[246] Independent Chronicle, Dec. 11, 1794.
[247] Ibid., Nov. 27, 1794.
[248] Cf. supra, [pp. 89] et seq.
[249] Cf. Independent Chronicle, Dec. 22, 25, and 29, 1794; Jan. 8 and 15, 1795.
[250] Ibid., Jan. 12, 1795.
[251] Ibid., Jan. 15, 1795.
[252] A more detached and better balanced judgment of the importance of the part played by the clergy in the suppression of the Democratic Societies is that recorded by William Bentley: “When I consider the rash zeal with which the clergy have embarked in the controversy respecting Constitution & Clubs, I could not help thinking of a place in this Town, called Curtis’ folly. The good man attempting to descend a steep place, thought it best to take off one pair of his oxen & tackle them behind. But while the other cattle drove down hill, they drew the others down hill backwards & broke their necks. Had the French clergy continued with the people & meliorated their tempers they would have served them & the nobility.” (Diary, vol. ii, p. 130.)
[253] That a certain depth of impression was made upon the mind of Jedediah Morse by the agitation that developed over these secret organizations will appear from the following letter which he wrote to Oliver Wolcott, late in 1794. It is quite true that the letter shows no trace of apprehension as respects the future; but the man’s interest had been keenly solicited and the future was to have suggestions and appeals of its own.
“Charlestown, Dec. 17th, 1794
My dear Sir: