The letter above-mentioned can derive no aid from panegyric, as to the brilliancy and elegance of its stile, for unlike the threadbare discourses of other statesmen on the dry subject of government, it amuses us with a number of fine words. But how shall I express my dislike of the ultimatum of his Excellency’s letter, wherein he declares “that if after our best efforts for amendments, they cannot be obtained, he will adopt the Constitution as it is.” How is this declaration reconcilable to a former opinion of his Excellency’s, expressed to the Honorable Richard Henry Lee, and repeated by the latter gentleman in his letter,(62) as printed in the public papers, “that either a monarchy or an aristocracy will be generated from the proposed Constitution.” Good God! how can the first Magistrate and Father of a free republican government, after a feeble parade of opposition, and before his desired plan of amendments has been determined upon, declare that he will accept a Constitution which is to beget a monarchy or an aristocracy? How can such a determination be reconcilable to the feelings of Virginia, and to the principles which have prevailed in almost every legislature of the union, who looked no farther than the amendment of our present republican confederation? I have charity to believe that the respectable characters who signed this Constitution did so, thinking that neither a monarchy nor an aristocracy would ensue, but that they should thereby preserve and ameliorate the republic of America; but never until now, that his Excellency has let the cat out of the bag, did I suppose that any member of the Convention, at least from the republican state of Virginia, would accept a Constitution, whereby the republic of his constituents is to be sacrificed in its infancy, and before it has had a fair trial. But his Excellency will adopt this Constitution, “BECAUSE HE WOULD REGULATE HIMSELF BY THE SPIRIT OF AMERICA.” But is his Excellency a prophet as well as a politician—can he foretell future events? How else can he at this time discover what the spirit of America is? But admitting his infallibility for a moment, how far will his principle carry him?—why, that if the dominion of Shays, instead of that of the new Constitution, should be generally accepted, and become the spirit of America, his Excellency, too, would turn Shayite!—and yet this question of the Constitution, is “ONE ON WHICH THE FATE OF THOUSANDS YET UNBORN DEPENDS.” It is his Excellency’s opinion, as expressed in the aforesaid letter, that the powers which are acknowledged necessary for supporting the Union, cannot safely be entrusted to our Congress as at present constituted; and his vain objection is “that the representation of the states bears no proportion to their importance.” This is literally true; but is equally true of the Senate of the proposed Constitution, which is to be an essential part of the legislature; and yet