The DeFont Company of Wilmican, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through
chemistry, presents the Cavalcade of America.
Tonight's star, Dorothy McGuire.
Tonight's story, Thunder of Justice.
Fifteen years, gentlemen.
Fifteen short years.
After winning our freedom at Trenton and Saratoga, Valley Forge and Yorktown, we are losing our
freedom.
His name is Matt Lyons, that man speaking on the floor of Congress.
Matthew Lyons must present to us in the next, one of the most hated names in Congress.
Without freedom of discussion, without the right of examining the methods and objectives
of the party in power, and criticizing its acts, democracy becomes an empty word.
He says what he thinks, masters, and what he thinks makes him many enemies.
I know, I should know better than anyone, because I'm Matthew Lyons' wife.
You heard his speech today.
Yes, father.
But you did not hear or see what happened afterwards.
What did happen, father?
Bula, sit down.
Yes dear, you must be very upset.
When you stop calling me, Dinnie, I know something's wrong.
And kindly refrain from speaking to me in that, that humoring, tolerating manner.
Oh, father.
I'm not doddering into senility yet.
Papa, may I get you some tea?
Thank you, no.
No tea and no changing the subject, if you please.
Oh, papa.
Don't let him talk about me.
Well, Matthew himself is up to no choice.
I hate it when you talk against him, behind his back, criticize, try to vex me with him,
try to turn me against him.
Now that will do.
Oh.
I disapproved when you, our kitten, daughter of the governor, the Mont, married that wild
artist.
He's quite civilized, really.
I disapproved, I say.
But I do not think to turn you against him.
Too late for that.
Well, I want to stay with you.
Is that what you think?
I don't want to stay with you.
It's for his own good.
What do you want to say, papa?
Binny, persuade Matthew Lyon to abandon politics.
Because he opposes President Adams, the Federalist, and you.
Because he caught disgrace and warrants for your vote for long as he remained in Congress.
Papa, you know, Matt.
Unfortunately.
You know, if there's a fight, he'll be in it.
And this is a fight, to repeal the Alien and Sedition Act.
Matthew Lyon will never manage that.
He'll help manage it.
My dear, Billy Bee Bee.
You said something happened today after I left.
Yes.
A gentleman from Connecticut took a cane to your husband.
A cane?
Matthew came back at him with a pair of fire tongs.
They fought like two savages.
It was monstrous.
Abominable.
This happened on the floor of the house?
In Congress?
To his shame and disgrace, yes.
Oh, I can't believe Matt would so far forget himself.
He's a victim in his own temper.
He must have had a great provocation.
He himself spurred the attack.
But when will you realize this man is a heagre, dangerous, malcontent, a nake?
He is not.
You have to do this conduct today.
I must try to understand.
You try an old man's patience.
Answer me one question.
Will you or will you not persuade your husband to resign his office?
No one could do that.
I can't even try.
Very well.
Know this then.
Matt has been made enemies by opposing the Federalists.
Those same enemies would expel him from Congress.
He will fight his enemies, child, if he's shooting.
There are too many.
Fight them, eh?
But he'll lose his fight.
You'll see.
He'll lose his fight.
Matt!
Matt, now put me down!
My hands beat about your waist.
Look at this!
Put me down, Miss Hinton!
Do you hear?
Yes, ma'am.
There.
Now, a kiss?
No.
Are you not proud of your husband this dread day?
No.
You are proud of the Federalists, the Secretary of State, the President themselves.
Yes.
When the motion to expel your husband from Congress has been defeated.
And by what vote?
62 in favor of the motion 44 opposed.
They needed two-thirds majority and they did not get it.
And for that you want me to be proud.
Which is a great victory.
It is not a victory, Matt.
Oh, don't you see?
More than half your colleagues believe your unfit to sit with them.
Unfit to sit? Let Annie Madison say as much to my face.
And you will fight him?
That? Yes.
Oh, Matt!
Ah, you know what is it to you?
I'm sorry.
Oh, no, my darling.
It is I who am sorry.
Here, let me dry your eyes.
Oh, I'm so wrong to go.
No, will you tell me what I've done wrong?
Oh, Matt, I am proud of you.
Well, to be sure I know that.
But tell me what I've done wrong.
Made enemies.
And who has not?
But unnecessary enemies.
Many of those who voted against you might be your friends.
I don't want them.
You must want them.
You need friends.
Now, Matt, listen to me.
If the Alien and Sedition Acts are truly a threat to freedom and liberty...
