Chapter IV: The Illuminati Agitation in New England (5)

That this is not idle fancy the following utterances will help to make clear. At Middletown, Connecticut, a few days after Washington’s death, a Masonic oration was pronounced in connection with the observance of the festival of St. John the Evangelist.[922] The orator, who recognized the season as one of unremitting calumny of Freemasonry,[923] sought refuge from the strife of tongues for himself and his brethren by urging the following sentiment:

If what Barruel has suggested of our institution is true; if it is
among US that Jesus Christ is daily sacrificed, and all religion
scoffed at; if our principles and doctrines, either in theory or
practice, have a tendency to destroy the bonds of nature and of
government; how could Washington, that _Perfect Man_, when his feet
were stumbling upon the dark mountains of death, say, “I am ready
to die,” until he had warned the world to beware of the Masonic
institution and its consequences? He was a thorough investigator,
and a faithful follower of our doctrines.[924]

To this must be added the somewhat different apologetic of a prominent Massachusetts Mason. Speaking at Dorchester, at a Masonic service in Washington’s memory, the Reverend Thaddeus Mason Harris acknowledged the value of Washington’s connection with American Freemasonry in these words:

The honor thus conferred upon us has been peculiarly serviceable
at the present day, when the most unfounded prejudices have been
harbored against Freemasonary, and the most calumnious impeachments
brought forward to destroy it. But our opposers blushed for the
censures when we reminded them that Washington loved and patronized
the institution.[925]

Washington’s Masonic career, Masonry’s uncontested claim to the right to be first among those who mourned at his burial,—these constituted a part, and a very substantial part of the demurrer which Freemasonry offered at the bar of public judgment in answer to its accusers. It is very certain that after the reinstatement in public favor which American Masonry was accorded when Washington was buried, the voice of censure was less and less disposed to be heard.[926]

NOTE.—The fiction of an alliance between American Freemasonry
and the Illuminati had a curious revival in connection with the
antimasonic excitement which swept the United States from 1826 to
about 1832. The mysterious abduction of William Morgan had the
effect of arousing the country to the peril of secret societies,
the Masons particularly. The Antimasonic party for this and
other reasons sprang into existence, and an elaborate political
propaganda and program were attempted. See McCarthy, Charles, _The
Antimasonic Party: a Study of Political Antimasonry in the United
States, 1827–1840_. In Annual Report of the American Historical
Association, 1902, vol. i, pp. 365–574. In connection with the
Antimasonic conventions that were held in various states, efforts
were made to establish a connection between American Masonry and
Illuminism. Thus, in the state convention held in Massachusetts
in 1828–1829, a committee was appointed “to inquire how far
Freemasonry and French Illuminism are

connected.” This committee brought in a report establishing to the
satisfaction of the convention that there was a direct connection
between the two systems, and resulting in the passing of the
following resolution: “Resolved, on the report of the Committee
appointed to inquire how far Free Masonry and French Illuminism
are connected, That _there is evidence_ of an intimate connexion
between the higher orders of Free Masonry and French Illuminism.”
_Cf._ _An Abstract of the Proceedings of the Anti-Masonic State
Convention of Massachusetts, held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, Dec. 30
and 31, 1829, and Jan. 1, 1830._ Boston, 1830, p. 5. On the ground
that the length of the committee’s report made it inadvisable, the
publishing committee deemed it inexpedient to print the “evidence.”

The Vermont Antimasonic state convention of 1830 wrestled with
the same question. Its committee brought in a report so naively
suggestive as to merit notice. Citing the agitation that arose on
account of the literary efforts of “Robison and Barruel in Europe,
and Morse, Payson, and others in America,” the committee expressed
its judgment that those works “called Masonry in question in a
manner which if assumed on any other topic, would have called forth
disquisition and remark on the subject matter of these writings
from every editor in the union; yet the spirit of inquiry, which
these able performances were calculated to raise, was soon and
unaccountably quelled—the press was mute as the voice of the
strangled sentinel and the mass of the people kept in ignorance
that an alarm on the subject of Masonry had ever been sounded, or
even that these works had ever existed.” See _Proceedings of the
Anti-Masonic State Convention, holden at Montpelier, June 23, 24, &
25, 1830. Reports and Addresses._ Middlebury, 1830.

An exploration of the literature of the Antimasonic party yields
nothing more significant. This literature as listed by McCarthy may
be found on pp. 560–574 of the _Report of the American Historical
Association for 1902_, vol. i.

FOOTNOTES:

[862] Mackey, _Lexicon and History of Freemasonry_, pp. 183 _et seq._ One of the most active and influential New England Masons of the period was the Reverend William Bentley. The following references in his _Diary_ throw light upon this phase of the situation: vol. ii, pp. 6–8, 11, 12. _Cf._ also Myer’s _History of Free Masonry and Its Progress in the United States_, p. 15.

[863] _Cf._ for example, a small volume entitled, _Eulogium and Vindication of Masonry. Selected (and Improved) from Various Writers_, Philadelphia, 1792. The following excerpt is fairly typical: “There are brethren who, careless of their own reputation, disregard the instinctive lessons of our noble science, and by yielding to vice and intemperance, not only disgrace themselves, but reflect dishonor upon Masonry in general. It is this unfortunate circumstance which has given rise to those severe and unjust reflections, which the prejudiced part of mankind have so illiberally bestowed upon us.” (_Ibid._, p. 11. _Cf. ibid._, p. 19.) This representation of the case is fully confirmed by _The Freemason’s Monitor; or Illustrations of Masonry: in Two Parts_. By a Royal Arch Mason ... Albany, 1797, pp. 18 _et seq._. The following sermon, delivered by a non-Mason, is also suggestive in this connection: _A Discourse delivered in the New Presbyterian Church, New York: Before the Grand Lodge of the State of New York ... June 24th, 1795_. By Samuel Miller, one of the Ministers of the United Presbyterian Churches in the City of New York, 1795. Miller dwelt at length upon the suspicion and prejudice that existed against the Masons, due, as he argued, to (1) the order’s veil of secrecy, (2) the number of men who have been admitted to membership who were known to be the open enemies of religion and morality and a disgrace to human nature itself, and (3) the “scenes of vanity and folly” and “the froth of nonsense” by which too many Masonic gatherings were characterized. _Cf. ibid._, pp. 25 _et seq._ Despite the fact that the sermon was full of frankest criticism, Miller’s composition was ordered printed by the Grand Lodge, doubtless for the principal reason that he had been at pains to distinguish between _genuine_ and _spurious_ Masons. Thaddeus Harris, a prominent Massachusetts Mason, in a sermon preached at the consecration at a lodge at Groton, Mass., Aug. 9, 1797, took account of the same criticism of the order. _Cf._ also, Bentley’s _Diary_, vol. i, p. 379. Reference to such Masonic compilations as _The Vocal Companion and Masonic Register_, Boston, 1802, and _The Maryland Ahiman Rezon of Free and Accepted Masons_ ... Baltimore, 1797, will not leave the reader in doubt that a good deal of the poetry and music employed in the lodges was excessively hilarious and coarse.

