THIS remarkable publication has now been some months before the country; and where it has been read and studied, it has, so far as we have the means of knowing, been received as an interesting, able and manly exhibition of the views and conduct of the great men who gave form to the Constitution and security to the liberties under which this nation has so signally prospered.

Originally entered upon by its young and very clever author, as a work of filial piety, with a view to commemorate the public services and the virtues of an honored ancestor, whose own shrinking modesty had withdrawn him more than was just from the observation of the country, he soon found from the copiousness and authenticity of the materials at his command, that a larger scope might be given to the work, and that instead of being the mere biography of an individual, it might, and properly should, be extended to a history of the times in which that eminent individual lived, and of the men and events with whom and which he was contemporary, and among whom he was not himself an undistinguished actor.

Those events were, the first organization of this federal Union, the interpretation and impress to be given at its birth to its Constitution, the establishment, after a long and costly war, of a system of finance, which, in securing the just debts of the past, should provide ample means for the conciliation of conflicting sectional interests, the soothing of angry and vindictive feelings the unavoidable legacy of a war-not without some of the worst characteristics of civil war-and, most difficult of all, rescuing the newborn nation from the vortex of that fearful phenomenon in morals and in politics, the French Revolution.

These men were, Washington, Hamilton, Jay, Jefferson, Randolph, Marshall, Gouv. Morris, the Pinckneys, Knox, Pickering, Clinton, Cabot, Ames, King, Monroe, the Trumbulls, and others of that

heroic age, which never comes to a nation but once.

Urged on, therefore, by the wealth of the materials before him, and by the real importance and dignity of the subject, Mr. Gibbs, instead of presenting to us merely the life of his grandfather, has, from his copious papers, which seem to have been preserved and methodized with great care, given us the history of the Federal Administration of Washington and John Adams.

To this work the author has brought the freshness and integrity of youthful feelings, and the maturity of judgment of more advanced years: a rare combination, which gives great attraction to the book, and insures its vitality, and its value as a historical authority.

There is in these pages a complete vindication of the origin, motives and con. duct of the Federal Party, derived as well from a calm review of the leading occurrences of the time, as from the unimpeachable testimony to their own motives and acts as displayed by the chief parties themselves, in letters never designed for publication, and where the truth is spoken out with remarkable emphasis.

If these volumes had no other merit than this, it would be a very great one; for it is always praiseworthy to bear testimony to the truth, and useful to elucidate contested political questions. At this time of day, moreover-when the term Federalist is freshly recommended by the political organ of the National Executive as the term which conveys in it most of reproach, and entails most certain unpopularity upon those whom it is designed to crush politically-it is a proof of great moral courage, especially for a young man, not probably without political aspirations, and, very certainly, as these volumes prove, not without abundant qualifications for honorable political services and station, thus to espouse the cause of a vanquished party, and not only to "pluck up its drowning honor by the locks," but to place in the broad

relief of historical truth, the more than questionable conduct of the opponents who triumphed over them.

The time had come for such a work; for we stand already in the light of posterity to the men and times here delineated near enough yet to feel deep interest in them, and yet far enough removed, honestly to seek and to bear the whole truth. Half a century has passed away since the experiment began which "moulded thirteen States-too weak to stand alone, too jarring in their views to preserve unbroken the mere league which had hitherto bound them-into a single republic, that one great common concern, one national character should overpower all other interests, and that their people should have one country, one Constitution, one destiny."

It is the privilege of few peoples to be able to look, as we have the means of doing, into the very foundations of our republic, and to mark, step by step, the progress in maturing the most extensive scheme of self-government ever yet attempted among men. The addition made by these volumes to the materials for judging accurately of the past, and of instruction in the future, are most precious; and even where the bias of opinions expressed by the author, and the conclusions at which he arrives, may run counter to the preconceived opinions of some readers, they will feel, in common with all honest students of history, that in the number and nature of the authentic contemporaneous letters here gathered together, a very real service has been conferred upon them; for the staple of this publication is the private correspondence of Mr. Wolcott, and of the most distinguished leaders and public men of his party.

OLIVER WOLCOTT was the son of that OLIVER WOLCOTT who signed the Declaration of Independence, as one of the Delegates from Connecticut, and whose whole life was in unison with the sentiments to which he then put his hand, with the resolute purpose never to look back till the objects then contemplated of the complete independence of the colonies-were established. Sprung from one of the early settlers in New England, who had left his native land in 1630, in order to escape the religious persecution of the day, OLIVER WOLCOTT, Senr. entered the army in 1747, at 21 years of age, in the service of the State of New York, and served in the defence of the northern fron

