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Springer Tracts in Mechanical Engineering
Chongjian Wu
Wave Propagation
Approach
for Structural
Vibration
Springer Tracts in Mechanical Engineering
Series Editors
Seung-Bok Choi, College of Engineering, Inha University, Incheon, Korea
(Republic of)
Haibin Duan, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing, China
Yili Fu, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Carlos Guardiola, CMT-Motores Termicos, Polytechnic University of Valencia,
Valencia, Spain
Jian-Qiao Sun, University of California, Merced, CA, USA
Young W. Kwon, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA
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Email: [email protected]
123
Chongjian Wu
Wuhan, PR China
© Harbin Engineering University Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publishers, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
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Singapore
Foreword
v
vi Foreword
transformed into air-borne noise or underwater sound. The role of studying the
waves and analyzing the input, propagation, and attenuation of the vibration energy
becomes increasingly important for the improved design of the carrier.
There are different types of waves in the structure, including longitudinal waves,
shearing waves, flexural waves, and their combination. Ship designers focus more
on the flexural waves since it is directly coupled with the vibration of the sur-
rounding acoustic medium to form the most effective radiation. This reminds us that
the structural units can be understood as the waveguide, for example, a finite thin
rod excited in the length direction will generate a longitudinal wave; if the thin rod
is excited in the transverse direction, the generated wave will propagate in a
semi-infinite body as if there is only one free surface. Only after some time will the
wave meet other transverse surfaces and produce reflections. For a finite structure,
the particle motion is a simple superposition of the initial wave with all reflected
waves at certain nodes in the waveguide. However, the synthesis is very complex
with some resonance peaks disappearing, and the phenomenon of “blanking” is
observed but without correct prediction. The study of structural waves is beneficial
to grasp basic control.
Beams and plates are common units in ships. The dimension of a beam in one
direction is much larger than that in the other two directions, so the structural wave
mostly propagates along the length direction while the dimension of the plate
structure in two directions is much larger than that in the thickness direction, so the
wave can propagate along the two directions. Plates usually contact with the sur-
rounding fluid medium, allowing it to be the main radiator of underwater sound. To
control the structural-acoustic radiation, it is necessary to store more vibration
energy in the beams and less flexural waves in the plates, which is opposite to the
design of the instrument!
Wave Propagation and Vibration
Designers pay attention to structural vibration, which enjoys a simple and intuitive
expression. Essentially, wave and vibration sometimes have an identity and occa-
sionally have a causal relationship, both of which are “languages” in two distinct
and independent fields. This book tries to establish the relationship between the
basic parameter waves and the target control parameters.
The concepts of the traveling wave and near-field wave must first be established
to study the wave propagation. The near-field waves do not propagate far away,
which only exist near the “discontinuity” and decay very quickly, so they are also
called the decaying waves. However, this does not mean that we should only focus
on the traveling wave since the near-field wave has an important function of
waveform conversion. The conversion of the flexural wave to the longitudinal wave
must be accompanied by the exchange and redistribution of vibration energy. The
structure waves become so complex in the giant system that the sample study of the
decaying waves shows great importance, influencing the structural sound radiation
uniquely. The advantage of the WPA is to establish a direct correlation between
structural waves and control parameters.
viii Foreword
system by the WPA, for example, the dynamic model of the multi-supported mast
with heavy objects mounted on top and the dynamic characteristics of
multi-supported beams with TMD; the interaction and mechanical coupling of
structural waves and structural discontinuity are also reviewed. The applicability
of the WPA in engineering is demonstrated by the analysis of the submarine mast,
concluding that “there is more static stiffness and less dynamic stiffness”. The
mechanism study points out that the engineering choice is to change the dynamic
design of the mast instead of the high-strength material. In Chap. 6, the WPA is
used to analyze the structural response under distributed force excitation. Chapter 7
explores the engineering application of MTMD in vibration isolation of the main
motor. Chapter 8 makes an analysis of the floating rafts by the WPA. The force
basis, as a “signal generator”, is embedded into the analytical equation, while some
of the research is not demonstrated here for the reason of inconvenience. Chapter 9
describes the power flow carried by the structure waves by the WPA. The structural
sound intensity shares some similarity with the (air) sound intensity but the
waveguide analysis is more complicated. The early experimental research results
are also provided in this chapter.
