and had given the wave of defiance to his enemies, preparatory to a blow, which his deep love of the whole country arrested. It was magnanimous as well as wise in Hamilton, who was a copartner and sufferer in the conflict, to exclude this portion of the paper from the Farewell Address; but it colors Washington to the life, and with the colors of a grand and noble nature, not the less impressive because it was human nature.

66

In another particular, Mr. Sparks's remarks deserve reconsideration. Being made, probably, under the apprehension that the preserved paper was a mere study by Washington for a larger work, Mr. Sparks has regarded the second or principal division which he has printed in his Appendix, as being "a series of memoranda or loose hints, evidently designed to be wrought into the Address:" whereas they contain the great body of Washington's contribution to the Farewell Address, and are the basis of Hamilton's expansions, on the most important points. The thoughts, and sometimes the language, appear in their appropriate places in Hamilton's draught; and with Madison's draught, or rather Washington's letter to Madison, from which that draught was framed, they are the entire contribution of Washington, except as he may have added to the copy of Hamilton's original draught, after its final revision and return to him. I am compelled to differ from Mr. Sparks on this point as well as on one or two others; but nevertheless, I trust, with all becoming deference to his opinions.*

*There is a fine tone of criticism in a most able and interesting work, now near its completion, Rawlinson's Translation of Herodotus, with Appendices containing Essays on important epochs and topics in Ancient History. It is not for the appropriateness

That portion of the preserved paper to which the remarks of Mr. Sparks are applied, and which is indicated in his

of any of these dissertations to the subject of this Inquiry, but for the author's manly freedom of dissent from opposite opinions, without the least bitterness, and for his discriminating praise without flattery, that I extract a portion or two of his remarks upon passages in the two best English histories of Ancient Greece. I wish them to be regarded as exhibiting my own state of feeling in any dissent I may express from the opinions of Mr. Sparks, or of any other writer upon the subject of the Farewell Address.

When speaking of the extent to which Mr. Grote supposes that the institutions of Solon permitted all the free inhabitants of Attica except actual aliens, to vote for Archons and Senators, and to take part in the annual decision of their accountability, whether these inhabitants were or were not members of the four tribes, Mr. Rawlinson says, "To me it seems that the admission of these persons to citizenship at this time, "is highly improbable, and that if it had been a part of the Solonian scheme, we must "have found distinct mention of it."-" Mr. Grote, in his account of the Clisthenic 'legislation, seems to admit all that is here contended for; but his statements in that "place appear to me to be wholly inconsistent with those contained in his account "of the Solonian Constitution:" and then, in a note, the author cites the inconsistent passages.-3 Rawlinson's Herodotus, 406. But soon after, in speaking of his own notes on the modern portion of the history of Athens, the author says, "Those who require more, are referred to the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters of Mr. Grote's history, "which contain the most accurate digest of the ancient authorities, and the most philo"sophical comments upon them, to be found in the whole range of modern literature." -Ibid. 412.

So also as to Bishop Thirlwall's history. "If the democratic character of the Solonian "Constitution has been insufficiently apprehended by some of our writers, by others "it has been undoubtedly exaggerated to a greater extent. To ascribe to Solon (as "Bishop Thirlwall does) the full organization of the Heliæa, as it appears in the time "of the orators, the institution of the Heliastic oath, of the Nomothets and Syndics, "and of that bulwark of the later constitution, the graphe paranomon, is to misunder"stand altogether his position in Athenian constitutional history, and to fail in dis66 tinguishing the spirit of his legislation from that of Clisthenes."-Ibid. 405. On the other hand, when the author is speaking of the internal changes in the Constitution of Sparta, which grew out of the first Messenian war and conquest, he says, "Perhaps "there are scarcely sufficient data to reconstruct the true history of the period; but the "view taken by Bishop Thirlwall of the changes made, and of the circumstances "which led to them, is at once so ingenious and so consistent with probability, that "it well deserves at least the attention of the student."-" Mr. Grote, without ex

Appendix by a line at the head, in small capitals, as HINTS, OR HEADS OF TOPICS, does not appear to warrant such a description. Properly speaking, they are certainly not hints and heads of topics, but decidedly much more. They are certainly not hints or heads of topics for the further use of Washington himself; though it is not improbable that they were written for the guidance of the person who should follow and complete the work.

