COMMENTARIES, 8 JULY 1788

throw open the doors of the Temple ofJanus, and let loose the demon
of discord, dissention and civil war.' This my countrymen, is not a time
for moderation; it requires firmness and decision; view the man as a
desperate incendiary who shall be hardy enough to advise the latter;
place a mark on him that all honest men may shun his walks.-It would
be idle to go about to investigate such a man's motives, whether he is
actuated by that distempered ambition that induced the Roman to set
fire to the temple, or circumstanced, like the followers of Cataline, who
had "nothing to hope but a civil war."2 is an enquiry of no other use to
the public than to put them on their guard against his designs. This is
a crisis that will happily draw the line of distinction between an over
zealous jealousy for liberty, and sinister designs on the public peace.-
Fortunate will it be for the opposer of the Constitution, who can say,
thus far have I gone and no farther.3-Perhaps it will be asked why this
anxiety about a measure that is obviously for the public benefit? Will
not the State be wise enough to adopt it?-I hope for the sake of
humanity they will.-But believe, my fellow citizens, I have strong fore-
bodings that they will not do it in time to save our reputation. It is said
in our neighbouring States (who perhaps are the best judges) that a
majority of the leading characters in this State, are inlisted under the
banners of a party that have uniformly (whatever may have been their
deliberations to the contrary) pursued a system of politics calculated
to weaken the hands of the federal government: how far obstinacy,
prejudice, & pre-determination may carry them, heaven only knows4
should it lead them so far as the rejection of the Constitution, I trust
the citizens of this enlightened country will resume their native dignity,
and if they have suffered themselves to be the dupes of artifice, they
will not tamely fall, unlamented victims to a misplaced confidence.-
To pretend to say (what the author of this address has heard urged)
that the Constitution will not, nor even cannot, be organized without
the sanction of this State, is shutting our eyes against the light of our
own reason; it is going on in that blindfold policy that has already
brought us to the verge of dissolution;-it is not vanity, it is madness;
one step farther my countrymen, places us in a situation of hostile
strangers [,] of aliens, or what is worse-of Rhode-Islanders.
1. The doors of the principal temple of Janus in Rome were kept open during times
of war and closed in times of peace.
2. Cataline, a Roman noble, conspired to seize power. His plot was discovered, and he
was denounced by Cicero. Cataline escaped from Rome, but the Republic's army defeated
his forces, and he was killed.
3. Job 38:11. "And [the Lord] said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and
here shall thy proud waves be stayed?"
4. Governor George Clinton and his followers were accused of opposing the work of

1303