The use of structural waves to describe the vibration and noise can be found in
all chapters of this book. Readers are expected to understand the control parameters
from the perspective of the waves and “observe” the wave process. Another
analysis subject includes “universal discontinuity”. Using the discontinuity and
inflection point as the starting point for analysis, researchers analyze the multiple
effects of structural discontinuity on wave propagation, and understand how dis-
continuity can change the wave propagation and attenuation in a complex system
fundamentally due to a quantitative change. Relying on the deep understanding
of the simple structure, engineering designers can establish the thinking of “holism”
for complex systems and better cope with increasingly complex engineering
projects.
The WPA is particularly suitable for dynamics analysis of beam structures, such
as tricky finite quasi-periodic structure and hybrid power systems. Considering that
any method has its limitations, the author has added the relevant reference docu-
ments to the corresponding chapter in as much detail as possible for theoretical
development and application explanation, on which further research and discus-
sions can be based.
Yingfu Zhu
Academician of the Chinese Academy
of Engineering
Wuhan, China
Preface
The vibration and acoustic performance of the carrier are not only linked to the
comfort of the staff but are also closely linked to its comprehensive operational
capability. Presently, the acoustic power radiated by an international advanced
submarine is already less than 0.3 mW. Therefore, the acoustic energy radiated by a
submarine in seawater is smaller than the screen-on power consumption of a
smartphone. So, the vibration and noise reduction of submarines drive the structural
dynamics into an era of refining development, which is considered as tackling a key
cutting-edge technical issue among the core technological secrets of world powers.
Behind this silent contest are the continuous breakthrough of engineering ability
and basic theory! From components and equipment to systems, structural dynamics,
and structure-borne noise to power flow theory, new theories are emerging and
applied continuously, which is the result of the profound integration of theoretical
methods and engineering practice, as well as the concentrated embodiment of
decades of continuous improvement.
The Wave Propagation Approach (WPA) is a supplement of the analytical
method, which arises in response to the need for refinement. It provides a micro-
scopic perspective and analysis means for new thinking. In short, WPA has the
following characteristics:
I. The WPA focuses on the study of structural waves. Structural inputs are
transformed into forces or structural waves, which form a direct causal rela-
tionship with such target control parameters as a vibration level, quantity of
vibration isolation, and acoustic radiation. In terms of the wave propagation,
reflection and attenuation, and the waveform conversion of longitudinal waves
and flexural waves, WPA has advantages in reducing misjudgment in com-
bination with the power flow analysis, resulting in the easy formation of
internal relations between parameters, featuring relatively simple mathematical
description, which will affect the ways of thinking and design concepts.
II. The WPA uses “structural discontinuity” to divide the units, which is different
from the “geometric division” of the finite element method. In the complex
giant system, the discontinuity is in the same category as structural damping
xi
xii Preface
Cai Daming, Yi Jisheng, Hu Wenli, Zhang Zhipeng, Zhu Xianming, Xue Bing,
Wang Yan, Yang Yuting, Fan Yongjiang, Xia Guihua, Zhang Ling, and Xue Li,
whom I thank for their sincere support and guidance, as well as their selfless
contribution.
