Columbian Centinel. Manuscript issue. Vol. XXXVIII, No. 24, Whole No. 1948. [Boston, Massachusetts], 20 November 1802. 3 pages, folio, disbound, 12 3/16 x 20 1/16 in.
THE RUTLEDGE–ELLERY AFFAIR: BENJAMIN HAZARD’S DEFENSE OF JOHN RUTLEDGE, JR. IN THE JEFFERSON LETTER FORGERY SCANDAL
HAND-WRITTEN POLITICAL ARTICLE PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE COLUMBIAN CENTINEL
Here, Benjamin Hazard (1774–1841), a Congressman from Rhode Island, writes a lengthy response addressing a curious and politically charged incident involving John Rutledge, Jr. (1766–1819), a Congressman from South Carolina, and his alleged involvement with forged letters sent to President Thomas Jefferson.
The Columbian Centinel, under whose masthead this manuscript article appears, was among the most influential newspapers in post-Revolutionary New England. Originally issued in 1784 as the Massachusetts Centinel and the Republican Journal, it was founded by Benjamin Russell (1761–1845) and William Warden (1761–1786). Russell continued publication under the shortened title in 1790 and remained its guiding editorial voice for decades.
In 1801, a letter was sent to President Jefferson purportedly written by Nicholas Geffroy, a silversmith of Newport, Rhode Island. The letter leveled accusations against various public figures and citizens and concluded with the dramatic assertion that “purification is necessary, & we cannot be purified unless you cleanse the Augean Stable completely.” Jefferson responded to Geffroy, only to discover that the latter had never written such a letter, raising immediate suspicions of forgery.
Senator Christopher Ellery of Rhode Island nevertheless declared the letter authentic and subsequently accused Representative John Rutledge of South Carolina of having fabricated the Geffroy correspondence. The letters were published in the Newport Rhode-Island Republican on 18 September 1802, igniting a minor political scandal. The present document appears to constitute a formal defense of Rutledge, composed by Rhode Island Representative Benjamin Hazard.
The article opens with a forceful denunciation of Rutledge’s accusers:
“In no one instance, within the scope of our recollection, has the baseness and depravity of the supporters of the present administration been more flagrant, than in the falsehoods insinuated by them to injure the reputation of the Hon. John Rutledge, one of the Representatives of the State of South Carolina in Congress, during his late visit to Newport, Rhode Island.”
Following Hazard’s essay are eleven testimonies gathered in Rutledge’s defense, each transcribed in full. The final line concludes with the pointed remark:
“Mr. Jefferson has publicly declared that the word ‘tory’ means ‘one who supports the administration.’!!”
The controversy did not end quietly. Rutledge ultimately challenged Ellery to a duel, which Ellery declined. In January 1803, shortly after this defense was written, Rutledge confronted Ellery in public and struck him with a cane.
Russell himself had attempted to enlist in the Continental Army at the outbreak of the Revolution but was refused because he was a minor; he later succeeded in joining in 1780. As a newspaperman he wielded enormous influence, sometimes compared to the nineteenth-century editor Horace Greeley. Russell is also credited with coining the phrase “Era of Good Feelings.”
A fascinating document relating to the Rutledge–Ellery–Jefferson affair.
VERY RARE. We have located no other examples of handwritten articles bearing the Columbian Centinel masthead.
[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe]
