the other numerous and valuable works which bear his name, those notes and illustrations alone would insure to Mr. Sparks a durable fame.
The author's particular thanks are due to Mr. William Jay for the polite manner with which he submitted to his use his own labors, together with the important testimony of Lord St. Helen's, respecting the negotiations at Paris, in 1782 and 1783.
He must also express his obligations to those of the descendants of Rutledge, who have been so good as to put him in possession of facts, elsewhere unattainable, respecting their distinguished ancestor. He has thus been enabled to elucidate passages of his life that have hitherto rested in fable.
To those of his friends, who have either supplied him with new facts, or pointed out new sources of information, he begs, in this public manner, to return his sincere thanks. He would do injustice to his own feelings, did he fail to mention, in this connection, Mr. Lloyd P. Smith, of the Library Company of Philadelphia. He has, with unfailing politeness, assisted the author's researches, and given him the full benefit of his extensive bibliographical knowledge.
It has been the author's careful endeavor to state facts with precision, and suppress or extenuate nothing that the public were entitled to know. He trusts that the day has passed when exaggeration can supply the place of truth, and empty eulogy take the place of authentic information. It is believed that the reader will find in the following pages the political history of his country fairly related, and the character of its public men delineated without improper bias.