xv
Contents
xvii
xviii Contents
Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
About the Author
xxiii
Symbols
xxv
xxvi Symbols
Greek Alphabet
a Coefficient
b Loss factor, viscoelastic damping coefficient
di;j Kronecker symbol
D Determinant
g The damping loss factor of a structure
h Angular coordinate
v Poisson’s ratio
l Ratio
k Wavelength
q Density
r; e Stress, strain
n Viscous damping coefficient
UðtÞ Time variable function
w Lateral contraction
x; xr Angular frequency and resonance frequency
xc Cutoff, coincidence, and critical frequency
Specific Symbols
Rn Stochastic noise
P Radiated sound power
r2 @2
Laplace operator, @x 2 þ
@2
@y2 þ @2
@z2
½ ; M Matrix, or M in black
f g; X Vector, or X in black
Symbols xxvii
Subscripts
a; u; m Input power, the power generated by shearing force and bending moment
d Dynamic vibration absorber, TMD (tuned mass damper)
nf ; ff Near field, far field
þ; Negative and positive waves along the coordinates
n Integer, counting unit
r Resonance frequency
1; 2 Sensor, mode label
B; L Flexural wave and longitudinal wave
Superscripts
Complex conjugate
Average value
: Time derivative
^ Quantity in the frequency domain (after the conversion)
Quantity in the time domain
' Derivation of the parameters
T Matrix transpose
H Matrix conjugate transpose
Chapter 1
The Basic Theory of Structure–Borne
Noise
Before we discuss the WPA method, it is necessary to examine the basic theory of
structural vibration noise, including basic parameters such as wave number, wave-
length, and lateral displacement. The examination of continuous systems such as
the bending vibration of a beam and a plate is the focus of this chapter. The vibra-
tion modes and natural frequencies of beams and plates are discussed and then the
sound pressure, sound power, and sound radiation efficiency of simple structures are
analyzed and discussed.
The structural wave is the basic parameter of structural vibration and acoustic radia-
tion, which is directly linked to the target control parameters. The theory of bending
vibration of beams and plates is derived from the fourth-order differential equation
[1]:
⎫
∇ 2 ∇ 2 w̃ + ρ S ∂∂tw̃2 = p̃o ⎪
2
⎬
w̃ = w̃(x, y, z, t) (1.1)
⎪
⎭
∇ 2 = ∂∂x 2 + ∂∂y 2 + ∂z
∂2
2 2
2
where
∇2 Laplace operator;
w̃ Lateral displacement of the structure;
ρ Material density of the beam;
© Harbin Engineering University Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 1
C. Wu, Wave Propagation Approach for Structural Vibration,
Springer Tracts in Mechanical Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7237-1_1
2 1 The Basic Theory of Structure–Borne Noise
∂ 4 w̃(x, t) ρ S ∂ 2 w̃(x, t)
+ · =0 (1.2)
∂x 4 EI ∂t 2
where
EI Bending stiffness of the beam;
E Young’s modulus of the material;
I = bh 3 /12 Cross-sectional moment of inertia of the beam, where b is the width
and h is the thickness of the beam.
For harmonic vibration, the displacement response can be divided into two parts:
the space function and time function according to the process of separating variables:
where
w(x) Structure mode shape function;
(t) Time correlation function
When substituting Eq. (1.3) into Eq. (1.2) and dividing the variable for time t and
space x, two ordinary differential equations are attained as
∂ 4 w(x) ρ Sω2
− w(x) = 0 (1.4)
∂x4 EI
∂ 2 (t)
+ ω2 (t) = 0 (1.5)
∂t 2
where ω is the circular frequency.
1.1 The Vibration Modes of Beams 3
Set
ρ Sω2
k4 = (1.6)
EI
Therefore, Eq. (1.4) can be rewritten as
∂ 4 w(x)
− kn4 w(x) = 0 (1.7)
∂x4
where kn is the complex wave number of the beam’s bending wave, n = 1, 2, 3, 4.
