“Mount Vernon, 28th Feby, 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,Go. Washington.”The Revd. Mr. MorseWashington 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.[927]Robison,Jeffersonian Democracy in New England, pp. 26et 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. 441et 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; anda day of convivialitywas thus observed once a month by the clergy, to their gratification and the increase of their association.” (Ibid.)[940]Ibid., pp. 4et 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. 5et 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. 9et 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. 11et 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. TheAuroraof 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 officessimultaneouslyunder 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. 585et seq.In these circumstances Abraham Bishop seems to have found an adequatecasus 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 inA Rod for the Fool’s Back. “Connecticutensis” wrote and publishedThree Letters to Abraham Bishop.Cf.Oration delivered at Wallingford, on the 11th of March, 1801, pp. 103et seq.[971]Ibid.,passim.[972]Ibid., p. 18.[973]Ibid., pp. 22, 44.[974]Ibid., pp. 26et seq.[975]Bishop,op. cit., pp. 47et 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. 60et 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.
“Mount Vernon, 28th Feby, 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,Go. Washington.”The Revd. Mr. Morse
“Mount Vernon, 28th Feby, 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,
Go. Washington.”
The Revd. Mr. 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.
[927]Robison,Jeffersonian Democracy in New England, pp. 26et 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. 441et 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; anda day of convivialitywas thus observed once a month by the clergy, to their gratification and the increase of their association.” (Ibid.)
[940]Ibid., pp. 4et 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. 5et 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. 9et 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. 11et 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. TheAuroraof 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 officessimultaneouslyunder 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. 585et seq.In these circumstances Abraham Bishop seems to have found an adequatecasus 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 inA Rod for the Fool’s Back. “Connecticutensis” wrote and publishedThree Letters to Abraham Bishop.Cf.Oration delivered at Wallingford, on the 11th of March, 1801, pp. 103et seq.
[971]Ibid.,passim.
[972]Ibid., p. 18.
[973]Ibid., pp. 22, 44.
[974]Ibid., pp. 26et seq.
[975]Bishop,op. cit., pp. 47et 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. 60et 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.