1794 GEORGE WASHINGTON &c. 125 Issues of The Herald. Whiskey Rebellion, Indian Wars, Slavery, &c.

An absolutely exceptional run of Noah Webster's influential early American periodical. A 34 issue run from 1797 sold recently at auction for right about $200 per issue and many issues covering the Whiskey Rebellion, or with signed content by George Washington, John Jay, etc., [which abound], fetch more in the $400 - $600 per issue. 

Please see a very small sampling of the contents of just the first few issues below. Incredible content. 

Webster, Noah [Ed.]. The Herald; A Gazette for the Country. Published Mondays and Thursdays, by George Bunce & Co. No. 12, Wall-streets, near the City hall, at Three Dollars per annum. 1794, 1795.

Issues beginning in Volume I and continuing with issue numbering into Volume II. Numbers 5, 6, 7. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 [printer’s error, 34], 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 62 [mis-ordered], 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 73 [printer’s error, 78], 80, 81 [with minor losses to text at top vertical fold], 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 124 125, 126, 127, 127, 128, 129, 139 [printer’s error, 130], 132 [mis-ordered], 131 [mis-ordered], 134 [mis-ordered], 135, 136, 137 [damage to lower 1/8 of sheet, impacting text], 138, 140, 141, 145, 147 [x2], 148, 149, 150, 151, 152 [x2], 153.

Very scarce Herald (Extra) for Wednesday February 4, 1795, published as a full issue without the usual Herald masthead, the bulk The Injustice, Absurdity, and Bad Policy of Laws Against Usury with a note that part of the article was the result of conversation with Benjamin Franklin. We trace no example of this issue offered since 1955.  

125 unique issues plus 2 duplicates, encompassing June 19, 1794 to November 18, 1795.

It seems the nearly complete run was likely assembled at some point in the 19^th century with the issues seeming to originate from at least three different sources with different fold patterns, inconsistent stains, and a couple duplicate issues. We note the signatures of John C. Smith Esq [issue 1.34] of John C. Smith Esq, presumably the President of the Insurance Company of North America; Doctor S. R. Gager [Samuel Roberdson Gager, issue 1.51]. And further note indicating the ownership of [1.90] of Rev’d Woodworth, Revolutionary War veteran and early Freewill Baptist Elder [1763-1826]*

*Ziba Woodworth is the son of Benjamin Woodworth, and twin brother of Joseph. Ziba and his brother Asael served in the Revolutionary War, and were engaged in the massacre at Fort Griswold.He was a young man of barely 18 years when he joined, under the command of Colonel Ledyard, in the spring of 1781. A few months into his service, he was severely wounded at Fort Griswold.

Black and white soldiers had been fighting side by side at Groton Heights, Connecticut, defending against forces led by the American traitor, Benedict Arnold. When the small force of Americans was overwhelmed, they retreated to Fort Griswold.Here, the Americans quickly ran out of ammunition, and the British charged the fort. The Americans fought with everything they had, using their rifles as clubs, but the the British overpowered them, and quickly slaughtered all who remained.

Ziba was wounded by a bayonet thrust through his body, and a ball piercing his thigh and shattering the bone. In the book, Golden Thoughts at Ingleside by Mrs. Frank Leland, his niece, described his ordeal; too weak from his injuries even to cry out, he was thrown onto a heap of dead to be taken away and buried.

Praying for the strength to show some sign of life, he promised God he would dedicate himself to God's service, if only He would let him live. He found the strength to utter a single groan, which was heard by the men driving the cart.They took him away to a hospital, where he recovered. According to the account given by his son, John, Ziba spent nineteen months recuperating, and finally was able to walk with the aid of crutches, but walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

He spent his life as a preacher of the gospel, and dedicated many hours to writing a history of his life, and how God spared him the fate of being buried alive.

Volume I. Number 5. June 19, 1794.

Includes a fascinating satirical letter addressed to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of Great Britain and drafted by the “Sharks of Africa.” In the petition, written in the voice of the actual sharks off the coast of Africa, the sharks express their gratitude for the increase food supply from dead negroes thrown overboard, from Africans who would rather feed the sharks than become slaves, and from entire ships of white and black men and women who have provided a shipwreck buffet for the sharks off Africa’s cost. They, however, even though they appreciate the care and consideration of the English slavers on their behalf, request the abolition of slavery. Then, mockingly, express their regret that the English resisted abolition because they are afraid of how it will impact the sharks and their food supply, but express confidence there will be enough ships sunk in legitimate trade they will be well nourished.