No, if.
Those Acts make it a crime to speak out against the administration.
They mock the right of free speech, free friends.
They must be repealed.
To be sure.
Can you do that?
Alone.
Alone?
Well, hardly, but...
If you embarrass your party, set your friends against you, soon you will stand alone.
You're telling Matt Lyon not to fight?
I'm saying, be fight, but by the rules, Matt.
Stop trying to legislate with your fists.
You will knock.
All right, I'll go.
Senator Mason.
Hello, Matt.
Well, come in, sir, come in.
Vinnie, you... you know the senator from Virginia?
Mrs. Lyon.
Good evening, Senator.
What can I offer you, sir?
I can stay but a moment.
Matt, I heard the result of today's vote.
We beat them this time.
I've been telling my wife as much.
She doesn't see it as a victory.
I'm worried, Senator.
Well, you may be, madam.
Mr. Picturing is set upon making an example of your husband.
An example?
Yes.
You've defied the administration and gone unpunished.
They've only begun to fight, your man.
Well, thank heavens.
Congress adjourns soon and will be returning to Vermont.
You have enemies in Vermont.
I have it on good authority that within this hour,
the secretary of state dispatched a messenger to Nathaniel Chitman.
Chitman?
He is an enemy of mine.
Oh, my God.
That convicted evil man.
I came to warn you.
Keep your wits about you, Matt.
You'll be journeying home in a few weeks.
Beware it does not become a journey into the jaws of a trap.
Oh, that boy.
Why are we stopping?
I don't know.
With the suspension, we don't change crosses for Bromwich.
Matt, look at that car.
That was right.
They've planned this.
Oh, courtman.
Drive on to your hear, drive on.
Well, here's one for the cabal.
Change of horses.
And another cow.
Oh, goodness.
Are you all right?
Yes, yes.
Don't miss me.
Driver, hurry.
Pull the van.
Time was of the beach for Vermont.
Friends of order, out with Matthew Lyon now.
Insurance, carless trailer, I say put Matthew Lyon away for gate.
The ship and, the ship and, they've arrived in town.
Leave it to a housekeeper to know the news before anyone else.
Who arrived, Satie?
Mr. and Mrs. Marginster.
I was to tell you the moment they arrived in Lutland.
So we finally got here.
Good.
We'll see that this hot-headed Irishman gets a proper welcome.
A welcome he doesn't expect.
Satie, I want you to take this message to Azov and immediately.
He'll know what to do.
Come, Benny.
Sit here by the fire with me.
I'll put on another lock.
Good to be home.
Safe and in sound health.
And as they meant to bully us with hoodlums and ruffians, I failed again.
Ah, the comfort of one's own heart.
I wouldn't trade them for a kingdom.
Matt.
Yes, my darling?
Why do they hate itself?
It's your husband they hate.
Why?
Because he speaks out against policies dictated by blind fear.
Others speak out also.
But not in as loud a voice.
The Federalists are in power and yet they're afraid.
Oh, yes.
Of what, Matt?
Well, now they'd have us believe we live in a reign of witches
beset by French agents and Irish revolutionaries bent on overthrowing the United States.
And that is why they passed the Alien and Sedition Act.
Yes.
The Alien Act gives the President authority to deport any aliens he judges dangerous to the safety and peace of the United States.
One man alone decides what is dangerous at his own discretion.
Oh, my darling, the Sedition Bill is worse.
If that's possible, criticize the administration and commit a crime as serious as treason itself.
But if we cannot criticize our own government?
We fought the revolution in vain, yes.
If you try, Bernie, as long as I have breath, that's in the end.
We have callers already?
Insistent ones by the sound of them.
All right, patience, patience.
Yes?
Matthew Ryan.
I am Matthew Ryan.
Well, it's Ogden.
Constable Ogden, sir.
I have an order for your arrest.
Arrest?
Why? Why is he being arrested?
Treasonable speech, seditious libel, atrocious slander to the government of the United States.
You will come with me, sir.
The jury, having brought in a verdict of guilty as charged, it is a sentence of this court that the defendant pay a fine of $1,000.
$1,000?
Serve a term of four months imprisonment.
Prison? Oh, Matt.
I'm a member of Congress, sir. I will not be treated as a common criminal.
It is my regret, Mr. Lyon, that the leniency of the Sedition Act prevents me from inflicting heavier punishment.
Elis, fix the prisoner.
But I must arrange my affairs, procure my papers.
