his own.
How much, he asked, could the small stipend for translating work influence him?
Could it compare with the emoluments that Fenno received as government printer?
It was true that Fenno profited ten times more by the government than Freneau.
As official printer, he received about $2,500 a year
61 "Letter to John Adams," June 25, 1792, The Works of John Adams, ed., Charles Francis Adams, vol 8 ((Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1853), p. 514.
62 "Letter to Elias Boudinot," August 13, 1792, Works, vol. 10, p.14.
63 "Letter to Edward Carrington," May 26, 1792, Works, vol. 9, p.519.
64 Gazette of the United States, July 25, 1792, in Works, vol.7, p.229.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
A week later Hamilton appeared again, this time as "An American," and this time naming Jefferson as a pensioner of the National Gazette and dismissing Freneau as "the faithful and devoted servant of the head of a party, from whose hands he receives the boon." 65
He went on to accuse Jefferson of having opposed important features of the Constitution when he was in France, absurd charges which he later could not document.
At this, Freneau began to suspect the identity of the author.
He went to the Philadelphia mayor and swore to an affidavit which he sent to Fenno's Gazette on August 8.
He swore that no negotiations had been conducted with Jefferson for the establishment of a newspaper, which was technically true, and that he was never advised, influenced, or directed by the Secretary of State.
Not surprisingly, this affidavit did not satisfy Hamilton, who again appeared as "An American."
This time he leaked more of his information.
He said that Freneau might be correct about not having negotiated with Jefferson, but that arrangements had been made by a friend on behalf of the secretary.
He also suggested that Freneau could not possibly know where every unsolicited article for his paper originated.
He called the connection between the editor and the head of a department "indelicate and unfit."
Once again Freneau offered a response to Hamilton's charges.
Again he asked whether the small sum of $250 could influence an editor, especially since he had to personally pay for translations in German, Swedish, and Spanish out of his meager salary as translator.
He said it was the 1,300 subscriptions from honest and independent citizens which alone supported the National Gazette.
At this point President Washington, increasingly alarmed by the hostile atmosphere within his cabinet, attempted to still the battle.
He wrote essentially the same plea for harmony to each of his cabinet members.
He reminded Jefferson that "internal dissentions [are] harrowing and tearing our Vitals," and expressed the hope to Hamilton that "liberal allowances will be made for the political opinions of each other; and instead of those wounding suspicions, and irritating charges, with which some of our Gazettes are so strongly impregnated ... that there might be mutual forbearances and temporizing yieldings on all sides." 67
65 Gazette of the United States, August 4, 1792, in Works, vol. 7, p. 230.
66 Gazette of the United States, August 11, 1792, in Works, vol.7, p. 236.
67 "Letter to the Secretary of State," August 23, 1792, and "Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury," August 26, 1792, The Writings of George Washington, ed., John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 32 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1939), pp. 130, 133.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
A week later Hamilton appeared again, this time as "An American," and this time naming Jefferson as a pensioner of the National Gazette and dismissing Freneau as "the faithful and devoted servant of the head of a party, from whose hands he receives the boon." 65
He went on to accuse Jefferson of having opposed important features of the Constitution when he was in France, absurd charges which he later could not document.
At this, Freneau began to suspect the identity of the author.
He went to the Philadelphia mayor and swore to an affidavit which he sent to Fenno's Gazette on August 8.
He swore that no negotiations had been conducted with Jefferson for the establishment of a newspaper, which was technically true, and that he was never advised, influenced, or directed by the Secretary of State.
Not surprisingly, this affidavit did not satisfy Hamilton, who again appeared as "An American."
This time he leaked more of his information.
He said that Freneau might be correct about not having negotiated with Jefferson, but that arrangements had been made by a friend on behalf of the secretary.
He also suggested that Freneau could not possibly know where every unsolicited article for his paper originated.
He called the connection between the editor and the head of a department "indelicate and unfit."
Once again Freneau offered a response to Hamilton's charges.
Again he asked whether the small sum of $250 could influence an editor, especially since he had to personally pay for translations in German, Swedish, and Spanish out of his meager salary as translator.
He said it was the 1,300 subscriptions from honest and independent citizens which alone supported the National Gazette.
At this point President Washington, increasingly alarmed by the hostile atmosphere within his cabinet, attempted to still the battle.
He wrote essentially the same plea for harmony to each of his cabinet members.
He reminded Jefferson that "internal dissentions [are] harrowing and tearing our Vitals," and expressed the hope to Hamilton that "liberal allowances will be made for the political opinions of each other; and instead of those wounding suspicions, and irritating charges, with which some of our Gazettes are so strongly impregnated ... that there might be mutual forbearances and temporizing yieldings on all sides." 67
65 Gazette of the United States, August 4, 1792, in Works, vol. 7, p. 230.
66 Gazette of the United States, August 11, 1792, in Works, vol.7, p. 236.
67 "Letter to the Secretary of State," August 23, 1792, and "Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury," August 26, 1792, The Writings of George Washington, ed., John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 32 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1939), pp. 130, 133.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: HAMILTON ON THE PRESS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S USE, ABUSE, AND DEFENSE OF THE PRESS, continued ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
It is interesting that he mentioned the gazettes only in the letter to Hamilton, suggesting that he knew of the Treasury Secretary's direct contribution to the public feud.
