Chapter IV: Part II: The First Poetic Period. 1775-1781 (2)

In those days before the invention of book reviews, the fate of a book turned largely upon its immediate reception by the reading public. Criticism was by word of mouth: the poems were discussed in polite circles and over the morning coffee. Thus we have nothing to quote to show how America received her bard. We know, however, that the poems were successful even beyond Bailey's expectations. In less than five months he was out with proposals for "an additional collection of entertaining original performances in prose and verse by Philip Freneau." The book was to be published as soon as five hundred subscribers could be secured, and the subscribers' names were to be printed at the beginning of the volume.

"Such persons as are disposed to encourage American authors
(particularly at a time when we are surfeited with stale
publications retailed to us from British presses) and are not
unwilling to be known as promoters of polite literature and the
fine arts in these Republican States are requested to deliver in
their names."

One bit of contemporary praise, however, has been preserved. On June 8th, one week after the appearance of Freneau's first volume, Col. Parke of Philadelphia composed the following, which was first published in the _Journal_ of June 21st, and afterward included in his volume of "The Lyric Works of Horace, ... to which are added a Number of Original Poems," issued later in the year:

"To Mr. PHILIP FRENEAU, on his Volume of excellent POEMS,
Printed by Mr. BAILEY.

"_Difficile est Satiram non Scribere._"--_Juv._

"Tho' I know not your person, I well know your merit,
Your satires admire--your muse of true spirit;
Who reads them must smile at poetical story
Except the k--g's printer, or some such like tory;
Sir William, sir Harry, and would-be sir John,
Cornwallis, the devil, those bucks of the ton;
Black Dunmore and Wallace with sun-setting nose,
Who steak hogs and sheep, secure--_under the Rose_.[A]
But a fig for the anger of such petty rogues,
To the devil we pitch them without shoes or brogues!

"Pythag'ras' choice scheme my belief now controuls,
I sign to his creed--transmigration of souls;
Euphorbas's shield he no doubt did employ,
And bravely let blood on the plains of old Troy:
The souls of great Marlbro' and warlike Eugene
Conspicuous in Washington's glory are seen:
Sage Pluto beams wisdom from Franklin's rich brain,
And sky-taught sir Isaac[B] is seen here again.
But Hugh when he migrates may daily be found
Cracking bones in a kitchen in form of a hound;
When his compeer shall die--while no Christian shall weep him,
Old Pluto, below, for a devil will keep him;
Unless he's sent up on some hasty dispatch,
The whigs to abuse, and more falsehoods to hatch.
Thou red-jerkin'd fops, whom your muse I've heard sing
From Hounslow's bold heroes successively spring;
From Tyburn they tumble as supple as panders,
Then migrate straightway into knights and commanders.
But you, worthy poet, whose soul-cutting pen
In gall paints the crimes of all time-serving men,
The fiend of corruption, the wretch of an hour,
The star-garter'd villain, the scoundrel in pow'r,
From souls far unlike may announce your ascension,
The patriot all-worthy, above bribe or pension,
The martyr who suffered for liberty's sake
Grim dungeons, more horrid than hell's bitter lake:
Your name to bright honor, the spirits shall lift,
That glow'd in the bosoms of Churchill and Swift.

"And when you are number'd, alas! with the dead,
Your works by true wits will forever be read,
Who, pointing the finger, shall pensively shew
The lines that were written, alas! by Freneau."

_Philadelphia, June 8, 1786._

[A] He commanded the _Rose_ sloop.

[B] David Rittenhouse, Esq., the Ingenious inventor of the
celebrated perpendicular Orrery.

The second volume of poems did not appear promptly. One year after the first proposals, Bailey advertised that the book was at last in press. "An unusual hurry of other business (of a nature not to be postponed), has unavoidably delayed the printer in its publication to so late a period." It is notable that of the four hundred and sixty-three subscribers, two hundred and fifty, or over half, were in Charleston, S. C., and one hundred and twenty-six in New York. Philadelphia subscribed for very few of the volumes.

The printer's advertisement was as follows:

"The following Essays and Poems, selected from some printed and
manuscript papers of Mr. Freneau, are now presented to the public
of the United States in hopes they will prove at least equally
acceptable with his volume of poems published last year. Some few
of the pieces in this volume have heretofore appeared in American
newspapers; but through a fatality, not unusually attending
publications of that kind, are now, perhaps, forgotten; and, at any
time, may possibly never have been seen or attended to but by very
few."

Of the forty-nine poems in the volume, one, "Slender's Journey," had been published separately by Bailey early in 1787, and nearly half of the others had first seen the light between April, 1786, and January, 1788, in the columns of the _Freeman's Journal_. The greater number of the others were doubtless printed from the poet's manuscripts. A few of the prose papers, like "The Philosopher of the Forest," were selected from the columns of the _Journal_, especially from the series entitled "The Pilgrim," but much of the rest was from the poet's manuscripts now first published.

