University of South Carolina Libraries
Y — V •••**■* •x rtafija, ••* The Barnwell People-Sent^pel, Barnwcll, 8. C T January 11, 1934 FATHERS v? ■ mm ■'■■■ 4 (All pictures from Fsj’s “The Two Freak* lias: Fathers American Democracy,” courtesy Little, Brown and Company.) ELMO SCOTT WATSON »BN political oiatorji haTtr~ggg¥- ' lion to apeak of "the great * Democratic prlnclplea,” they In* variably mention the names of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson as though they were the first exponents of those principles. But now a scholarly historian, whose opinions, based Upon patient and diligent study, certainly should before acceptable than the windy, Vote-catching platitudes of a campaign orator, tells us that the true “Fathers of American Democracy” were two' men named Franklin—Benjamin Franklin, whose ^memory we honor on January 17, his birthday, and Benjamin Franklin Bache, his grandson. This historian is Bernard Fay, a Frenchman who divides his time between France and America, and his thesis is uttered In the book “The iSvb Franklins: Fathers of American Democracy" mi :<vS : Xv: ,VXv' ; «**• * mti \ published recehtly v by pany * So mucF has been wrl Franklin (Including Mr. >ltfle, Brown and Com* ten about Benjamin .previous bookr “ A PEEP INTO THE ANTI-FEDERAL CLUB ” “A Peep lute the Aeti-Federal Club” was a cartoon printed la New York in August, 1793. It shows a meeting of the Democratic Society of Philadelphia and represents what the Federalists thought of their, opponents. The- president ef the seciety. Dr. Rittenhouse, a famous astronomer, is looking through a telescope at the pester, on the loft, which shows the principles of the Demo cratic society. Near by him is the devil. Next te them is an enthusiastic Jacobin, Dr. Hut^dnson, an old friend of Franklin and a fervid Republican. He is recognisable by his big holly. On a plat form is Mr. Swanwicjk, the wealthy Irishman who was subsidising tho Democratic, party. The man reading a paper on his left is likely Alexander J. Dalias,- secretary of Governor Mifflin, who was a leading spirit of the party. A Frenchman and a pegro can also ho recognised in tho cartoon, tho original of which is owned by the New York Historical Society and has never before been reproduced. "Benjamin Franklin: The Apostle of Modern Times,” which has been pronounced "Incompar ably the best biography of Franklin yet pub lished”) that there seems to be little left to add to the record of his life and, services Jubencan nation. But very little has ever been said about his grandson, or the historical Impor tance of Benjamin Franklin Bache. Students of the history of American jour Ism have known him as the founder of the adelphla General Advertiser, which later became the Aurora, In which, while attempting to break the power of the Federalist party he attacked the symbol of Federalist faith. President George Washington, eiea golng-to-the- leugthsnoTlTecTaf- Ing that "If ever a nation was debauched by a , man, the American uatluu has been By Washing-" Washington. John Adams denounced him In con- founded and eceupled by tin government In gress as a traitor' who had sold himself to . the meantime Benny had married Mias Margaret France. Although Franklin’s prestige in Europe Markoe and soon, there was a family for him to was undiminished, his fellow-countrymen had be- v support ' ^ gun to suspect him. Fr6iUly^^l785 «ime^^Jt.._ . .- BAche. decided to- puhllsh e- newspaper With CLOCKWORK Briggs, the owner of the new storV, asked his manager how trade had been progressing during Tils absence. Manager—Like clockwork, sir. Briggs—Good! I’ll just have a look at the books. ^xAfter a searching Inspection of the books, he turned to his manager: Briggs—You’re right. It Is going like clockwork—every blessed thing Fve sold-lately has been un tlma.— Chelsea Record. 6 All the Difference Dialogue overheard on the beach at a South coast resort Small boy to his mother: "Mummy, may I. go In to swim 7” "Certainly not my dear, it’s far too deep." "But daddy Is swimming." "Yes, dear, but he’s Insured."