we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service."

Washington said, in a letter to a friend: "I alınost despair of seeing a favorable issue to the proceedings of the convention, and I do therefore regret that I have had any agency in the business." This was written by one who, during the long, dark hours of the Revolution, never despaired of the republic. The danger of failure in constructing our government must have been very great.

By the wise and conciliatory course pursued by the leaders of the convention, it was kept together, and the debates continued till the twenty-third of July, when the majority had come to an agreement as to the leading provisions of the Constitution in process of formation. Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, then moved "that the proceedings of the convention for establishing a national government (excepting that part relating to the executive) be referred to a committee to prepare and report a constitution conformable thereto." Messrs. Rutledge, Gorham, Randolph, Ellsworth, and Wilson, were appointed on this committee. of detail.

Three days afterwards, the proceedings of the convention respecting the executive were referred to the same committee. The convention then adjourned till the sixth of August, that the committee might have time to prepare and report a constitution.

Ou the sixth of August the committee of detail reported a constitution of twenty-three articles. These articles embodied the substance of the resolutions which had been adopted by the convention. This report was on the seventh referred to the Committee of the Whole. It was then debated article by article about four weeks. During these debates many amendments and modifications were made.

On the eighth of September, a committee was appointed to revise the style and arrange the articles which had been agreed upon. This work of revision and arrangement was mainly performed by Gouverneur Morris. On the twelfth of September, the committee reported the constitution as revised and arranged, together with the draft of a letter to Congress.

The Constitution was still before the convention, and the debates continued till the seventeenth of September, when the last amendment was made at the suggestion of Washington. The Constitution, as reported, declared that "the number of representatives shall not exceed one for every forty thousand." This had occasioned great discussion. On Mr. Gorham's moving to strike out forty and insert thirty thousand, Washington remarked: "That although his situation had hitherto restrained him from offering his sentiments on questions depending in the house, and, it might be thought, ought now to impose silence upon him, yet he could not forbear expressing his wish that

the alteration proposed might take place. It was much to be desired that the objections to the plan recommended might be made as few as possible. The smallness of the proportion of representatives had been considered by many members of the convention as an insufficient security for the rights and interest of the people. He acknowledged that it had always ap peared to himself among the exceptionable parts of the plan, and late as was the present moment for admitting amendments, he thought this of so much consequence that it would give him great satisfaction to see it adopted." The amendment was agreed to unanimously. The above were the only remarks made by Washington in the convention.

On the 17th of September, the Constitution, as finally amended, was signed by all the members of the convention except Messrs. Randolph and Mason, of Virginia, and Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts. Proba bly there was not a single member who was fully satisfied with it, yet, with the above-named exceptions, they gave it their signatures and support, believing it to be the best that could be obtained.

Previous to signing it Dr. Franklin remarked: “I confess there are several parts of the Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure that I never shall approve them, for having lived long, I have often been obliged by better information or by fuller consideration to change opinions even on im

portant subjects." "I doubt whether any other con vention we can obtain may be able to make a better constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their preju dices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests and selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does. I consent to the constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure it is not the best."

Hamilton remarked: "No man's ideas were more remote from the plan than his own were known to be; but is it possible to deliberate between anarchy and convulsion on one side, and the chance of good to be expected from the plan on the other?" His concluding remark was, "It is the best the present situa tion and circumstances of the country will permit."

CHAPTER VIII.

ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION.

WHEN the Constitution was completed and signed by the members of the convention, it was laid before Congress the Congress of the Confederation. Congress referred it to the legislatures of the several States, who called conventions chosen by the people to adopt or reject it.

When the Constitution was published and spread before the people, it met with vigorous opposition from mistaken patriots and selfish politicians. Among the former were such men as Patrick Henry, of Virginia, and Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts-men whose honesty and love of country were beyond the shadow of a doubt. They knew that men who possessed power were liable to abuse it—that history was filled with examples of the abuse of power. Hence they were unwilling to trust the General Government with the powers conferred upon it by the Constitution. They thought the only safeguards of liberty lay in