No time for that. You come along.
Oh, Matt. I've got to give you something.
Yes, my darling, I can still fight them from prison to the grave itself.
I swear they've not seen the end of Matt Lyon yet.
Dalte McGuire is starring as Buehler Lyon, wife of the Vermont Congressman Matthew Lyon.
They put my husband in prison for criticizing his government.
This did not happen in George Farris, England, or in Robeshear, France.
It happened in the United States to an elected representative of the people in the enlightened year of 1798.
While Matthew was locked in a cell, a cell for horse thieves, counterfeiters, and runaway slaves without seeming to have decent cleanliness,
I went back to the Capitol to seek help from members of my husband's party.
An in-keeper there was expecting me. I was led to an ante room.
Two men rose when I entered, one of my husband's friends, Senator Mason of Virginia.
Mrs. Lyons?
Senator?
You know this gentleman or know I do. The Vice President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson.
Mr. Jefferson?
I'm honored, Mrs. Lyons. Sit down, please.
Thank you.
The jaws of the trap I warned against did close.
Yes.
Your husband's friends are rallying, Mrs. Lyons. The entire country shall know of his plight.
I feared he had no friends, only enemies.
Madam, I myself am not above the revilings of these same enemies. However, we are not here to talk of me.
Mrs. Lyons, how is your husband?
Angry, Mr. Jefferson?
Yes, as I can believe that.
Is he ill fed, alone, in an unheated cell, surrounded by guilt? If he were a criminal, he could be treated no worse.
To the Federalists, he is a criminal.
But that's so unjust.
By Federalist standards, we're all criminals.
But only Matt Lyons is in jail for it.
And because he is, he has become a symbol for the rest of us, a rallying point for all Americans who love freedom.
But in the meantime, Matt is in jail, and something must be done for him.
I tried everything, but I don't know what else to do.
Now, Senator Mason suggested I bring you these articles that Matt has been writing in prison.
It appears they allow him to write freely there.
Well, it evidently hasn't occurred to them yet that he can become a martyr by doing so.
Can you help me, Mrs. Jefferson?
I hope so, my dear. Now, what are these articles you speak of?
Well, here's one. I'll read it.
In every society worthy to be called free, there is an untrammeled play of public opinion.
Immunity from criticism is the privilege of no government official.
The right of arguing about ideas must be cherished and jealously guarded, for it is our heresy as free men.
Good. Good. The man is eloquent.
Ryan, this will reach every newspaper that will print it, and there are still many.
Then you can help him.
He must keep on writing. Tell him that. I will see to it that what he writes reaches the people.
Now, one more thing. This is election year for Congress. Tell Matt that he must stand for re-elections.
Even though he's in prison?
Especially because he is in prison.
But Tom, from the forum of his cell, he will appeal to the sense of justice of the American people.
I don't want my husband, a great and shining symbol of political thought.
I want him to be freed out of that frightful prison.
So he shall be, Mrs. Ryan. Senator, tell her your plans.
Well, in order to get Matt out of prison, his fine must be paid.
We haven't a thousand dollars at his small fortune.
Yes, so it is. And I'm determined to raise it.
You, sir?
By subscription. The people of Virginia, friends of justice in my own state, will raise the funds.
Tell Matt Lyon his days in prison are numbered. He has the word of a Virginia gentleman for it.
That sounds like Mason, the word of a Virginia gentleman.
Well, bless him. Here, give me your hand.
I hate these bars between us.
Oh, I know. So Mr. Jefferson wishes me to stand for relaxation.
He urged you to. You will, won't you, Matt?
Yes, yes, of course I will.
Vinnie.
Yes, dear?
Your hand is cold.
Only my hand. Not my heart. Not when I'm with you.
Is it still so?
It will always be so.
Oh, my God.
Well, Vermonters will make a race of it with Nathan.
A race of it?
Raising money for my fine.
You mean there's a subscription campaign begun here, too?
As Mr. Jefferson says, your husband is becoming a rallying point.
Apparently the people of Vermont are as anxious to free me as those in Virginia.
And you will keep on riding while you're here. I'll see to it that everything gets to Mr. Jefferson.
Oh, Matt, I...
Gosh, my daughter.
There now.
We've only just started.
We've only just started the fight.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
And he had only started.
In the months that followed, words poured from Matt's pen, angry words, stirring, exciting, honest.
His friends saw that they were printed.
From New England to South Carolina, the name Matthew Lyon became a symbol of oppressed freedom.