In the meantime the poet was leading a stormy and adventurous career upon the sea. As master of the sloop _Industry_, and later of the schooner _Columbia_, plying irregularly on all kinds of coastwise voyages between Georgia and New York, he experienced every phase of life upon the ocean. As a sample of his adventurous career during this period, note the following letter[8] to Bailey, written from Norfolk, Va., in the summer of 1788:

"_Norfolk, Virginia, August 6, 1788._

"_Mr._ BAILEY,

"I have the mortification to inform you that, after leaving
New-York on the 21st of July, I had the misfortune to have my
vessel dismasted, thrown on her beam ends, shifted and ruined the
bulk of her cargo, lost every sail, mast, spar, boat, and almost
every article upon deck, on the Wednesday afternoon following, in
one of the hardest gales that ever blew upon this coast. Capt.
William Cannon, whom I think you know, who was going passenger with
me to Charleston, and Mr. Joseph Stillwell, a lad of a reputable
family in New-Jersey, were both washed overboard and drowned,
notwithstanding every effort to save them. All my people besides,
except one, an old man who stuck fast in one of the scuttles, were
several times overboard, but had the fortune to regain the wreck,
and with considerable difficulty save their lives.--As to myself, I
found the vessel no longer under any guidance--I took refuge in the
main weather shrouds, where indeed I saved myself from being washed
into the sea, but was almost staved to pieces in a violent fall I
had upon the main deck, the main-mast having given way six feet
above the deck, and gone overboard--I was afterward knocked in the
head by a violent stroke of the tiller, which entirely deprived me
of sensation for (I was told) near a quarter of an hour.--Our pumps
were now so choaked with corn that they would no longer work,
upward of four feet of water was in the hold, fortunately our
bucket was saved, and with this we went to baling, which alone
prevented us from foundering in one of the most dismal nights that
ever man witnessed.

"The next morning the weather had cleared away and the wind came
round to the N. E. which during the gale had been E. N. E.--the
land was then in sight, about 5 miles distant, latitude at noon
36-17, I then rigged out a broken boom, and set the fore top-sail,
the only sail remaining, and steered for cape Henry; making however
but very little way, the vessel being very much on one side and
ready to sink with her heavy cargo of iron, besides other weighty
articles. We were towed in next day, Friday, by the friendly
assistance of capt. Archibald Bell, of the ship Betsey, from
London--I have since arrived at this port by the assistance of a
Potowmac pilot.--Nothing could exceed our distress--no fire, no
candle, our beds soaked with sea water, the cabbin torn to pieces,
a vast quantity of corn damaged and poisoning us to death, &c. &c.
&c. As we entered this port, on the 29th of July, the very dogs
looked at us with an eye of commiseration--the negros pitied us,
and almost every one shewed a disposition to relieve us. In the
midst of all this vexation the crew endeavoured to keep up their
spirits with a little grog, while I have recourse to my old
expedient of philosophy and reflection. I have unloaded my cargo,
partly damaged, partly otherwise--This day I also begin to refit my
vessel, and mean to proceed back to New-York as soon as refitted,
which cannot be sooner than the 25th, perhaps the 30th of this
month. It is possible, however, that I may be ordered to sell the
vessel here; if so, I shall take a passage to Baltimore, and go to
New-York by the way of Philadelphia, to look out for another more
fortunate barque than that which I now command.

Your's &c. PHILIP FRENEAU."

I cannot forbear quoting another letter[9] written nearly a year later, since it gives us a charming glimpse of the Freneau of this period:

"Yamacraw, Savanna, March 14th, 1789.

"SIR: Amongst a number of my good natured acquaintance, who have
lately sympathized with me, on account of what they term my
misfortunes, during great part of last year, I know of no one more
entitled to my acknowledgments, on the occasion, than yourself.
When an old woman talks of witches, ghosts, or blue devils, we
naturally make an allowance for bad education, or the imbicility of
intellect, occasioned by age. When one man seriously supposes
another unfortunate, for the sake of two or three successive
disasters, which no prudence or foresight could have avoided, the
same allowance ought to be made, provided the same excuses could be
assigned.

"Can you be serious, then in advising me to quit all future
intercourse with an element, that has for some years, with all its
dangers and losses, afforded to your humble servant attractions,
far more powerful than those of Apollo! Formerly, when I wrote
poetry, most of those that attended to it, would not allow my
verses to be good. I gave credit to what I deemed the popular
opinion, and made a safe retreat in due time, to the solitary
wastes of Neptune. I am not, however, inclined to believe people so
readily now, when they alledge my vessel is not sound, and when
several gentlemen, for reasons best known to themselves, and
perhaps not over willing to risque the uncertainties of the world
to come, effect to doubt of her ability to waft their carcases in
safety.

But my ambition is greatly concerned in this matter: a schooner is
confided to my care, humble, indeed, when compared to those lofty
piles which I have seen you so much admire, but which is,
nevertheless, really capable of an European, nay of an India
voyage. Read all history, ransack libraries, call tradition to your
aid, search all records, examine a million of manuscripts on
vellum, on parchment, on paper, on marble, on what you please, and
I defy you to find the most distant hint of any _poet_, in any age
or country, from Hesiod down to Peter Pindar, having been trusted
with the controul or possession of anything fit to be mentioned or
compared with the same barque, which you say, _I have the
misfortune to command._

"To be serious: misfortune ought to be only the topic of such men
as do not think or reason with propriety, upon the nature of
things. Some writer says, it is but another name for carelessness
or inattention: Though that may not at all times be the case, it is
in the power of every man to place himself beyond the supposed
baneful influence of this inexorable deity, by _assuming_ a dignity
of mind, (if it be not the gift of nature) that will, in the end,
get the better of the untoward events, that may frequently cross
our best purposes. Indeed, the _sea_ is the _best_ school for
philosophy (I mean of the moral kind); in thirteen or fourteen
years' acquaintance with this element, I am convinced a man ought
to imbibe more of your right genuine _stoical_ stuff, than could be
gained in half a century on shore.--I must add that, be our
occupations what they may, or our fortunes what they will, there is
a certain delectable, inexpressible satisfaction in now and then
encountering the rubs and disasters of life, and I am entirely of
the opinion which (says Dr. Langhorne)

"Weakness wrote in Petrarch's gentle strain,
When once he own'd at love's unfavouring shrine
_A thousand pleasures art not worth one pain_!"