An early account of the interactions with the Six Nations, “It seems the possessing of Presq’isle will excite disgust in our friends the Six Nations, and may extend Indian hostilities; but the contrary is truth. Make an establishment at Presq’isle, and you have the whole Six Nations as humble as dogs – If Indians have a respect for your power, then they are your greatest friends. Quaker policy with Indians, that of treating with them as if they possessed honour and good faith, and imagine that you can  attach them to you by gratitude, is entirely chimerical; fear is the only principle by which you can operate on Indians. . . . etc.”

“The Indians have been very troublesome on our frontiers – on Sunday last they attacked a canoe loaded with provisions for Lebeuf, about a mile above the mouth of Kiskeminetas, klled three men and wounded one, all that were in . . . “

May 21^st, 1794 letter from George Washington, regarding preparing for War with the Six Nations. In part, “It cannot be necessary to comment upon the very serious nature of such an encroachment, nor to urge that this new state of things suggests the propriety of placing the United States in a posture of effectual preparation for an event which, notwithstanding the endeavors to avert it, may by circumstances beyond our control, be forced upon us. G. Washington”

“It seems as if certain characters wished, just as we have got rid of English masters, to lay our nation and country at the feet of Frenchmen. Indeed one of our Democrats has lately said, ‘if the French nation should attempt to conquer this country, he should not make resistance.’ A might tame spirit this! --- Americans, if the English are haughty and insolent, the French are an intriguing people. Treat both nations as they deserve; but learn to be dupes of neighter --- Be Real Americans!”

Volume I. Number 6. June 23, 1794.

Including a lengthy and soaring approbation of George Washington by R. H. C. Fox in the British House of Commons, “. . .I cannot help pausing to contemplate on the President of the Congress, General Washington, a character so very different from that which has been displayed by British Ministers. How infinitely superior must appear the spirit and principle manifested in the late address to Congress, and characteristic of the genius of his Government, when compared with the policy of modern European courts! Illustrious man, deriving honor less from the splendor of his situation than from the dignity of his mind, before whom all borrowed greatness sinks into insignificance, and all the princes and potentates of Europe (excepting the members of our own Royal family) become little and contemptible. . . etc.”

A published letter by Thomas Jefferson regarding the taking of two privateer ships in Charleston, apparently being fitted to aid the French in their naval battles against England.

Editorial Letter [by Webster?] “Whilst Great Britain, by her inquisitorial associations and arbitrary punishment is forcing her ingenious artizans fro her shores, how honorable is it in America to afford at once an asylum to the fugitives, and encouragement to their ingenious effort? And tho the date of our manufactures prevents us from reaping the full harvest of their abilities for the present, still it is our duty to extend to them that encouragement which is in our power. Men of genius are an acquisition to a country at any period and especially to America at the present. Of this description, we understand is Mr. Mur, the exhibitor of the Solar Microscope; and we take pleasure in announcing this to our fellow citizens --- to reward merit, and at the same time receive instruction is a sufficient hint to Americans.”

Letter from Jamaica, “There is a most malignant fever raging here at present, and it is highly necessary as you tender the safety of your families and the community, that the condition of the crew of every vessel from this place should be strictly searched before they are suffered to mix with society. The hot weather is now coming on in America and by seasonable precautions you may prevent a similar catastrophe to what has already happened in the first town in the United States.”

Reports of border skirmishes between the British and the militias of Vermont; account of extreme winds at Poughkeepsie; account of the first session of the third congress levying duties / tariffs on snuff and sugar; etc.

Volume I. Number 7. June 26, 1794.

Includes a full transcription of the Address of William Smith of South Carolina to his constituents articulating the cause of the Federalists in Congress, and thought by Webster to be a fine articulation of the Federalist position and perspective.

Rebuke of Canadian Fake News, “The inhabitants of Lower Canada, are called upon in the Quebec papers, to be on their guard against the hostile intentions of the Vermonters --- who, they affirm, hold the language of attacking and plundering that Province. It appears by this, that the fabricators of intelligence calculated only to excite alarm, are not confined to the United States.”

Brief account of the trial of Collins, Poleski, and Fastidi for murder and piracy with a guilty verdict and a scheduled public execution.

Address from the People of Kentucky requesting that President George Washington intervene against the Spanish who have been making use of the Mississippi by residents of Kentucky all but impossible. Includes accounts of military skirmishes on the Mississippi between the Spanish and Kentuckians, etc.

