COMMENTARIES, 18 OCTOBER 1787

Curtius II
New York Daily Advertiser, 18 October 17871
ADDRESS to the CITIZENS of NEW-YORK.
Remember, 0 my friends! the laws, the rights,
The generous plan of power delivered down
By your renowned Convention;
The price your own, not your forefathers' blood.
O let it never perish in your hands,
But piously transmit it to your children!2
Can there be any, at this awful crisis, inattentive to their country's
prosperity? Can there be any, so lost to every noble sentiment, as to
disguise their principles, studious only, of what may eventually prove
the current of popularity? The heart of the traitor will say yes! For,
when contested questions, of such national consequence, engage our
attention, we feel the justice of that Grecian decision, which ordained
the man, who took no decided part in the civil commotions of his
country, guilty of the worst species of treason.3
My first address was to excite you to a critical examination of the
Constitution of Federal Government, framed, and proposed to your
acceptance, by an uncorrupted delegation of our best and wisest citi-
zens: but this is to awaken your attention to the insidious arts of your
enemies. The period may soon arrive, when it may be of infinite im-
portance to distinguish characters: now, then, is the time to mark well
the conduct and political sentiments of individuals.
It has been observed to you, that so great and glorious a revolution,
as now dawns in our political horizon, must in certain passions of so-
ciety, find its enemies; and various sources of opposition have been
pointed out. It might have been added, that the influence of office
extends not only to dependants but to expectants. Employment from
the man in power, or the grateful smile in the countenance of the great,
is sufficient to lift the sycophant, to damn his conscience, and to sell
his country. It is not, however, the fears or the desires of ambition and
avarice in individuals alone, which would undermine your felicity; nor
is your danger to be sought in the futile and wire-drawn arguments of
the only champion who has as yet come boldly and honestly forward.
The most you have to fear, is from your own supineness and inatten-
tion; and from a local and narrow policy, which has, on certain occa-
sions, beguiled even your Legislature. From the first of these we find a
diffusion and a reception given to the grossest lies, and to the most
injurious misrepresentations. Thus it has been industriously spread,

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