— Sporting and Dramatic News. / Salesmanship Customer—To what' do yon owe your extraordinary success as a house-to-house saleamam? Salesman—Te the first ire words I utter when a woman opens the door Hew It Happened -dour 'know 1 why you amrried me. I assure, you I was taken by surprise when you accepted me." "No, Johnny, you weren’t taken by surprise—I took you by mistake." TALL ORDER -A somewhat stout actor for-rehearsal one asornlng producer was annoyed. Hs said: "Dosa anyone know where Blank Ini" "Yea," said one of Blank’s frtendSL “He’s gone to Die tailor to be mean ured for ajpult" 'Measured,” shouted the produces; "You mean ’surveyed,’ don’t you!” a ^ Oxly Tdliaf Him Beggar—Kind sir, my wife Is star^ lng. ' Jones—Here’s a quarter. Where ,1a she? \ xBegger—Search met She eloped .month with a poet—Brooklyn Ka*l«k, \ CHESS ETIQUETTE \ "Is It proper to applaud a good play at a chess tournament?” "Oh, yea, it’s quite-customary for the spectators to give three rousing snores.” Correct Answer "Who Is not amused by the com plete disregard for expense with which the average married women chooses her clothes T’ asks n writer. The average married man.—Pas* inyBbswr ,' -.-.“-i——»--- X ■ Reassurance \ Climber—I say, what if tha rope b-breaksl Guide—Now don’t you worry ah set that I’ve plenty more at home*—* Vancouver Province. \ . \. the ton. ton.” He attacked John Adams, and his attacks on the second President of the United States led directly to the passage of the Alien and Sedi tion laws, under which statuter Bache wes ar- rested for libel' but was not prosecuted. But Bache was more than a "scurrilous young Jour- t nalist who yapped at the Father of His Country. 4 Fay presents him as the man who carried on the “fathering” of Democratic principles In Chls country after that other “father," Franklin, waa dead end of bringing about a "second American Revolution/* one of which most Americans are unaware. In the preface to hla book. Fay says: “A revolution is a change of mind. There have been few more radical changes of mind than the one which took place in America between 1790 and 1800. But when historians describe the down fall of the Federalists and the victory of the new ♦ Democratic-Republican party dnrlng these years they always speak in terms of Jefferson and Hamilton. They do not exhibit a change of mind. They merely stage a picturesque fight between two very great men, and two very. attractive men. : "As I see the matter, while Hamilton opposed this change and Jefferson made use of it, It was “ other men who effected this change of mind. I propose to deal mostly with these other men, 1 and, above all, with one of them who strikes me as the most outspoken, the most reckless, the most generous, and the most neglected.' His . name was Bache.” Benny Bache, as Fay likes to call him, was born on August 12, 1769, thfc son of Sarah Franklin and Richard Bache, a Philadelphia merchant, described as ‘.'simple-minded man, frlencfty and jovial, with nothing of a great man about him.” So If Benny Bache had any elements of greatness in him, he didn’t get it from his father. He got it from his mother, who . passed on to him some of the greatness of her father. ' The boy soon became a favorite of his grand father’s, so when Franklin went to Paris in 1776 to negotiate an alliance with France for the re- bellloua colonies he took .his seven-year-old grand son along with him. There the boy soon became “too French,” so his grandfather, resolved to make him ..“^Xr^bytecUn MLJuML-aA^-Repub- lican," sent him to Geneva for hla education. Franklin bad another grandson in Paris with him—Temple Franklin, the illegitimate son of his own illegitimate son, William Frahklin. But Temple Franklin was an aloof, frigid sort of boy, ao far as* real affection for hla grand- I father waa concerned. Therefore, Franklin, In 1783, brought Benny back from Geneva and, de lighted by the warmth of feeling that won Imme diately Apparent between them, he "decided to make the young man hla masterpiece.” So for two years Benny, Bache breathed the intoxicating air of Pasay, Paris and Versailles where he waa made much of as the grandson of Frapklin, the "oracle ef-two worlds." He shared in his grand father.’* talks with the philosophers and the sci entists who came, to see Franklin and he fol lowed hla grandfather’s footsteps In pursuing those Interests which made Franklin "the moat versatile American.” Then Franklin dfeidad “in order to round off Benny’s philosophical apprenticeship, to make a printer out of him. At the outset, from Novem ber, 1784, to March, 1785, he gave him as his ' master s printer and type founder, M. Emery, who came to Passy every day. ‘He supervised their work himself; it revived in him delightful memories of his own adventurous, hard child hood." Thus Benny Bache waa pointed toward hla later career aa a printer and a journalist But France had done something else for him. There he absorbed some of those democratic A, principles (for the French Revolution was al ready In the air) which were to make him a future flgfiter against aristocracy Jn American 'government ' - ’ ’ Then Franklin wrote an attack on