4 confidential letters, which, the writer never intended should meet the public eye, is delicate and difficult. I felt the full difficidty of this task in regard to a few of Washington’s letters. In fact, it was a question of serious import, and requiring much deliberation, whether such letters should be published at all. I had no doubt, however, at the time, nor have I any now, that, if they were to be published, it was the editor’s duty to revise them with care, and to make such corrections as his judgment and feeling of responsibility should dictate. That this duty was performed in the best manner it could have been done, I shall be the last to affirm. Whether I was too scrupulous or too precise in some instances, or negligent and inconsiderate in others, may safely be left to the decision of those, who are willing to examine with calmness, and judge with candor. I claim only to have been actuated by disinterested motives, and to have followed my unbiassed convictions. Moreover, the subject in its details is one, upon which almost any two minds, viewing it under different aspects, may be led to form conflicting opinions. But all the particulars touching this point, the rules which I adopted, and the reasons for them, are so largely explained in the introductory parts of the work, and in the more recent discussions, that I shall forbear to add any thing further on this occasion.
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