tier until the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. He subsequently practiced medicine in his native State until the breaking out of the Revolution, when he eagerly espoused the cause of his country-as a member of the Congress of 1776 signed the Declaration of Independence, and resuming his original profession of a soldier, was constantly in the field, and was present at the reduction of Burgoyne's army at the head of 2000 Connecticut troops. He was a man of energy, probity and indomitable resolution, of whom it might be said, as Jenkins said of Coke, that "he was one whom power could not break nor favor bend." Oliver, the subject of this publication, the eldest son of General Oliver Wolcott, was born at Litchfield, in January, 1760, and in 1774 entered Yale College, and thus grew up amid the early and stirring scenes of the Revolution. How they affected such a youth, so descended, and with a mother as heroic as his father, the whole tenor of his.after life showed. When, in 1777, on a visit to home, his father being absent in attendance upon Congress, he was awakened at midnight by intelligence that Tryon and his myrmidons had landed and marched to Danbury, with a view there to destroy the Continental stores. He immediately equipped himself for duty in the militia hastily mustering, and his mother furnishing his knapsack with provisions and a blanket, quickened his departure, and dismissed him with the charge, "to conduct himself like a good soldier." On this occasion, and on others during the course of the war, Wolcott was present in battle, and subsequently to the destruction of Norwalk and Fairfield, he was offered a commission in the army; but he felt bound to adhere to the profession of the law, which, after being graduated at Yale, in 1778, he had undertaken the study of, under Tapping Reeve, at Litchfield. He did accept, however, a commission in the Quarter-Master Department, which, stationary at Litchfield, would little interfere with the pursuit of his legal studies. It was in his capacity as Quarter-Master that the leaden equestrian statue of George III., which formerly occupied a conspicuous site in the Bowling-Green of New York, and of which the pedestal has only disappeared within the last fifteen years after being thrown down from its height and broken to pieces, was sent to him at Litchfield to be run into bullets for the American army. This was actually accomplished

by the sisters of Mr. Wolcott and some of their friends, and "an account is still preserved in the family papers of the number of cartridges made by each." "This conversion of a monarch," says our author," into practical arguments of the rights of the people, as may be supposed, furnished abundant material for the wits of the day."

Wolcott was not permitted to follow the bent of his inclination, in attending to his profession, but was employed first in the board of Pay Table, and when that was abolished, was appointed Comptroller of Public Accounts, to which all the duties of the Pay-Table Board were assigned, together with others. In this post he evinced so much application, and such aptness in stating and regulating accounts, as to entitle him to the special approval of the Assembly. He remained in that situation until the establishment under the Constitution, in 1787, of the Treasury Department of the U. S., when he was urged by such men as Jeremiah Wadsworth, Oliver Ellsworth, and above all, the great Secretary himself, Alex. Hamilton, to accept the office of auditor in the Treasury of the U. S. He at first declined, not because the emolument was insufficient, but because it seemed to him a station too dependent. He was, how ever, persuaded to reconsider his refusal, and finally accepted. The following letter from his father, on the occasion of the appointment of his son, is characteristic of their bold, sagacious, and self-relying

Old age is very apt to be vain in giving advice. No one, I believe, of your years, requires it less, as you have been long conversant with people of almost every condition, and very readily investigate the principles of human action: yet I will indulge myself once, and, which I shall probably never think it necessary to do again, advise you that in every matter of consequence you depend, in the last resort, upon your own judgment, rather than upon that of any other. In this mode of conduct you will less frequently err. It will induce a stricter habit of reflection, and if you mistake, you will not feel the mortification of being misguided by such as may have an interest in deceiving you. The executive officers with whom you will have most intercourse, will, I believe, be inclined to treat you with generosity and frankness, from the first magistrate downwards. An

open, unassuming behavior will be most agreeable to them; this naturally induces confidence, and may be done consistently with such reservation as may be necessary. It is generally said that courtiers always act in disguise. This is far from being universally the case, and when it is, it is than choice, especially among those who more generally owing to their situation are to be denominated good men, to which character I truly believe the first magistrate, and the beads of the executive de partments, all of whom I know, are justly entitled. The habits and manners of a soldier are naturally open and frank, and if at any time it shall seem to be otherwise, such conduct will be rather assumed and politic than otherwise.

duous, but you will reflect that those who Your service will be complicated and arare to judge of your services, will be most capable of making a just estimate of them. You may therefore safely indulge yourself with as much exercise and relaxation as will be necessary for your health. Endeavor further to preserve the mens sana in corpore sano by yielding at times to a certain vacuity of thought. As to your mode of living, I need say but very little, your habits of temperance will render it

unnecessary.

Thus far I have written, which is much farther than I intended when I began to scribble. You need be under no apprehension that I shall oblige you to read such long letters of advice in future, and will consider this rather as an evidence of my regard for your happiness, than of any anxiety I feel, lest you should be under misapprehension of what principles ought to govern your conduct. With kind regard, yours, OLIV. WOLCOTT."

The following letter from the newlyappointed Auditor, addressed to his mother, from New York, (then the seat of the Federal Government,) presents that city in a very favorable light. Its great increase since the date of this letter has, it may be feared, rendered impossisuch tribute now-a-days.

ble any

"NEW YORK, Dec. 21, 1789. "The manners of the people here are favorable to the plan which I have in view. Great expense is not required, nor does it add to the reputation of any person. There appears to be great regularity in the city. Honesty is as much in fashion as in Connecticut, and I am persuaded that there is a much greater attention to good morals, than has been supposed in the country. So far as an attention to the Sabbath is a criterion of religion, a comparison between this city and many places in Connecticut, would be in favor of