[820] An Oration, delivered before the citizens of Portland … on the Fourth of July, 1799 … By A. Stoddard. Portland, 1799, pp. 10, 11, 13, 29 et seq.
[821] An Oration delivered at Byfield, July 4, 1799. By Rev. Elijah Parish, A. M. Newburyport (n. d.).
[822] An Oration, delivered at Roxbury, July 4, 1799. In Commemoration of American Independence. By Thomas Beedé. Boston, 1799.
[823] The Connecticut Courant of June 10, 1799, carried to its readers the announcement that “the IIIrd volume of the History of Jacobinism” had just been received by Messrs. Hudson & Goodwin, the editors, and, along with volumes i and ii, was on sale.
[824] Jedediah Morse was certainly one of those who hoped for much from the appearance of Barruel’s work in America. On October 3, 1799, he wrote to the American publishers of the Memoirs of Jacobinism, expressing his gratification over the receipt of six copies of volumes i and ii (bound in one) of the same, and arranging to have the remaining volumes forwarded to him at the earliest possible date. Cf. Morse’s letter to Messrs. Hudson & Goodwin, in the Ford Collection, New York Public Library. Morse’s urgency in the case is partly explained by the fact that at this time he was being drawn deeply into the Ebeling-Huntington-Babcock-Bentley-Morse controversy, to be noticed below.
[825] Wolcott Papers, vol. v, 77. Cf. Salem Gazette, Aug. 13, 1799.
[826] Cf. the issues of the Courant for June 24, July 1, 8, 15, 29, Aug. 5, 12, 19, 26, Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Oct. 7, 1799. The partisan object in view in making and publishing this abridgment of Barruel is thinly veiled in the following statement of the editors: “We have not, indeed, much to apprehend from external invasion, but our greatest dangers arise from a disorganizing party among ourselves, who will recognize no government, except in bacchanalian curses, and the sanguinary notions of a blind, seditious, and corrupted crowd—who will be guided by no laws except what are conceived in the womb of crime, the weakness and absurdity of which will be calculated to establish the reign of licentiousness, and consolidate the empire of sedition and conspiracy.” (Connecticut Courant, July 8, 1798.)
[827] Cf. the issues of the Mercury for July 30, Aug. 9, 13, 16, 20, 27, Sept. 3, 6, 17, 24, Oct. 1, 8, 22, 29, 1799. Other papers, the Columbian Centinel, for example, began the publication of the Abridgement, but discontinued the series before the end was reached.
[828] The entire indifference to the Abridgement which many New England editors manifested was the occasion of no little disappointment and chagrin on the part of those who had hoped for material assistance and comfort from this source. Cf. Connecticut Courant, July 22, 1799. With regard to the general impression which the Memoirs of Jacobinism made in this country, the comments of Thomas Jefferson are of interest. Though based upon an imperfect acquaintance with Barruel’s work, considerable sound criticism is expressed. “I have lately by accident got sight of a single volume (the 3d.) of the Abbé Barruel’s ‘Antisocial Conspiracy’, which gives me the first idea I have ever had of what is meant by the Illuminatism against which ‘Illuminate Morse’, as he is now called, and his ecclesiastical and monarchical associates have been making such a hue and cry. Barruel’s own parts of the book are perfectly the ravings of a Bedlamite. But he quotes largely from Wishaupt [sic] whom he considers the founder of what he calls the order … Wishaupt seems to be an enthusiastic philanthropist. He is among those (as you know the excellent Price and Priestley also are) who believe in the infinite perfectibility of man. He thinks he may in time be rendered so perfect that he will be able to govern himself in every circumstance, so as to injure none, to do all the good he can, to leave government no occasion to exercise their powers over him, and, of course, to render political government useless. This, you know, is Godwin’s doctrine, and this is what Robison, Barruel, and Morse have called a conspiracy against all government. … The means he proposes to effect this improvement of human nature are ‘to enlighten men, to correct their morals and inspire them with benevolence’. As Wishaupt lived under the tyranny of a despot and priests, he knew that caution was necessary even in spreading information, and the principles of pure morality. He proposed, therefore, to lead the Free Masons to adopt this object. … This has given an air of mystery to his views, was the foundation of his banishment, the subversion of the Masonic Order, and is the color for the ravings against him of Robison, Barruel, and Morse, whose real fears are that the craft would be endangered by the spreading of information, reason, and natural morality among men. … I believe you will think with me that if Wishaupt had written here, where no secrecy is necessary in our endeavours to render men wise and virtuous, he would not have thought of any secret machinery for that purpose … ”. (The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. vii, p. 419: Letter to Bishop James Madison.)
[829] Christopher D. Ebeling (1741–1817) was a German geographer and historian who was greatly interested in everything relating to America. In 1794 he was elected a corresponding member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He was in correspondence with such public characters in America as Morse, Dr. Jeremy Belknap, President Stiles, and Thomas Jefferson. After his death, Ebeling’s large and valuable library became the property of Harvard University.