COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, Boston, March 1, 1794

• President George Washington

The front page begins with a half column Act of Congress of the United States, signed in script type by the President: Go. Washington.
Page 2 has: "A Proclamation - By Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Territory of the United States North-West of the Ohio" in which he cautions all residents: "...to observe a strict neutrality towards Spain, to abstain from every hostility against the subject or settlements of that crown..." with more.
Four pages, very nice condition.

Background: This issue of the Columbian Centinel (Boston, March 1, 1794) is an exceptionally rare and historically significant 18th-century artifact, distinguished both by its federal government content and its connection to early American foreign relations. The front page features a half-column official Act of Congress bearing the printed "script-type" signature of George Washington, a distinctive typographic element used by printer Benjamin Russell to represent the President's personal mark on federal legislation. The issue's primary historical centerpiece appears on page 2: a prominent neutral-rights proclamation issued by Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory. In response to the high-stakes intrigue of the Citizen Genêt Affair—wherein French agents attempted to recruit American frontiersmen for unauthorized military strikes against Spanish-controlled Florida and Louisiana—St. Clair explicitly orders residents to maintain strict neutrality and abstain from hostiles toward Spain. Preserved as a complete, original four-page imprint in "very nice condition," this issue captures a crucial moment during Washington's second term when the young republic struggled to maintain stability and prevent borderland settlers from dragging the nation into European wars, making it a highly desirable piece for collectors of early Americana and Washington-era government imprints.