Extensive account of a suspected plot between the Seneca and British to murder Americans; etc.

Volume I. Number 8. June 30, 1794.

Includes detailed account of the Acts passed by the Third Session of Congress, including The Neutrality Act, which made it illegal for any American citizen to serve any other country as a soldier / privateer with a punishment of $2,000 and up to three years in prison and which provided a half-share bounty for information leading to the arrest of any person or firm fitting or arming foreign ships for battle with countries with whom the United States was not at war; also the Naval Embargo Act, etc.

An account of an Act for the levying of duties / tariffs on Wins and Spirituous Liquors made by foreign distilleries; or an ambush of General Wayne and his troops by Indians who killed the Corporal and five soldiers . . . the army will “probably soon move forward into the Indian country in considerable force.”;

“. . . the Madisonian party in Congress and their disciples . . . [as a] war faction would, like a bully, instantly return blow for blow, without any ceremony. Our Gopvernment says no. Let some ceremony pass --- some explanation be had --- some questions be asked --- before we come to blows. For this decent propriety of national behaviour, our incendiaries rail at the Executive, charge him with apathy and pusillanimity, and vent their execrations against every man who will not join in the hue and cry. This they call true patriotism . . . our democratical people ought to blush and hide their heads for urging reprisals and abusing our Government for attempting negotiation. Such facts are a severe satire and an indelible stigma on men who pretend to republicanism.”

Notice of Joseph Priestley’s responses to the atheistical philosophers of France, fear of further Indian attacks; letter of welcome form the American Philosophical Society upon his arrival in America; etc.

Volume I. Number 9. July 3, 1794.

Includes an original article, Of the Present State of Europe and the Confederacy against France by Thomas Paine. Also, notice of and recommendation of Thomas Paine’s first edition of The Age of Reason, including the following:

“This production displays in full force all the qualities that characterize Mr. Paine’s other writings, and proves that his mind is neither impaired no embarrassed by the events passing around him, or by what he himself may have suffered. As few of our readers will have an opportunity of seeing the work itself, we insert

Mr. Paine’s Creed.

As several of my colleagues and others of my fellow-citizens of France have given me the example of making their voluntary and individual profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do this with all that sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man communicates with itself.

I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.

I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

But, lest it should be supposed that I believe in many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.”

A further account of an Indian ambush between Fort Hamilton and Fort Washington in which five soldiers were killed and scalped; the taking of Port au Prince and suicide of Polverel before he could be taken by the British; etc.

Volume I. Number 10. July 7, 1794.

A sarcastically printed letter from Samuel Horsley to the Anglican clergy of Wales, attempting to demonstrate the narrow, sectarian nature of the Church of England. “The following copy of a circular letter sent by Dr. Horsley, Bishop of St. David’s, to the Clergy of the Diocese [of Wales] breathes such a spirit of meekness and charity, that it deserves to be made as public as possible. The reader will not fail to remark how much the good people of Wales must have been edified, by being told, from the pulpit, that the Dissenters are no more Protestants, than Jews or Pagans, and not near so good Christians as the Mahometans.”

Written July 4, 1794 “This day completes the period of eighteen years since the Representatives of United America, published a solemn appeal to the World for the rectitude of their motives in renouncing forever all dependence on Great Britain, and proclaimed the inhabitants of the Colonies a SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENT NATION. Etc.”

Account of the July 4^th celebration in New York City. Includes a toast given on the day in which it was wished “That America may ever be an asylum for the persecuted and oppressed.” And another, “May the hammer and hand ever be uplifted to beat off the shackles of slavery and weld fast the federal union.”  Etc.

Volume I. Number 11. July 10, 1794.

Includes the passage of An Act Concerning Invalids, providing pensions and support for persons injured during the American Revolution and other Acts related to the bonus pay due soldiers on the Western frontier, on compensation for widows and orphans of soldiers, etc.

A satirical account of a Democratic meeting on July 4^th. “The Democratic Society of Philadelphia, gave a number of toasts on the 4^th of July – among which was the following:

Governmental secrecy: may it be banished the land of freedom and be hereafter known only to a conclave or court.

It is proposed to amend this sentiment to run thus---

Governmental secrecy: may it be exchanged for the black balls and secrecy of Democratic Societies.

This we take to be the true intent and spirit of the toast, and government would doubtless be able to get along much better, in this way, than in the legal way---No body should haver secrets but clubs.

