[824] So notorious was this practice that important parts of the correspondence of the more prominent politicians and statesmen of the day always were written in cipher. Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe appear to have been especially careful to take this precaution. (See Washington's complaint of this tampering with the mails in a letter to Fairfax, June 25, 1786; Writings: Sparks, ix, 175.) Habitual violation of the mails by postmasters continued into the first decades of the nineteenth century.
[825] Washington to Lafayette, Feb. 7, 1788; Writings: Ford, xi, 218.
[826] Kettell, in Eighty Years' Progress, ii, 174.
[827] Pa. Mag. Hist. and Biog., ix, 444.
[828] Am. Ant. Soc. Pubs., xxiii, Part ii, 254-330.
[829] Goodrich, i, 61.
[830] Schoepf, ii, 61; see note, ib. Even this journal died for want of subscribers.
[831] Salem Gazette, Sept. 13, 1791; Hist. Col., Topsfield (Mass.) Hist. Soc., iii, 10.
[832] Washington to Humphreys, Dec. 26, 1786; Writings: Ford, xi, 98-103.
[833] Washington to General Knox, Dec. 26, 1786; ib., 103-05.