And in Vermont, our home state, the people read his words and made up their own minds.
And when the time came, they went to the polls to take action.
Vinnie, Vinnie, it's good to see you.
Matt, I have news.
Yes, what is it, quickly?
You're ahead in the vote, Vinnie.
Oh, not by much, but the counting isn't complete.
And Matt, I was talking to Benjamin Marshall today.
Yes, yes.
He's one of the committee here in Vermont, raising your fines.
It's almost subscribed, Matt.
Good.
But what about Senator Mason? Have you heard from him?
Not since I saw him with Mr. Jefferson in Philadelphia.
What's that?
Whatever it is, it's bound here.
...we're so good to be here.
I've got the free natural.
We've got the fine.
But Matt, it's Benjamin Marshall and all the others who've collected the fine.
Yeah, now, stop that noise. You can't come in here.
Stand down, now.
Oh, my God.
You can't come in here. It's against the law.
Law, you say? We've come to free Matt Lyon, man.
Matt, I'll shake your hand through these bars, and I'll shake it again when you're free of them.
Oh, Mr. Marshall.
Constable, let Mr. Lyon out of that stinking cell.
Sir, I cannot. The rules say...
He's served us four months and more.
And now we're here to pay his fine.
We've got here $1,000 to free Matthew Lyon.
Eh, it's most regular, but as long as you have the money, I...
Oh, Matt. Matt.
But I haven't told you the news yet.
The results of the election are in.
You've been re-elected, Matt, by an overwhelming majority.
Really? The people listened to Jefferson said they would.
It's their victory, not as much as yours.
Ours, my God, and every one of us who believes in liberty.
We have come a long way from here.
Matthew, to whom do I pay this money in my saddlebags?
The people of Virginia are going to set you free.
Senator, you haven't collected the fine, too.
What do you mean, collected it, too?
A committee of Vermonters has raised the money, sir.
But I've written all the way from Philadelphia to pay this fine.
It's fitting that Vermonters should pay it.
Even so, we in Virginia consider this our responsibility.
Matt, Lyon is a Vermonter, not a Virginian.
Oh, gentlemen, please.
A suggestion from my wife.
I thought if Vermonters paid half and Virginians paid half...
Done. Done, Matt, done.
Good, good.
So, my darling, it's all set.
Oh, Matt. Matt, I'm so proud.
I'm so proud and happy.
Well, Vinnie, the people have spoken for me tonight.
They've set the pattern of my court.
They've said, repeal the Alien and Sedition Acts.
And I shall return to Congress,
and I will not be dedicated a fight for this repeal until it's won.
Matthew made good his vow.
The stain of the Alien and Sedition Acts upon the Constitution was erased.
Their threat to liberty extinguished.
And they had its answer, from freedom.
The raging debate has faded to whispers that echo faintly down the long corridor of history.
Today, in the halls of Congress in a town meeting house, on a village green or a city plaza, forever free men gather.
The shadow of Matthew Lyon is likely to join them.
Though his voice is still, his spirit is not.
That spirit that cried, freedom so fiercely won, must be fiercely cherished.
Liberty so dearly bought, must be guarded with vigilance and faith.
Our thanks to Dorothy McGuire and the Cavalcade players for tonight's story, Thunder of Justice.
Tonight's DuPont Cavalcade Thunder of Justice was written by William Kendall Clark and based on the book, Crisis and Freedom, the Alien and Sedition Acts,
by John C. Miller, published by Little Brown and Company. The program was directed by John Zoller.
Original music was composed by Arden Cornwell, conducted by Donald Borey.
In tonight's cast was Dorothy McGuire starring as Vinnie, you heard Ian Martin as Matt, Frederick Warlock as the father, Cameron Pruitt on as Mason, and Wesley Addy as Jefferson.
Dorothy McGuire is currently appearing in the Samuel Goldin production, I Want You, photographed on DuPont Motion Picture Film by Harry Stradley, A.S.C.
This is Ty Harris speaking.
Tomorrow, more than 2,900,000 members of the Boy Scouts of America are celebrating their 42nd anniversary.
Now, more than ever, men are needed to serve as Cubmasters, Scoutmasters, and Explorer advisors.
During this Boy Scout Week, offer your services to the youth of your community.
The DuPont Cavalcade of America comes to you from the Belat Theatre in New York and is sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware.
Make sure that better things, for better living, through chemistry.
Next, it's adventure on Hollywood Theater on NBC.