A book of the same character, but covering a wider range, and of a higher literary tone, was The Echo. It had a local interest in that it contained a number of clever satirical references to Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, Hartford was the literary center of Federalistic ideas. They were promulgated by a group of young authors known as the “Hartford Wits.” Included in the coterie was Richard Alsop, who was the principal writer of The Echo. The Echo had originally appeared serially, but in 1807, the parts were collected and published in a volume. The allusions to Brackenridge indicated a keen sense of humor and considerable poetic spirit. An article written by Brackenridge had appeared in 1792 in the National Gazette of Philadelphia, then recently established as the organ of the Republicans, in which he urged savage reprisals against the Indians, who were causing trouble west of Pittsburgh. To this screed, The Echo made the mocking reply:
“I grant my pardon to that dreaming clan,
Who think that Indians have the rights of man;
Who deem the dark skinn’d chiefs those miscreants base,
Have souls like ours, and are of human race;
And say the scheme so wise, so nobly plann’d.
For rooting out these serpents from the land,
To kill their squaws, their children yet unborn,
To burn their wigwams, and pull up their corn;
By sword and fire to purge the unhallow’d train,