[864] In addition to the sermons of Miller and Harris cited in the foregoing note, _cf._ _A Discourse on the Origin, Progress and Design of Free Masonry. Delivered at the Meeting-House in Charlestown, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the Anniversary of St. John the Baptist, June 24, A. D. 1793._ By Josiah Bartlett, M. B., Boston, 1793. p. 17. The Rev. Ashbel Baldwin, chaplain of the grand lodge of Connecticut, in 1797, came to the defence of Masonry against the same charge. _Cf._ _The Records of Free Masonry in the State of Connecticut, etc._ By E. G. Storer, Grand Secretary, New Haven, 1859, vol. i, pp. 97 _et seq._

[865] Jedediah Morse’s efforts, in his fast sermon at May 9, 1798, to avoid giving mortal offence to the Masons of New England, have already been noted. See _supra_, LLLpp. 235 _et seq._ As Robison had sought to exculpate the Masons of England, so Morse sought to exculpate the Masons of “the Eastern States.” We shall see plenty of evidence, however, that New England Masons were not deceived. From the first they recognized with more or less clearness that _Masonry_ itself was involved. The good name and integrity of their entire institution were at stake.

[866] General Joseph Warren, the Revolutionary patriot and hero, who fell at Bunker Hill, one of the most honored leaders of American Freemasonry.

[867] _Cf._ _Columbian Centinel_, June 30, 1798; also _Massachusetts Mercury_, Aug. 21, 1798, for the address of the Grand Lodge in full, together with the President’s cordial response.

[868] Harris was Past Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge and Chaplain of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Massachusetts.

[869] _A Charge delivered before the Morning Star Lodge, in Worcester, Massachusetts, upon the festival of Saint John the Baptist, June 25, A. L. 5798._ By the Rev. Brother William Bentley, of Salem, Massachusetts. Worcester, June, A. L. 5798. (The initials A. L. in the foregoing title stand for _Anno Lucis_, and represent a common Masonic usage). This charge not only found independent publication, but got into the New England newspapers generally, and did much to distinguish its author as a bold defender of the craft.

[870] _Ibid._, p. 9.

[871] Bentley, _op. cit._, p. 16.

[872] _Ibid._, pp. 22 _et seq._

[873] _Ibid._, p. 31. Bentley rarely, if ever, made as generous a reference to Morse from this time on. His resentment toward the chief calumniator of Masonry, as Morse came to be regarded, grew apace.

[874] _Discourses, delivered on Public Occasions, Illustrating the Principles, Displaying the Tendency, and Vindicating the Design of Freemasonry._ By Thaddeus Mason Harris.... Charlestown, Anno Lucis, 1801.

[875] Harris, _op. cit._, pp. 51 _et seq._

[876] _Ibid._, _Discourses ii_, _vii_, _viii_, and _x_, particularly.

[877] This became one of the terms by which Bentley was alluded to.

[878] _A Sermon delivered before the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, at a Public Installation of Officers of Corinthian Lodge, at Concord, ... June 25, 1798._ By Jedediah Morse, D. D., minister of the congregation in Charlestown (n. d.).

[879] _An Oration, delivered before the Right Worshipful Master and Brethren of St. Peter’s Lodge, at the Episcopal Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on the festival of St. John the Baptist; celebrated June 25, 5798._ By Worshipful Brother Charles Jackson, P. M., Newburyport, March, A. L. 5799.

[880] _Ibid._, p. 18.

[881] _Ibid._, p. 17.

[882] _Ibid._, pp. 19 _et seq._

[883] _Ibid._, p. 23.

[884] _Cf. supra_, pp. 254 _et seq._

[885] _Massachusetts Mercury_, Aug. 7, 1798. Bartlett was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.

[886] _Ibid._

[887] In his address before the Worcester Lodge, June 25, Bentley had gone so far as to designate Morse “a madman” for accepting Robison’s book at its face value. This led to a retort in kind on the part of Morse. Bentley, according to Morse, was incapable of making himself understood; one must always have a commentator in reading him. _Massachusetts Mercury_, Aug. 3, 1798.

[888] _Ibid._, Aug. 10, 1798.

[889] _Ibid._, Sept. 7, 1798.

[890] _Massachusetts Mercury_, Sept. 18, 1798.

[891] _Ibid._

[892] The Masons appear to have paid little if any attention to the thanksgiving sermon of November 29, 1798. There was little reason why they should.

[893] See _Salem Gazette_, Dec. 25, 1798.

[894] _Salem Gazette_, Dec. 25, 1798.

[895] _Ibid._

[896] _Salem Gazette_, Dec. 25, 1798.

[897] Hayden, _Washington and His Masonic Compeers_, p. 176.

[898] _Ibid._, pp. 176 _et seq._

[899] The address of the Maryland Grand Lodge was presented early in June, 1798. The President’s response followed in due course. Both documents were freely copied in the newspapers of the day, the New England papers not excepted. _Cf._ for example, the _Salem Gazette_, Aug. 10, 1798.

[900] _An Address, delivered in Essex Lodge, Massachusetts, Dec. 27, 5798 (1798), on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, at the induction of officers._ By William Bentley. Essex Lodge was located at Salem, Bentley’s home. The address may be found in the Freemason’s Magazine, February, 1812, pp. 333 _et seq._ Bentley’s further reflections upon President Adams’s unsatisfactory response to the Vermont Grand Lodge led him to make even more pointed observations. Under date of Feb. 4, 1799, he wrote in his diary: “My address to Essex Lodge out of press. Pres. A. talks like a boy about the danger of the institution. Men of sense who ridicule or oppose the Institution are surprised at his simplicity. If he affects to be afraid, he loosens by the pretence because indifferent persons consider it as a weakness & his judgment suffers, so that he gets neither aid nor confidence.” (_Diary_, vol. ii, p. 296.)

