is the cleverest fellow, that, by trick or violence can emerge the fullest handed. I regret that I am o bliged to say so. I would much rather be the encomiast than the satirist of my country, which I have no doubt contains so ample a portion of manly sentiment, as, under better auspices, to entitle it to a lofty strain of penegyric. But it will be said I am a party-man ; and as all par ty-men are prejudiced, these censures must go for nothing. I am indeed a party man, as I conceive there is a right and wrong in politics as in other things I freely admit it too that I am prejudiced, to a great degree; but all my prejudices, I trust, are in favor of honesty and fair dealing, and where these appear, no one has more toleration for error. This is an indulgence I may have need of myself; but I reflect with satisfaction, that among my faults, I have no act of deceit, injustice or oppression, (for I have sometimes had a little power) to reproach myself with; and this I say without fear of contradiction. I have some reliance too that those who know me, even of the opposite political party, will give me credit for general good intention, and openness of character; and this granted, I ask no quarter for my sentiments. If they are erroneous and unfounded, let them be scouted and exposed I shall be among the first to condemn them if persuaded of their falsity. And I here recognize with suitable feelings, the liberal and unsought patronage to this undertaking, from many of my neighbors and townsmen, with whose political conduct and opinions, mine have generally been in collision. If I have been less accommodating to their sentiments, than I could have wished, they will read my apology in the tenor of my performance, which does not merely purport to speak with plainness, but manifests, I presume, that it has done so in reality, without respect to par ties or to persons. I have occasionally, I am sensible, expressed myself with some asperity; with more, perhaps, than may be thought congenial to the nature of my work; but this must be attributed to my awful impression of the dangers which surround us, and a solemn apprehension, that all the advantages of our situation are about to be sacrificed to a profligate rage for place and party supremacy. Thus, uncalled for, have I ventured upon a pretty full account, both of my life, and my opinions. Of the value of either, it is not for me to judge; but as it was my lot to enter upon manhood just at the commencement of the revolution, and to be a witness of its progress, its consummation, and its consequences, it appeared to me, that the period, if justly delineated, could not be altogether destitute of instruction: I have endeavored to depict it truly; and, I trust, I have done so, in regard at least to the phases presented to my vision. The facts I have related, I have either witnessed myself or received on such authority, as leaves with me little doubt of their correctness; and my inferences, though sometimes harsh, are always the result of the most deliberate and candid reflection : Whatever therefore, may be the errors of my book, they are not those of wilful misrepresentation. FINIS ERRATA, of most importance. Page 70, line 10, for whole of, read, rest of. Page 150, transpose the two last sentences of the paragraph, the words-A few batteries, &c. immediately to follow the colon, after the word, again. Page 163, &c. for judge Marshal, read, chief justice Marshal. Same page, line 2 of note, for whom, read, when. Page 2 33, line 26, correct by putting a full stop, and ending the sentence with the word Jamaica-then beginning the next sentence with the words, Together with, and converting the first period into a comma. Page 251, line 30, to the word authority, add the words, when partaking of, or friendly to it Page 252, last line but one, for was, read, ią, |