"I must now conclude this scrawl, with telling you, that I am
receiving on board my vessel a small cargo of lumber, at a place
called Yamacraw, a little above Savanna. The weather is extremely
warm, I am tired of my letter, and must, of course, conclude. I do
not know whether you ever mean to make a voyage to sea--if you
should, thrice welcome shall you be to such accommodations as my
little embarkation affords. Poets and philosophers, shall ever
travel with me at a cheap rate indeed! Not only because they are
not generally men of this world, but because, even supposing the
barque that bears them, should make an external exit to the bottom
of the ocean, the busy world, as things go, will regret the loss of
most of them very little, perhaps not at all.

Your's, &c., P. FRENEAU."

On the 24th of April, 1789, when Washington arrived in New York to enter upon the duties of the presidency, in the fleet that accompanied him from Elizabethtown Point was the schooner _Columbia_, Capt. Freneau, eight days from Charleston. In June the _Columbia_ again entered New York Harbor, and on December 28th she was at Sunbury, Georgia. On February 12th, 1790, Freneau arrived in New York, passenger from Middletown Point in the brig _Betsy_, Capt. Motley, to become editor of Child and Swaine's _New York Daily Advertiser_. For several months negotiations had been pending. Every appearance of the poet in New York for a year past had been marked by a small budget of poems in the _Advertiser_ from the pen of "Capt. Freneau," but it was not until February, 1790, that he was induced to leave his beloved _Columbia_ and settle down to a life upon shore. The poem "Neversink," written some months later, is his valedictory to the ocean.

"Proud heights: with pain so often seen
(With joy beheld once more)
On your firm base I take my stand,
Tenacious of the shore:
Let those who pant for wealth or fame
Pursue the watery road;--
Soft sleep and ease, blest days and nights,
And health, attend these favoring heights,
Retirement's blest abode."

The poem "Constantia" may record the poet's reasons for leaving the ocean, for on the 19th of May, 1790, there appeared in Peter Freneau's Charleston paper, the _City Gazette_, _or the Daily Advertiser_, the following:

"_Married_, on the fifteenth of April, at Middletown Point, East
New Jersey, Capt. Philip Freneau to Miss Eleanor Forman, daughter
of Mr. Samuel Forman, of that place."

The Forman family with which the poet allied himself was one of great respectability and even prominence in New Jersey. Its record during the Revolution had been a conspicuous one, and its connection included the Ledyards, the Seymours, and many other prominent families. Mrs. Freneau, in the words of her daughter, "was remarkable for her gentle, lady-like manners, amiable disposition and finely informed mind. She was affable and sprightly in her conversation, and there were, even when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-seven, few handsomer women." In her early years she dabbled a little in poetry herself, and there is a tradition in the family that the prenuptial correspondence was for a long time wholly in verse.

Freneau was now fairly settled in life, and for the next seven or eight years he was engaged almost continuously in newspaper work.

V.

During the next year and more Freneau, as editor of the _Daily Advertiser_, brought to bear upon the paper all the vigor and literary skill which had so marked the _Freeman's Journal_. The tone of the editorial comment was patriotic and spirited. The note of reform, of opposition to everything that was degrading to high ideals, or that in any way threatened personal liberty, was never absent. Despite the manifold duties incumbent upon the editor of a city daily, he found time to write finished prose sketches and to woo the muses. His poetry of this period is notable both as to quantity and quality. Some of it was drawn from the notebooks of his years of wandering, but the greater part dealt with more timely topics. In June he published the advertisement:

"Mr. Freneau proposes publishing a volume of original poems, to
contain about two hundred and fifty pages, 12mo, neatly
printed.... As soon as there appears a sufficiency of subscribers
to defray the expenses of paper and printing, the collection shall
be put to press."

Judging from several poems of this period which were printed as from the author's new volume, "The Rising Empire," this was to be the title of the book. The advertisement was dropped in October, and "The Rising Empire" never appeared, though most of its poems were printed in the edition of 1795.

On September 20, 1791, Freneau's daughter, Eleanor, was born at Mount Pleasant. His salary as editor of the _Advertiser_ was not large; the little family, it appears, was in straightened circumstances. A letter[10] from Aedanus Burke of Charleston to Madison, dated September 13, 1801, throws light upon the period.

"I remember, it was about the last fortnight that we served
together in Congress, in 1791, I one day called you aside, and
mentioned the name of Mr. Phillip Freneau to you, as one I knew you
esteemed, and then lay strugling under difficulties, with his
family. My memory brings to my recollection, that you mentioned the
matter to the Secretary of State, Mr. Jefferson. Freneau was
invited from N. York, and had the place of interpreter, with a mere
trifle of Salary. Little did William Smith know, that you were the
author or cause of bringing Freneau from New York; or he might
have turned against you, his terrible battery of the slanders and
invectives which he poured forth against Mr. Jefferson for three or
four years afterwards."