P. S. We wish our Patriotic brethren of Philadelphia had not forgotten that good old Republican and Sans Culotte of America, the President. We think he ought to “live (to use their own words) in remembrance of those who. Enjoy the fruits of his ill-requited services.” But, no! the President is forgotten on the birth day of our liberties, and clubs are the order of the day!” etc.

Volume I. Number 12. July 14, 1794.

Passage of an Act of Congress laying duties upon Carriages and other Conveyances; and a further Act collecting duties on domestically produced spirits, wines, and teas; etc.

A rather lengthy account of the attacks levied against George Washington by Democrats as being too moderate, etc.; Account of a significant tornado in Litchfield, July 2. Lengthy article recounting the Duke of York’s defeat.

An important copy of a letter in opposition to the Democrats by Nathaniel Chipman, author of Sketches of the Principles of Government, etc.

Volume I. Number 15. July 24, 1794.

“It has been frequently asserted that Tom Paine does nothing but drink [and] that he is constantly intoxicated, &c. &c.---To prove the truth of this remark, he has just finished a work, which those who have seen say is as remarkable for acuteness of reasoning as any thing he has written. Their next remark will probably be that he took the method recommended by Stern---wrote when drunk, and corrected when sober.”

Account of a meeting between Colonel Robertson and the Choctaw and Chickesaw chiefs with the intent of integrating their warriors into the United States military.

Etc.

Volume I. Number 16. July 28, 1794.

 Includes an extensive list of open commissions for the delivery of mail in the United States by Timothy Pickering, Post Master General; Re-Print of Intelligence Regarding the Partition of Poland; detailed account of Captain Bowen’s raid on Indian encampments at Augusta / Franklin County, including death tolls, the manner of their encampments, etc.; speeches given by Shenondon, Chief of the Oneida; a brief account of the attempted assassination of Robespierre and Collot; etc.

“I am directed to contradict the purport of a paragraph under the Richmond head of the 10^th instant, holding up the idea that the Chickasaws are unfriendly to the United States, Nothing can be more contrary to the real state of the case. The letters of Governor Blount to the Secretary of War, alluded to in the Richmond paragraph, give no such information.

A party of the Chickasaws and another of the Choctaws are now acting with the army of Major General Wayne. The strong friendship of Piamingo & the Chiefs who are at present in this city on a visit to the President of the United States has been evinced by an invariable course of attachment. Since the late war, no Chickesaw ever killed a citizen of the United States, &c.”

The above is followed by a further report from Richmond that the government is being duped by the Chicasaws and that they are the primary agitators of all the Indians in the region against the Americans, etc.

Another piece of correspondence from a Native American leader, i.e. “A declaration of Obeal, (Cornplanter) to a person of reputation, lately from the Indian Country”

Also an account of the capture and ransom of Captain Richard O’Brien and his ship and mates in Algiers and attempts to raise the ransom in Boston. They had been held captive for over 8 years.

Volume I. Number 18. August 4, 1794.

Contains a lengthy account of the guilty plea and sentence of death issued by the Supreme Court of Portland, Maine against Edmund Fortis, a “negroman,” for the rape and murder of a fourteen year old white girl, Pamela Tilton.

“Sentence of Death. Unhappy prisoner at the bar, Edmund Fortis! You have been charged by the Grand Jury for these countries, with the crime of wilful murder, the murder of Pamela Tilton; to this charge, you freely, deliberately, and repeatedly pleaded that you were guilty, and this after due information from the court of the legal effect of this plea on your life . . . this sentence, when executed, will remove you from this world, where you have proved yourself so unworthy an inhabitant, to a state of existence where you must reap the fruits of your past life; where you must appear before the awful tribunal of that holy Being, who cannot be deceived and will not be mocked, and who will judge you for this and all the other sins of your life, and which may have lead to it and ended in it; it therefore becomes you, with the sincerest repentance and deepest contrition of heart, to call to mind all the sinful dispositions and transactions of your life; listen to the motions of your conscience, that faithful witness in your bosom, and it will tell you, how you have cast off the fear of God from your eyes, and all restraint of reverence to him from your thoughts, words and actions, till your unbridled lust and malicious disposition had arrived to full ripeness, and urged you to the commission of crimes, at your own relation of which nature revolts and the human heart is rent with agony.