For beam-type structures, the general boundary conditions are as follows:
(1) Simply supported boundary condition (S-S beam):
∂ 2 w̃(0,t)
w̃(0, t) = 0, ∂x2
= 0
∂ 2 w̃(L x ,t) (1.8)
w̃(L x , t) = 0, ∂x2
=0
∂ w̃(0,t)
w̃(0, t) = 0, ∂x
= 0
∂ w̃(L x ,t) (1.9)
w̃(L x , t) = 0, ∂x
=0
∂x2 ∂x3
=0
∂ w̃(L x ,t)
2
∂ 3 w̃(L x ,t) (1.10)
∂x 2 = 0, ∂x 3 = 0
w(0) = B + D = 0 (1.12)
∂ 2 w(0)
= k 2 (−B + D) = 0 (1.13)
∂x2
Thus, B = D = 0. At the right end x = L x , we get
4 1 The Basic Theory of Structure–Borne Noise
∂ 2 w(L x )
= k 2 [−A sin(k L x ) + C sinh(k L x )]= 0 (1.15)
∂x2
From Eqs. (1.14) and (1.15), we get
C = 0, k = nπ
Lx
, A= 2
mLx
(1.17)
nπ
wn (x) = A sin x (1.18)
Lx
When substituting Eq. (1.17) into Eq. (1.6), the corresponding natural frequencies
can be written as
2
EI nπ
ωn = · (1.19)
m Lx
The mode shapes are orthogonal with respect to the mass and stiffness distribution
[1, 3]:
L x
mw j (x)wk (x)dx = μ j δ jk (1.20)
0
L x
∂ 2 w j (x) ∂ 2 wk (x)
EI · dx = μ j ω2j δ jk (1.21)
∂x2 ∂x2
0
1 j =k
δ jk =
0 j = k
where
δ jk Kronecker delta symbol;
μ j Modal mass of the nth mode.
The generalized mass corresponding to the mode shapes in Eq. (1.18) is m L x /2.
1.1 The Vibration Modes of Beams 5
βn [sinh(kn L x ) − sin(kn L x )]
cosh(kn L x )−cos(kn L x )
βn = sinh(kn L x )−sin(kn L x )
βn [sinh(kn L x ) − sin(kn L x )]
cosh(kn L x )−cos(kn L x )
βn = sinh(kn L x )−sin(kn L x )
As a result of the mode shapes being orthogonal to each other, the response of
the beam can be expressed at any arbitrary point as a linear combination of these
mode shape functions. This is known as the mode superposition method. The WPA
method selects different technical paths, as shown in Sect. 2.4 of Chap. 2.
∞
w̃(x, t) = wn (x) · n (t) (1.22)
n=1
Consider equations in Table 1.1 for this example. Using the MATLAB program to
calculate the first 5th mode shapes of the beam structure, we can get the structure
modal shape functions corresponding to different boundary conditions listed in the
Table, as shown in Figs. 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5.
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ingredients that the cook must christen it.’[561] The ruling Council of the
State was so organized that the system was an impregnable stronghold
beyond the reach of the people. Nowhere on American soil anything so un-
American or unrepublican. It did its work behind doors closed and barred.
The Congregational clergy were the Cossacks of Connecticut Federalism,
laying the lash of their furious denunciation on the backs of critics. It
required more than a majority to rule under this system, and more than
ordinary courage to challenge its pretensions.[562] The good Doctor Dwight
of Yale was busy damning democrats to perdition. A little later Gideon
Granger and Ephraim Kirby were to take their place beside Bishop, and with
the aid of the ‘American Mercury’ of Hartford and the ‘New London Bee’ to
give blow for blow. But the fighting was against desperate odds, the
Federalists strongly entrenched on a steep hill, the ascent to which could be
raked with canister.
‘The masses are disfranchised,’ cried Bishop. ‘Yes, poor porpoises,’
sneered Noah Webster the Federalist who was soon to become editor of a
New York paper launched by Hamilton.[563] But Bishop and his little coterie
were fighters, and Jefferson took them to his heart.