Madison acted promptly. On the 28th of February, 1791, Jefferson wrote to Freneau as follows:

"SIR: The clerkship for foreign languages in my office is vacant
the salary indeed is very low, being but two hundred & fifty
dollars a year; but also it gives so little to do as not to
interfere with any other calling the person may chuse, which would
not absent him from the seat of government. I was told a few days
ago that it might perhaps be convenient to you to accept it--if so,
it is at your service. It requires no other qualification than a
moderate knowledge of the French. Should anything better turn up
within my department that might suit you, I should be very happy to
bestow it as well. Should you conclude to accept the present, you
may consider it as engaged to you, only be so good as to drop me a
line informing me of your resolution. I am with great esteem, Sir,
Your very humble serv't,
TH. JEFFERSON."

Freneau's letter in reply has been lost. On May 1st, however, Madison wrote Jefferson, so that we may gather its import:

"I have seen Freneau also and given him a line to you. He sets out
for Philada. today or tomorrow, though it is not improbable that he
may halt in N. Jersey. He is in the habit, I find, of translating
the Leyden _Gazette_ and consequently must be fully equal to the
task you have alloted for him. He had supposed that besides this
degree of skill, it might be expected that he should be able to
translate with equal propriety into French: and under this idea,
his delicacy had taken an insuperable objection to the undertaking.
Being now set right as to this particular and being made sensible
of the advantages of Philada. over N. Jersey for his private
undertaking, his mind is taking another turn; and if the scantiness
of his capital should not be a bar, I think he will establish
himself in the former. At all events he will give his friends there
an opportunity of aiding his decision by their information &
counsel. The more I learn of his character, talents and principles,
the more I should regret his burying himself in the obscurity he
had chosen in N. Jersey. It is certain that there is not to be
found in the whole catalogue of American Printers, a single name
that can approach towards a rivalship."

Jefferson replied on May 9th:

"Your favor of the 1st came to hand on the 3d. Mr. Freneau has
not followed it. I suppose therefore he has changed his mind back
again, for which I am really sorry."

That Jefferson had made overtures to Freneau about the establishing of a paper at the seat of government, or at least had discussed the matter with those who had, is evident from the following letter written to his son-in-law, Randolph, six days later:

"I enclose you Bache's as well as Fenno's papers. You will have
perceived that the latter is a paper of pure Toryism,
disseminating the doctrines of Monarchy, aristocracy, & the
exclusion of the people. We have been trying to get another
_weekly_ or _half weekly_ set up, excluding advertisements, so
that it might go through the states & furnish a _whig vehicle_ of
intelligence. We hoped at one time to have persuaded Freneau to
set up here, but failed."

It is a testimonial to the energy and the ability of Freneau that leaders like Madison and Jefferson should have sought him so persistently. Notwithstanding Freneau's refusal, Jefferson, on July 21st, wrote to Madison:

"I am sincerely sorry that Freneau has declined coming here. Tho'
the printing business be sufficiently full here, yet I think he
would have set out on such advantageous ground as to have been
sure of success. His own genius in the first place is so superior
to that of his competitors. I should have given him the perusal of
all my letters of foreign intelligence & all foreign newspapers;
the publication of all proclamations & other public notices within
my department, & the printing of the laws, which added to his
salary would have been a considerable aid. Besides this, Fenno's
being the only weekly, or half weekly paper, & under general
condemnation for its toryism & its incessant efforts to overturn
the government, Freneau would have found that ground as good as
unoccupied."

This being brought to Freneau's attention, he determined to hold out no longer. On July 25th he wrote to Madison from Middletown Point:

"Some business detains me here a day or two longer from returning
to New York. When I come, which I expect will be on Thursday, if
you should not have left the City, I will give you a decisive
answer relative to printing my paper at the Seat of Govt. instead
of in N. York. If I can get Mr. Childs to be connected with me on
a tolerable plan, I believe I shall sacrifice other considerations
and transfer myself to Philadelphia."

Mr. Francis Childs, who was one of the proprietors of the _Advertiser_, as we have already seen, agreed to the enterprise, and the following document was soon signed:

"DEPARTMENT OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

"Philip Freneau is hereby appointed Clerk for foreign languages in
the office of Secretary of State with a salary of two hundred &
fifty dollars a year, to commence from the time he shall take the
requisite oaths of qualification. Given under my hand and seal this
16th day of August 1791. TH. JEFFERSON."

I have considered this episode somewhat minutely since it throws light upon what follows.

The first number of _The National Gazette_ appeared on Monday, October 31st. It was issued Mondays and Thursdays. Its typography and arrangement were neat and attractive; its news columns were well filled, and its literary department was carefully attended to. Its success was all that had been predicted by Madison. On May 7, 1792, the editor announced that the subscription to the _Gazette_ had succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations.

The period covered by the two years of the _National Gazette_ was one of singular unrest in America. The French Revolution was in progress; everything seemed tottering. America believed that all Europe was soon to cast off its chains of monarch; she believed that the torch of the Rights of Man had been lighted in America, and she looked with almost paternal interest on the progress of the Revolution. In his poetical salutatory in the first number of the _Gazette_, Freneau writes:

"From the spark that we kindled, a flame has gone forth
To astonish the world and enlighten mankind:
With a code of new doctrines the universe rings,
And Paine is addressing strange sermons to Kings."

