s patriots[31] of
the revolution, in a letter to General Washington, dated the 16th of
March, 1786, "you have wisely retired from public employments, and
calmly view from the temple of fame, the various exertions of that
sovereignty and independence which Providence has enabled you to be so
greatly and gloriously instrumental in securing to your country, yet I
am persuaded you can not view them with the eye of an unconcerned
spectator.

[Footnote 31: Mr. Jay.]

"Experience has pointed out errors in our national government which
call for correction, and which threaten to blast the fruit we expected
from our tree of liberty. The convention proposed by Virginia may do
some good, and would perhaps do more, if it comprehended more objects.
An opinion begins to prevail that a general convention for revising
the articles of confederation would be expedient. Whether the people
are yet ripe for such a measure, or whether the system proposed to be
attained by it is only to be expected from calamity and commotion, is
difficult to ascertain.

"I think we are in a delicate situation, and a variety of
considerations and circumstances give me uneasiness. It is in
contemplation to take measures for forming a general convention. The
plan is not matured. If it should be well connected and take effect, I
am fervent in my wishes that it may comport with the line of life you
have marked out for yourself, to favour your country with your
counsels on such an important and _single_ occasion. I suggest this
merely as a hint for consideration."

In the moment of tranquillity, and of real or imaginary security, the
mind delights to retrace the intricate path by which this point of
repose has been attained. The patriots who accomplished that great
revolution which has given to the American people a national
government capable of maintaining the union of the states, and of
preserving republican liberty, must be gratified with the review of
that arduous and doubtful struggle, which terminated in the triumph of
human reason, and the establishment of that government. Even to him
who was not an actor in the busy scene, who enjoys the fruits of the
labour without participating in the toils or the fears of the patriots
who have preceded him, the sentiments entertained by the most
enlightened and virtuous of America at the eventful period between the
restoration of peace and the adoption of our present free and
effective constitution, can not b