Here are Mr. Webster's minutes of his famous conversation with Mr. Jefferson when he visited him in December, 1824. They were afterward published in full from these _memoranda_. They are written on two pages of a very small sheet of note-paper. But they contain, among other things, a graphic portrait of Patrick Henry, his tribute to Sam Adams as more than any other man the author of Revolutionary measures; to John Adams as the colossus of the great debate of liberty which preceded the Declaration of Independence; Mr. Jay's authorship of the Address to the People of England, one of the four greatest state papers in our history; of the fact that Richard Henry Lee came near being a stamp-master, and the fact that Virginia and the New England States always acted together and carried through the Revolution, picking up a few other votes where they could: "Paris— panther—red deer Buffon moose—Genl Sullivan—40 guineas P. Henry—Plutarch's lives— Humes essays— a bar keeper— Studied law a fortnight— Fast— from Ol. Cromwell's model ———— "Sam'l Adams—more than any man author of Revol. measures—but Jno. A. the Colossus of Debate. "Mr. Jay wrote address to people of England— "R. H. Lee—solicited, at first to be stamp-master— "Va. & 4 N. E. States always acted together, _they_ carried thro' the Revolution—picking up a few other votes where they could—" [Illustration] * * * * * Next comes a letter from Lord Ashburton, written from London, June 18, 1852, interesting for the confession of that sincere and candid Englishman, that he did not pretend to be a free-trader for America. If many of our English advisers, and many Americans who have been prone to take their advice, had been as sensible as Lord Ashburton, it would have been much better for all concerned. This letter, as some others of Ashburton's which have been published heretofore, is a thorough refutation, if any were needed after Edward Everett's conclusive statement, of the old slander once uttered in Parliament, and occasionally revived on both sides of the Atlantic, that Mr. Webster obtained dishonest advantage over the English Commissioner by suppressing an ancient map wherein the boundary between Maine and Nova Scotia had been traced in conformity with the British claim. Lord Ashburton's expressions of friendship and esteem for Mr. Webster are wholly inconsistent with such a transaction: "LONDON, June 18th, '52. "MY DEAR MR. WEBSTER, "It was with no small pleasure that I recognised your handwriting, and accepted the very grateful office of shewing civility to your friend.