the Society of the Cincinnati which was also an attack on mission” ffbrh congress'for him to return home —this permission in reality being a recall, since Thomas Jefferson was sent as ambassador to France to replace him. So Benjamin Franklin and Benny Bache came back to their native land, Franklin to go to the Constitutional convention, there to labor mightily as a conciliator among the warring elements who were trying to write a charter of govern-, for t+te Trew TffftlonT 'and Benny to enter University of Pennsylvania. When Washlng- wpa elected President, Franklin ‘‘went back" to hie library. Nothing was left to him hut his library. All his other kingdoms, the salons of France and those of England, where he had throned it as a prophet; the far-off chancelleries of Europe, where he had reigned as master; the American assemblies, where he had laid down the law; and the associations and the lodges and the federations and the conventions»»yrhere hla proposals had carried the crowd—all this was £nded. He would never see them again. Others reigned in his stead." So the career of one of the^. really great men of the earth ended in anti-climax.' But he was still the teacher and comrade and inspiration of the grandson" whom he had desired to make hla masterpiece. He set up a type foundry and a printing house for Benny, although the former had to be given up later. But id the latter the two collaborated,in the pubtication of children's books. They also printed Latin and Greek books, but found no sale for them. Then on April 17, 1790, Franklin died. /Toward the last he had taken Benny’s hands In his and "spent lonj: hours in happy dreaming.’ Franklin was given a fine funeral, the finest ever held in Philadelphia. ''Both Europe and America mourned his passing. “Everybody weptV as the occasion required. Only Benny wept as one weeps when life does not seem worth living any longer. . , . He had lost his grandfather and his youth. He had lost a great deal Per haps he had lost everything. Nothing remained to him bnt to serve his country." There was soon need for his beginning to do. that. Already there was dissatisfaction with the way the Federalists were running the country, but the opposition to them was still unorganized. The Republican, later the Democratic party, had not yet been organized. The capital of the iffbun- try was moVj?d from New York, to Philadelphia, which was soon boiling with politics, as a later capftal, Washington*, did from the day it was \ a bookshop on the side. The Federalists already had their organ, Fenno’s Gazette of the United States. *H« approached Robert Morris onf the subject of patronage for his proposed newspaper but Morris tried to dissuade him. Next he con sulted Thomas Jefferson, who seeped friendly enough, but soon afterwards aided Philip Fren eau found the National Gazette aa the organ of . tba .Jtepafeiieatr ’ehemenl*. - t ._._ Undiscouraged, Bache went ahead and In the fall of 1790 established the General Advertiser, dedicated to Truth, Decency and Utility. It had 1 , several .competitors, most of which were exceed ingly dull but prosperous. Bache wasn’t much of a writer but be was a good newspaper man in the sense that he got moat of. the news such as there was and printed it Y But great events were on the way. Hamilton and Jefferson, though fellow-members of Wash ington’s cabinet, were at opposite poles as to theo ries of government The feud between them, in creased. Under various pseudonyms they attacked each other in Fenno’s Gazette of the United States and In Freneau’s National Gazette. And Bache added fuel to the rapidly-growing disconteut with the Federalist regime and die rule qtjGeorge Washington, the Virginia aristo crat Then the storm of the French Revolution broke and Republican enthusiasm was rampant In America. Citizen Genet 'came to America and Bkche became his friend and the Advertiser his mouthpiece. Genet failed in his effort to override “Old Washington” by appealing directly to the people and Bache shared in that failure. But he lost little power In the years .that fol lowed when Americans were split into two fac tions—English sympathizers and French sympa- thUer* When Jqhn Jay went to England and negoti ated his "infSmons treaty,” Bache scored a tre mendous newspaper scoop. While Washington was trying to keep the provisions of that treaty dark, Bache obtained a copy of It and gave It widespread publicity. There wasr tremendous.ex citement all over the country. But despite the shrill cries of Bache and the Republicans that the Federalists had sold their country to Eng land, the treaty was ratified. Then the French Directory, with Its bluster CROSSWORD PUZZLE \ FT Horizontal. l^-Ckart 4—Kjtrt >e--ExpUtiv« ie—C*v«r*4 •Copyright IS—Yt*14 ST—Bo*y of- water ■harpea pleat M—Title -VaUafty at ST—Celt af « SS—Weak lightly 41—Agitata 44—Caeatla 'A—Boastful hahavla* Chappies tool SS—Sattahle Mi 'Fatty aaarral 41—Gala 4T—Church haaah SI—Viper •f aha Kl a. —a » -yi .ifc, r - S-* 4 - — —a ^ A- —tC - —— ^ a.» »-s.. —^ aa. -■ *7~4*£*~ */**•+ •**■—■•*+ r __ 4U3 /*/0 yC.