USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 47
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
A new paper, called the Madisonian, which had been started Angust 1, 1837, then became the organ of the President. At its establishment, it announced that it would be devoted to the elucidation of the principles of the Democracy, as delineated by Mr. Madison. In its prospectus, it said that the commercial interests of the country were overwhelmed with embarrassment, and every ramification of society was invaded by distress. The social edifice seemed threatened with disorganization, and the General Government was boldly assailed by a large and respectable portion of the people as the direct cause of their difficulties. Open resistance to the laws was publicly encouraged, and a spirit of insubordination was fostered as a necessary defense to the pretending usurpations of the party in power. Some, of whom better things were hoped, were making confusion worse confounded by a headlong pursuit of extreme notions and indefinite phantoms totally incompatible with the wholesome state of the country. The paper was at first edited by Thomas Allen, and then by John Jones. However, on account of the uncertainty regarding the Intelligencer, with Daniel Webster in the Cabinet, a new paper was begun in December, 1841, edited by Edward N. Johnson, Joseph Segar, and John H. Pleasants. About the 1st of April, 1845, this paper passed into the hands of Theophilus Fisk and Jesse E. Dow, who changed it to a daily, semi-weekly, and weekly Democratic paper, under the name of the Constellation.
When Amos Kendall severed his editorial connection with the Globe, he began to publish, in 1841, a paper which he called Kendall's Expositor, as a semi-weekly periodical, and continued its publication until April, 1844.
The True Whig, a weekly paper, was first issued in 1841, by Calvin Colton. In 1842, he converted it into a daily, and soon afterward ceased its publication.
After the establishment of the Globe, the United States Telegraph was continued under the management of Duff Green, still as the organ of John C. Calhoun. In 1835, it was merged with the Washington Mirror.
The Globe, after giving up its official position, became the pub- lisher of the Congressional debates, Blair and Rives being awarded the contract for their publication in 1846. In 1849, Blair sold out his interest to Rives, who continued to publish them until his death, after which the Globe was published by his sous.
The Washingtonian was started in 1836, by A. F. Cunningham, as a temperance paper. It was a quarto in form, and its publication was continued for a year.
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The Metropolitan Churchman was first issued in November, 1838, under the editorship of Rev. Philip Slaughter, of Virginia. It was an Episcopal periodical, and in after years it became the Southern Churchman. For a long series of years it was a power in the Church.
In 1843, John T. Towers established the Whig Standard in the interest of Henry Clay, and continued its publication until the elec- tion of James K. Polk.
In the same year, the Daily Capitol was started by an association of printers. It was a penny paper, and had considerable popularity. Its ostensible publishers were Coale, Dickinson, & Devaughn. In 1844, it was transferred to Smith, Murphy, & Company, the name being then changed to the Democratic Capitol, and it was made a Democratic campaign paper. Its publication ceased with Mr. Polk's election to the Presidency.
The Daily Bee was first published August 19, 1845, by Gobright, Melvin, & Smith. Its publication continued for twenty-four days, when it suspended.
The Columbian Fountain first appeared January 4, 1846, under the superintendence of Rev. Ulysses Ward. It was at first a temperance paper, but in 1847 it became a pronounced Whig paper. Its chief editor was supposed to be Worthington S. Snethen.
The Weekly Democratic Expositor was started about the same time as the Fountain, by Rev. Theophilus Fisk and Jesse E. Dow. The former had a most varied experience, and the latter was editor of the Expositor from January, 1846, until it ceased to exist. Mr. Dow had for a long time contributed articles to the Globe under the pseudonym of "Old Ironsides."
The Native American was established in 1837, by the Native American Association, which was organized a few months previously. Its objects were to secure the repeal of the naturalization laws, and the establishment of a national character and the perpetuity of the institutions of the country through the means of the natives of the United States. The subscription price of the paper was $2.50 per year. T. D. Jones was secretary of the association in 1839.