In New Hampshire, Jefferson had to bide his time. Among the members
of the Senate no one had a better record of unselfish Revolutionary service
than John Langdon. Practical, hard-headed, unimaginative, a lover of money,
he had accumulated some wealth in mercantile pursuits. Fond of company,
pleasing and unaffected in his manner, impressive in appearance, his
senatorial toga became him well.[564] When Hamilton’s financial plans were
pending, he gave them his support, and, alas, profited not a little, but from
the beginning the keen-eyed Jefferson discerned the traits that were
ultimately to separate him from the Hamiltonians. Within two years Langdon
had assumed the leadership of the Jeffersonians in New Hampshire, but as
late as 1798, according to the recollection of a famous Jacksonian, ‘with the
exception of Langdon and a few sterling patriots there could not be said to
be in this State a party favorable to the principles of Thomas Jefferson.’[565]
In Vermont the situation was somewhat similar, albeit the opportunities
there were greater in the absence of a property qualification for the vote.
There, too, was Matthew Lyon, of whom we shall hear much, whose
fanatical devotion to democracy was a heritage from a father who had paid
the penalty of his patriotism on the gallows in Ireland; whose hatred of
aristocracy was but a reaction to the memory of his days of poverty.
Possessing a genius for business, and succeeding, he was irresistibly drawn
to politics, where his Celtic humor, his energy, impetuosity, and sincerity
surrounded him with friends. His radicalism became a flaming torch that
lighted up the granite hills. Not for nothing was he born in the land of the
Donnybrook Fair, for he loved a fight or a frolic, and he was to have much
of both. Enlisting in the Jeffersonian fight in the beginning, he was to fight
unceasingly, take blows, and know the degradation of a cell. There was a
degree of felony in democracy in the New England of the last days of the
eighteenth century.
In Rhode Island, Jefferson sought vainly for an effective leader, though
the field was fertile because of the lingering hostility to centralization and
the poverty and debts of the people.
Leaving New England, the leader found much to interest him in New
York. There was that sturdy, indomitable champion of State rights, and
inveterate enemy of aristocracy, George Clinton, an uncompromising
republican of Cromwellian audacity and decision, with an unequaled hold on
the confidence and affections of the people. There, too, were the
Livingstons, mortally offended by the political stupidity of Hamilton in
defeating the brilliant Chancellor’s aspirations for the Senate. Had this
numerous and powerful family a conference one night to discuss the affront
and to emerge a unit in opposition?[566] Whatever the cause, the effect was
clear—the Livingston clan was only too eager to join the insurgents, and this
was not lost on the astute politician of Monticello. Chancellor Robert R.
Livingston, convincing orator, erudite lawyer, profound statesman,
fascinating personality, possessing the glamour of wealth and tradition so
important to a Jeffersonian leader in New York with its commercial princes
and barons of the soil—here was a man to be cultivated with all the finesse
of which Jefferson was capable. The master of Monticello could speak the
language of the master of the New York manor house.
And Burr? Just what Jefferson expected of Burr is a mystery unsolvable.