The columns of the _Gazette_ are full of ringing words on the Rights of Man, the Age of Reason, the final doom of monarchy. In poem after poem the editor pours out his sympathy for republicanism and the cause of the French insurgents. That the French had been largely instrumental in the gaining of our own independence, increased the interest. "On the Fourteenth of July," "On the French Republicans," "On the Anniversary of the Storming of the Bastile," "Ode to Liberty," and "Demolition of the French Monarchy," are a few of the poems that Freneau poured forth during this incendiary period. It is significant that he included none of these verses in his edition of 1809. That he was honest to the core in his belief cannot for a moment be doubted. His impulsive Celtic temperament threw his whole soul into his work.

"Ah! while I write, dear France allied,
My ardent wish I scarce restrain,
To throw these sybil leaves aside
And fly to join you on the main."

The frenzy among the American Republicans culminated with the arrival of Citizen Genet, in 1793. At the Republican dinner given Genet, May 18th, Citizen Freneau was elected by acclamation to translate Pichon's ode. On June 1st, at the civic feast, Freneau's ode, "God Save the Rights of Man," was received with thunderous applause.

One must study carefully this incendiary period of Freneau's life before he can understand fully the much discussed episode of the _National Gazette_. The wine of French Republicanism was sadly intoxicating. It could make Freneau write such a stanza as this:

"_Virtue, Order and Religion_,
Haste, and seek some other region;
Your plan is fixed to hunt them down,
Destroy the mitre, rend the gown,
And that vile b-tc-h--Philosophy--restore,
Did ever paper plan so much before?"

And then explain it by saying that "_The National Gazette_ is the vehicle of party spleen and opposition to the great principles of order, virtue and religion."

In view of all this, it is not strange that he should have been impatient with the conservative party, who not only did not grow enthusiastic over the French Revolution, but even looked upon it with actual disapprobation. From the very first, the editor of the _Gazette_ criticised the leading Federalists, especially Adams and Hamilton, and he even mildly rebuked Washington, the hero of his earlier muse. The administration, in his mind, was leaning toward monarchial ideas. Washington, in his opinion, had exceeded his power in the matter of the banks, and the precedent was a dangerous one. The ceremonials with which the President had hedged himself about were greatly at variance with simple democratic ideas; and, to crown all, the ingratitude of the administration (to the extremists it could have no other name) in its attitude toward Genet and the French people hurt him deeply. I believe that Freneau was fundamentally honest in his position. It is almost impossible to believe that a note like this, in the _Jersey Chronicle_ of 1795, is not sincere:

"The conduct of the Federal Executive of this country toward the
Republic of France, so far as it may appear inimical, has given
great and general disgust to the citizens of the United States....
It would be well if some that might be mentioned would recollect
the nation that supported us in the late war when our infant
Republic was on the point of annihilation. Enmity to France is
treason against Republicanism."

In regard to Adams, who had danced at the King's ball in a scarlet suit, and Hamilton, the father of the Federalists, Freneau had no scruples. The attacks of the _Gazette_ became more and more pointed with every issue, though much of the more incendiary matter was not from Freneau's pen. The "Probationary Odes," for instance, attributed to him by contemporary enemies, and in later years quoted by Buckingham and Duyckinck as from his pen, were written by St. George Tucker. They were published in book form by Tucker in 1796. In the sensitive state of party politics at this time, such frank criticism could not fail to raise a tempest of rebuttal and of counter abuse. It was soon noted that the _Gazette_, in its attacks upon the administration, spared the State department. Jefferson was never mentioned except for praise. The inference was obvious: either he had "muzzled" the paper by granting it certain favors, or he was making use of it as a weapon against the very administration of which he was a member.

Hamilton naturally inclined toward the latter view, and much bitterness was the result. On July 25, 1792, he inserted this anonymous bit in _Fenno's Gazette of the United States_, the Federalist organ:

"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 for which is to vilify 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. T. L."

This was the beginning of a series of anonymous attacks in the Federalist newspaper, written undoubtedly by Hamilton. A second article, still more definite, appeared on August 4th. In it the writer directly charged Jefferson with being the soul and spirit of the _National Gazette_. "Mr. Freneau was thought a fit instrument," and so was deliberately engaged; he was simply the "faithful and devoted servant of the head of a party from whose hands he received a boon." The article then proceeds at length to arraign Jefferson and to appeal to the American people, whether they will consent to see the precious legacies which are theirs "frittered away" in so shameless a manner.

This attack called forth (from Freneau) an affidavit which was printed in the _Gazette_, August 8, 1792:

"Personally appeared before me, Matthew Clarkson, Mayor of the
City of Philadelphia, Philip Freneau, of the City of Philadelphia,
who, being duly sworn, doth depose and say, That no negociation was
ever opened with him by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, for
the establishment or institution of the _National Gazette_: that
the deponent's coming to the City of Philadelphia, as publisher of
a Newspaper, was at no time urged, advised, or influenced by the
above officer, but that it was his own voluntary act; and that the
said Gazette, nor the Editor thereof, was ever directed,
controuled, or attempted to be influenced, in any manner, either by
the Secretary of State, or any of his friends; nor was a line ever,
directly or indirectly, written, dictated, or composed for it by
that officer, but that the Editor has consulted his own judgment
alone in the conducting of it--free--unfettered--and uninfluenced.

