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Haviiltoii : ]]')-iti)igs of James Monroe 597 and to the buyer an amount of expense, which to many persons will seem excessive ; in proportion to fourteen volumes of Washington, ten volumes of Adams and of Jefferson, nine or ten of Monroe is a large quantity. We should be sorry if a general feeling that this is the case should cause Mr. Hamilton to abridge too much the latter portions of his collection ; for it is here that its main interest and importance will surely be found. For the period of our political history extending to 1815 we do not lack material in the shape of official and private corre- spondence. After 1815 we have comparatively much less, and Mr. Ham- ilton's chief opportunity to make a notable contribution of new material for American history lies in the eight years of Monroe's presidency. Abridgment would have been more in place in these earlier years. The present volume contains not a few letters of quite trivial importance. At the same time the book contains much that is useful and interest- ing, though Monroe's style does not cease to be dull. Here are 112 let- ters, of which few have ever been printed before. About three-fourths of them come from the collections of Monroe, Madison and Jefferson papers in the Department of State ; others from a letter-book possessed by the Library of Congress, from the Bulletin of the New York Public Library, from the private collection of Mrs. James Lyons, etc. The last men- tioned are of exceptional interest, being letters of Monroe to John Ran- dolph. The manner in which Monroe meets Randolph's flattering let- ters, suggesting that he rather than Madison shall be the Republican candidate for the presidency, is admirable. He says (p. 407): " iMy own opinion is then, that the idea had better be relinquished : — that by such relinquishment the cause of free government would be more essentially served than by pursuing it. There are older men, whom I have long been accustomed to consider as having higher pretentions to the trust than myself, whose claims it would be painful to me to see re- jected ; and you will find that I repose an unbounded confidence in your honour and candour when I state to you that the person who seems to be contemplated by others is in that class. It would be impossible to em- bark in such a controversy without putting in opposition, through the whole community, men who have been long in the habit of dangerous and laborious co-operation in support of that cause ; — without harrowing up their feelings and tearing up by the roots antient friendships." This is in June, 1806. How well Monroe's magnanimity and forti- tude would stand the severer test imposed by Jefferson's rejection of his treaty, remains to be shown in the next volume. Much in the present volume shows that he had gained in magnanimity and in balance as well as in diplomatic experience. He is still prone to suspicion and to undue anxiety respecting his personal position ; but he understands Europe and his task better. This is partly due to the fact that he is carrying on the task — not very successfully, it must be admitted — in London, where there was no barrier of language in the way of his somewhat slow thought. Beside letters, Mr. Hamilton prints, widely separated, two frag- ments of a journal or memorandum respecting the Louisiana negotia-