He appreciated his brilliancy and professional prestige, but were the
penetrating eyes blind to the weaknesses of character? Just a little while
before Burr had joined with Hamilton against Clinton, and Federalist votes
had sent him to the Senate. There, to be sure, he had arrayed himself on the
popular side, but could he be relied upon? He had played a lone hand,
holding aloof from the Clintonians and the Livingstons, and dining often at
the table of Hamilton; but that he was singled out for assiduous cultivation
we may be sure. No one was closer to Jefferson than Dr. Rush when, in the
early fall of 1792, the latter wrote a wheedling note to Burr. ‘Your friends
everywhere,’ wrote the Doctor, ‘look to you to take an active part in
removing the monarchical rubbish of our government. It is time to speak out
or we are undone.’[567] Previous to this, Jefferson had been most courteous
in permitting the charming Senator from New York to examine papers in the
archives of the State Department until Washington interposed.[568]
Clinton, Livingston, and Burr—a triumvirate that caught Jefferson’s
fancy; but he was interested in opportunities in New York having no direct
connection with any of the three. The less imaginative Maclay had seen in a
parade of the Sons of Tammany only ‘a grotesque scene,’ with the members
‘in Indian dresses,’ and while he had addressed them at a dinner he had
concluded that ‘there is some kind of a scheme’ which was ‘not well
digested as yet.’[569] Jefferson made it his business to learn more. He found
that the strange organization was an answer, in part, to the Cincinnati which
stood, in the popular mind, for aristocracy; that it was rabidly republican and
wholly democratic; that it sympathized with the revolutionists in France, and
resented the property disqualifications of our own Revolutionary soldiers for
the suffrage, while the wealthy, notoriously friendly to England when these
soldiers fought, were being accorded political recognition and place. Here
was a society after his own heart, here a method to make the masses felt—a
combination and coördination of their efforts. All over the land the hundreds
of thousands of inarticulate, unimportant, ineffective, commonplace friends
of democracy, and in one city these had been given a voice, an arm, a
rostrum. It was not ‘grotesque’ to Jefferson. He did not join these imitation
red men in their wigwam, nor drink of their ale, but John Pintard the chief
became his friend and idolater, and with him the great man talked. The non-
partisan society grew more and more democratic, soon intensely partisan,
and at Tammany dinners the welkin rang to the toast to ‘Thomas Jefferson.’
New York became a cock-pit from the start.
But when the Jeffersonian board of strategy turned to New Jersey, the
problem was more difficult. No outstanding leader, strong in the faith, stood
ready to mount and ride. There, true, the Janus-faced Jonathan Dayton was
ready to flirt with any force that might serve his personal ends. He was a
speculator—and worse. Supporting and profiting from the Hamilton policies,
he smiled on the Jeffersonians significantly.
In Pennsylvania there was the nucleus of a party and virile men to lead it
—men like Mifflin, who, despite his drunkenness, was popular and a power;
like Maclay, who had the force that intense conviction brings in spite of
temperamental handicaps; men like Alexander J. Dallas, aggressive, daring,
able; men utterly unfit for
ALBERT GALLATIN EDWARD LIVINGSTON
WILLIAM BRANCH GILES JAMES MADISON
III
IV
Philip Freneau had richly earned the right to hold and express opinions
concerning the destiny of his country. Many years before the Revolution,
his Huguenot ancestors had come over from France, and for years his was a
well-known name in the best circles of New York City where he was born.
His childhood had been passed on the thousand-acre estate of his father
near the battle-field of Monmouth, in a fine old mansion fashioned after the
colonial style, with a great hall running through it, and large porticoes
commanding a view of a beautiful country. The house was served by many
domestic slaves. Near by rose Beacon Hill, thickly timbered, and from the
peak could be seen the lower bay and the blue waters of the Atlantic. There
his early childhood was passed under the tender care and training of a
mother of rare intelligence. From her he caught a love of poetry, and of the
things of which poetry is made. The spirit of his liberty-loving ancestors
was strong within him. He had all the impulsiveness, the fighting courage
of the Gael. When not at his studies, he wandered alone into the woods and
upon the hill where he could brood dreamily upon the mystery of the sea.
On the site where the battle of Monmouth was to be fought, he began the
study of Greek and Latin in his tenth year. Even as a child he had a hot
passionate hatred of oppression, an unfathomable contempt for hypocrisy,
and an ardent love of beauty. All this he put into childish verse.
When he entered Princeton (Nassau Hall), great events were beginning
to unfold. The patriots of Massachusetts, protesting against an English law,
had been declared rebels, the leading offenders had been ordered across the
sea for trial, the troops of General Gates had marched into Boston. The
college was a hot-bed of sedition. That superb patriot, John Witherspoon,
was president, and among the students who gathered in the evening in the
room that Freneau shared with Madison, were ‘Light Horse’ Harry Lee,
Aaron Burr, William Bradford, destined to close an exceptionally promising
career as a member of Washington’s Cabinet, and Brockholst Livingston.