[901] _An Oration, delivered in the Meeting house of the First Parish in Portland, Monday, June 24th, 5799 ... in celebration of the anniversary festival of St. John the Baptist._ By Brother Amos Stoddard ... Portland, 1799.

[902] _Ibid._, p. 9.

[903] _Ibid._, p. 10.

[904] _Ibid._

[905] _Ibid._

[906] _A Sermon delivered before Mount Moriah Lodge: at Reading in the County of Middlesex; at the celebration of St. John: June 24th, A. D. 1799._ By Caleb Prentiss, A. M., pastor of the First Parish in said town ... Leominster (Mass.) ... Anno Lucis, 5799.

[907] Prentiss, _op. cit._, pp. 12, 13.

[908] _A Sermon, at the Consecration of the Social Lodge in Ashby, and the Installation of its Officers, June 24, A. D. 1799._ By Seth Payson, A. M., pastor of the church in Rindge, Amherst, N. H. 1800.

[909] _Cf. supra_, p. 321.

[910] Payson’s _Sermon_, p. 8.

[911] Payson’s _Sermon_, p. 9.

[912] _Ibid._

[913] Bentley, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 316.

[914] _Ibid._

[915] _The Secrets of Masonry Illustrated and Explained; in a Discourse, preached at South-Kingston, before the Grand Lodge of the State of Rhode-Island, etc., September 3d, A. L. 5799._ By Abraham L. Clark, A. M., rector of St. John’s Church, Providence. Providence, 1799. p. 13.

[916] _An Address, delivered December 18, 1799. Before the Brethren of Montgomery Lodge; at their Masonic Hall in Franklin...._ By Brother James Mann, P. M. Wrentham, 1800, p. 16.

[917] _Masonry in Its Glory: or Solomon’s Temple Illuminated._ By David Austin, Jun.: Citizen of the World. East-Windsor, Connecticut, 1800, p. 32. _Cf._ _An Oration, pronounced at Walpole, Newhampshire_ [_sic_] _before the Jerusalem, Golden Rule and Olive Branch Lodges of Free and Accepted Masons, at their celebration of the festival of St. John the Baptist, June 24th, A. L. 5800_. By Brother Martin Field, A. B. Putney, October, 1800.

[918] _An Oration pronounced before the Right Worshipful Master & Brethren of St. Peter’s Lodge, at the Episcopal Church in Newburyport, on the festival of St. John the Baptist, June 24th, 5802._ By Brother Michael Hodge, Jun. P. M. Newburyport, ... 5802, p. 12.

[919] _An Address, delivered before the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, Dec. 27th, A. L. 5805...._ By Henry Maurice Lisle, P. M. R. A. C. and Master of Union Lodge, Dorchester. Boston, 1805, pp. 14 _et seq._

[920] Bentley, _Diary_, vol. iii, p. 228.

[921] _An Address, delivered at the Grand Convention of the Free Masons of the State of Maryland; held on the 10th May, 1802,—in which the observance of secrecy is vindicated, and the principal objections of Professor Robison against the institution, are candidly considered._ By John Crawford, M. D., Grand Master. Baltimore, 1802, pp. 5, 8, 9, 30.—In this connection, the following table showing the numerical increase of certain Massachusetts lodges during the period 1794–1802, compiled from the records of these lodges as contained in their published histories, will be of interest. In three instances, _viz._, St. John’s, Corinthian and Columbian, both those who received membership and those who took degrees are included.

_1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802_

St John’s, Boston 11 11 6 23 3 0 31 14 14
Tyrian, Gloucester 5 11 2 3 3 3 5 3 2
Essex, Salem 2 2 1 8 7 1 9 8 8
Washington, Roxbury
(constituted in 1796) 13 10 13 10 6 5
King Solomon’s,
Charlestown 7 14 7 7 4 5 7 4 1
Corinthian, Concord
(constituted in 1797) 28 27* 5 17 16 16
Colombian, Boston
(constituted in 1795) 10 51 25 23 19 25 52 21
St. Andrews, Royal
Arch, Boston 1 7 7 6 10† 3 14 3 5
-- -- -- --- -- -- --- --- --
Totals 26‡ 55‡ 74‡ 113 87 49 118 106 72

* Only one new member admitted after May.
† Only one new member admitted after Sept. 3.
‡ Incomplete.

[922] _A Masonic Oration, pronounced on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, December 26, 1799.... In Middletown._ By Alexander Collins, Esq. Middletown, 1800.

[923] _Ibid._, p. 5.

[924] _Ibid._, p. 15. An interesting episode in Washington’s Masonic career may here be alluded to. In the summer of 1798, the Reverend G. W. Snyder, a Lutheran clergyman of Frederickstown, Md., wrote Washington, expressing his fear that Illuminism might possibly gain an entrance into the American lodges and appealing to Washington to exert himself to prevent such an unhappy consummation. Snyder accompanied his letter with a copy of Robison’s _Proofs of a Conspiracy_. Washington replied to Snyder’s letter to the effect that he had heard much about “the nefarious and dangerous plan and doctrines of the Illuminati,” but that he did not believe the lodges of this country had become contaminated thereby. Later Snyder again addressed Washington on the subject, expressing surprise that the latter was doubtful concerning the spread of the doctrines of Illuminism in this country. To this Washington made answer that he had not intended to impart the impression by his former letter “that the doctrines of the Illuminati and the principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States.” On the contrary, he professed himself fully satisfied on that point. But what he had meant to say formerly was this: he “did not believe that the lodges of freemasons in this country had, as societies, endeavoured to propagate the diabolical tenets of the former, or pernicious principles of the latter.” (_Cf._ Sparks, _The Writings of Washington_, vol. xi, pp. 314 _et seq._, 377. _Cf._ Hayden, _Washington and His Masonic Compeers_, pp. 177–189.) A recent study of this correspondence has appeared. _Cf._ Sachse, _Washington’s Masonic Correspondence_, Philadelphia, 1915, pp. 117–139. The author manifests undue eagerness to acquit Washington of serious interest in the controversy over the Illuminati. His unnecessary emphasis upon Snyder’s private character, his remark that Brother Washington evidently surmised that this letter from Snyder was nothing more or less than a scheme to entrap him” (_Ibid._, p. 124), and his characterization of Washington’s second letter to Snyder as “sharp,” all strongly imply that Sachse failed to view the episode in its true setting. That Washington had a genuine interest in the controversy over the Illuminati the following letter gives added proof:

“Mount Vernon, 28th Feb^y, 1799.
Rev. Sir,

The letter with which you were pleased to favor me, dated the first
instant, accompanying your thanksgiving sermon, came duly to hand.