The Columbian Star was a weekly paper published in Washington by a committee of the General Convention of the Baptist denomination of the United States. Its publication was commenced, probably, in 1823. It was a useful and instructive publication, being faulty only in one particular, namely, that of its bigotry. "The editors of the Star seem to think it rank heresy to confide in the representations of a Catholic." This paper was published in Washington until about
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June 1, 1827, when it was removed to Philadelphia, where it was committed to the care of Rev. William T. Brantly, pastor of the First Baptist Church of that city. While it was in Washington it was edited by Rev. Baron Stow.
We, the People, was the name of a weekly paper started in Wash- ington March 8, 1828, to oppose the pretensions of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency. It was friendly to the administration of John Quincy Adams. It was published every Saturday, at $3 per annum, Jonathan Elliott being both editor and publisher.
The Christian Statesman was a weekly paper, commenced in Washington in January, 1838, by R. R. Gurley. This paper advo- cated the cause of African colonization of the negro as meriting the earnest and liberal support of the Nation. The price was $3 per annum payable in advance.
The Columbian Gazette was started in Georgetown July, 1, 1829, by Benjamin Homans, who had lost his office on the accession of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency. The Gazette was a handsome tri-weekly paper. In 1835, the Metropolitan appeared in Georgetown, at the instance, as it was understood, of Joel R. Poinsett, an anti-Calhoun South Carolinian, and was edited by Samuel D. Langtree, having as an associate John L. O'Sullivan. After about two years, the paper was removed to Washington, and the Potomac Advocate became the town paper of Georgetown. This paper was owned by Thomas Turner, but Mr. Turner soon tired, and sold it to Fulton & Smith, who, after a time, dropped the word "Potomac" from the name, and called their paper simply the Advocate, and still later, the Georgetown Advocate. Mr. Smith at length retired from the paper, and John T. Crow became either part or sole owner, and condneted it until about 1844, when he went to Baltimore and became employed on the Baltimore Sun. After- ward, the Advocate was conducted by Joseph Crow, a brother of John T. Crow, until its sale soon afterward to Ezekiel Hughes, of Fredericktown, Maryland. Mr. Hughes continued the paper for about fifteen years, when he abandoned it because he could not make it pay.
Several other papers were published in Georgetown before the War, but as they were all short-lived, it is not deemed worth while to trace their brief careers.
The Washington Union was started immediately after the election of James K. Polk to the Presidency. The Nashville Union had been the home paper of the Polk wing of the Democratic Party, just as the Globe, in Washington, was published in the interest of the Van Buren wing. The Richmond Engwirer had been instrumental in
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defeating Van Buren in the convention. From the Nashville Union and the Richmond Enquirer there were brought to Washington two men, Thomas Ritchie and John P. Heiss, who purchased the Globe of Blair & Rives, and established the Washington Union, the first number of which appeared May 1, 1845. The Union continued to be the organ of the Government until 1849, when the Whig Party came again into power. At this time, the Republic was established as the organ of the Government. The Union continued to be edited and published by Thomas Ritchie until 1859, when he sold it to A. J. Donelson, who had been private secretary to President Jackson, Chargé d' Affaires to Texas, Minister to Prussia, and also to the Germanie Confederation. The sale was made by Mr. Ritchie because of the immense amount of printing thrown upon him by Congress, and because of an unfortunate contract made by him, which involved hin heavily in debt. Mr. Donelson said in his salutatory that he "threw himself upon the indulgence of the Republican-Democratic Party for the support which may be due to one who can promise so little to justify in advance the confidence which has been given to me in advance."
During the same year, George W. Bowman purchased the Union, and changed the name to the Constitution, announcing his purpose to be to make the Constitution a thoroughly Democratie paper, advocating the principles which the Democratic Party all over the country claimed as common property. William M. Browne became the owner of this paper early in 1860, and continued it until January 31, 1861, when he said he was making arrangements for its reissue elsewhere under more favorable auspices.
The Republic was started, as has been stated, immediately after the inauguration of President Taylor, who did not recognize the National Intelligencer because it was devoted to Daniel Webster, and Daniel Webster had said that the nomination of Taylor was one "not fit to be made." Alexander Bullitt, of the New Orleans Picayune, and John O. Sargent, of the New York Courier and Enquirer, were the first editors of the Republic, but for certain reasons they could not succeed in Washington. Upon the death of President Taylor, and the succession of Vice-President Fillmore, with Daniel Webster in the Cabinet, the National Intelligencer once more resumed its old place as Government organ. But it was the last of its line-that is, of the Whig organs to the Government. With President Pierce in the Exec- utive Mansion, the Union was again the Government organ, and continued to sustain this relation to the Government through both
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the administrations of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan. It then became somewhat confused in its political relations, as did the Demo- cratie Party itself, and, as has been already stated, ceased to exist about the close of the control of the Government by the Democratic Party.
