I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at
present; but, sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it, for, having
lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by
better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on
important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be
otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to
doubt my own judgment of others. Most men, indeed, as well as most sects
in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that
wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. Steele, a
Protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope that the only difference
between our two churches in their opinions of the certainty of their
doctrine is, the Romish Church is infallible, and the Church of England
is never in the wrong. But, though many private persons think almost as
highly of their own infallibility as of that of their sect, few express
it so naturally as a certain French lady, who, in a little dispute with
her sister, said: "But I meet with nobody but myself that is always in
the right."
In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all
its faults, - if they are such, - because I think a general government
necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a
blessing to the people, if well administered; and I believe, further,
that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and
can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the
people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being
incapable of any other. I doubt, too, whether any other convention we
can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution; for, when you
assemble a number of men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom,
you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their
passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their
selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be
expected? It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find this system
approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will
astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our
counsels are confounded like those of the builders of Babel, and that
our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for
the purpose of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, sir, to
this Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure
that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors I
sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them
abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. If
every one of us, in returning to our constituents, were to report the
objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partisans in support
of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose
all the salutary effects and great advantages resulting naturally in our
favor among foreign nations, as well as among ourselves, from our real
or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength and efficiency of any
government, in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends
on opinion, on the general opinion of the goodness of that government,
as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors. I hope,
therefore, for our own sakes, as a part of the people, and for the sake
of our posterity, that we shall act heartily and unanimously in
recommending this Constitution wherever our influence may extend, and
turn our future thoughts and endeavors to the means of having it well
administered.
On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a wish that every
member of the convention who may still have objections to it, would,
with me, on this occasion, doubt a little of his own infallibility, and,
to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument.
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