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Lot 268
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Connecticut General James Wadsworth Responds to Criticism of State Legislature
Connecticut General James Wadsworth Responds to Criticism of State Legislature
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Connecticut General James Wadsworth Responds to Criticism of State Legislature

[JAMES WADSWORTH]. The New-Haven Gazette, and the Connecticut Magazine, January 18, 1787. New Haven, CT: Josiah Meigs. 8 pp. (365-372), 8.75" x 10.375". Disbound; some separation on central fold; some staining and light, scattered spots throughout.

This issue includes a letter "To the Public" over the pseudonym "Spectator," with a handwritten inscription, "Supposed Genl J. W. Durham," that attributes the piece to militia general James Wadsworth of Durham, Connecticut. The letter responds to an earlier letter by Cato that appeared in the November 30, 1786, issue of the New-Haven Gazette and takes issue with Cato's characterization of the position of the Connecticut legislature in its relations with the Confederation Congress.

Excerpts
"It has been the opinion of many learned as well as ignorant people, that a republican government was the most desirable, safe and happy for the great body of a people. On this principle (true or false) was the late war taken up, and carried on in America: and when crowned with success, we hoped to taste the sweets of civil and religious liberty; although every person who thinks properly of the intrigues and ambition of the human mind, must expect that it will be attended with jealousy and watchfulness, otherwise they will be stolen from us by art and cunning.
"I have been a spectator of the political exhibitions in the public papers of this state: and amongst other things, have observed several pieces which discover, either by satyric wit, or Hudibrastic sarcasm, that the authors wish to bring every branch of republican government into contempt; and in some instances where their arts have failed, where their arguments have proved too light, by which they have been disappointed in their views, have descended so far below the dignity of civilised gentlemen, as to undertake to prostitute their learning, their wit, and the press, to the main purpose of satyrising, not the arguments (which they could not be fair reasoning answer) but the places of abode, and (to use the celebrated poet's expression), the Paunch, the visage and the natural shape of the persons who had fortitude enough to act their parts faithfully in opposition to them."

"some person under the signature of CATO, has the audacity to hold up to public view, that Connecticut has declared to the world, that she will consider herself detached from that union which she has pledged her faith to support and defend, that she renounces all claims to national veracity and honour, and that she will defraud with an open and unblushing countenance, her lawful creditors, that the requisitions of Congress are vilely sacrificed to the arts of a detestable and designing faction; and that there is but a virtuous few in the state, claiming to be amongst the patriotic and wise, whose voice is too gentle to be heard &c. proclaiming in the public papers (because it could not be otherwise known), that to his side belongs the Learning, the Wealth and Virtue of the state.... It seems when such gross misrepresentations are published, tending to discord, that the public ought to be informed, that after the report of the committee was accepted by both houses of Assembly, acknowledging the debt of five pence on the pound in hard money, and ten pence on the pound of certificates for interest from the loan-office, by which the debt to the United States was fully acknowledged."

"Therefore it was thought by both houses of assembly, that the justice and honour of this and the United States would be better supported by continuing the consideration of the bill to the General Assembly to be holden in May next, than to grant a tax, when it was so evident payment could not be made.
"SPECTATOR." (p2/c3-p3/c1)

In the issue of March 29, 1787, "Spectator" inserted a brief note to "Cato": "Permit me, in behalf of the Public and myself, to render you my most sincere acknowledgements, in that it hath pleased you, in a manner so agreeable to yourself, and my own expectations, to put a final period to any cause for further dispute; as your last Billingsgate production is doubtless the Zenith of your Political Genius."

Additional Content
This issue also includes a notice from the publisher that "to accommodate our customers as much as possible, in the present scarcity of cash, we are ready to receive in payment Wheat, Rye, Indian-Corn, Flour, Beef, Pork, Butter, Cheese, Hog's-Lard, Wood, and Flax; the last of which will be particularly agreeable" (p2/c3); a call by Congress for additional soldiers for an expedition against Native Americans on the frontier (p3/c1); and "Amusements of Winter. From A Poem on the Happiness of America" (p8/c1-3).

The New Haven Gazette, and the Connecticut Magazine (1784-1789) was a weekly newspaper in New Haven, Connecticut. It began as the New Haven Gazette, published by Josiah Meigs (1757-1822), Daniel Bowen, and Eleutheros Dana (1761-1788). In April 1786, Bowen left the partnership to publish the New Haven Chronicle. Dana left the partnership in August 1787, and Meigs continued to edit the newspaper alone.

James Wadsworth (1730-1817) was born in Durham, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale College in 1748. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. He served as the town clerk of Durham from 1756 to 1786. He served as a brigadier general in the Connecticut militia during the Revolutionary War. After the death of David Wooster in 1777, he became a major general of militia. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1784 and as a member of the state executive council from 1785 to 1789. As a member of the state ratifying convention in 1788, Wadsworth opposed the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. He married Katharine Guernsey (1732-1813), but both of their children died in infancy, and he left no direct descendants.

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