Madison was president then, and had a lot more to worry about. I guess it’s possible he could have written the article, but Roman pseudonyms like Publius, Brutus, and Cato were pretty common in the journalism of the day.
Publius was well known as one of the authors of the Federalist papers. (The other two were Alexander Hamilton (dead) and John Jay. The original author of the Natural born citizenship clause.) It might be possible that someone would attempt the scam of borrowed prestige from the Successful Federalists, but two different newspaper editors would have had to allow it. Noticing that Both were In Virginia, it makes me wonder how likely it was that someone OTHER than John Jay or James Madison could have gotten away with it.
Even if it were someone else, the fact remains they pointed out that citizenship in a state was not the same thing as Federal citizenship. This is a direct refutation of the notion that all which is required is to be born here. There are others who support this claim as well, not the least are the two supreme court justices mentioned above.
This is just another piece of evidence that doesn't fit the jus soli solution.