For the latter I pray you to accept my thanks.—I have read it,
and the Appendix with pleasure, and wish the latter, at least,
could meet a more general circulation than it probably will have,
for it contains important information, as little known, out of a
small circle as the dissemination of it would be useful, if spread
through the community.

With great respect,
I am,—Revd. Sir,
Your most Obdt. Servant,
G^o. Washington.”
The Rev^d. M^r. Morse

_Washington Collection_, New York Public Library. Washington’s copy of Morse’s sermon may be found in the Athenaeum, Boston.

[925] _The Fraternal Tribute of Respect Paid to the Masonic Character of Washington, in the Union League, in Dorchester, January 7th., A. L. 5800._ Charlestown, 1800, p. 11. (The address appeared anonymously.)

[926] Charlestown Masons went so far as to hold out the olive branch of peace and good-will to Morse, in connection with the Masonic mourning which followed Washington’s death. It is recorded that the lodge in Charlestown presented to Morse the cloth which for a time hung under the portrait of its “beloved Brother, George Washington.” The gift was gratefully accepted by Morse and was made into a coat which he afterwards wore. _Cf._ _By-Laws of King Solomon’s Lodge, Charlestown, etc._ Boston, 1885, p. 83.

5. ATTEMPTS OF DEMOCRATS TO FIX THE COUNTERCHARGE
OF ILLUMINISM UPON THE FEDERALISTS

By 1798 and 1799 the alignment of political parties in New England had arrived at such a stage that the suspicion of political jockeying to obtain party advantage was well grounded in the minds of leaders in both camps. This self-conscious and determined party spirit had been greatly promoted by the employment of electioneering methods.[927] The general public had not yet become accustomed to the precise significance of the broadside, the political pamphlet, and the newspaper canard; and these all, in a copious stream, had begun to flow from the country’s presses. Party leaders, however, who knew the purposes of their own minds if not those of the opposition, were quick to scent anything that savored of political buncombe.

Coincident with the breaking out of the controversy over the Illuminati, a number of tales of plots or conspiracies were foisted upon the public.[928] One of these concerned a band of conspirators who were alleged to be agents of the French Directory, and who, with their secret documents concealed in the false bottom of two tubs, had taken ship from Hamburg to work sedition in this country.[929] Another concerned the operations of a tailor in the city of Philadelphia, of whom the report spread that he was engaged in making immense quantities of uniforms for French soldiers; and if for French soldiers, for whom could they be intended but for some French army which must be planning an invasion of the United States? A third tale had to do with the massacre which, rumor had it, had taken place on the good American ship Ocean, involving the brutal butchery of her entire crew by the French.[930]

All these preposterous “plots” were promptly exploded, and in due course all were traced to Federalist sources. The general effect upon the opposition scarcely needs to be stated. Such silly tales, said one Democrat, discredit everything that the Federalists affirm to be true.[931] They all had been artfully concocted and employed, said another, “to excite an indignation which might be played off for the purposes of party.”[932] They were so many alarm-bells, a third said,[933] rung, we may add, to frighten the people into running to prop up the bowing walls and tottering pillars of the doomed temple of Federalism.

This mood of scepticism, imbedded as it was in a more serious mood of indignation arising from the rebuffs and discomfitures that citizens of democratic tastes and principles had long suffered at the hands of Federalist bigotry and intolerance, rendered it inevitable that the charge of Illuminism should be suspect from the first. One has but to recall that the year in which the controversy over the Illuminati broke out has still its characterization in political annals as “the reign of terror,” to appreciate fully the statement that has just been made.

Beginning with 1799 a small group of pamphlets appeared, dedicated by their authors to an effort to convert the charge of Illuminism into a political boomerang, to be employed as a weapon against the Federalists. Conspicuous among these, and perhaps first in point of time, was _A View of the New England Illuminati_,[934] an anonymous composition, but one whose authorship was soon traced to the Reverend John Cosens Ogden,[935] an Episcopal clergyman.

Ogden wielded the pen of a ready and discursive writer, the latter more especially. To follow him step by step as he ranged from Barruel and Robison to meetings of New England ministers, from meetings of New England ministers to ecclesiastical usurpations, from ecclesiastical usurpations to the French Revolution, from the French Revolution to high-handed measures taken by New England college presidents, and so on _ad infinitum_, and the while to take equal account of all he touched upon, would be a formidable and, we may believe, largely unprofitable exercise. And yet, through a good deal of Ogden’s pamphlet the spirit of ecclesiastical and political dissent finds a certain earnest and even vivid expression.

It is true, said Ogden at the outset, that New England had its Illuminati. They were not, however, such as Robison and Barruel would represent them to be. The New England societies of the Illuminati were the monthly meetings of the clergy.[936] The work they did and the influence they exerted were so like the work and influence of the societies of which Robison and Barruel wrote that they deserved to be styled the New England Illuminati: readers could judge for themselves as to the appositeness of the title thus bestowed.[937] Their confederacy had been so successful that certain opulent and leading laymen, who supremely desired to perpetuate the union of church and state in New England, had lent to these clerical organizations their fostering care and support.[938] At these monthly clubs, the political issues of the times were discussed and prayers and orations filled with invectives against those who had not adopted the creeds and politics of the members were delivered.[939]

That which first gave offence to these clubs was the establishment of universal religious toleration in Canada and the petition of the Episcopalians inhabiting the colonies—now the United States—to their brethren in England, that a Protestant bishop might be granted them who would live in their midst.[940] To defeat these measures, the New England Illuminati were indefatigably busy; and when they discovered that they were foiled in their efforts, they languished for a season,[941] until the French Revolution stirred them to new life.

When the Revolution began in France, these New England Illuminated Clubs redoubled their energies. They prayed, they exhorted, they wrote and printed numerous dissertations and prophecies, all emphasizing the import of the Revolution as signalizing the overthrow of the Church of Rome, which was Antichrist, and of the Pope, who was the Beast of the Apocalypse, preparatory to the fulfilment of the eternal decree respecting the Millennium.[942] Everything that the clergy did at this time smacked loudly of their excessive interest in French affairs. In order more fully to influence public opinion they took the colleges into their confederacy, and soon teachers and pupils were busy disseminating throughout the land principles and prejudices favorable to the Revolution in France.[943] Nothing was omitted that might have been done to cement an attachment to the cause of the Revolution.

