1. DEBATE OVER CONSTITUTION

and, by many, taken upon trust, that the trial by jury that inestimable
privilege of freemen, was forever sacrificed; that a standing army was to
cram every thing down your throats; and that the Constitution itself might be
remolded, either from caprice or craft, into any form best pleasing to
the holders of power and office. It is not my business to confute mere
reports, till such as these are more officially asserted. I shall, therefore,
consider them as mere lies, circulating upon the wings of ignorance,
jealousy and folly. The local and knavish policy of a Legislature is a far
more consequential object, and far more justly to be dreaded. The
genuine sentiments of this delusory guide are but seldom avowed. But,
altho' they veil themselves from the eye of public justice, under a silent
vote they can influence your most important concerns. Heaven knows
what may be your fate, should this demon of destruction insinuate her
poisons. "What! give up the impost! divide what providence has put
into our hands, what nature has allotted to us! What have we to do
with others? What, sacrifice our interest for fancied dangers! if these
are the terms at present, we need neither the protection nor the friend-
ship of other States!" Here is the genuine language of this short-sighted
directress. Nor is it strange that ignorance, biassed by the influence
of power, should adopt what avarice dictates. Abbe Raynal, speaking
of that worst of all Governments, an Aristocracy, observes, that twenty
tyrants cannot blush;4 but the same observation may be made con-
cerning any Democratic Assembly, who are inveloped in blunders,
from being incapable of discovering the delicate intentions of a re-
fined policy. But, should ever the important question before us unfold
the portals of civil war, and be written in American blood,-which
may God avert!-perhaps we may hear a language, similar to the
above, boldly, wisely, and openly retorted by some commercial cit-
ies,-"The impost is ours"-"Nature has allotted it to us"-"Provi-
dence has put it into our hands"-"But dangers are not fancied"-
"Let us seek the protection and friendship of the other states"-"Let
us give up our local advantages for lasting security to our inestimable
privileges"- ["]Let us share all with those whose blood and treasure
assisted to procure them["] -["]With them we suffered and con-
tended, not for the accidental emoluments of a seaport town, but for
Freedom, Independence and Union."
But who is Cato-whose elegant diction and long-spun argumenta-
tion would lead us to suspect him both the scholar and the sophist?-
Has he, as yet, however thrown out any thing calculated to enlighten
our minds, or to rectify our judgments, if in error? Did he, in his first
number,5 affect a disgustful neutrality and was not the veil too thin to
hide his nefarious intentions? Did he bring arguments to the point in