To what a pitch of brutal lust must you have arrived, that a person of your nation, your age, having a wife and children in the neighborhood, should so inhumanely assault and violate the chastity of that young girl in spight of her intreaties and remonstrances, and then with all the savage cruelty of a ruffian and an assassin, deaf to the cries and supplications which would have melted  any heart but one lost to every human feeling, you barbarously strangled to death the inoffensive victim of your lustful crime; thus in a short space of time destroying life, the first right of all mankind, and chastity, the second right of woman. By these detestable crimes you have rendered yourself unworthy any connection with the human race, [and] unfit to live . . . you shall go hence to the prison from whence you came, and from thence be carried to the place of executions, and there be hanged till you are DEAD!”

Account of a “lawless Banditti of men” who were armed and fitted with a vessel at Richmond and set to plunder the high seas; the pirates brought before a tribunal.

An English rendering of the “celebrated French Air,” the Marseillois Hymn. A fascinating song of the French Revolution which enjoyed popularity in America, feeling reminiscent of America’s own struggle for independence. It was reprinted in the Jovial Songster [1794].

Rise, patriot sons, the morn appears;
The dawn of glory gilds the world;
‘Gainst us, dark Kings, the source of tears,
Their bloody standards have unfurl’d.
Hark shepherds! How the demons roar!
The shouts of ghastly slaves arise;
They come like fiends before your eyes,?
To quaff your wives and infants gore.

To arms my country! Form your matchless stand!
March! March! That despots blood may drench your native land.

. . .

Thou, sacred, patriotic flame!
Be though th’intrepid patriot’s shield;
Oh, virtuous Liberty! proclaim
Thy armies victors in the field:
Where thy triumphant standard flies,
May bright plum’d victory repose,
May thy relentless dying foes,
Behold thy infant glorious rise.

Establishemnt of a station at The Castle [Boston] to inspect ships arriving from the West Indies to ensure they are free from the West India fever.

Thomas West of King William county found, seemingly murdered by a “Negro man” by the name of Tom, the slave of a gentleman of Dinwiddie county.

“In a Jamaica paper of June 21, there are three columns filled with lists of names of runaway negroes, confined in different work houses. For the information of masters, these slaves are described much as we in America describe stray horses, sheep, and hogs. Take the following as samples:

John Williams, belonging to Mr. Atkins of Barbadoes, marked S. B.

Frank a new negro, marked L. S. heart on top; five feet, one inch high.

What a charming proof of civilized society, of the age of reason and philosophy, of humanity, of approaching millennium and of the rights of man!”

Volume I. Number 20. August 11, 1794.

An extensive letter from Captain Michael Smith, held hostage at Algiers, communicating the plans of the Algerines to take more Americans hostage, the state of the prisoners, raging plague, etc.,

“The Philadelphia Democrats, after having repeatedly reprobated the measures of government, and especially excise, and said enough to inflame the public mind, now come forward with resolves, that however oppressive and hostile excise systems are to liberty, still they disapprove of an opposition to them not warranted by the Constitution. This is very meritorious indeed, and we are greatly indebted to them for upholding the laws with one hand, while they attack it by the other!”

“When a considerable party in this country are making every exertion to render our republican government odious, and to excite disaffection in the people to the late pacific measures of the President, the friends of order and peace seem to be asleep and careless of the public safety. Relying on the good sense of the people, as it is called, they turst the people will be right, whatever be the pains taken to make them wrong. Thus a few malicious men formerly hunted down Mr. Adams, as an aristocrat; tho probably the very men never read a page of his defence of the American Constitution. The fact is, the whole scope of the book is to put the people on their guard against aristocracy and point out the manner of providing against the undue influence of a species of natural aristocracy, which is supposed to exist in all countries and under all governments.

Now the hue and cry is against Mr. Jay. And why? For no assignable reason, but this. Mr. Jay is the man selected by the President as the most proper person to manage difficult negociation on which probably the most important interests of this country depend. . . Americans, do you know that you are indebted principally to Mr. Jay for the acknowledgement of our Independence as a preliminary of the treaty in 1783? Do you know that Dr. [Benjamin] Franklin, a good patriot, no doubt, but feeble in negociation, had given up many material points advantageous to this country? Do you know that Mr. Adams and Mr. Jay, the men who are now so obnoxious to certain flaming patriots, were the men that firmly and obstinately insisted on a formal acknowledgment of the Independence of America as a preliminary to the treaty of peace? . . .. When anarchy is springing up on every side, where are the old patriots of 1775?”

Ongoing accounts of the battles with the “Indians” at Fort Recovery.