Nothing that Freneau ever said or did in after-life that was not
foreshadowed at Princeton can be found. His tongue was sharp, and his pen
dripped the vitriol of satire. He wrote much verse, and long before the
Declaration of Independence, he had a hatred of kings. Even thus early in
his ‘Pyramid of Kings,’ he made profession of his democracy.
At length he was exchanged. Leaving the vessel with a raging fever, with
pains in his joints that made walking a torture, he turned toward home,
going through the woods ‘for fear of terrifying the neighbors with [his]
ghastly looks.’[592] This was the background against which he was to view
Washington’s policy of neutrality in the war between France and England.
He hated England from that hour to his death.
Broken in health almost beyond hope of redemption, his ship sunk, his
money gone, the war still on, he turned to his other weapon and took up the
pen. ‘The Prison Ship’ helped to fire the patriots shivering about the cold
camps. The poem of contemptuous imprecation, in imitation of Horace, on
the treason of Arnold, fanned their wrath. That on the victory of Paul Jones
heartened the downcast. Poem followed poem, copied throughout the
country, many published on strips of paper and distributed through the
army. Some were posted in conspicuous places where they could be
committed to memory. Paine wrote ‘The Crisis’ in prose, Freneau wrote of
the crisis in verse; both were a tonic for the wavering. Even Washington did
not then speak of him as ‘that rascal Freneau’ and that characterization even
from Washington cannot rob him of the glory of having been ‘the Poet of
the Revolution’ who gave his health, his entire fortune, almost his life, and
all his heart to the cause of liberty.
The close of the war found him in New York barely existing on crumbs
from the table of an editor. His was a familiar figure in the Merchants’
Coffee-House at Wall and Water Streets where leading men congregated.
The problem then was to get the necessities of life, and literary work was
not then included among the means. This was the condition in which
Madison found him. He knew the story of his poet friend, and thus it came
about that the plan was made for the ‘Federal Gazette.’ He was ideally
fitted for the task. It called for one who could write in the language of the
people, could wield a scorpion lash, whose heart was in the cause—and no
greater master of invective was in view, no keener satirist. He required no
tutoring, and he would accept no orders. He was a rebel still, a radical, a
crusader for democracy, who looked with amusement on ‘aristocracy,’ with
hatred on monarchy. He was an original thinker, a breaker of idols, an
iconoclastic genius. He had the wit, the keenness, the quickness, the felicity
of his French blood, the stern firmness of the Huguenot mind. He was a
gusty warrior with a lusty blade and he kept it shining in the sun.
Soon Philadelphia found him a familiar figure in its streets—a rather
little man with slightly stooped shoulders, thin yet muscular, who walked
briskly like one who knew where he was going. In his office at his work he
was more imposing, for there one could note the high intellectual brow, the
dark gray deep-set eyes that sometimes blazed under the slightly drooping
lids. Usually pensive in repose, his face lighted with animation when he
talked. His manners were courteous and refined and women found him
interesting and gallant. Nor was this democrat a Marat in dress—he wore
the small-clothes, the long hose, the buckled shoes, and cocked hat, long
after others had accepted less picturesque fashions. He had no vanity, no
ambition for place or power, and no fear of either. He wore no man’s collar
and he was no man’s man. He was a law unto himself.