The Spectator was published in Washington under the influence of Senator Rhett, of South Carolina. It had succeeded the Telegraph as the organ of the South Carolina section of the Democratic Party. It was published by Martin & Heart, with Virgil Maxcey as one of its editors. After Martin went to Paris, William A. Harris became the partner of Ileart, and they changed the name of the paper to the Constitution. Subsequently, Harris went to Buenos Ayres as charge d'affaires, and Heart joined the Charleston, South Carolina, Mercury, when the Constitution closed its career. Harris, on his return from Buenos Ayres, became connected with the Union.
The National Era was established in 1847, the first number appear- ing January 7 of that year. A fund of $20,000 was raised by the friends of freedom, with which it was established. Lewis Tappan was at the head of these gentlemen. Dr. Gamaliel Bailey, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was selected as the editor, and Lewis Clephane was their clerk. The publishers of the paper were Martin Buel and William Blanchard. Dr. Bailey was at the time well known throughout the country, hav- ing, though a young man, had an eventful career. In 1834, he cordially espoused the cause of freedom and did not look back. In 1836, he became connected with James G. Birney ( who afterward, by accepting the nomination of the Abolition Party for the Presidency, defeated Henry Clay for that high office) in the editorship of the Philanthropist, of Cincinnati, which paper was devoted to the cause of the slave. About August 1, 1836, the office of the Philanthropist was attacked by a mob, the type scattered about the streets, and the press thrown into the Ohio River, causing a suspension of the paper for a few weeks; but late in September it again appeared, printed in a neighboring village, but published in Cincinnati. Dr. Bailey soon became sole proprietor and editor, and conducted the paper without incident worthy of special note for five years, or until September, 1841, when on account of the commission of some improprieties by negroes, not in any way connected with the paper, a mob assailed the office with a violence which defied the municipal authorities for four days, during which time the type was scattered all over the streets and the press broken in pieces and thrown into the river. This second destruction of the office, however, caused a delay in the publication of the Phil-
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anthropist for only a few days, when it resumed publication and went on as before.
Dr. Bailey, in the fall of 1846, as intimated above, was invited to Washington to take editorial control of the new anti-slavery paper to be established here in the then near future, where gno pretense of State rights could be urged as a motive or offered as an apology for the suppression of, or interference with, the freedom of the press. From the first, the elevated tone of its able editorials and correspondence commanded the respect of all intelligent men. The regular corresponding editor was John G. Whittier. Dr. James Houston, an accomplished Irishman, wrote a series of graphic sketches of men and things about Washington, and H. B. Stanton, author of " Modern Reformers," was also an able contributor. Theodore Parker, Alice and Phobe Cary, Dr. Pierpont, and William D. Gallagher were occasional contributors. Later in the history of the paper, such charac- ters as Edward Everett Hale, S. P. Chase, Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gail Hamilton, and Mrs. Dr. Bailey contributed to its columns. Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" first appeared, in 1851, as a serial story in the columns of the National Era.
The most interesting event connected with the history of the National Era, in Washington, was the attack upon its office by a mob, on Tuesday night, April, 1848, the attack being occasioned by the supposed interest taken by the paper in the attempted escape of seventy-seven slaves from their masters in this city. Of these seventy- seven slaves, thirty-eight were men and boys, twenty-six were women and girls, and thirteen were children. The attempted escape was made in a sloop, named the Pearl, which sailed down the Potomac with a fair wind on Sunday, April 16, and came to anchor in Cornfield Harbor, on the Maryland side of the river, near Point Lookout. A party of volunteers in the steamer Salem started in pursuit, overtook the Pearl, and brought her and her cargo of fugitives back to Wash- ington, where H. C. Williams, a magistrate of the city, summoned the parties engaged in the kidnapping of the slaves before him, and committed the slaves as runaways, and Edward Sayres, the captain of the Pearl, and Caleb Aaronson, for further examination. These two individuals were afterward tried and appropriately punished according to the laws of those days.