"PHILIP FRENEAU.

"Sworn the 6th August, 1772, before
"MATTHEW CLARKSON, Mayor."

Hamilton followed, August 11th, with another article. He emphatically discredited Freneau's oath, declaring that "facts spoke louder than words, and under certain circumstances louder than oaths;" that "the editor of the _National Gazette_ must not think to swear away their efficacy;" that "if he was truly, as they announced, the pensioned tool of the public character who had been named, no violation of truth in any shape ought to astonish; equivocations and mental reservations were the too common refuge of minds struggling to escape from disgraceful imputations." The article then proceeded to show that Jefferson did really establish the _Gazette_ through a particular friend.

Freneau at once declined to answer further the attacks, on the ground that they were mere "personal charges," and Hamilton promptly branded this as "a mere subterfuge." Thus Freneau found himself in the midst of a perfect hornet's nest of partisan strife that involved the country from end to end. The Federal organ continued its attacks, and Freneau, always restive under criticism, increased in bitterness.

On September 9, 1792, Jefferson put himself on record in a letter to Washington.[11] The letter is extremely long, since it covers the entire contest with Hamilton from the beginning. In it he declared:

"While the Government was at New York I was applied to on behalf of
Freneau to know if there was any place within my department to
which he could be appointed. I answered there were but four
clerkships, all of which I found full, and continued without any
change. When we removed to Philadelphia, Mr. Pintard, the
translating clerk, did not choose to remove with us. His office
then became vacant. I was again applied to there for Freneau, and
had no hesitation to promise the clerkship for him. I cannot
recollect whether it was at the same time, or afterwards, that I
was told he had a thought of setting up a newspaper there. But
whether then, or afterwards, I considered it a circumstance of some
value, as it might enable me to do, what I had long wished to have
done, that is, to have the material parts of the Leyden Gazette
brought under your eye, and that of the public, in order to possess
yourself and them of a juster view of the affairs of Europe than
could be obtained from any other public source. This I had
ineffectually attempted through the press of Mr. Fenno, while in
New York, selecting and translating passages myself at first, then
having it done by Mr. Pintard, the translating clerk, but they
found their way too slowly into Mr. Fenno's papers. Mr. Bache
essayed it for me in Philadelphia, but his being a daily paper, did
not circulate sufficiently in the other States. He even tried, at
my request, the plan of a weekly paper of recapitulation from his
daily paper, in hopes, that that might go into the other States,
but in this too we failed. Freneau, as translating clerk, and the
printer of a periodical paper likely to circulate through the
States (uniting in one person the parts of Pintard and Fenno)
revived my hopes that the thing could at length be effected. On the
establishment of his paper, therefore, I furnished him with the
Leyden Gazettes, with an expression of my wish that he could always
translate and publish the material intelligence they contained, and
have continued to furnish them from time to time, as regularly as I
received them. But as to any other direction or indication of my
wish how his press should be conducted, what sort of intelligence
he should give, what essays encourage, I can protest, in the
presence of Heaven that I never did by myself, or any other, or
indirectly, say a syllable, nor attempt any kind of influence. I
can further protest, in the same awful presence, that I never did,
by myself, or any other, directly or indirectly, write, dictate or
procure any one sentence or sentiment to be inserted _in his_, _or
any other gazette_, to which my name was not affixed, or that of my
office.... Freneau's proposition to publish a paper, having been
about the time that the writings of Publicola, and the discourses
on Davila, had a good deal excited the public attention, I took
for granted from Freneau's character, which had been marked as that
of a good Whig, that he would give free place to pieces written
against the aristocratical and monarchial principles these papers
had inculcated. This having been in my mind, it is likely enough I
may have expressed it in conversation with others, though I do not
recollect that I did. To Freneau I think I could not, because I had
still seen him but once, and that at a public table, at breakfast,
at Mrs. Elsworth's, as I passed through New York the last year. And
I can safely declare that my expectations looked only to the
chastisement of the aristocratical and monarchial writers, and not
to any criticisms on the proceedings of Government. Colonel
Hamilton can see no motive for any appointment, but that of making
a convenient partisan. But you, sir, who have received from me
recommendations of a Rittenhouse, Barlow, Paine, will believe that
talents and science are sufficient motives with me in appointments
to which they are fitted; and that Freneau, as a man of genius,
might find a preference in my eye to be a translating clerk, and
make good title to the little aids I could give him as the editor
of a gazette, by procuring subscriptions to his paper, as I did
some before it appeared, and as I have with pleasure done for the
labors of other men of genius. I hold it to be one of the
distinguishing excellences of elective over hereditary successions,
that the talents which nature has provided in sufficient
proportion, should be selected by the society for the government of
their affairs, rather than this should be transmitted through the
loins of knaves and fools, passing from the debauches of the table
to those of the bed. Colonel Hamilton, alias 'Plain Facts,' says,
that Freneau's salary began before he resided in Philadelphia. I do
not know what quibble he may have in reserve on the word
'residence.' He may mean to include under that idea the removal of
his family; for I believe he removed himself before his family did,
to Philadelphia. But no act of mine gave commencement to his salary
before he so far took up his abode in Philadelphia, as to be
sufficiently in readiness for the duties of the office. As to the
merits or demerits of his paper, they certainly concern me not. He
and Fenno are rivals for the public favor. The one courts them by
flattery, the other by censure, and I believe it will be admitted
that the one has been as servile, as the other severe. But is not
the dignity, and even decency of Government committed, when one of
its principal ministers enlists himself as an anonymous writer or
paragraphist for either the one or the other of them? No government
ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one
ever will. If virtuous, it need not fear the fair operation of
attack and defence. Nature has given to man no other means of
sifting out the truth either in religion, law, or politics. I think
it as honorable to the Government neither to know, nor notice, its
sycophants or censors, as it would be undignified and criminal to
pamper the former and persecute the latter."[12]

