respect, as in several others, it followed Jefferson's plan. Nat- urally The National Gazette, being a party and personal organ, opposed Hamilton and most of the things for which he stood. At first, Hamilton let Fenno defend the attacks, but when the latter, in The Gazette of the United States, began to call the edi- tor of The National Gazette a "blackguard," " bedlamite," " faun- ing parasite," etc., Freneau, who was a master of satirical verse, replied as follows :
Since the day we attempted The Nation's Gazette Pomposo's dull printer does nothing but fret;
Now preaching,
And screeching,
Then nibbling
And scribbling,
Remarking
And barking,
Repining
And whining
And still in a pet From morning till night with The Nation's Gazette.
Instead of whole columns, our page to abuse, Your readers would rather be treated with news;
While wars are a-brewing
And kingdom 's undoing,
While monarchs are falling
And princesses squalling,
While France is reforming
And Irishmen storming
In a glare of such splendor, what nonsense to fret At so humble a thing as The Nation's Gazette!
No favours we ask'd from your friends in the east; On your wretched soup meagre I left them to feast; So many base lies you have sent them in print, That scarcely a man at our paper will squint:
And now you begin
With a grunt and a grin
With the bray of an ass,
And a visage of brass.
With a quill in your hand, and a lie in your mouth To play the same trick on the men of the south.
One National Paper, you think is enough To flatter and lie, to pallaver and puff; To preach up in favor of monarchs and titles, And garters and ribbons, to prey on o
