6 work, Mr. Reed says, “ I printed the Washington letters from the originals, the only variations being occasional corrections of grammar and spelling, and the omission of one or two sentences, evidently the result of oversight on my part.” Yet he adds in another place, “ At the time of their publication I had no doubt that it was my duty to print them exactly as they were written.” It happened, however, as indicated by himself in this reprint, that there were frequent variations from the originals in his printed text, occasioned either by “ corrections of grammar and spelling,” or by accidental mistakes. The remarkable omission, by which Lord Mahon and other writers were led to prefer against me the heavy and unjust charge of making additions to Washington’s text, was, in its consequences, the most important of these mistakes. * Another, not less important in itself, and scarcely less so in regard to the animadversions of which it was the cause, remained a mystery till it was explained by this reprint. Washington, giving a reason why * Washington had written, “ Is it possible that any sensible nation upon earth can be imposed upon by such a cobweb scheme, or gauze covering? ” And it thus appeared in “ Washington’s Writings.” But by some accident the passage in italics was omitted in Mr. Reed’s text ; and hence it was inferred that this passage had been “ manufactured ” by me.
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