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xxx twelve essays which he did not may at first sight seem impossible, but a recurrence to the circumstances at the time they were written proves that it was possible for both honestly to err. The essays were penned by men who had been reading the same books and listening to the same debates. Necessarily, therefore, their minds for the moment were saturated with the same material. The air was filled with certain principles and facts, which were used by both men, as well as by many, others, and for this reason, any attempt to argue the question from mere similarity of thought, as is done in the special pleas of John C. Hamilton in his edition of The Federalist in behalf of his father, and of Professor E. G. Bourne in the American Historical Review for March, 1897, in behalf of Madison, are, so far as. they argue from mere resemblance of idea, valueless as real evidence. From the letters of "Brutus," the great opponent of "Publius," could be selected a series of extracts that would go far to prove that he was the writer of the disputed essays of The Federalist. Undoubtedly, too, there was some consulationconsultation [sic] between the writers of "Publius," with inevitable mutual coloring, and the letters were written with such haste that no one essay could especially impress itself on the mind of the writer. But an even greater cause than this matter of "stock" phrases and exchange of ideas, for the confusion and resulting contradiction of the writers, was the fact that both Hamilton and Madison were members of the conventions in their respective states to discuss the constitution, and in their speeches necessarily went over the same points that had been discussed in The Federalist. Mention has already been made of the fact that Hamilton was charged with "retailing" Publius to the New York state convention, and a reading of Madison's speeches in that of Virginia shows that he, too, made large drafts on The Federalist. When, therefore, the moment came that its writers could look over the collected edition, it is not strange that much of it read so familiarly to each that he honestly thought himself the writer. Granting the possibility, therefore,