Page:Federalist, Dawson edition, 1863.djvu/51

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Introduction.
xlix

which, he adds, 'will, (also,) be found indisputably correct.' This, the reader will remember, is long after he knew its correctness was not only disputed, but by the highest authority proved to be false. The Gazette then proceeds to give his list thus furnished:

"'By this it appears that letters 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 59, 60, 61, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, were written by Mr. Hamilton. Letters 2, 3, 4, 5, 64, by Mr. Jay. And letters 10, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 62, 63, by Mr. Madison. Fifty by Mr. Hamilton; five by Mr. Jay; and thirty by Mr. Madison.'

"It may now be worth our while to examine how far these two authentic lists, both derived from indubitable authority, both asserted to be, indirectly, from Mr. Madison himself, and both declared indisputably correct, agree with one another, and how far they do not; because, if it is found they differ materially from each other, it will no longer be pretended, I presume, that they are both 'indisputably correct.'

"First, then, in the National Intelligencer it was asserted that Mr. Jay only wrote four papers, viz. 2, 3, 4 and 5; and this assertion was persisted in after the error had been publicly rectified and pointed out. It was asserted that Mr. Madison wrote 64, and it was accordingly set down in the first list claimed by him. But here in this second list, in the City Gazette, we find the number allowed Mr. Jay is five, and 64 is, at length, given up. The truth is the fact had been ascertained and stated by Mr. Jay's biographer in Delaplaine's Repository, and the chasm which occurred between the 5th and 64th number accounted for, in a manner that convinced somebody it would not be prudent to persist