PERIOD OF EARLY REPUBLIC 1C3
at that time, was indicted for libeling the Massachusetts Legis- lature, found guilty, sentenced to jail for thirty days, and forced to give bond for one year of good conduct. The editor of The Chronicle was Thomas Adams, who was confined to his bed at the time, but he wrote for his paper the following note: "The patrons of The Chronicle may still depend on the regular supply of their papers. The Editor is on the bed of languishment and the bookkeeper is in prison, yet the Cause of Liberty will be supported amid these distressing circumstances."
Charles Holt, publisher of The Bee at New London, Connecti- cut, spent three months in jail and paid a fine of two hundred dollars because he censured the President and urged men not to enlist in the army. The Bee was a party opponent of John Adams, and after Holt had served his time and paid his fine, he took his paper to Hudson, New York. Fifty years later Con- gress refunded the fine with interest. James Thompson Cal- lender, editor of The Richmond Examiner, paid the same fine as Holt, but was sentenced for three times as long in jail for de- faming the press. When Jefferson became President, he par- doned Callender and had the fine remitted.
David Frothingham, editor of The Argus, of New York, was indicted for libel and found guilty by a jury which recom- mended, however, the mercy of the court. He was fined only one hundred dollars, but received a sentence of four months. Henry Croswell, editor of The Wasp, was indicted for printing a "scan- dalous, malicious and seditious libel concerning Thomas Jef- ferson." Alexander Hamilton was one of the lawyers who appeared for Croswell. In spite of these and other convictions, the attempt of the Government to reform the press only made bad matters worse.
Anthony Haswell, editor of The Vermont Gazette, at Benning- ton, Vermont, paid, a year after his indictment, a fine of two hundred dollars and spent sixty days in jail. Benjamin Frank- lin Bache, of The General Advertiser, probably escaped a still more severe sentence because his death ended a suit. Inciden- tally it may be remarked that because of the abuse his news- paper had heaped upon Washington, he had been thrashed by Clement Humphrey.
