"ushering into public view, the succeeding numbers. "If the public are pleased to stigmatize the Editor as "a partial printer, in the face of his reiterated assertions "of 'BEING INFLUENCED BY NONE,' what more can be "said! This stigma he prefers, to that of a slavish cop"iest; consequently, unless manuscripts are communi"cated, he will be constrained (however injudicious) "still to crouch under the weighty charge of partiality." Following this brief editorial introduction was printed Number XXIII. of The Federalist, which appeared, also on the same day, in The New York Packet. The publication of the succeeding numbers was continued, with tolerable regularity, during a few weeks, when it flagged, although it was not entirely discontinued until Wednesday, the thirtieth of January, 1788, on which day, with the issue of Number XXXVIII.,- which had appeared in The Packet on the eighteenth of the same month,The New York Journal ceased to notice it in any way whatever. The authorship of the several numbers of The Fœderalist, at an early day, became the subject of an angry discussion between the friends of General HAMILTON and those of Mr. MADISON. Without attempting to reconcile the differences which then existed, or to revive the discussion by expressing an opinion concerning the merits or demerits of the several claims, it appears proper, in this place, to notice the subject generally, leaving the more careful examination of those claims, so far as they relate to each number respectively, until the origin and characteristics of the several numbers shall successively become the subjects of examination. It appears that personal friends of General HAMILTON, soon after the first publication of the work, had obtained from that gentleman the names of the several writers, together with the numbers of which they were respectively the authors. It is not improbable that Mr. MADI SON also extended similar favors to his more intimate friends, — indeed, this was positively asserted by one of the most able of their number, in the discussion of the question which took place in 1817 and 1818. Although these respective lists were not designed for the perusal of other than limited circles of personal and political friends, there is little doubt that their conflicting statements were equally known to General HAMILTON and Mr. MADISON, and that both were extremely sensitive concerning them. For the purpose of bearing testimony on this subject, it is supposed, on the day before he received the fatal ball at Weehawken, General HAMILTON Visited the office of his friend, Judge EGBERT BENSON, No. 20 Pine Street, New York, and inquired for that gentleman. He was informed by ROBERT BENSON, Junior, a nephew of Judge BENSON, who was sitting at one of the desks, that the latter, in company with Mr. RUFUS KING, had gone to Massachusetts, and that he would be absent during several days. The General manifested considerable uneasiness; and after having nervously walked around the room during several minutes, he stopped in front of one of the bookcases, took from it a volume of PLINY's Letters, in the original, which stood there, and commenced to turn over its leaves, as if he was looking for a passage. Suddenly, with an evident desire to avoid the notice of the young men who sat in the room, he slipped into the volume a small piece of paper, when he returned the book to its place in the bookcase, and left the office. On the following day the General was shot; and when Judge BENSON returned to the city, a few days afterwards, his attention was called to the remarkable visit to his office to which reference has been made. The volume which the lamented statesman had taken from the shelf of the bookcase was carefully examined; and the scrap of paper less than a quarter of a sheet of note-paper-which he had so carefully placed within it was quickly brought to light. In the fine, round handwriting of the General, but without his signature, it bore the following brief statement: "No 2-3-4-5-54-J: : "No 10-14-37 to 48 inclusive - M:- This interesting memorandum, which became subsequently the principal evidence for the friends of General HAMILTON, in their dispute with those of Mr. MADISON, was carefully preserved by Judge BENSON, who secured it with four wafers on the inside of the cover of his copy of The Federalist, where it remained several years. The interest which attached to it, however, was so great, that the venerable owner of it was induced to remove it from its place, having previously copied it carefully on the opposite fly-leaf of the volume, and to present it to the Public Library (the Society Library being generally known by that name) in the city of New York. It was in that well-known repository when Mr. COLEMAN disputed with Mr. GIDEON, in 1818, concerning the authorship of The Federalist; but, together with other relics of the same character, which will be referred to hereafter, it has been stolen, within a few years past; and at this moment, it is probable, it graces the collection of some unprincipled collector, whose love of possession is more powerful than his personal integrity.