[Footnote 30: Edmund Randolph, James Madison, Walter Jones, St. George Tucker, and Meriwether Smith.] In the circular letter transmitting these resolutions to the respective states, Annapolis in Maryland was proposed as the place, and the ensuing September as the time of meeting. Before the arrival of the period at which these commissioners were to assemble, the idea was carried by those who saw and deplored the complicated calamities which flowed from the intricacy of the general government, much further than was avowed by the resolution of Virginia. "Although," said one of the most conspicuous patriots[31] of the revolution, in a letter to General Washington, dated the 16th of March, 1786, "you have wisely retired from public employments, and calmly view from the temple of fame, the various exertions of that sovereignty and independence which Providence has enabled you to be so greatly and gloriously instrumental in securing to your country, yet I am persuaded you can not view them with the eye of an unconcerned spectator. [Footnote 31: Mr. Jay.] "Experience has pointed out errors in our national government which call for correction, and which threaten to blast the fruit we expected from our tree of liberty. The convention proposed by Virginia may do some good, and would perhaps do more, if it comprehended more objects. An opinion begins to prevail that a general convention for revising the articles of confederation would be expedient. Whether the people are yet ripe for such a measure, or whether the system proposed to be attained by it is only to be expected from calamity and commotion, is difficult to ascertain. "I think we are in a delicate situation, and a variety of considerations and circumstances give me uneasiness. It is in contemplation to take measures for forming a general convention. The plan is not matured. If it should be well connected and take effect, I am fervent in my wishes that it may comport with the line of life you have marked out for yourself, to favour your country with your counsels on such an important and _single_ occasion. I suggest this merely as a hint for consideration."