Note 97 — POEMS OF PHILIP FRENEAU (continued 2)
Reading edition
Published in the Jersey Chronicle, September 12, 1795, from which the text is taken. As far as I can find the poet never republished it.
Jay's treaty with England was laid before the Senate in June, 1795, and after two weeks of fierce discussion was ratified by a very small majority. The Senate, fearing popular criticism, forbade the publication of the treaty, a course which caused such widespread indignation that Mason on his own responsibility gave a perfect copy of the text to the Philadelphia Aurora for publication. The act was as much praised by one party as it was condemned by the other.