“Written by Dr. Montgomery, except the dedication, which was by John
Nicholas, of Albemarle. MS. notes by John Nicholas.” MS. note by
Jefferson, in his own copy now in the Congressional Library.
This volume includes, not only the Letters signed Decius, contributed
to the _Virginia Independent Chronicle_, between December, 1788 and
July, 1789, but also many answers to the same, signed “Juvenal,”
“Philo Pat. Pat. Patria,” “Anti Decius,” “Honestus,” and others.
It is a most scathing attack on the Anti-Federalists in Virginia,
and especially on their leader, Patrick Henry. Perhaps nothing
illustrates better the rarity and difficulty of finding the pamphlets
of this period than the fact that Mr. Tyler, so well read in American
literature, has in his _Life of Patrick Henry_, entirely overlooked
this most plain spoken laying bare of the motives and actions
of Henry, of which I have been able to discover only a single
(imperfect) copy.
I have been able to find nothing concerning Dr. Montgomery, except
that he was a member of the Virginia Convention. The so called third
edition is under John Nicholas—No. 105.
_Native of Boston. See No. 82._
_New Jersey Journal._
Minutes / of the / Convention / of the / State of New Jersey, / Holden
at Trenton the 11th Day of December 1787. / Trenton: / Printed by Isaac
Collins, Printer to the State. / M,DCCC,LXXXVIII.