_Cf._ _American Mercury_, Jan. 3, 1799: “Ode on Ends; or, The Boy’s Address, who carries the _American Mercury_.”
[747] Babcock’s adverse attitude is dealt with on pp. 313 _et seq._ of this dissertation.
[748] _Cf._ issues of the _Courant_ for July 2, 30, Aug. 6, 13, Sept. 17, 1798; and for May 27, June 10, 17, 24, July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Aug. 5, 12, 19, 26, Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23, Oct. 7, Dec. 16, 1799.
[751] _Ibid._, Sept. 3, 1798. This view that the _Courant_ sought to turn the agitation over the Illuminati to political account is confirmed by the following extract from “Guillotina,” the new year’s poem that the editors of the _Courant_ presented to their patrons early in 1799.
“O thou who spurn’d monarchial sway, E’er nature sprang to birth; Lord of each Jacobinic fray, In ev’ry clime on earth.
“Tho’ plung’d from thy once high estate, For turning _Order’s_ foe; We joy that thou a Prince so great, Dost rule the world below.
“We joy that when like falling star, Thy footsteps downward drove; The _Democratic Cause_, from far, Came cow’ring from above.
“That _France_ has caught the livid flame, Affords supreme delight; And that Genet has spread the same, To our admiring sight.
“May thy Iluminati then In ev’ry clime be found; All busy as a clucking hen, That peeping chicks surround.”
_Connecticut Courant_, Jan. 7, 1799: “Guillotina, for the year 1799, addressed to the Reader’s of the Connecticut Courant.”
[752] _Porcupine’s Gazette_, April 12, 13, 1798.
[754] _Porcupine’s Gazette_, July 14, 1798. An illustration of the dearth of vital data bearing on the existence of the Illuminati, as well as of the absurd way in which those who sought to prove their existence grasped at straws, is to be found in this issue of _Porcupine’s Gazette_. Cobbett published a letter which he had recently received from a certain William Smith, of Norwalk, Connecticut, who claimed that the chaplain of the ship of a French Admiral had made statements in his presence that corroborated Robison’s contentions. This letter speedily found its way into several New England newspapers, and passed for evidence in the case. _Cf._ for example, the _Salem Gazette_, Aug. 7, 1798.
[755] _Ibid._, Aug. 13, 23, 24, 30, 1798.