But if the _National Gazette_ concerned Jefferson not at all, as he alleged, it certainly did exasperate Washington. Later on, when the Genet affair had urged Freneau into still greater excesses, Washington, on the 23d of May, 1793, had a conversation with Jefferson, which the latter recorded in his _Ana_:

"He [the President] adverted to a piece in Freneau's paper of
yesterday, he said he despised all their attacks on him personally,
but that there never had been an act of the government, not meaning
in the Executive line only, but in any line, which that paper had
not abused. He had also marked the word republic thus----where it
was applied to the French republic [see the original paper]. He was
evidently sore & warm, and I took his intention to be that I should
interpose in some way with Freneau; perhaps withdraw his
appointment of translating clerk to my office. But I will not do
it. His paper has saved our constitution, which was galloping fast
into monarchy, & has been checked by no one means so powerfully as
by that paper. It is well and universally known, that it has been
that paper which has checked the career of the monocrats, & the
President, not sensible of the designs of the party, has not with
his usual good sense and _sang froid_, looked on the efforts and
effects of this free press and seen that, though some bad things
have passed through it to the public, yet the good have
preponderated immensely."[13]

Washington even brought the affair into a meeting of the Cabinet, declaring, according to Jefferson's _Ana_, that,

"That rascal, Freneau, sent him three copies of his paper every day
as if he thought he (Washington) would become the distributor of
them; that he could see in this nothing but an impudent design to
insult him; he ended in a high tone."[14]

The _National Gazette_ published its last issue, October 23, 1793. The collapse of the Genet bubble--the revulsion of feeling after the Frenchman had threatened to appeal from Washington to the people, brought on a tidal wave which swept away all the idols of French Republicanism in America, and the _National Gazette_ could not withstand the tide. Subscribers withdrew their subscriptions at a ruinous rate, the notes of the proprietors were protested, and the paper was abandoned. Freneau had no idea, however, of final surrender. His last word was a promise which, however, was never fulfilled.

"With the present number concludes the second volume and second
year's publication of the _National Gazette_. Having just imported
on his own account a considerable quantity of new and elegant
printing types from Europe, it is the editor's intention to resume
the publication of this paper in a short time and previous to the
meeting of Congress in December next."

It is upon this episode that the reputation of Freneau among the generality of people chiefly rests. "That rascal Freneau" is the epithet that has clung to his name through all the intervening century. It is this one affair, more than anything else, that has kept him from the recognition he deserves, both as a patriot and a poet. The attitude of New England may be expressed in the words of President Dwight, written during the summer of 1793:

"Freneau, your printer, linguist, &c., is regarded here as a mere
incendiary, or rather as a despicable tool of bigger incendiaries,
and his paper as a public nuisance."

Letters might be multiplied in showing the same spirit in all of the Federalists.

It must not be forgotten, however, that Freneau acted from pure and honest motives; that the excitement and bitter partisanship of the period were extraordinary, and that the air was heavily charged with the subtle magnetism that in France had created a reign of terror. It cannot be denied that Freneau went to excess in his denunciations; but so did Hamilton, who in reality began the conflict; so did Jefferson; so did many others. As to the extent to which Jefferson went in subsidizing the _Gazette_ for his own use, the reader may judge for himself. Neither side is free from blame; Freneau is certainly no more culpable than the others who held far higher positions than he. It is but justice to say of Freneau, in the words of Jefferson's biographer, Randall--

"He was always a warm, and after the period of which we write,
became a violent partisan. It is but justice to his memory,
however, to say that his honor and his veracity as a man were
never questioned by those who knew him, and that his reputation in
these particulars is now as free from all taint of suspicion as is
that of any of the distinguished gentlemen whose names were
associated with his in the controversy."

The following words of Madison, taken from Mr. Trist's memoranda of a conversation, May 25, 1827, and published in Tucker's Life of Jefferson, probably presents the affair in its true light:

"Mr. Madison said: 'Freneau's paper was another cause of soreness
in General Washington. Among its different contributors, some were
actuated by over-heated zeal, and some, perhaps, by malignity.
Every effort was made in Fenno's paper, and by those immediately
around him (Washington) to impress on his mind a belief that this
paper had been got up by Mr. Jefferson to injure him and oppose
the measures of his administration. Freneau himself was an old
College mate of mine, a poet and man of literary and refined
tastes, knowing nothing of the world. He was a French scholar,
and employed at first as translator. Henry Lee, who was also his
College mate, and had also a friendly feeling for him, was the
more immediate cause of his establishing a paper. Our main object
in encouraging it, was to provide an antidote against Fenno's
paper, which was devoted to monarchy, and had begun to publish
extracts from Mr. Adams's book. I used occasionally to throw in an
article, all of which I have marked, and some of which I have
shown you, with a view chiefly to counteract the monarchial spirit
and partisanship of the British government which characterized
Fenno's paper. I never engaged in the party criminations.'"