On the 20th of the month, the Era gave an account of the attack, highly commending Captain Goddard and others who had vigorously sustained him in the preservation of order, for saving the press and the honor of the city. The press of the entire country condenmed the
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mob-even that of the Southern States, which, while it condemned the principles advocated by the Era, yet spoke in the highest terms of Dr. Bailey. The office of the Era was at this time on Seventh Street, between F and G streets. It was afterward removed to the corner of Indiana Avenne and Second Street, into what is now the Tremont House, and here, upon the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, it was subjected to another attack by a mob, in common with the Republican headquarters, which were in the same building. Only slight damage was, however, done on this occasion.
While it is perhaps within limits of safety to say that, at the time of the beginning of the war with Great Britain in 1812, Federalism was confined mainly to the New England States, yet there were many Federalists in other parts of the country. This was particularly the case in Maryland. A number of these Maryland Federalists in Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George's counties, desiring to extend their views among their fellow-citizens as much as possible, united their means and established a newspaper in Baltimore for this purpose. This paper thus established was named the Federal Repub- lican, and it had for its editor Alexander Contee Hamilton, who was assisted by a Mr. Wagner. On Saturday, June 20, 1812, two days after the declaration of war with Great Britain, the Federal Republican contained an article unusually bitter in its denunciation of the Admin- istration. It had, therefore, in the minds of the friends and sup- porters of the Administration, fully identified itself with the enemy of the country. The population of Baltimore became very much excited over this publication, and a mob of them turned out on the following Monday night, pulled down the office, scattered the type, and broke the presses to pieces. The Federalists throughout the country were very much excited, and did not hesitate to intimate that the Government at Washington was implicated in the riot. The friends of the Federal Republican resolved that if possible the liberty of the press should be vindicated in the republication of their paper, and on the following Monday, July 27, 1812, it reappeared from a rented building on Charles Street, though it had been set up and worked off in Georgetown, District of Columbia. This issue of the paper was extremely severe in its condemnation of the people, mayor, and courts of the city of Baltimore. Anticipating the result of the course they were pursuing, they had taken the precaution to station throughout the building a considerable number of their adherents, and when, in consequence of their animadversions upon the people of Bal- timore, an attacking party appeared in front of the building, throwing
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stones at and breaking some of the windows thereof, those inside, for the purpose of repelling any attack that might be made, fired a volley at them, killing a Dr. Gale, an electrician of Baltimore; and wounding several others. The next morning, about seven o'clock, the garrison of the rented building, about twenty-three in number, were marched to the city jail by the military under General Stricker. Everything was quiet throughout the day, and at nightfall it was unfortunately deemed by the authorities safe to permit the military to repair to their homes. Taking advantage of the unguarded condition of the jail, a terrible mob assembled in front of the jail, broke it open, and with clubs and other weapons made a furious assault upon the unarmed and unprotected inmates, killing General Lingan outright, and so fearfully maltreating General Harry Lee, of Virginia, "Light Horse Harry," the father of the rebel chieftain, General Robert E. Lee, that his eyesight was ever afterward permanently impaired. Eleven of the others were fearfully beaten, eight of them being thrown out in front of the jail for dead, and two escaped. One of these eight was Dr. Peregrine Warfield, afterward a distinguished member of the medical profession of Georgetown. The Federal Republican did not appear in Baltimore. It was removed to Georgetown, and was largely patronized by the Federalists throughout the country.
The American Telegraph was started as an afternoon paper, March 25, 1851, by Connolly, Wimer, & Magill. This paper is remarkable for being the first in Washington in which the word telegram was used as a heading for telegraphic dispatches. The date was the 27th of April, 1852. The editor at that time was Thomas C. Connolly. He thus introduced the word telegram: "Telegraph means to write from a distance; telegram, the ' writing itself. Monogram, logogram, etc., are words formed upon the same analogy and in good acceptation, hence telegram is the appropriate heading of a telegraphic dispatch. Well, we'll go it; look to our heading." Mr. Connolly was, however, fol- lowing the example set by the Albany Evening Journal, which, on April 6, 1852, first used the word in this way.
