Page:Debates in the Several State Conventions, v5.djvu/600

574 in motion has been reported some days, but will not be hurried to a conclusion. Having been but a little time here, I am not yet fully in the politics of Congress.

, July 22, 1788.

,—The enclosed papers will give you a view of the business in the convention at Poughkeepsie. It is not as yet certain that the ratification will take any final shape that can make new York immediately a member of the new Union. The opponents cannot come to that point without yielding a complete victory to the federalists, which must, be a severe sacrifice of their pride. It is supposed, too, that some of them would not be displeased at seeing a bar to the pretensions of this city to the first meeting of the new government. On the other side, the zeal for an unconditional ratification is not a little increased by contrary wishes.

, August 22, 1788.

,—I have your favor of the 13th. The effect of Clinton's circular letter in Virginia does not surprise me. It is a signal of concord and hope to the enemies of the Constitution every where, and will, I fear, prove extremely dangerous. Not withstanding your own remarks on the subject, I cannot but think that an early convention will be an unadvised measure. It will evidently be the offspring of party and passion, and will, probably, for that reason alone, be the parent of error and public injury. It is pretty clear that a majority of the people of the Union are in favor of the Constitution as it stands, or at least are not dissatisfied with it in that form; or, if this be not the case, it is at least clear that a greater proportion unite in that system than are likely to unite in any other theory. Should radical alterations take place, therefore, they will not result from the deliberate sense of the people, but will be obtained by management, or extorted by menaces, and will be a real sacrifice of the public will, as well as of the public good, to the views of individuals, and perhaps the ambition of state legislatures.

, September 24, 1788.

,—I have been favored with yours of the 12th instant. The picture it gives of the state of our country is the more distressing as it seems to exceed all the known resources for immediate relief. Nothing, in my opinion, can give the desired facility to the discharge of debts, but a reestablishment of that confidence which will at once make the creditor more patient, and open to the solvent debtor other means than bringing his property to market How far the new government will produce these effects, cannot yet be decided. But the utmost success that can be hoped from it will leave in full force the causes of intermediate embarrassment The additional pressure apprehended from British debts, is an evil also for which I perceive at present no certain remedy. As far, however, as the favorable influence of the new government may extend, that may be one source of alleviation.