we have cast upon its various topics sufficiently indicates the extent
and importance of the work. Not less memorable is the spirit in which it
was undertaken. 'A nation without a national government,' it is said,
'is, in my view, an awful spectacle;' and elsewhere--'The establishment
of a constitution in times of profound peace, by the voluntary consent
of a whole people, is a prodigy, to the completion of which I look
forward with trembling anxiety.' 'I dread,' writes Jay, 'the more the
consequences of new attempts, because I know that powerful individuals
in this and in other States are enemies to a General National Government
in every possible shape.'

Under such a sense of responsibility, with such patriotic solicitude did
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay plead for the new Constitution with their
fellow citizens of New York in the journals of the day, and it is these
fragmentary comments and illustrations which, subsequently brought
together in volumes, constitute 'the Federalist'; and well did they,
toward the close of the discussion, observe: 'Let us now pause and ask
ourselves whether, in the course of these papers, the proposed
Constitution has not been satisfactorily vindicated from the aspersions
thrown upon it, and whether it has not been shown worthy of the public
approbation and necessary to the public safety and prosperity.' Whatever
degree of sympathy or antagonism the intelligent reader of the
'Federalist' may feel, he can scarcely fail to admit that it is a
masterly discussion of principles, and that the influence it exerted in
securing the ratification of the Constitution in the State of New York,
was a legitimate result of intelligent and conscientious advocacy. But
the work has other than merely historical and literary claims upon our
esteem at this hour. Its principles find confirmation here and now, in a
degree and to an extent which lends new force and distinction to its
authors as writers of political foresight and patriotic prescience.
There are innumerable passages as applicable to the events of the last
three years as if suggested by them; there are arguments and prophecies
which have only attained practical demonstration through the terrible
ordeal of civil war now raging around and in the heart of the republic.

When we saw the announcement of a new edition[15] of this national work,
we hailed it as most seasonable and desirable: when the first volume
came under our notice, our first feeling wa