gs were only neglected because of their rarity and
inaccessibility, and has induced the editor to collect another, though
largely similar class of writings, which he believes of equal value and
equally unknown.

In the great discussion which took place in the years 1787 and 1788 of the
adoption or rejection of the Constitution of the United States, one of the
important methods of influencing public opinion, resorted to by the
partisans and enemies of the proposed frame of government, was the
contribution of essays to the press of the period. The newspapers were
filled with anonymous articles on this question, usually the product of
the great statesmen and writers of that period. Often of marked ability,
and valuable as the personal views of the writers, the dispersion and
destruction of the papers that contained them have resulted in their
almost entire neglect as historical or legal writings, and the difficulty
of their proper use has been further increased by their anonymous
character, which largely destroyed the authority and weight they would
have carried, had their true writers been known.

From an examination of over forty files of newspapers and many thousand
separate issues, scattered in various public and private libraries, from
Boston to Charleston, the editor has selected a series of these essays,
and reprinted them in this volume. From various sources he has obtained
the name of the writer of each. All here reprinted are the work of
well-known men. Five of the writers were Signers of the Declaration of
Independence; seven were members of the Federal Convention; many were
members of the State Conventions, and there discussed the Constitution.
All had had a wide experience in law and government. Their arguments are
valuable, not merely for their reasoning, but from their statement of
facts. New light is thrown upon the proceedings in the Federal Convention,
so large a part of which is yet veiled in mystery; and personal motives,
and state interests, are mercilessly laid bare, furnishing clues of both
the support of and opposition to the Constitution. Subsequently most of
the writers were prominent in administering this Constitution or opposing
its development, and were largely responsible for the resulting tendencies
of our government.

PAUL LEICESTER FORD.
_Brooklyn, N. Y., April, 1892._

THE LETTERS OF CASSIUS, WRITTEN BY JAMES SULLIVAN.

Printed In The Massachusetts Gazette,
September-Decemb