"P.S.--You may be assured, Sir, that I have no intention of printing anything on this subject, nor of using your authority in any manner respecting it. I am aware of the delicate situation in which such a step would place you, and you may rely upon my discretion. I am greatly puzzled, however, in respect to the extraordinary coincidence between the two draughts. Notwithstanding my reasons above given, I cannot account for the committee's following any draught so servilely, especially with Randolph's Resolutions before them, and Randolph himself one of their number.--I doubt whether any clear light can be gained, till Pinckney's original draught shall be found, which is probably among the papers of one of the committee. It seems to me that your secretary of the convention was a very stupid secretary, not to take care of these things better, and to make a better Journal than the dry bones that now go by that name." This letter set forth the real elements of the case, elements incontrovertible and absolutely certain--that Pinckney's draught was referred to the Committee of Detail; that it was never considered in the Convention; that the period within which the Committee framed their draught was a brief one; that the Committee's draught bears no resemblance in form to the resolutions of the Convention and contains provisions not found in them; that the Committee so departed from the resolutions, though Randolph himself was one of their number, and struck out an entirely new scheme in form of which no hint had been given in the debates and that the Committee's draught in form, language and arrangement appears to be a copy of Pinckney's with amendments and additions. From these sure premises Sparks deduced two alternative conclusions; "I think any person examining the two [draughts] for the first time without a knowledge of the circumstances or of the bearing of the question would pronounce the Committee's report to be a copy of the draught with amendments in style and a few unimportant additions," "or that _Mr. Pinckney sketched his draught from the Committee's, and in so artful a manner as to make it seem the original, a suspicion I suppose not to be admitted against a member of the convention_." In the second clause of the latter alternative Sparks with admirable sagacity applied the most delicate test that could be applied to the matter. He brings the dilemma down to this: The Committee must have used Pinckney's draught or Pinckney must have sketched his draught from the Committee's; and more than that, he must have sketched it "_in so artful a manner as to make it seem the original_."