The fluctuating events of the European wars and the uncertain issue of French affairs soon cooled the ardor of these clerico-political societies.[944] For these men were not sincere in their devotion to France. They were not genuine supporters of the rights of man. They repudiated their former interest in French politics and turned fiercely upon those who maintained their interest in the principles of the Revolution. These men had but one interest. What they desired was _power_, a millennium in which the money and liberties of all men should be laid at the feet of the colleges and of the Illuminati Clubs.[945]

Such was the general indictment that Ogden drew. This attended to, he proceeded to file a bill of particulars.

The clergy, who constituted the predominating element in these New England Illuminati Clubs, from the first had occupied a position of commanding influence in New England. But the clergy _from the first_ had steadily kept the people at a distance.[946] They courted the rich and schemed to obtain political influence. They united to themselves a formidable body from among the laity, who looked to them for votes and preferments. They freely wielded the weapons of ecclesiastical censure and discipline in efforts to coerce those who would not sell their consciences for gold or political honors.[947] In the army and the navy _their_ sons and favorites received promotion; and in the distribution of college diplomas, because of the same influence, men were honored who could not construe the Latin parchments they received.[948]

Nominations to magistracies had been handed about by the arrogant members of these Illuminated Clubs, and good men of the opposition had been denounced by them at the polls.[949] By the same forces the public press had been deprived of its freedom and the channels of public communication diverted to serve unworthy ends.[950] Missionaries had been sent to frontier communities in the various states, not to propagate religion, but to extend the influence and to increase the power of the societies whose agents they were.[951] The destruction of dissenting bodies had been aimed at and the cause of universal liberty of conscience spurned as an odious thing.[952]

In their efforts to control the instruments of education, the representatives of these Illuminated Clubs had manifested the same illiberal and contracted policy. Public attention had artfully been withdrawn from the schools of the yeomanry and centered upon the colleges which the Illuminati controlled.[953] Some of these institutions had shown themselves subservient in the extreme. The clergy and corporation of Yale had been so narrow as to cause philanthropists to turn the gifts they intended for that institution into other channels, to Harvard particularly.[954] At Dartmouth a spirit quite as contemptible had prevailed.[955] Fortunately the school at Cambridge had escaped from the clutches of these bigoted men. Columbia, too, had recently been placed upon a more liberal foundation, but not without having incurred the hostility of the Illuminati.[956] Everywhere, indeed, that the Edwardean theology was not permitted to flourish unmolested, there the hostility of the New England Illuminati was felt.[957] Venerable, learned, and experienced Catholic, Episcopal, and Baptist clergymen were roughly thrust aside at the seats of learning where these men had control, and dapper young parsons “with neat gowns and bands, and degrees of Doctor of Divinity, bought and obtained by the influence of rich merchants”[958] were permitted to supersede them.

There was no place into which the influence of these men had gone where contentions and persecutions had not followed.[959] But few interruptions of the public tranquility had occurred that could not be traced directly to their door. No hand of sympathy or conciliation had ever been held out by them to the opposition.[960] Should some political despot enlist these men under his banner, disaster would overtake our religion, government, liberty, and property; anarchy and destruction would overspread a land saved by the valor of freemen, by the blood of the fathers.[961]

What, therefore, was to be done with such contumacious and intolerable men? Ogden’s answer sounds surprisingly moderate, in view of the extent to which the iron of bitterness had entered his soul:

If the New-England Illuminati proceed unheeded and uncontrolled,
this nation will constantly experience the pernicious effects of
discord and popular discontent. Wars at home, tumults abroad, the
degradation of legislatures, judges and jurors, will be our daily
portion.... To dissolve or abolish those societies or clubs would
not be to infringe upon the rights of conscience: to counteract
them is to establish law and peace.[962]

Such was Ogden’s effort to brand the Standing Order of New England with the hateful mark of the Illuminati.[963] His endeavor was supplemented by the oratorical and literary effusions of Connecticut’s most shrewd and impudent Democrat, Abraham Bishop, of New Haven. In the course of a year, beginning with September, 1800, Bishop delivered, and later expanded and printed, three orations,[964] in each of which he drew heavily upon his by no means meagre resources of logic, wit, irony, and boldness, to arraign Connecticut Federalism as a hideous conspiracy against the peace of the state and the liberties of the people.

The first of these orations had something of a history, not very extraordinary to be sure, and yet unique enough to throw some light upon the mettle of the man and the nature of the opposition that inflamed his passion. The Phi Beta Kappa Society of Yale College appointed Bishop its orator for the year 1800, in connection with the commencement exercises of the college, then held in the month of September. Exercising the traditional right of selecting his own subject, Bishop elected to prepare an oration on “The Extent and Power of Political Delusion,” instead of writing on “broken glass, dried insects, petrifactions, or any such _literary_ themes,” as he afterwards intimated the Federalists doubtless had expected.[965] The labor of composition completed, Bishop showed his manuscript to the secretary of the society, only to be informed later that on account of the political character of his effort his appointment as orator had been rescinded by the society. Not to be routed by any such expert generalship on the part of the enemy, Bishop rallied his Democratic friends, procured a hall, and on the evening of the Phi Beta Kappa exercises, held forth in the presence of an audience of very gratifying proportions.[966]

And what had Abraham Bishop to say on “The Extent and Power of Political Delusion” which in the view of the Phi Beta Kappas amounted to an abuse of “the confidence of the Society, ... involving the members in that political turmoil which disgraces our country”?[967] Much in every way. He devoted several scores of pages to an exposition of the delusive arts of the “friends of order,” which, being interpreted, meant the knavery of the Federalists throughout the country in general and in Connecticut in particular. The major portion of his “argument” need not detain us, since Bishop ran the full gamut of political crimination, charging upon the Federalists an amount of deception and chicanery truly appalling. One item only is of interest to us. Among the endless “delusions” that he cited as evidence of the hypocrisy of the Federalists was the clergy’s habit of waiving the sacerdotal functions, descending from their high seats made venerable by the respect of the people for religion, and imposing upon their auditories political sermons based upon texts drawn from Robison and Barruel.[968] Happily, he continued, the people were able to penetrate this stratagem, along with the rest.