Both cabinet officers responded to Washington's appeal by offering to resign, though it is likely that each hoped for the other's resignation.
Hamilton admitted to having "some instrumentality of late in the retaliations which have fallen upon certain public characters," but found himself unable "to recede for the present." 68
In his detailed reply, Jefferson admitted that he had procured subscriptions for Freneau's gazette and had supplied him with the Dutch Leyden Gazette as an additional news source.
But beyond that, he wrote, the rivalry between the two papers did not concern him -- a fairly transparent exaggeration.
He swore that he had never written or solicited a single sentence for any gazette, and questioned the dignity and decency of a government whose minister lowers himself into a press war as an anonymous writer. 69
Washington achieved at least a diminished degree of public hostility between his secretaries.
But the conflict continued in the papers.
Hamilton wrote six further pieces in the Gazette of the United States, variously as "Catallus," "Scourge," and "Metellus."
Throughout the period of Hamilton's offensive, Jefferson did not say a word publicly in his defense.
As a result of his silence, Hamilton became exasperated and "his tone became progressively more shrill and his allegations more extravagant as the dispute went on." 70
What defenses Jefferson made were in private correspondence, not only to Washington, but to friends, to whom he confided that he had resolved "never to write without subscribing my name" and "never to put a sentence into any newspaper.” 71
Jefferson did not lack defenders, however.
Besides Freneau's disclaimer, support came in the form of letters to the National Gazette and from the Boston Independent Chronicle, which was carrying on a miniature battle with the Federalist Columbian Centinel.
But the strongest defense of all came in a series of unsigned essays which first appeared in Dunlap's Daily American Advertiser and were reprinted in the Gazette of the United States between September 26 and January 5, 1793.
68 "Letter to Washington," September 9, 1892, Works, vol. 7, p. 304.
69 "Letter to Washington," September 9, 1792, Writings, vol. 8, pp. 403ff.
70 Miller, Hamilton, p. 347.
71 "Letter to Edmund Randolph, September 17, 1792. Writings, vol. 8, p. 411, and "Letter to Samuel Harrison Smith," August 22, 1792, Writings, vol. 14, p. 58.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
II. HAMILTON WRITES HIMSELF OUT OF REPUTATION, continued ...
It is interesting that he mentioned the gazettes only in the letter to Hamilton, suggesting that he knew of the Treasury Secretary's direct contribution to the public feud.
Both cabinet officers responded to Washington's appeal by offering to resign, though it is likely that each hoped for the other's resignation.
Hamilton admitted to having "some instrumentality of late in the retaliations which have fallen upon certain public characters," but found himself unable "to recede for the present." 68
In his detailed reply, Jefferson admitted that he had procured subscriptions for Freneau's gazette and had supplied him with the Dutch Leyden Gazette as an additional news source.
But beyond that, he wrote, the rivalry between the two papers did not concern him -- a fairly transparent exaggeration.
He swore that he had never written or solicited a single sentence for any gazette, and questioned the dignity and decency of a government whose minister lowers himself into a press war as an anonymous writer. 69
Washington achieved at least a diminished degree of public hostility between his secretaries.
But the conflict continued in the papers.
Hamilton wrote six further pieces in the Gazette of the United States, variously as "Catallus," "Scourge," and "Metellus."
Throughout the period of Hamilton's offensive, Jefferson did not say a word publicly in his defense.
As a result of his silence, Hamilton became exasperated and "his tone became progressively more shrill and his allegations more extravagant as the dispute went on." 70
What defenses Jefferson made were in private correspondence, not only to Washington, but to friends, to whom he confided that he had resolved "never to write without subscribing my name" and "never to put a sentence into any newspaper.” 71
Jefferson did not lack defenders, however.
Besides Freneau's disclaimer, support came in the form of letters to the National Gazette and from the Boston Independent Chronicle, which was carrying on a miniature battle with the Federalist Columbian Centinel.
But the strongest defense of all came in a series of unsigned essays which first appeared in Dunlap's Daily American Advertiser and were reprinted in the Gazette of the United States between September 26 and January 5, 1793.
68 "Letter to Washington," September 9, 1892, Works, vol. 7, p. 304.
69 "Letter to Washington," September 9, 1792, Writings, vol. 8, pp. 403ff.
70 Miller, Hamilton, p. 347.
71 "Letter to Edmund Randolph, September 17, 1792. Writings, vol. 8, p. 411, and "Letter to Samuel Harrison Smith," August 22, 1792, Writings, vol. 14, p. 58.
TO BE CONTINUED ...