Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/99

Rh friend, Dr. Price, informs us was propoed in the convention of Maachuett's.

The city was divided into fix ditricts, called fetiers. The council of forty propoed, that each of thee partitions hould name two electors, amounting to twelve in all, who hould have the power of chooing, from the whole city, four hundred and eventy, who hould have the whole power of the general aembly, and be called the grand council.

The people were amued with fine promies of order and regularity, and conoled with aertions that their right of election till continued, and that thoe who hould not be choen one year, might be the next; and, not perceiving that this law would be fatal to their power, uffered that aritocracy to be thus founded, which ubits to this hour. The next propoal was, that a committee of eleven hould be appointed, to name the doge. Though the deign of reducing the people to nothing might have been eaily een in thee manœeuvres, yet the people, wearied, irritated, and dicouraged, by eternal dicords, agreed to both.

The council of forty, having thus ecured the people, turned their eyes to the doge, whoe authority had often been perverted to the purpoes of oppreion, and, having no legal check, had never been retrained but by violence, and all the confuions which accompany it. They propoed that a privy council of ix hould be appointed for the doge, one from each diviion of the city, by the grand council themelves, and that no orders hould be valid without their concurrence: this paed into a law, with unanimous applaue. They then propoed a enate of ixty, who were to be elected out of the grand council, and