An important two column “Proclamation” from President George Washington, drawing a line in the sand regarding the ongoing and explosive “Whiskey Rebellion,” officially calling the militia in to the region,

“And whereas it is in my judgement necessary under the circumstances of the case to take measures for calling forth the militia in order to suppress the combinations aforesaid and to cause the laws to be duly executed, and I have accordingly determined so to do, feeling the deepest regret for the occasion, but withal the most solemn conviction, that the essential interests of the union demand it, that the very existence of government and fundamental principles of social order are materially involved in the issue, and that the patriotism and firmness of all good citizens are seriously called upon, as occasion may require to aid in the effectual suppression or so fatal a spirit.”

The full text of the proclamation of George Washington is followed by the Proclamation of Thomas Mifflin, Governor of Pennsylvania, in support of the sending of the militia and promising to bring all insurgents to justice, etc.,

Two column detailed description of the extensive Boston Fire begun in the Rope Walk of Mr. Edward How, along with a catalog of losses, etc.,

Volume I. Number 21. August 14, 1794.

Includes brief accounts of a treaty with the Creek Nation, the death of Mr. Higinson and Mr. Rhea of yellow fever in the West Indies, and a public fight  between Major Shannon and Mr. Felte which resulted in Shannon being stabbed ad Felte having his skull crushed with a stone. Both men died.

Volume I. Number 24. August 25, 1794.

An important early “Report read at the last meeting of the Society for Procuring the Manumission of Slaves” viz.

“The Trustees of the African School.

Report,
That the institution continues to flourish and increase in usefulness. Some of the boys, who had obtained, a respectable share, of the advantages arising from the School, are now placed as apprentices to mechanic professions; whereby they have an opening made for them, to become useful members of society. The trustees, hope that the individuals of the society will exert themselves to procure like situations, for such of the youth, as shall from time to time, be found fitted for the purpose; as, northing can tend to raise the African character more than by such means rescuing them from the state of servitude to which they are now almost universally condemned. When instead of being household drudge, confined to the society of those of his own colour, who knot having had the advantage of our protection, have been left in the dark state of debasing slavery, the African shall find himself associated with Free, industrious mechanics, his thoughts will be raised, his mind will expand, and he will stand a proof to mankind, that nature has not done less for the negro than for any of her other children. Let us by every means in our power endeavor to remove those prejudices which tend to make mankind proud, unjust, and cruel.

It is with pleasure the trustees proceed to report; that the school consists of sixty promising children of both sexes – that they have improved in orderly behaviour as well as in other respects – and that due attention seems to be paid to their welfare by the person to whose more immediate care they are committed, etc.”

An expansive 9 column Letter from Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury regarding the Whiskey Rebellion. In its nearly 8000 words, as he states in the opening paragraph, Hamilton lays out the legal case for the suppression of the rebellion via the militia, viz.,

“The disagreeable crisis at which matters have lately arrived in some of the western counties of Pennsylvania, with regard to the laws laying duties on spirits distilled within the United States, and on stills, seems to render proper a review of the circumstances which have attended those laws in that scene from the commencement to the present time, and of the conduct which has hitherto been observed on the part of the government, its motives and effect – in order to a better judgment of the measure necessary to be pursued in the existing emergency.”

A significant section toward the end is spent cataloging the crimes of the insurgents, including raids on the mail, etc, the forcible taking over of local government offices, hijacking and kidnappings, etc.

A separate article details intelligence that the insurgents in western Pennsylvania are rumored to be seeking independence, perhaps by violent insurrection., etc.

Volume I. Number 25. August 28, 1794.

Ongoing on the Whiskey Rebellion, “By late accounts from the westward, we are informed that the rioters of Pennsylvania, do not confine their operations to their own State; they have visited Morgan Town and ordered the Collector residing there to relige his office and papers or they would come and destroy them with all his property. They also sent him a letter, with a fictitious signature, informing him, that on such a night they would pay him a visit: - on such repeated threats, the Collector, on advice of his friends, judged it prudent to decamp – which he accordingly did, etc.”

Outrages and riots at Carlisle with regard to the ongoing Whiskey Rebellion;

“To the Enemies of Anarchy. Report says that the leaders of the Pennsylvania Insurgents, now in arms, are sending their emissaries into the towns for the purposes of buying up arms and ammunition: and that some of those emissaries have already been purchasing in Hagerstown and in this place. If they are indulged in this practice a little longer we may soon expect to hear they have gone a step further. Having other uses for money they will soon determine that it is less inconvenient to rob than to purchase, and their friends will soon inform them where a few enterprising men can obtain sufficient supplies at once. Does it not behove therefore the friends of order to keep a look out?” etc. etc.