From John Cosens Ogden to John Adams, 25 January 1793
From John Cosens Ogden
Portsmouth Jany 25th 1793
Sir
I transmit you a copy of a Political Rarity—which a very few men were degenerate enough to send for a day dedicated to the celebration of the progress of Liberty.
You who are a Lawyer & Statesman, will make those comments in your own thoughts, which may perhaps awake a care for the liberty of the press—the honor of law, and safety of the citizen. As it came from a party, at first, I intended to have requested you to have laid it on the table of the Senate, among, any periodical papers, which may amuse the leisure moment of its members.—
“The Managers of the Civic Feast, present their compliments to Mr ——, Ask the favor of his company to dine, on thursday next at the Assembly room—2 O-clock, Also any friend of his, (Except) the writer of a piece in a late paper, on the situation of Ecclesiastical affairs in a Neighbouring State, which Author cannot be permited to Associate with the Citizens of ——.”1
This unmerited insult, met with general reprobation— The person to whom it was sent was not so degenerate, as to forfeit his liberty, honor & virtue for a dinner—but referred the writers to Paine on the rights of man—and the law writers on the liberty of the press.— The Star Chamber and Inquisition court, could not dictate a bolder assault on law & patriotism.
I do not send it, to draw an opinion or correspondence, but, wish to lay the progress of the plunderers & enemies, of The Church in this quarter, from time to time, before the leading Lay men of this Generation— Trusting that Providence will incline the heart of some one to step forth, and examine whether there exists any just cause for complaint—and point out a mode for redress— Such an one Religion, morality & America will bless forever.
I am Sir / with unalterable esteem / Your devoted servant
John Cosens Ogden
RC (Adams Papers).
1. Rev. John Cosens Ogden (1751–1800), Princeton 1770, was a political propagandist and rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, N.H., from 1786 to 1793. He was excluded from the town’s 24 Jan. civic feast celebrating the “success of the patriotic cause in France.” To Ogden, this action signaled a downturn in popularity following his high-profile theological dispute with Rev. Samuel MacClintock (1732–1804), originally from Medford, Mass., Princeton 1751, who was pastor of the First Congregational Church in nearby Greenland, N.H. The feud was published as An Epistolary Correspondence between the Rev. John C. Ogden, Rector of St. Johns Church, at Portsmouth, New-Hampshire; and the Rev. Samuel MacClintock, Minister of the Congregational Society in Greenland on … the High Powers and Prerogatives Claimed by Diocesan Bishops as Successors of the Apostles, Portsmouth, N.H., 1791, No. 23519. MacClintock’s local influence on public opinion led to Ogden’s ouster from his pulpit in 1793 (; New Hampshire Gazette, 23 Jan.; , 1:38, 39; 2:94).