Robison and Barruel can deceive us no more. The 17 sophistical
work-shops of Satan have never been found: not one illuminatus
major or minor has been discovered in America, though their names
have been published, and though their existence here is as clearly
proved as was their existence in Europe.[969]

But Bishop’s thought upon the subject of the Illuminati had not yet fully ripened.[970] The circumstances under which this virgin effort of his was executed added considerably to his reputation; so much so that when at the end of the following winter the Democrats of Wallingford adopted the irreverent suggestion of holding a public thanksgiving to celebrate the election of Thomas Jefferson to the presidency, Bishop was asked to be one of the mouthpieces of their joy on that occasion. The ground over which Bishop traveled in the Wallingford oration was much the same as before. Again the “friends of order” were arraigned for their impostures and their oppressions. Such were “blind guides,” “a generation of vipers,” dispensers of hypocrisy to children in their cradles, “arch impostors and prime movers” of iniquitous works.[971] They were great sticklers for “steady habits”; but what meant their cry of “steady habits” but mortal hostility to republicanism in every form?[972]

These self-styled “friends of order,” it should not be forgotten, were not the _people_. They were the commercial aristocrats who insisted that ours was a blessed government because _they_ were all becoming rich, plus the clergy, the bench, the bar, and the office-seeking and office-holding” class in general.[973] They united church and state, made religion play a game against civil rights, and strove to make the object of the American Revolution appear impossible of full realization.[974] Affecting to respect and serve the rights of man, they imposed upon the people the funding system, the alien and sedition acts, and the unwarranted enlargement of the navy.[975] They stirred up the animosity of the people against the French, excited the X. Y. Z. mania, and scattered over the country the “_arabian tales_ of Robison and Barruel.”[976] With respect to religion, they had developed more hypocrisy in New England than existed in any other equal portion of the globe.[977] They had cried aloud that atheism prevailed in New England and infidel books were plentiful; but neither atheists nor infidel publications were actually to be found, unless in the latter case the writings of Robison and Barruel and the sermons preached against infidelity were to be called such.[978] The grave fault of the clerical “friends of order” was that they had not preached the Gospel. Instead, they had insulted the intelligence of the people by revamping the fables of a Scotch monarchist and a Catholic abbé. They imputed infidelity to the Democrats, while they themselves caused infidelity to abound. They directed all their darts of “democratic infidels” and “infidel philosophy” against one man, Thomas Jefferson, and in this way caused their enemies to blaspheme and say, “Where is your God?”[979]

And so on through a hundred pages less one. In a tirade of such interminable length the idea of a Federalist conspiracy against the best interests of the people of New England was worked out in more than ample detail. All that was needed was to apply the term “Illuminati,” and the catalogue of incriminations would be complete. This application Bishop proceeded to make in his third oration, which appeared sometime within the year 1802.

Bishop’s last effort surpassed all that he had previously achieved in the way of boldfaced and reckless assertion. Constant reiteration and an awkward effort to fashion his composition on the form that Robison and Barruel supplied him, gave to the pamphlet abundant suggestions of insincerity and political rant. The union of church and state in New England was presented as a constant, powerful, and efficient enemy against Christianity and the government of the United States.[980] Thus the true Illuminatists were the political clergy and the Federalist leaders.[981] The charge of infidel conspiracy brought against the Democrats a few years previous constituted nothing more nor less than a specious accusation brought forward “to prostrate the public mind.”[982] Robison and Barruel were miserable mixtures of falsehood and folly.[983] The Federalists were well aware of this when they launched their charge of infidel philosophy against Thomas Jefferson and the party that supported him. The Federalists were simply desperate. They were determined to go to any lengths to keep Jefferson out of the presidency. All their works were saturated with sacrilege and impiety. Their public fasts were kept for political purposes.[984] Their cry, “The church is in danger!” was hollow and insincere.[985] Their praise of the Federal administration had no other object than to effect the abasement of the Democrats.[986] Their “Church and State Union” freely sacrificed the highest interests of religion and government to the cause of party.[987]

A more extended report of Bishop’s waspish and bitter harangue would neither strengthen his indictment nor elucidate his “proofs.” His pamphlet has significance only as an outburst of triumphant but still indignant New England Democracy as it reflected upon the exasperating obstacles which the opposition had thrust in its way as it had pressed forward to power. Nothing could be clearer than that the word “Illuminati” had lost all serious and exact significance and had become a term for politicians to conjure with;[988] or if not that, to give point to the general charge of calloused villainy which Democrats lodged against Federalists at the turn of the eighteenth century.

FOOTNOTES:

[927] Robison, _Jeffersonian Democracy in New England_, pp. 26 _et seq._ _Cf._ Bentley, _Diary_, vol. ii, pp. 289, 346, 421, 429, 458.

[928] The situation is well covered by McMaster, _History of the People of the United States_, vol. ii, pp. 441 _et seq._

[929] On account of the supposed place of concealment of the imaginary papers, this was commonly referred to as the “tub plot.”

[930] The public report of this story by Morse has already been noted. _Cf. supra_, p. 306.

[931] _Independent Chronicle_, April 18, 1798. _Cf._ _Constitutional Telegraph_ (Boston), Oct. 2, 1799.

[932] _To the Freemen of Rhode-Island, etc._, p. 4. This pamphlet was issued anonymously and without date. Its author was Jonathan Russell, and the date of its publication fell within the period of the Adams-Jefferson contest for the presidency, _i. e._, 1800–1801. The passage from which the quotation is taken is marked by not a little dignity and comprehension. “The people have been continually agitated by false alarms, and without even the apparition of a foe. They have been made to believe that their government and their religion were upon the eve of annihilation. The ridiculous fabrications of plots, which have been crushed out of being by the weight of their own absurdity; and the perpetration of massacres which never existed, but in the distempered malevolence which preached them, have been artfully employed to excite an indignation which might be played off for the purposes of party. Tubs have arrived at Charlestown. The crews of the Ocean and Pickering have been murdered.... No falsehood which depravity could invent, has passed unpropagated by credulity; and no innocence which virtue could render respectable and amiable has escaped unassailed by federal malignity. Bigotry has cried down toleration, and royalism everything Republican.” (_Ibid._)

[933] _Aurora_, June 5, 1799.