* *It may interest the reader to know that the young man with whom General HAMILTON conversed when he visited Judge BENSON'S office, on the occasion referred to in the text, is now the venerable and respected ROBERT BENSON, Esq., of No. 36 East Twenty-second Street, in the city of New York; and that, through the kind attention of his brother, my esteemed friend EGBERT BENSON, Esq., I am indebted to him for the minute statement which I have given concerning that remarkable visit. The volume in which Judge BENSON wafered the original mem In the latter part of the year 1807, the executors of General HAMILTON deposited in the Society Library in the city of New York the copy of The Fœderalist which had belonged to that gentleman. The following letter, said to have been written by Chancellor Kent, will describe it fully: [From The Port Folio, (New Series,) Vol. IV. No. 20, Philadelphia, Saturday, November 14, 1807.] "MR. OLDSCHOOL, "The Executors of the last will of General HAMILTON "have deposited in the Publick Library of New-York a "copy of "The Federalist,' which belonged to the Gen"eral in his lifetime, in which he has designated, in his 66 own hand-writing, the parts of that celebrated work "written by himself, as well as those contributed by Mr. "JAY and Mr. MADISON. "As it may not be uninteresting to many of your "readers, I shall subjoin a copy of the General's memo"randum for publication in 'The Port-Folio.' "Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 54, Mr. Jay. M. "Nos. 10, 14, 37, to 48 inclusive, Mr. MADISON. "Nos. 18, 19, 20, Mr. HAMILTON and Mr. MADDISON "jointly—all the rest by Mr. HAMILTON.' " * It will be perceived that this memorandum agrees in every respect with that which General HAMILTON left at the office of Judge BENSON on the day preceding his orandum of General HAMILTON, on the inside of the cover of which the remains of the wafers are still to be seen, and the Judge's copy of that memorandum, on the fly-leaf of the volume, through Mr. BENSON's kindness have been shown to me; and what in the text I have said concerning them is the result of a careful examination of them by myself. This letter was reproduced in HALL'S American Law Journal, Vol. VI. pp. 460, 461, the learned editor of which, in the index, added to his reference to it the following: "Note. The accuracy of this article has been denied by WILLIAM COLEMAN, Esq., whose intimacy with General HAMILTON entitles his opinion to great respect. He has promised to give some information, from which our statement may be corrected hereafter." fall; and it will be a curious inquiry hereafter to ascertain whether they may be considered authoritative on the still unsettled question concerning the authorship of The Federalist. The publication of DELAPLAINE's Repository of the Lives and Portraits of Distinguished Americans, in 1816, was the occasion of a discussion of the subject of the authorship of the several numbers of The Fœderalist more public than any which had preceded it. In the biographical sketch of General HAMILTON which the first volume of that work contained, the Editor employed the following language: [From DELAPLAINE'S Repository, Vol. I. pp. 69, 70.] "After the publication of the constitution, colonel "HAMILTON, conjointly with Mr. MADISON and Mr. JAY, "commenced The Federalist, a work which is justly "ranked with the foremost productions in political liter"ature. Besides being the most enlightened, profound, "and practicable disquisition on the principles of a fed"eral representative government that has ever appeared, "it is a luminous and elegant commentary on the repub"lican establishments of our own country. It was pub"lished in the years 1787 and 1788, in a series of essays "addressed to the citizens of New York, and had a "powerful influence both in that and other states, in "procuring the adoption of the federal constitution. "The style is as perspicuous, eloquent, and forcible, as "the matter is pertinent and the arguments convincing. "The part which colonel HAMILTON bore in this pub"lication, although concealed for a time, has been at "length discovered. Indeed had no key to the author"ship ever been found, readers of taste and critical dis"cernment would be able to recognize, without such "assistance, the traces of his pen. Although his co"adjutors possessed the resources of statesmen and the |