_Aurora_, attributed to Doctor Lieb, a republican member of the
Pennsylvania assembly. It was dated on the day of Adams's inauguration.
He said:--

"'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation,' was the pious ejaculation of a man who
beheld a flood of happiness rushing upon mankind. If ever there was
a time that would license the reiteration of the exclamation, that
time is now arrived; for the man, who is the source of all the
misfortunes of our country, is this day reduced to a level with his
fellow-citizens, and is no longer possessed of power to multiply
evils upon the United States. If ever there was a period for
rejoicing, this is the moment; every heart in unison with the
freedom and happiness of the people, ought to beat high with
exultation that the name of WASHINGTON, from this day, ceases to
give a currency to political iniquity, and to legalize corruption.
A new era is now opening upon us, an era which promises much to the
people; for public measures must now stand upon their own merits,
and nefarious projects can no longer be supported by a name. When a
retrospect is taken of the Washingtonian administration for eight
years, it is a subject of the greatest astonishment that a single
individual should have cankered the principles of republicanism in
an enlightened people, just emerged from the gulf of despotism, and
should have carried his designs against the public liberty so far,
as to have put in jeopardy its very existence. Such, however, are
the facts, and, with these staring us in the face, this day ought
to be a jubilee in the United States."

These and similar articles excited the public indignation to the highest
endurable pitch; and Bache, the publisher of the _Aurora_, was severely
beaten, when, a few days afterward, he, with some friends, visited the
frigate _United States_, then on the stocks at the Philadelphia
navy-yard. A son of the contractor gave the flagellation. The public
clamor became so great, that Bache, in mortal fear of further personal
violence, thought it prudent to state, in his paper, that Doctor Lieb's
article was not written by the editor, but came from a correspondent.

FOOTNOTES:

[111] History of the United States, Second Series, i., 703.

[112] Journals of Congress, February 8, 1797.

[113] Letter of Hono