This heading was continued for some time, but, as it found no favor with the press of the country generally, it was dropped on May 18, 1852, and the old heading, "News by Electric Telegraph," resumed.
The Washington Sentinel was established by Beverly Tucker, in September, 1853. IIe said in his announcement that he should support the principles of the great Democratic-Republican Party of the United States; but would permit his paper to be the organ of no department.
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The paper would uphold the Union upon the basis of the rights of the States under the Constitution. The paper was, however, of little ability, and of short life. August 20, 1856, Mr. Tucker published a card in the National Intelligencer, informing his friends of his intention to abandon the publication of the Sentinel, and it was thereupon abandoned.
The Constitutional Union was established in 1863, by Thomas B. Florence, who had for some years been a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. It was a conservative daily paper, and struggled on for three or four years with varying but not with satisfactory success. Mr. Florence afterward published the Sun- day Gazette in Washington. Mr. Florence had previously published the National Democratic Quarterly Review in this city, commencing it in 1859.
The American Organ was established in Washington as a daily and weekly paper by an association of native Americans. In their prospectus, they said: "We have reached an important crisis in our political history. The two leading parties of our country, hitherto separated by broad lines, either of principle or of policy, differ now scarcely in anything but in name. A national bank, formerly an essential point of difference between the rival parties, has now no advocates. A protective tariff for the sake of protection, which once divided parties and distracted our national councils, has become obsolete as a question of party policy, simply because a revenue tariff affords incidental protection to American manufacturers. The. distribution of the proceeds of the public lands, the improvement of the rivers and harbors by Congressional aid, and other such questions have become obsolete; and a new era has arrived which has to be listinguished by being the 'Era of Patriotism,'" etc. The daily, every afternoon except Sunday, was $5 per year, and the weekly, every Monday, $2 per year. Francis S. Evans was the agent of the associa- tion. The first number of this paper appeared November 13, 1854. It was under the editorial control of Vespasian Ellis, with R. M. Heath as associate. Mr. Ellis found it necessary to deny that he belonged to the Whig Party, having, as he said, mostly supported Democrats for office. This paper was not published many years, and this notice of it is introduced to exhibit a phase of thought that passed over the country a few years before the War.
The Sunday Morning Chronicle was established in Washington carly in 1861, as the property of John W. Forney, of the Philadelphia Press. It was published by James B. Sheridan & Company, from the building at the northeast corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Seventh
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Street. It was announced as entirely independent of party politics, although strongly devoted to the Union of the States. Joseph A. Ware was editor of the paper from the beginning, but in August, 1863, he resigned, and accepted a position as private secretary to Adjutant-General Thomas. John W. Forney soon became clerk of the House of Representatives, and later, of the Senate, and the Sunday Morning Chronicle was overshadowed by the Daily Morning Chronicle. This paper moved into new quarters on August 1, 1863, on Ninth Street, between E and F streets,-a brick structure one hundred and seventy by twenty-two feet in size and three stories high, of which Thomas U. Walter was the architect. The Chronicle was sold in 1870 to John M. Morris, ex-clerk of the United States Senate, who was also the proprietor of the South Carolina Republican, and John W. Forney went back to the Philadelphia Press. This paper has always been Republican in politics, and has been published since 1882 by J. Q. Thompson & Company, Mr. Thompson being the editor.
The National Republican was established in 1860, the first number appearing on Monday, November 26, that year. While this paper dis- claimed all design of becoming an organ, yet it proposed to support, so far as possible, the then incoming administration of Mr. Lincoln. Lewis Clephane was the principal member of the company which established this paper. The paper remained true to the Government throughout the War, but toward the latter part of the sixties relaxed somewhat its political tone and thereby gained somewhat in circula- tion. In 1867, or 1868, the original proprietors sold it to William J. Murtagh and S. P. Hanscom, the latter becoming its editor. Afterward, Mr. Harris, formerly of the Patriot, became editor, then Mr. Connery, and then John P. Foley. The paper continued to be published for several years.
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