Reflections. 1 3 



I have frequently regretted, that in conse- 

 quence of a severe indisposition, some years ago, 

 I was induced to commit to the flames a jour- 

 nal, containing minutes on the most prominent 

 characters and striking circumstances which 

 came under my observation, in those parts of 

 the continent which I visited. Some of the 

 personages I had an opportunity of then no- 

 ticing, have since performed very conspicuous 

 parts in the calamitous events of the last twenty 

 years. But I thought it right to do so. I could 

 not feel justified in the possible exposure of 

 opinions, registered in the self-confidence of 

 being correct, though probably founded on ex- 

 parte evidence, or testimony of less valid au- 

 thenticity. The first impression, in such cases, 

 becomes the final one ; without examination, 

 restraint, or responsibility. Under these cir- 

 cumstances, lest I should cease to retain the 

 safe custody of my lucubrations, I determined 

 to destroy them, that the persuasions of my 

 mind, thus incautiously formed without proof, 

 and recorded without discrimination, should not 

 rise in judgment against the unoffending or the 

 innocent ; or become the traitorous instruments 

 of revenge or wrong doing, in the hands of un- 

 principled persons, who might avail themselves 

 of them by accident or stratagem. A record of 

 conversations is scarcely allowable even for in- 



