The Life of John Marshall Volume I Part 43

[1074] _Ib._, 96.

[1075] _Ib._, 94.

[1076] _Ib._, 80.

[1077] _Ib._, 48.

[1078] Elliot, ii, 133.

[1079] _Ib._, 136-37.

[1080] _Ib._, 16.

[1081] _Ib._, 111.

[1082] _Ib._, 148.

[1083] _Ib._, 44.

[1084] Elliott, ii, 102-04. Mr. Thatcher made the best summary of the unhappy state of the country under the Confederation. (_Ib._, 141-48.)

[1085] King to Madison, Jan. 20, 1788; King, i, 314.

[1086] Rives, ii, 524-25. "To manage the cause against them (the jealous opponents of the Const.i.tution) are the present and late governor, three judges of the supreme court, fifteen members of the Senate, twenty-four among the most respectable of the clergy, ten or twelve of the first characters at the bar, judges of probate, high sheriffs of counties, and many other respectable people, merchants, &c., Generals Heath, Lincoln, Brooks, and others of the late army." (Nathaniel Gorham to Madison, quoted in _ib._)

[1087] "Hanc.o.c.k has committed himself in our favor.... You will be astonished, when you see the list of names that such an union of men has taken place on this question. Hanc.o.c.k will, hereafter, receive the universal support of Bowdoin's friends; _and we told him, that, if Virginia does not unite, which is problematical, he is considered as the only fair candidate for President_." (King to Knox, Feb. 1, 1788; King, i, 319. The italics are those of King.)

[1088] _Ib._, ii, 525.

[1089] Elliott, ii, 178-81.

[1090] _Ib._, 140.

[1091] Elliott, ii, 153.

[1092] Madison to Randolph, April 10, 1788; _Writings_: Hunt, v, 117.

[1093] Elliott, ii, 159-61.

[1094] Widgery to Thatcher, Feb. 8, 1788; _Hist. Mag._ (2d Series), vi, 270.

[1095] _Ib._

[1096] Elliott, ii, 218.

[1097] Widgery to Thatcher, Feb. 8, 1788; _Hist. Mag._ (2d Series), vi, 270-71.

[1098] King to Madison, Feb. 6, 1788; King, i, 320.

[1099] Gerry, in Ford: _P. on C._, 1-23.

[1100] _Ib._, 23. When a bundle of copies of Gerry's pamphlet was received by the New York Anti-Const.i.tutionalists in Albany County, they decided that it was "in a style too sublime and florid for the common people in this part of the country." (_Ib._, 1.)

[1101] During the debates the _Boston Gazette_ published the following charge that bribery was being employed to get votes for the Const.i.tution:--

/# _BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION!!!_

"The most diabolical plan is on foot to corrupt the members of the Convention, who oppose the adoption of the new Const.i.tution.

Large sums of money have been brought from a neighboring state for that purpose, contributed by the wealthy. If so, is it not probable there may be collections for the same accursed purpose nearer home? CENTINEL." (Elliott, ii, 51.) #/

The Convention appointed a committee to investigate (_ib._); it found that the charge was based on extremely vague rumor. (Harding, 103.) There the matter appears to have been dropped.

More than eighty years afterward, Henry B. Dawson, the editor of the _Historical Magazine_, a scholar of standing, a.s.serted, personally, in his publication: "It is very well known--indeed, the son and biographer of one of the great leaders of the Const.i.tutionalists in New York has frankly admitted to us--_that enough members of the Ma.s.sachusetts Convention were bought with money_ from New York _to secure the ratification of the new system by Ma.s.sachusetts_." (_Hist. Mag._ (2d Series), vi, 268, footnote, referring to Savage's letter to Thatcher telling of the charge in the _Boston Gazette_.)

Professor Harding discredits the whole story. (Harding, 101-05.) It is referred to only as showing the excited and suspicious temper of the times.

[1102] Langdon to Washington, Feb. 28, 1788; _Cor. Rev._: Sparks, iv, 212. "At least three fourths of the property, and a large proportion of the abilities in the State are friendly to the proposed system. The opposition here, as has generally been the case, was composed of men who were involved in debt." (Lear to Washington, June 22, 1788; _ib._, 224-25.)

[1103] Lear to Washington, June 2, 1788; _Cor. Rev._: Sparks, iv, 220.

[1104] Langdon to King, Feb. 23, 1788; King, i, 321-22.

[1105] Madison to Pendleton, March 3, 1788 (_Writings_: Hunt, v, 110), and to Washington, March 3, 1788 (_ib._, 111); and to Randolph; March 3, 1788 (_ib._, 113).

[1106] Langdon to King, May 6, 1788; King, i, 328.

[1107] Washington to Lafayette, Feb. 7, 1788; _Writings_: Ford, xi, 220.

[1108] Marshall, ii, 127.

[1109] _Ib._

[1110] Washington to Madison, Jan. 10, 1788; _Writings_: Ford, xi, 208.

CHAPTER X

IN THE GREAT CONVENTION

There is no alternative between the adoption of it [the Const.i.tution] and anarchy. (Washington.)

I look on that paper as the most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived to enslave a free people. (Henry.)

More, much more, went forward in the Virginia struggle than appeared upon the surface. n.o.ble as was the epochal debate in Virginia's Const.i.tutional Convention, it was not so influential on votes of the members as were other methods[1111] employed by both sides. Very practical politicians, indeed, were these contending moulders of destiny.

Having in mind the Pennsylvania storm; with the picture before them of the delicate and skillful piloting by which alone the Const.i.tution had escaped the rocks in the tempestuous Ma.s.sachusetts seas; with the hurricane gathering in New York and its low thunders heard even from States that had ratified--the Virginia Const.i.tutionalists took no chances, neglected no precaution. Throughout the country the Const.i.tutionalists were now acting with disciplined dispatch.