tution ought to settle that question, thereby refusing to vest in Congress so extraordinary a power. The proposition to commit, however, was adopted; and Mr. Morris was appointed chairman of the committee. His report, when handed in, pleased nobody, and was chiefly remarkable for embracing the idea before thrown out by him. It secured, at the same time, a Northern preponderance, and drew forth from Mr. Randolph the following observation: "He was apprehensive that, as the number was not to be changed till the National legislature should please, a pretext would never be wanting to postpone alterations, and keep the power in the hands of those possessed of it. He was in favor of a commitment." So another committee, consisting of five members, was appointed to take into consideration the constitution of the first house of the legislature; and of this committee, Mr. King, of Massachusetts, was chairman. On the 10th July,* Mr. King reported, "that the States, at the first meeting of the general legislature, should be represented by sixty-five members, in the following proportions, to wit: New Hampshire, by three; Massachusetts, eight; Rhode Island, one; Connecticut, five; New York, six; New Jersey, four; Pennsylvania, eight; Delaware, one; Maryland, six; Virginia, ten; North Carolina, five; South Carolina, five; Georgia, three." It will be seen, from the subsequent explanation of Mr. King, that this apportionment was based upon the ratio, already agreed upon, of three-fifths. But, as no provision was *On this day, Washington thus wrote to Alexander Hamilton, who was absent from the Convention: "I thank you for your communication of the 3d instant. When I refer you to the state of the counsels which prevailed at the period you left this city, and add that they are now, if possible, in a worse train than ever, you will find but little ground on which the hope of a good establishment can be formed. In a word, I almost despair of seeing a favorable issue to the proceedings of our Convention, and do, therefore, repent having had any agency in the business." * * "I am sorry you went away. I wish you were back. The crisis is equally important and alarming." This account of the temper of the Convention agrees well with the debate as transmitted to us by Madison. * * * * * made for a census, it was a naked proposition to place the control of the government under the free-soil section. The debate will discover how far the Southern delegates agreed to that humiliating condition. It was the universal belief, that the South was destined to be, as it then was, the most populous region, and this explains why the North objected to a full representation of slaves, and why Mr. Randolph and Mr. Mason insisted so strenuously upon a census. "Mr. RUTLEDGE moved that New Hampshire be reduced from three to two members. Her numbers did not entitle her to three, and it was a poor State. "Gen. PINCKNEY seconds the motion. "Mr. KING.-New Hampshire has probably more than one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, and has an extensive country of tolerable fertility. Its inhabitants may, therefore, be expected to increase fast. He remarked, that the four Eastern States, having eight hundred thousand souls, have one-third fewer representatives than the four Southern States, having not more than seven hundred thousand souls, rating the blacks five to three. The Eastern people will advert to these circumstances, and be dissatisfied. He believed them to be very desirous of uniting with their Southern brethren, but did not think it prudent to rely so far on that disposition, as to subject them to any gross inequality. He was fully convinced that the question concerning a difference of interest did not lie, where it had hitherto been discussed, between the great and small States, but between the Southern and Eastern; for this reason he had been ready to yield something in the proportion of representatives for the security of the Southern. No principle would justify giving them a majority. They were brought as near equality as possible. He was not adverse to giving them a still greater security, but did not see how it could be done. "Gen. PINCKNEY.-The report, before it was committed, was more favorable to the Southern States than as it now stands. If they are to form so considerable a minority, and the regulation of trade is to be given to the General Government, they will be nothing more than overseers for the Northern States. He did not expect the Southern States to be raised to a majority of representatives; but wished them to have something like an equality. At present, by the alterations of the committee, in favor of the Northern States, they are removed further from it than they were before. One member, indeed, had been added to Virginia, which he was glad of, as he considered her a Southern State. He was glad also that the members of Georgia were increased. "Mr. WILLIAMSON was not for reducing New Hampshire from three to two, but for reducing some others. The Southern interest must be extremely endangered by the present arrangement. The Northern States are to have a majority in the first instance, and the means of perpetuating it. "Mr. DAYTON, from New Jersey, observed, that the line between the Northern and Southern interest had been improperly drawn; that Pennsylvania was the dividing State, there being six on each side of her. "Gen. PINCKNEY urged the reduction; dwelt on the superior wealth of the Southern States, and insisted on its having its due weight in the government. "Mr. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS regretted the turn of the debate. The States, he found, had many representatives on the floor. Few, he feared, were to be deemed the representatives of America. He thought the Southern States have, by the report, more than their share of representation. Property ought to have its weight, but not all the weight. If the Southern States are to supply money, the Northern States are to spill their blood. Besides, the probable revenue from the Southern States has been greatly overrated. He was against reducing New Hampshire. "Mr. RANDOLPH was opposed to a reduction of New Hampshire, not because she had a full title to three members; but because it was in his contemplation, first, to make it the duty, instead of leaving it to the discretion, of the legislature to regulate the representation by a periodical census; secondly, to recognize more than a bare majority of votes in the legislature, in certain cases, and particularly in commercial cases. On the question for reducing New Hampshire, it passed in the negative." Then followed motions to increase the representatives from the Southern States, all of which were negatived, Virginia and North Carolina voting against the motions, which discloses the fact, that both Virginia and North Carolina looked to a periodical census to rectify such inequalities in representation as might exist at first. Accordingly, and in pursuance of his declared intent, Mr. Randolph moved, as an amendment to the report of the committee of five, "that, in order to ascertain the alterations in the population and wealth of the several States, the legislature should be required to cause a census and estimate to be taken within one year after its first meeting, and every years thereafter; and that the legislature arrange the representation accordingly. "Mr. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS opposed it, as fettering the legislature too much.” On Wednesday, the 11th of July, Mr. Randolph's motion, requiring the legislature to take a periodical census, for the purpose of redressing inequalities in the representation, was resumed. "Mr. SHERMAN, of Connecticut, was against shackling the legislature too much. We ought to choose wise and good men, and then confide in them." How cunningly he puts it-wise and good men—that is, Northern men. But Col. Mason and Mr. Randolph did not * Mr. Gerry, in the Federal Convention, gave a glowing picture of the moral condition of Massachusetts, which was a part of the Northern community from which the wise and virtuous men of whom Mr. Sherman speaks were to be selected: "In Massachusetts, the worst men get into the legislature; several members of that body had lately been convicted of infamous crimes. Men of indigence, ignorance and baseness spare no pains, however dirty, to carry their point against men who are superior to the artifices practised."-Madison Papers, p. 801. appear to have had the same unlimited confidence in a free-soil Congress. They continued to press the census, which clearly proves that it was not their purpose to put the South in the condition of a minority, and so dependent on the forbearance of the North. "Mr. MASON. The greater the difficulty we find in fixing the proper rule of representation, the more unwilling ought we to be to throw the task, from ourselves, on the general legislature. He did not object to the conjectural ratio which was to prevail in the outset; but considered a revision from time to time, according to some permanent and precise standard, as essential to the fair representation required in the first branch. According to the present population of America, the Northern part of it had a right to preponderate, and he could not deny it; but he wished it not to preponderate hereafter, when the reason for it no longer continued. From the nature of man, we may be sure that those who have power in their hands will not give it up while they can retain it. On the contrary, we know that they will always, when they can, rather increase it. If the Southern States, therefore, should have three-fifths of the people of America within their limits, the Northern will hold fast the majority of representatives. One-fourth will govern the three-fourths. The Southern States will complain; but they may complain, from generation to generation, without redress. Unless some principle, therefore, which will do them justice hereafter, shall be inserted in the Constitution, disagreeable as the declaration was to him, he must declare he would neither vote for the system here, nor support it in his own State. "Mr. WILLIAMSON was for making it a duty of the legisla ture to do what was right; and not leaving it at liberty to do or not to do it. He moved that Mr. Randolph's propositions be postponed, in order to consider the following: That, in order to ascertain the alterations that may happen in the population and wealth of the several States, a census shall be taken of the free white inhabitants, and three-fifths of those of other |