[934] The pamphlet’s full title follows: _A View of the New England Illuminati: who are indefatigably engaged in Destroying the Religion and Government of the United States; under a feigned regard for their safety—and under an impious abuse of true religion_. The pamphlet passed through at least two editions. The citations of this study are from the second.

[935] Ogden (1740–1800) was rector of St. John’s Church (formerly Queen’s Chapel), Portsmouth, N. H., from 1786 to 1793. He was a well-meaning but an exceedingly erratic man. Perry, _The History of the American Episcopal Church, 1587–1883_, vol. ii, p. 79. He is said to have been the first Episcopal clergyman to be ordained in the city of Boston. _Cf. ibid._, p. 488. His death occurred at Chestertown, Md.

[936] _A View of the New England Illuminati_, pp. 2, 3.

[937] _Ibid._, p. 3.

[938] _Ibid._

[939] _Ibid._, p. 5. Ogden’s observations in this connection are caustic enough. “The people generally attended the public exercises in the meeting-houses, but had no share in the deliberations of the ministers. Dinners were prepared, by private donations, of the most delicious food of the season, which could be procured by the parishioners; and _a day of conviviality_ was thus observed once a month by the clergy, to their gratification and the increase of their association.” (_Ibid._)

[940] _Ibid._, pp. 4 _et seq._

[941] Ogden, _op. cit._, p. 5. Ogden made a delicate thrust at this point. He professed to see an explanation of the prevalence of sceptical and deistical notions in New England in the discussions of the dark and obscure questions that consumed the attention of the clergy in their monthly meetings, before they became interested in the affairs of the French Revolution. _Cf. ibid._

[942] _Ibid._, pp. 5 _et seq._

[943] _Ibid._, p. 6.

[944] _Ibid._, p. 7.

[945] Ogden, _op. cit._, p. 7.

[946] _Ibid._, p. 8.

[947] _Ibid._, pp. 8, 18.

[948] _Ibid._, p. 18.

[949] _Ibid._, p. 9.

[950] _Ibid._

[951] Ogden, _op. cit._, pp. 9 _et seq._

[952] _Ibid._

[953] _Ibid._, pp. 11, 16.

[954] _Ibid._, p. 11. President Dwight is dubbed by Ogden “the head of the Illuminati.” (_Ibid._) “In his sermon preached on the fourth of July, 1798, in New-Haven, he has given us a perfect picture of the Illuminati of Connecticut, under his control, in the representation he has made of the Illuminati of Europe.... Birth, education, elevation, and connections have placed Doctor Dwight at the head of the Edwardean sect and Illuminati.... Science he forsakes, and her institutions he prostrates, to promote party, bigotry, and error.” (_Ibid._)

[955] _Ibid._, pp. 11 _et seq._

[956] _Ibid._, p. 14.

[957] Ogden, _op. cit._, p. 19.

[958] _Ibid._, p. 12.

[959] _Ibid._, p. 19.

[960] _Ibid._, p. 15.

[961] _Ibid._, p. 20.

[962] Ogden, _op. cit._, pp. 10, 11.

[963] Ogden’s pamphlet was in high favor with the Democrats from the first. The _Aurora_ of Feb. 14, 1800, has the following reference to it: “This book, within a few months, has attained a very rapid and extensive circulation, in all parts of the union. It is the ‘clue’ to the tyrannies at the northward, which have assumed the control of our affairs, under the sanction of federalism, or an union of church and state, & which has associated in one focus, federalism, religion, war, aristocracy, monarchy, and prelacy.” Ogden was responsible for two other pamphlets, somewhat similar in tone, but less striking. One of these bore the title: _Friendly Remarks to the People of Connecticut, upon their College and Schools_. It was published anonymously, and without indication of date or place of publication. The other bore the following title and imprint: _A Short History of Late Ecclesiastical Oppressions in New-England and Vermont. By a Citizen. In which is exhibited a Statement of the Violation of Religious Liberties which are ratified by the Constitution of the United States._ Richmond, ... 1799. Neither of these is worthy of special notice.

[964] In the order of their composition and appearance these were: (1) _Connecticut Republicanism. An Oration on the Extent and Power of Political Delusion, delivered in New-Haven, on the evening preceding the public commencement, September, 1800._ By Abraham Bishop. Philadelphia, 1800; (2) _Oration delivered at Wallingford, on the 11th of March, 1801, before the Republicans of the State of Connecticut, and their general thanksgiving for the election of Thomas Jefferson to the Presidency and of Aaron Burr to the Vice Presidency of the United States of America_. By Abraham Bishop. New-Haven, 1801; (3) _Proofs of a Conspiracy, against Christianity, and the Government of the United States; exhibited in several views of the union of church and state in New-England_. By Abraham Bishop. Hartford, 1802.

[965] _Oration delivered at Wallingford, on the 11th of March, 1801_, p. 101.

[966] Plenty of bad political blood was back of the whole episode. Bishop’s father, who was charged with holding no less than five political offices _simultaneously_ under Jefferson, had recently had his responsibilities extended by being appointed Collector of Customs for the Port of New Haven. The indignation of the Federalists was unutterable. A wrathy protest was sent to Jefferson, among whose specifications was the claim that on account of Bishop Senior’s advanced age (he was in his seventy-eighth year), the work would fall to his son who was a foe to commerce and an enemy to order. _Cf._ McMaster, _History of the United States_, vol. ii, pp. 585 _et seq._ In these circumstances Abraham Bishop seems to have found an adequate _casus belli_.

[967] _Connecticut Courant_, Sept. 15, 1800.

[968] _Connecticut Republicanism. An Oration, etc._, p. 39.

[969] _Ibid._, p. 43.

[970] The reception of Bishop’s oration by the Federalists gave strong impulse in that direction. The pamphleteers and newspaper scribblers of that political persuasion promptly attacked him. Noah Webster replied to Bishop in _A Rod for the Fool’s Back_. “Connecticutensis” wrote and published _Three Letters to Abraham Bishop_. _Cf._ _Oration delivered at Wallingford, on the 11th of March, 1801_, pp. 103 _et seq._

[971] _Ibid._, _passim_.

[972] _Ibid._, p. 18.

[973] _Ibid._, pp. 22, 44.

[974] _Ibid._, pp. 26 _et seq._

[975] Bishop, _op. cit._, pp. 47 _et seq._

[976] _Ibid._, pp. 50, 51.

[977] _Ibid._, p. 68.

