[287] At the time the country numbered among its population a very large number of aliens. French refugees from the West Indies, to the number of perhaps 25,000, were here. Cf. Report of the American Historical Association for 1912: “The Enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Laws,” by F. M. Anderson, p. 116. England, also, had her quota of citizens here, not a few of whom were fugitives from justice, and some of whom, like William Cobbett and J. Thomson Callender (cf. McMaster, History of the People of the United States, vol. ii, p. 338), either drew the fire of the advocates of French principles or busied themselves in the affairs of government on this side of the ocean. The amount of scurrilous abuse, aimed at the heads of government, which issued from the public press had become appalling. No innuendoes were too indelicate, no personalities too coarse, no slanders too malicious, no epithets too vile to be of service in the general campaign of villification. The prostitution of the public press in America has never been more abject than it was at the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. (Duniway, The Development of Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts, pp. 143, 144.) Unfortunately, Federalists compromised their position and scandalized their cause by writing as scurrilous and libelous articles as their enemies; but the agencies of administration were in their hands, and, as the Democrats charged, their offences were not noticed.
[288] Morison, The Life and Letters of Harrison Cray Otis, vol. i, pp. 106 et seq. Morison’s treatment of this tempestuous period is characterized by keen discrimination and fine balance. It is one of the most satisfying as well as one of the most vivid accounts of the situation to be found.
[289] Connecticut Courant, July 8, 1799.
[290] Independent Chronicle, Dec. 3, 1798.
[291] Report of the American Historical Association for 1912: “The Enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Laws,” by F. M. Anderson, pp. 115 et seq. Cf. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. vii, pp. 256 et seq., 262, letters of Monroe to Jefferson.
[292] Anderson, who appears to have made a painstaking examination of the available records, states his conclusions thus: “I have made a special effort to discover every possible instance and to avoid confusing Federal and State cases. There appears to have been about 24 or 25 persons arrested. At least 15, and probably several more, were indicted. Only 10, or possibly 11, cases came to trial. In 10 the accused were pronounced guilty. The eleventh case may have been an acquittal, but the report of it is entirely unconfirmed.” (Report of the American Historical Association for 1912, p. 120. Cf. Bassett, The Federalist System, p. 264.) An important phase of the judicial aspects of the situation, as respects the forming of public opinion, was the widespread publication in the newspapers of the charges made to grand juries by Federal judges who exerted themselves to defend the alien and sedition laws, and whose utterances received caustic criticism at the hands of Democrat writers.
[293] Duniway, The Development of Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts, pp. 145, 146.
[294] The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. vii, pp. 331 et seq., Jefferson’s letter to Elbridge Gerry.
[295] The report of this episode may be found in the Connecticut Courant of May 14, 1798. Cf. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. vii, pp. 252 et seq., Jefferson’s letter to Madison.
[296] Ibid.