chapter ii

. of Winsor's volume just cited, written by Hon. John Jay, who had already discussed the subject quite thoroughly in his _Address before the New York Historical Society on its Seventy-Ninth Anniversary_, Nov. 27, 1883. Of the highest value are Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice's _Life of Lord Shelburne_, 3 vols., London, 1875-76, and Adolphe de Circourt, _Histoire de l'action commune de la France et de l'Amérique, etc._, tome iii., _Documents originaux inédits_, Paris, 1876. See also Sparks, _Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution_, 12 vols., Boston, 1829-30; Trescot's _Diplomacy of the American Revolution_, N.Y., 1852; Lyman's _Diplomacy of the United States_, Boston, 1826; Elliot's _American Diplomatic Code_, 2 vols., Washington, 1834; Chalmers's _Collection of Treaties_, 2 vols., London, 1790; Lord Stanhope's _History of England_, vol. vii., London, 1853; Lecky's _History of England_, vol. iv., London, 1882; Lord John Russell's _Memorials of Fox_, 4 vols., London, 1853-57; Albemarle's _Rockingham and his Contemporaries_, 2 vols., London, 1852; Walpole's _Last Journals_, 2 vols., London, 1859; Force's _American Archives_, 4th series, 6 vols., Washington, 1839-46; John Adams's _Works_, 10 vols., Boston, 1850-56; Rives's _Life of Madison_, 3 vols., Boston, 1859-68; Madison's _Letters and other Writings_, 4 vols., Phila., 1865; the lives of Franklin, by Bigelow and Parton; the lives of Jay, by Jay, Flanders, and Whitelocke; Morse's _John Adams_, Boston, 1885; _Correspondence of George III. with Lord North_, 2 vols., London, 1867; Wharton's _Digest of International Law_, Washington, 1887, _Appendix_ to vol. iii.; Hale's _Franklin in France_, 2 vols., Boston, 1888. The view of the treaty set forth in 1830 by Sparks, according to which Jay and Adams were quite mistaken in their suspicions of the French court, we may now regard as disposed of by the evidence presented by Circourt and Fitzmaurice. It has led many writers astray, and even with all the lights which Mr. Bancroft has had, the account in the last revision of his _History of the United States_, vol. v., N.Y., 1886, though in some respects one of the best to be found in the general histories, still leaves much to be desired.

The general condition of the United States under the articles of confederation is well sketched in the sixth volume of Bancroft's final revision, and in Curtis's _History of the Constitution_, 2 vols., N.Y., 1861. An excellent summary is given in the first volume of Schouler's _History of the United States under the Constitution_, of which vols, i.-iii. (Washington, 1882-85) have appeared. Mr. Schouler's book is suggestive and stimulating. The work most rich in details is Professor McMaster's _History of the People of the United States_, of which the first volume rather more than covers the period 1783-89. The author is especially deserving of praise for the diligence with which he has searched the newspapers and obscure pamphlets of the period. He has thus given much fresh life to the narrative, besides throwing valuable light upon the thoughts and feelings of the men who lived under the "league of friendship." I take pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to Professor McMaster for several interesting illustrative details, chiefly in my third, fourth, and seventh chapters. At the same time one is sorely puzzled at some of his omissions, as in the account of the Federal Convention, in which one finds no allusion whatever to the all-important question of the representation of slaves, or to the compromise by which New England secured to Congress full power to regulate commerce by yielding to Georgia and South Carolina in the matter of the African slave-trade. So the discussion as to the national executive is carried on till July 26th, when it was decided that the president should be chosen by Congress for a single term of seven years; then the subject is dropped, and the reader is left to suppose that such was the final arrangement. Instances of what seems like carelessness are sufficiently numerous to make the book in some places an unsafe guide to the general reader, but in spite of such defects, which a careful revision might remedy, its value is great. Further general information as to the period of the Confederation may be found in Morse's admirable _Life of Alexander Hamilton_, 3d ed., 2 vols., Boston, 1882; J.C. Hamilton's _Republic of the United States_, 7 vols., Boston, 1879; Frothingham's _Rise of the Republic_, Boston, 1872, chapter xii .; Von Holst's _Constitutional History_, 5 vols., Chicago, 1877-85,