The period covered by the two years of the _National Gazette_ was one of singular unrest in America. The French Revolution was in progress; everything seemed tottering. America believed that all Europe was soon to cast off its chains of monarch; she believed that the torch of the Rights of Man had been lighted in America, and she looked with almost paternal interest on the progress of the Revolution. In his poetical salutatory in the first number of the _Gazette_, Freneau writes: "From the spark that we kindled, a flame has gone forth To astonish the world and enlighten mankind: With a code of new doctrines the universe rings, And Paine is addressing strange sermons to Kings." The columns of the _Gazette_ are full of ringing words on the Rights of Man, the Age of Reason, the final doom of monarchy. In poem after poem the editor pours out his sympathy for republicanism and the cause of the French insurgents. That the French had been largely instrumental in the gaining of our own independence, increased the interest. "On the Fourteenth of July," "On the French Republicans," "On the Anniversary of the Storming of the Bastile," "Ode to Liberty," and "Demolition of the French Monarchy," are a few of the poems that Freneau poured forth during this incendiary period. It is significant that he included none of these verses in his edition of 1809. That he was honest to the core in his belief cannot for a moment be doubted. His impulsive Celtic temperament threw his whole soul into his work. "Ah! while I write, dear France allied, My ardent wish I scarce restrain, To throw these sybil leaves aside And fly to join you on the main." The frenzy among the American Republicans culminated with the arrival of Citizen Genet, in 1793. At the Republican dinner given Genet, May 18th, Citizen Freneau was elected by acclamation to translate Pichon's ode. On June 1st, at the civic feast, Freneau's ode, "God Save the Rights of Man," was received with thunderous applause. One must study carefully this incendiary period of Freneau's life before he can understand fully the much discussed episode of the _National Gazette_. The wine of French Republicanism was sadly intoxicating. It could make Freneau write such a stanza as this: "_Virtue, Order and Religion_, Haste, and seek some other region; Your plan is fixed to hunt them down, Destroy the mitre, rend the gown, And that vile b-tc-h--Philosophy--restore, Did ever paper plan so much before?" And then explain it by saying that "_The National Gazette_ is the vehicle of party spleen and opposition to the great principles of order, virtue and religion."