have, however, complained that nothing has been said, except in
general terms, in favour of the federal constitution; in consequence of
this, incompetent as I am to the undertaking, I have been induced to lay
the following remarks before the publick.

Sect. first, of the new constitution, says,

"All legislative powers Herein Granted shall be vested in a congress of
the United States."

I beg the reader to pay particular attention to the words herein granted,
as perhaps there may be occasion for me to recur to them more than once in
the course of my observations.

The second section of the federal constitution says, that the members of
the house of representatives shall be chosen every second year, and the
electors shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most
numerous branch of the state legislature. Some have made objections to the
time for which the representatives are to be chosen; but it is to be
considered, that the convention, in this particular, meant to accommodate
the time for which the representatives should stand elected, to the
constitutions of the different states. If it had been provided, that the
time should have been of shorter duration, would not a citizen of Maryland
or South-Carolina had reason to murmur?

The weakness the anti-federalists discover in insinuating that the federal
government will have it in their power to establish a despotick
government, must be obvious to every one; for the time for which they are
elected is so short, as almost to preclude the possibility of their
effecting plans for enslaving so vast an empire as the United States of
America, even if they were so base as to hope for anything of the kind.
The representatives of the people would also be conscious, that their good
conduct alone, would be the only thing which could influence a free people
to continue to bestow on them their suffrages: the representatives of the
people would not, moreover, dare to act contrary to the instructions of
their constituents; and if any one can suppose that they would, I would
ask them, why such clamour is made about a bill of rights, for securing
the liberties of the subject? for if the delegates dared to act contrary
to their instructions, would they be afraid to encroach upon a bill of
rights? If they determined among themselves to use their efforts to effect
the establishment of an aristocratical or despotick government, would a
bill of rights be any obstacle to thei