COMMENTARIES, 21-28 OCTOBER 1787

Oh! prosper, heaven, our parent land,
And make her people blest!
October 18th, 1787.
(a) With eager eyes and round unthinking face,
He first the Snuff-box open'd, then the Case.     Pope.3
1. Reprinted: Pennsylvania Packet, 29 October; Charleston Columbian Herald, 13 Decem-
ber. The editor of the Daily Advertiser probably had this item in mind when he announced
on 19 October that "A POETICAL PIECE is received and shall have a place."
2. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (London, 1711), line 391.
3. Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock. An Heroi-Comical Poem in Five Canto's (London,
1714), Canto IV, lines 125-26.
Virginia Delegates to Congress Report on the Prospects of
Ratification of the Constitution in New York, 21-28 October 1787
Between 21 and 30 October Virginia delegates to Congress James Madison
and Edward Carrington wrote letters that included comments about the Con-
stitution's prospects in New York. The letters were concerned about New
York's previous stance on federal issues, the strength of the opposition to the
Constitution, and Governor George Clinton's position on the Constitution.
James Madison to Edmund Randolph
New York, 21 October 1787 (excerpt)'
. .. The Newspapers in the middle & Northern States begin to teem
with controversial publications. The attacks seem to be principally lev-
elled agst. the organization of the Government, and the omission of
the provisions contended for in favor of the Press, & Juries &c. A new
Combatant2 however with considerable address & plausibility, strikes at
the foundation. He represents the situation of the U.S. to be such as
to render any Govt. improper & impracticable which forms the States
into one nation & is to operate directly on the people. Judging from
the News papers one wd. suppose that the adversaries were the most
numerous & the most in earnest. But there is no other evidence that
it is the fact. ...
Edward Carrington to Thomas Jefferson
New York, 23 October 1787 (excerpt)3
. .. Some symptoms of opposition have appeared in New York and
Pensylvania; in the former, only in individual publications, which are
attended with no circumstances evidencing the popular regard; the
Governor4 holds himself in perfect silence, wishing, it is suspected, for
a miscarriage, but is not confident enough to commit himself in an
open opposition. . ..

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