This heading is not inclosed by Mr. Sparks with marks of quotation, like the paper that follows, from beginning to end, and therefore I suppose it to be Mr. Sparks's heading. I have not seen the original, and it seems to be uncertain whether the original can be found. If the heading was Washington's, it must be admitted, that at the time of writing it, he regarded the eleven paragraphs that follow as hints or heads of topics; but the paragraphs themselves, instead of being loose hints, slight touches, allusions or suggestions, by way of reminder, constitute a perfectly formal and regular paper, in extension of Madison's draught, having a beginning and ending, and according to Washington's plan, sufficiently exhaustive of each of the ten subjects which succeed the first paragraph.

Of these "Hints, or Heads of Topics," the first and the

"amining it formally, by implication rejects it."-"Bishop Thirlwall's conjectural "restoration of the fact, is on the whole satisfactory; and if not history, deserves to "be regarded as the best substitute for history that is possible, considering the scan"tiness and contradictory character of the data.”—Ih. 361-3.

This is the strain of the critic, free, candid, and explicit, without bitterness, and without veiling either praise or dissent in generalities; and there are multitudes of like examples in the work. A too common fault of some critics among us, has been vague and personal bitterness, or lavish but indiscriminating praise, from which it has almost come to be considered, that dissent is an imputation and a challenge.

last of them embrace the subject of party disputes, invectives, and malevolent misrepresentations, which Madison had touched lightly, and with such apparent misapprehension of Washington's views. One of the central paragraphs, recommending pride in the name of an American, and exposing the danger of the annihilation of our national dignity by foreign intrigue and influence, and exhibiting both the follies and evils of foreign engagements, interferences, and favors, is developed to the extent of twenty-nine lines of the broad and compact page of the Appendix; and others to the extent of ten, eight, and six lines each. These are not hints, or heads of topics. All the paragraphs constitute definite, complete, and well-expressed sentiments, beginning with a preamble, which sets forth, that if public affairs had continued to bear the aspect they assumed at the time the foregoing address was drawn (Mr. Madison's preparation), he could not have taken the liberty of troubling his fellow-citizens with any new sentiment, or with a repetition more in detail of those which are therein contained; but considerable changes having taken place at home and abroad, he should ask their indulgence, while he expressed "with more lively sensibility the following most ardent "wishes of his heart:" and in the expression of these, he follows the formula he had used in his letter to Madison, and which Madison had pursued in his draught, when he expressed certain of Washington's wishes, as "vows which he "would carry with him to his retirement and to his grave." They cannot be accurately described, as "Hints, or Heads "of Topics;" though a hint may be taken from anything, and any single paragraph may be divided into heads of several topics. They are not, in an accurate sense, "a series

"of memoranda or loose hints;" though by some men, who take an artistic view of composition, and regard its structure and the combination and bearing of its parts as matter of essential consideration, they might be so described.

Although the entire paper is now presented in the Appendix to this Inquiry, it will make some of my future remarks more intelligible, if the substance of these nine paragraphs intervening between the first and the last of them, is noticed in this place, in the order in which Washington has arranged the subjects.

The leading paragraph-the second in the paper-expresses the ardent wish of Washington's heart, that party disputes among all the friends and lovers of the country may subside; or, as Providence has ordained that men shall not always think alike, that charity and benevolence may so shed their benign influence, as to banish those invectives which proceed from illiberal prejudices and jealousy. And then the paper goes on to express like fervent wishes,

-that as the Allwise Dispenser of human blessings has favored no nation with more abundant means of happiness than United America, we may not be so ungrateful to our Creator, or so regardless of ourselves and our posterity, as to dash the cup of beneficence thus offered to our acceptance:

-that we may fulfil all our engagements, foreign and domestic, to the utmost of our abilities; for, in public as well as in private life, honesty will ever be found to be the best policy:

that we may avoid connecting ourselves with the politics of any nation, further than shall be found necessary to regulate our own trade, that commerce may be placed