CHAPTER VIII
II
When the poet-journalist took an office on High Street and began the
publication of his paper, there was little to justify grave apprehensions. In
his first issues the editor had pledged himself to the support ‘of the great
principles on which the American Revolution was founded,’ and while this
smacked of the jabberings of Sam Adams, Hancock, and Jefferson, it was
probably only a gesture. The tone of the early editions was temperate,
almost academic. The ordinary reader must have thought it harmless
enough, but Hamilton, who used the press effectively himself, examined the
articles more critically. There were phrases creeping in, innocently, perhaps,
that Fenno would have scorned. The idea that ‘public opinion sets the
bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign of every free
one,’[603] would never have soiled the pages of the ‘Gazette of the United
States.’ The little essays on politics and government were sprinkled all too
freely with these disturbing suggestions. Only an essay on ‘Nobility’—but
why make it the vehicle for the thought that ‘the downfall of nobility in
France has operated like an early frost toward killing the germ of it in
America.’[604] With Fenno chiding the critics of officials, what more
unfortunate than Freneau’s assertion that ‘perpetual jealousy of the
government’ is alone effectual ‘against the machinations of ambition,’ and
his warning that ‘where that jealousy does not exist in a reasonable degree
the saddle is soon prepared for the back of the people.’[605] A defense of
parties coupled with a denunciation of privilege,[606] stiff criticism of
ministerial inefficiency apropos of the St. Clair expedition; forceful protests
against the excise law;[607] and then an article by ‘Brutus’ on the funding
system which could not be ignored—these were bad enough. That system,
said ‘Brutus,’ had given undue weight to the Treasury Department ‘by
throwing the enormous sum of fifty million dollars into the hands of the
wealthy,’ thus attaching them to all the Treasury measures ‘by motives of
private interest.’ Having combined the great moneyed interest, it had been
made formidable by the Bank monopoly. Out of it all had come the
‘unlimited excise laws and imposts’ that ‘anticipated the best resources of
the country and swallowed them all up in future payments.’ Because the
certificates had fallen to the wealthy, ‘the industrious mechanic, the
laborious farmer and poorer classes generally are made tributary to the
latest generation.’[608] Rights of property? Yes—but there is property in
rights.[609] Be loyal to the Union? Yes, but who are the enemies of the
Union? ‘Not those who favoring measures which, pampering the spirit of
speculation, disgust the best friends of the Union.’ ‘Not those who promote
unnecessary accumulations of the debts of the Union.’ Not those ‘who
study by arbitrary interpretations and insidious precedents to pervert the
limited government of the Union into a government of unlimited
discretion.’[610]
With Freneau hitting his stride, the Federalists began to lose their
patience. Soon the ‘United States Chronicle’ of Providence learned that the
‘very extraordinary productions’ were probably ‘the work of some
foreigners who wish to reduce the funds in order to purchase.’[611] The
‘Centinel’ of Boston warned that Freneau’s paper was ‘supported by a junto
for electioneering purposes’ and was filled with ‘the most absurd
misrepresentations of facts, or falsehoods highly injurious to the prevailing
character and principles of our government and people.’[612]
But it took the articles of ‘Sidney’ to force the fighting. These were open
attacks on Hamilton and his principles and were written with a punch. He
assailed the House for abdicating its power to originate money bills to the
Secretary of the Treasury. To delegate that duty was to lie down on a job.
And such ‘reports’! Arguments! Pleas! Sophistries! Thence to the major
attack. ‘If we admit that the Secretary is a fallible mortal, and, however
great his capacity may be, that he is liable to mistakes or to be imposed
upon, or, in range of hypothesis, if we suppose these possible cases, that his
political principles do not correspond with the genius of the government, or
with public opinion; or that he embraces the interests of one class in
preference to the interests of the other classes,—I say admitting any or all
of these circumstances to be possible, then the ministerial mode of
influencing the deliberations of Congress practiced since the change of the
government, is more dangerous than even that which is pursued but loudly
complained of in Britain.’[613] These attacks by Sidney continued with
painful regularity, and Freneau’s paper became a scandal in the best-
regulated families in Philadelphia. Others joined in the fray. ‘A Citizen’
from a remote section, who had visited the capital to ‘know more of men
and measures,’ speedily convinced himself that many members of
government ‘were ... partners with brokers and stock jobbers, and that the
banking schemes have been too powerfully and effectually addressed to
their avarice.’[614] ‘Centinel’ warned that ‘the fate of the excise law will
determine whether the powers of government ... are held by an aristocratic
junto or by the people.’[615] With the pack in hot pursuit of his idol, Fenno
rushed to the defense with a denunciation of the ‘mad dogs’ and ‘enemies