It deserves mention that Freneau stuck to his post during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, and that for weeks he was the only active editor in the city. On October 1st he resigned his position as translator, and soon after removed to his old home at Mount Pleasant. For a time he was without employment. He contemplated several newspaper enterprises. He evidently took steps toward the publication of a paper in Monmouth County, New Jersey, as the following advertisement, published in the _Jersey Chronicle_, May 30, 1795, would show:

"A number of persons in Freehold and other parts of Monmouth
subscribed last year to a paper the editor then proposed to set on
foot. As various causes delayed him prosecuting his intended
purpose until the present spring, and as he supposes, many of them
might in the meantime have engaged with other printers, he hopes
they will if possible transfer their subscription to the
_Chronicle_."

On November 2, 1794, he writes Madison, recommending his old friend Bailey for the office of public printer, and on May 6th following, he received a reply:

"I delayed acknowledging your favour long ago received, until I
could inform you of the prospects of Mr. Bailey in whose favor it
was written. I have now the pleasure to tell you that although his
wishes are not to be immediately fulfilled he is looking to obtain
under the auspices of Mr. Beckley and Mr. Randolph a share of
employment hereafter which may be very valuable to him. I
congratulate you on the public intelligence just received from
Holland which gives joy to all true Republicans, and wish you all
the private happiness which an exchange of your former travelled
scenes for the shade and tranquility of your present life can
afford. Remember, however, as you have not chosen any longer to
labor in the field of politics it will be expected by your friends
that you cultivate with the more industry your inheritance on
Parnassus."

On May the 20th following, Freneau continued the correspondence:

"My respected friend: By some accident your kind letter of April
6th was a long time in finding its way hither, having not come to
hand till the 17th inst. I sincerely thank you for the interest you
have taken in Mr. Bailey. He is a good Republican and a worthy
honest man, which qualifications, I have thought, entitled him to
some notice from the Government, in his line of business--I was
heartily laughed at, however, a few weeks ago in N. York, by some
Aristocrats, for having in my Letter to you or Mr. Beckley, I
forget which, extolled his Military services in the late War--I am
sensible he never cut off the heads of Giants or drove hosts before
him, as some have done; at the same time it ought to be remembered
that he was an officer in the Pennsylvania Militia in the season
that tried men's souls (as Paine says) and I believe never acted
otherwise than became the character in which he acted.--

I meet you at least half way in your congratulations on the public
intelligence received from Holland. It is but another step toward
the advancement and completion of that great and philanthropic
System which I have been anticipating for many years, and which you
as well as myself, I hope, will live to see realized--When I first
went to reside in Philada. in 1791 I wished to be one of those who
would have the honour and happiness of announcing these great
events to the public through the medium of a newspaper: A variety
of circumstances however, needless to trouble you with, urged my
departure from that city after completing a two years
publication--As I mean to pass the remainder of my days on a couple
of hundred of acres of an old sandy patrimony, I have, by the way
of filling up the vacuities of time set on foot a small weekly
Newspaper calculated for the part of the country in which I am.
Should you have any curiosity to see it I will forward it to you
free of all expence except that of postage. I will not make high
promises in regard to what it may contain. It will scarcely be
expected that in a rude barbarous part of the country I could
calculate it for the polite taste of Philadelphia.--Should your
fixed residence be in Philada. I can transmit the papers to you
once a week by the Public Post, who stops every Wednesday at my
door. A Letter put into the Post Office at Philadelphia on Saturday
morning, will be sure to reach me on Wednesday.--The public papers
some time ago announced your Marriage.--I wish you all possible
happiness with the lady whom you have chosen for your Companion
through life--Mrs. Freneau joins me in the same, and desires me to
present her best respects to your lady and yourself--and should you
ever take an excursion to these parts of Jersey, we will endeavour
to give Mrs. Madison and yourself--'if not a costly welcome, yet a
kind.'"

The _Jersey Chronicle_, an eight-paged paper of the size of a sheet of letter paper, issued its initial number from the editor's little office at Mount Pleasant, Saturday, May 2, 1795. It bore the motto, "_Inter Sylvas Academi quaerere verum_.--Hor.;" and its object, in the words of its editor, was "to present ... a complete history of the foreign and domestic events of the Times, together with such essays, remarks, and observations as shall tend to illustrate the politics, or mark the general character of the age and country in which we live." The editor's salutatory is characteristic of its author:

"Never was there a more interesting period than the present, nor
ever was there a time within the reach of history when mankind have
been so generally united in attending to the cultivation of the
mind, examining into the natural and political rights of nations,
and emancipating themselves from those shackles of despotism which
have so long impeded the happiness of the human species, and
rendered the rights of the many subservient to the interests of the
few.

"At this time, when new Republics are forming and new Empires
bursting into birth; when the great family of mankind are evidently
making their egress from the dark shadows of despotism which have
so long enveloped them, & are assuming a character suitable to the
dignity of their species, the Editor seizes the opportunity to
renew his efforts for contributing, in some small degree, to the
general information of his fellow citizens in the present history
and politics of the world. No pains shall be spared, on his part,
to procure the best, the most authentic, and earliest intelligence
from every quarter, and circulating it by every method and means in
his power; and to whatever parts his subscription will enable him
to do it.