[978] _Ibid._, p. 87.

[979] _Ibid._, p. 92.

[980] _Proofs of a Conspiracy against Christianity and the Government of the United States_, preface.

[981] _Ibid._, pp. 15, 16.

[982] _Ibid._, p. 54.

[983] _Ibid._, pp. 60 _et seq._

[984] _Ibid._, p. 64.

[985] _Ibid._, p. 59.

[986] _Ibid._, p. 64.

[987] Bishop, _op. cit._, preface.

[988] The practice was not confined to New England. In New York, for example, the political enemies of the Clinton family employed the term “Illuminati” to embarrass the adherents of that faction. _A Full Exposition of the Clintonian Faction, and the Society of the Columbian Illuminati; with an account of the writer of the narrative, and the characters of his certificate men, as also Remarks on Warren’s Pamphlet._ By J[ohn] W[ood]. Newark, 1802.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In addition to the principal works made use of in this investigation and listed below, special bibliographies may be found on pages 75–76, dealing with answers to Thomas Paine’s _Age of Reason_, and on pages 185–186, dealing with the European Illuminati. The sections devoted to sermons, orations and addresses, and pamphlets contain only such titles as indicate significant sources; titles of less important compositions of this character will be found in the text or in the foot notes.

MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS

_Bentley MSS._, American Antiquarian Society Collection.
_Ebeling MSS._, Harvard University Collection.
_Ford Collection_, New York Public Library.
_Pickering Papers_, Massachusetts Historical Society Collection.
_Wolcott Papers_, Connecticut Historical Society Collection.

NEWSPAPERS

_American Mercury_, Hartford.
_Aurora General Advertiser_, Philadelphia.
_Columbian Centinel_, Boston.
_Commercial Advertiser_, New York.
_Connecticut Courant_, Hartford.
_Connecticut Journal_, New Haven.
_Constitutional Telegraph_, Boston.
_Independent Chronicle_, Boston.
_Massachusetts Mercury_, Boston.
_Massachusetts Spy_, Worcester.
_Newburyport Herald_, Newburyport, Mass.
_Porcupine’s Gazette_, Philadelphia.
_Russell’s Gazette_, Boston.
_Salem Gazette_, Salem, Mass.
_The Bee_, New London, Conn.
_Western Star_, Stockbridge, Mass.

COLLECTED WORKS

Adams, John, _Works ... with a life of the author, notes and
illustrations_, (ed. by Charles Francis Adams).
10 vols. Boston, 1850–56.
Ames, Fisher, _Works, with a selection from his speeches and
correspondence_, (ed. by Seth Ames).
2 vols. Boston, 1854.
Hamilton, Alexander, _Works_, (ed. by Henry Cabot Lodge).
9 vols. New York and London, 1886–7.
Jefferson, Thomas, _Writings_, (col. and ed. by Paul Leicester
Ford).
10 vols. New York and London, 1892–99.
Paine, Thomas, _Writings_, (col. and ed. by Moncure Daniel Conway).
4 vols. New York, 1902–8.
Washington, George, _Writings_, (ed. by Jared Sparks).
12 vols. Boston, 1837.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, BIOGRAPHIES, AND DIARIES

Beecher, Lyman, _Autobiography, Correspondence, etc._, (ed. by
Charles Beecher). 2 vols. New York, 1864–5.
Bentley, William, _Diary_. 4 vols. Salem, 1905–11.
Bernard, John, _Retrospections of America, 1797–1811_
New York, 1887.
Breck, Samuel, _Recollections, with Passages from his Note-Books,
1771–1862_, (ed. by Horace Elisha Scudder).
Philadelphia, 1877.
Channing, William Ellery, _Memoir, with Extracts from his
Correspondence and Manuscripts_. 3 vols. Boston, 1848.
Christie, Francis A., _The Diary of an Old New England Minister_.
In Harvard Theological Review, January, 1916, pp. 84–107.
Conway, Moncure Daniel, _The Life of Thomas Paine_. 2 vols.
New York and London, 1893.
Dexter, Franklin Bowditch, _Biographical Sketches of the Graduates
of Yale College, with Annals of the College History_.
6 vols. New York (vol. vi, New Haven), 1885–1912.
Field, David Dudley, _Brief Memoirs of the Members of the Class
Graduated at Yale College in September, 1802_.
Printed for private distribution, 1863.
Gibbs, George, _Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and
John Adams_. 2 vols. New York, 1846.
Green, Ashbel, _Life_, (ed. by Joseph J. Jones). New York, 1849.
Hovey, Alvah, _A Memoir of the Life and Times of the Rev. Isaac
Backus_. Boston, 1858.
Morison, Samuel Eliot, _The Life and Letters of Harrison Gray Otis,
Federalist_. 2 vols. Boston and New York, 1913.
Morse, Edward Lind, _Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters and Journals_.
Boston and New York, 1914.
Morse, John Torrey, _John Quincy Adams_. Boston, 1882.
Sprague, William Buel, _Annals of the American Pulpit_. 9 vols.
New York, 1857–69.
Sprague, William Buel, _The Life of Jedidiah Morse_. New York, 1874.
Stiles, Ezra, _Literary Diary_, (ed. by Franklin Bowditch Dexter).
3 vols. New York, 1901.
Willard, Sidney, _Memories of Youth and Manhood_. 2 vols.
Cambridge, 1855.

TRAVELS

Brissot de Warville, J. P., _New Travels in the United States of
America, performed in 1788_. Second edition, corrected.
London, 1794.
Dwight, Timothy, _Travels: In New-England and New-York_. 4 vols.
New-Haven, 1821–2.
La Rochefoucauld Liancourt, François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de,
_Travels through the United States of North America,
the Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada, in the Years 1795,
1796, and 1797_. (Tr.) 4 vols. London, 1799.
Weld, Isaac, Jun., _Travels through the States of North America,
and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada,
during the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797_. London, 1799.

HISTORIES

A. _General_

Channing, Edward, _A History of the United States_. Volumes i-iv
published. New York, 1905–17.
Hildreth, Richard, _The History of the United States of America_.
6 vols. New York, 1856.
Macdonald, William, _Documentary Source Book of American History,
1608–1898_. New York, 1908.
McMaster, John Bach, _A History of the People of the United
States_. 8 vols. New York, 1883–1913.
Palfrey, John G., _A Compendious History of New England, etc._
4 vols. Boston, 1873.

B. _Special_