ht to
conciliate England and to win the coveted stamp of English approbation
by unlimited adulation of the favorites of the hour. "To study with a
view of becoming an author by profession in America," wrote Dennie, "is
a prospect of no less flattering promise than to publish among the
Esquimaux an essay on delicacy of taste, or to found an academy of
sciences in Lapland."

Upon Brackenridge and Paine the truculent criticisms of England acted as
a lively stimulus, and they went profanely to work "to resent the
British scoff that when separated from England the colonies would become
mere illiterate ourang-outangs."

Thomas Green Fessenden, one of the contributors to the _Farmers' Weekly
Museum_, and to Dennie's _Port Folio_, wrote in the preface to his
"Original Poems" (Philadelphia, 1806), "Although the war, which
terminated in a separation of the two nations, inflicted wounds which,
it is to be feared, still rankle, yet the more considerate of both
countries have long desired (if I may be allowed a transatlantic simile)
that the hatchet of animosity might be buried in the grave of oblivion"
(page 6). A little further on he confesses his timidity, when, speaking
of the political leaders at home, he says, "I could have enlarged on the
demerits of these political impostors, but I feared I might disgust the
English reader by such exhibitions of human depravity" (p. 7).

A serener voice is that of John Blair Linn, brother-in-law of Charles
Brockden Brown, who was not out of love with his nativity, nor
accustomed to disable the benefits of his country. In his "Powers of
Genius," which was beautifully reprinted in England, we read:

"I shall not attempt to conceal the enthusiasm which I feel for
meritorious performances of native Americans. Nor can I repress my
indignation at the unjust manner in which they are treated by the
reviewers of England. America, notwithstanding their aspersions,
has attained an eminence in literature, which is, at least,
respectable. Like Hercules in his cradle, she has manifested a
gigantic grasp, and discovered that she will be great. The wisdom,
penetration and eloquence of her statesmen are undoubted--they are
known and acknowledged throughout Europe. The gentlemen of the law,
who fill her benches of justice, and who are heard at the bar, are
eminently distinguished by the powers of reason, and by
plausibility of address.... Our his