Page:Essays in Historical Criticism.djvu/181

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THE FEDERALIST ABROAD
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those who should propose a dictatorship, a triumvirate, a tribunate, or le gouvernement fédératif.[1]


During the conservative reaction in 1795 another edition of The Federalist was issued.[2]

In Germany The Federalist became known through the French translation. This was the subject of a very intelligent and thorough review in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung,[3] in which it was declared that there were few books designed for the general public that had so successfully combined profound reflection with popular exposition. It was, on the whole, to be reckoned among the pre-eminent works of political literature.

On at least three other occasions and in three other countries, when, as in France, in 1792, the question of centralization versus decentralization under a federal constitution has been at issue, The Federalist has been enlisted in the discussion. In the beginning of the perennial struggle between a unitary and a federal constitution in the Argentine in 1818, The Federalist was frequently appealed to,[4] and, finally, in 1868, a Spanish translation from the English text was published in Buenos Aires by the well-known publicist, J. M. Cantilo.[5]

There was a strong federal movement in Brazil in 1840-42, and a widespread desire to establish a Federal Republic like the United States.[6] This gave the occasion for a Portuguese

1 Procès-Verbal de la Convention, Nationale, I, 49-50.

2 Trudaine de la Sablière, the translator, like so many of his party, met his death on the scaffold in 1794.

3 Dec. 27, 1792. The reviewer ranked The Federalist much higher than he did John Adams's Defence of the Constitutions of the United States.

4 "The writings of Franklin, The Federalist, and other American works are frequently quoted." H. M. Brackenridge, Voyage to South America in the Years 1817 and 1818, II, 141.

5 This edition has escaped the notice of Lodge and Ford. Its title is: "El Federalista. Articulos sobre la constitution de los Estados Unidos escritos en 1787 por Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Madison y Mr. Jay ... con un apendice que contiene los articulos de Confederacion y Constitucion de los E. U. Traduccion hecha del testo Ingles por J. M Cantilo. Buenos Aires, 1868."

6 See the article by L. de Chavagnes, "Le Brésil en 1844," in the Revue de Deux Mondes, July, 1844, 76-79.

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