Page:History of Journalism in the United States.djvu/189

Rh clared that the reader must judge who was the culpable man—himself or Fenno.

The answer to this defense by Freneau came from Hamilton, in a letter signed "An American," in which Jefferson was directly attacked. To this Freneau replied by publishing an affidavit, asserting that Jefferson was not responsible for his paper nor had he ever written a line for it. The fight was now on in bitter earnest. It was at this time that Fenno wrote to Hamilton stating that he was in financial straits.

The bitterness of the fight between the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury grew to be so uncomfortable for the President, that Washington endeavored to end the bickering between the two members of his cabinet, and asked them, in the name of their country, to cease.

Jefferson's reply to the President very frankly stated his own relations with Freneau, and with equal frankness expressed his belief that it was a patriotic service to give a small position to a man of Freneau's talent, especially when he was so bitterly opposed to the dangerous ideas for which Fenno stood.

What made Jefferson more determined not to withdraw his protection from Freneau was the fact that the country was responding to the appeals of the National Gazette. Freneau's paper had now become the leading paper of America, and the humbler Democratic sheets throughout the country, especially in the south, looked to him as to an oracle.