constituted editor of this national work,
Hamilton is described as sophistical and disingenuous, whose object is
to deceive rather than to instruct, to mislead rather than enlighten,
and whose motives are partisan rather than patriotic.

Throughout the introduction there is a spirit of latent detraction;
insinuations against the aims and methods, if not against the character
of the illustrious men whose memories are our most precious inheritance;
we feel that, however industrious in research and ingenious in
conjecture, the tone and range of the critic's mind are wholly
inadequate for any sympathetic insight as to the nature of the men whose
writings he undertakes to reintroduce to the public--and this
irrespective of any difference of political opinion: something more than
verbal accuracy and patient collation is requisite to interpret the
'Federalist' and appreciate its authors; even a political opponent, of
kindred social and personal traits, would do better justice to the
theme: and a truly patriotic citizen of the republic, at such a crisis
as the present, could never find therein an appropriate occasion to
magnify political differences at the expense of national sentiment.

Whatever the literary merit or political interest of the 'Federalist,'
its moral value is derived from our faith in the absolute sincerity and
profound convictions of its authors: not only does the internal evidence
of every page bear emphatic testimony thereto, but the correspondence of
each writer as well as of contemporary statesmen, attest the same truth:
they regarded the condition of the country as ruinous, and lamented that
the fruits of victory turned to ashes on the lips of the people, because
there was no homogeneous and vital organization to conserve and
administer the invaluable blessings won by the sword: against the
suicidal jealousy of State rights as adequate for prosperous
self-reliance without the bonds and blessings of a vital National
Government, they earnestly directed the most patriotic and intelligent
arguments: of these the 'Federalist' is the chief repertory; hence its
value and interest as a popular treatise which prepared the way for the
intelligent adoption of the Constitution; yet in this edition the
introductory remarks impugn the sincerity of the authors, and attempt to
revive the political heresy of extreme State as opposed to Federal
power, which it is the primary object of the work to expose and condemn;
and t