ays excite the admiration of
those who love clarity and not rhetorical excesses. One can say of it as
Horace said of his favourite Spring:

_O, fons Bandusiae, splendidior vitro.
Dulce digne mero, non sine floribus_.

If I be asked why, if this be true, it has required many lengthy
opinions of the Supreme Court in the 256 volumes of its Reports to
interpret its meaning, the answer is that, as with the simple sayings of
the great Galilean, whose words have likewise been the subject of
unending commentary, the question is not one of clarity but of
adaptation of the meaning to the ever-changing conditions of human life.
Moreover, as with the sayings of the Master or the unequalled verse of
Shakespeare, questions of construction are more due to the commentators
than to the text itself.

On September 17 the convention met for the last time. The document was
engrossed and laid before the members for signature. Of the fifty-five
members who had attended, only thirty-nine remained. Of those, a number
were unwilling to sign as individuals. While the members had not been
unconscious of the magnitude of their labours, they were quite
insensible of the magnitude of their achievement. Few there were of the
convention who were enthusiastic about this result. Indeed, as the
document was ready for signature, it became a grave question whether the
remnant which remained had sufficient faith in their own work to
subscribe their names, and if they failed to do so its adoption by the
people would have been impossible. It was then that Doctor Franklin
rendered one of the last and greatest services of his life. With
ingratiating wit and with all the impressiveness that his distinguished
career inspired, Franklin thus spoke:

"I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I
do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve
them. For having lived long I have experienced many instances of
being obliged by better information or fuller consideration, to
change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought
right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I
grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment and to pay more
respect to the judgment of others. Most men indeed as well as most
sects in religion think themselves in possession of all truth, and
that wherever others differ from them it is so far error. Steele, a
Protestant, i