- — |C TP “■ - pit. aaww ar— a.'—y xz/t —* /’A- —■/** — -V »>- A pm* A* A —y. —f— —. rmJ-f At m. • A* 4* V- ^ _ . . , ^ — -4— sh t~* — — p—A ✓ it— ^ » —• — 4-- ^*- s— a-Am mm • — — • —■ - u* m — pm m*m***fr mAA — . jj. . m fZ-tJZrZ-A-S-m' my —a-—- — mi. » ' i ■'-- *\ (*--r fK* % A PAGE FROM BACHE’S NOTEBOOK While editor ef the Aarore, Beebe need to Ba te tl|e#^oochea faa ceagreaa end take them down himself far his eowapepor. Te pass away, the dull hears while sittiag la the gallery he awde sketches sack as these. The sketch ef his greadfether, Beajamia Fremklie, may he rec- ogaixed at the hottem af the page. \ and its corruption, played squarely into the hands of the Federalists; who almost succeeded In embroiling America id a war with France. Bache’s resistance had a great deal te do with averting that During this period of violent political conflict he became one of the most pow erful men In the country and one of the most bitterly hated. Eyen the mob, once Republican hnd Jacobine, turned agatiist him. He was In constant danger of bodily violence. But through It all he peniMeCln fighting for what be thought were, the principles of (rue democracy, the prin ciples wj>lch he had learned from the lips of his grandfather. During this period also he had ro- christened his newspaper the Aurora and on the yfiront page of it he placed “fairly and square^ In the middle, the fine sign of a rising .sun. When John Adams succeeded Washington as President at first Bache praised h!m-~dn a left- handed way, to be «nre, by contrasting him with Washington. But tbs editor of th* Aurora was soon at. outs with the new President and hla Federalist ways. So he carried on hla war ef vituperation against Adams as he had agalnct Washington, But the yellow fever which swept hlladelphla every summer at last did what e of hla enemies had ever been able to _ it fenced Benny Bache. On September 5, 1’ he caught the yellow fever. For five days he droned himself down to his office to get oat the Aurora. On September 10 he printed his last Issue andtn that he called John Adams a liar. He fought the Federalists to the last for ha died at midnlfchL As for Bacheli place In American history. Fay states it In thes^words In the epilogue of hla book: "It was Benny Bache who led this Second Revolution, that broke Federalism and the Eng lish alliance. He had sot toe genius of Jefferson, or that of .Washington or that of his grand father. But-like them, hb loved hla country, and to him, aa to them, life was. really worth living only when he could stir the people, when he could merge himself Into toe warm hums of , mankind. Into their paaslona,\nto their desires. -Mora than those other men; hA suffered; for a short suffering with defeat la harder than, a long suffering that finally Mooma Into the Joy of auc- cess. Benny Bache had died—and died too soon." ♦to w—urn W«Wf Ui M—Tltte aa—Dl»»r •7—SxHabU ft hat Tt—■aaaaay* TS—Cipher T4—Uvelr (arehale) 7#—SwelUas 4m te flaM T8—Haraaa TP—Ferase plaat ^ S« »-Llvelr 04—Basravtas teal atllltarp eap 84—CeaelaSe SO—laferier tl—DUpateh PS—Haahaad er wife S4- Leaalaa heat PS—Mrelae M—Caaatle . IPS—Raaslaa let—Beaatlfal gUl 143—Daai 1#4—Aaaeahle4 lee Satall kettle 1P7—laatlxate t 1U—Meaeare US—Pereeaal 114—Be tc race IIS—Rasalav flT—Meaaa real eat ef trpe (pL) 118—Twltchlas TO—DafV T7—Mlaile SO—CaH mi (■ a»—latelMa T4—TIhetaa i) «T- ■telHseaee kla P4—Ter trial (aa a •0—Cleft heef (Slab) — I aiatlaal 101—Stai US—Haadle ef ax 117—BlhUeal charaeter 121—Clrealt breaker -Maecalar apasai m .. Split 14S—Besatlve ef a BlhUeal charaeter H^to*** «4l * itlea ISO—Maecalar ItT—tterereeai far 140—City la Nevada 144— Cerreded 145— Take prlaelpal aieal 140—Ualt ef wetpht -Waste 147—Carry -Tetlewtah yCWr PR CM Q 3Hr| rBR bnt 5 |B k] QltJlJ EH Wti 6£pi m Sygkl n 3 ■Cm wm a] ■QjKI ■PITfiri SHKnSI M M PBfcEHlfcl Hm Q QH 51 mem Kj PlAfVl^ a 9 aBVi mH c] qFiEj n 3 pf 1 jpf rU IP IdS | waw. JPIqw LAUh] g Mklp gw niTf ImgjiIl mi ■U Jj H ■Cfc. o&] H m a ■Bsb B Hull sfl ■H fran IeqK an aEjj HRis HD rfn wm U ojpt PK] N HjrjKj MH R ifcjd F5H R w ■poyyj mk BrnttlpSI E My aQjQ B KItMII Qej E I RE SAUSFACTIO ■I BOUO If 0 c v*-. Y VY;