On the subject of the history of the American Revolution you ask who
shall write it? Who can write it? And who will ever be able to write it?
Nobody; except merely its external facts; all its councils, designs, and
discussions having been conducted by Congress with closed doors, and no
member, as far as I know, having even made notes of them. These, which
are the life and soul of history, must for ever be unknown. Botta, as
you observe, has put his own speculations and reasonings into the mouths
of persons whom he names, but who, you and I know, never made such
speeches. In this he has followed the example of the ancients, who made
their great men deliver long speeches, all of them in the same style,
and in that of the author himself. The work is nevertheless a good one,
more judicious, more chaste, more classical, and more true, than the
party diatribe of Marshall. Its greatest fault is in having taken too
much from him. I possessed the work, and often recurred to considerable
portions of it, although I never read it through. But a very judicious
and well informed neighbor of mine went through it with great attention,
and spoke very highly of it. I have said that no member of the old
Congress, as far as I knew, made notes of the discussions. I did not
knew of the speeches you mention of Dickinson and Witherspoon But on
the questions of Independence, and on the two articles of Confederation
respecting taxes and voting, I took minutes of the heads of the
arguments.
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