isms, promulgated by the most influential _avowed Citizens_, could
have no good tendency at _this time_. I viewed the public mind as wound up
to a great pitch of dissatisfaction, by the inadequacy of the powers of
the present Congress to the general good and conversation of the union. I
believed then, as I do now, that the people were determined and prepared
for a _change_. I conceived, therefore, that the wish of every good man
would be, that _this change might be peaceably effected_. With this view I
opposed myself to Cato. I asserted, in my last, _that the __ door of
recommendation was shut, and cannot be opened by the same men--that the
Convention was dissolved._ If I am wrong, it will be of great importance
to Cato's future remarks that he make it appear. If he will declare from
sufficient authority, that the members of the late Convention have only
adjourned to give time to hear the sentiments of every political
disputant, that after the numerous presses of America have groaned with
the heavy productions of speculative politicians, they will _again meet_,
weigh their respective merits, and accommodate accordingly--I say, if Cato
can do this, I make no hesitation in acknowledging the utility of his
plan. In the mean time, I positively deny having any, the most distant
desire of shutting the door of free discussion, on any subject which may
benefit the people; but I maintain (until Cato's better information
refutes me) that the door, as far as relates to _this subject_, is already
shut, not by me, but by the highest possible authority which the case
admits, even by those great Patriots who were delegated by the people of
the United States to _open such a door_, as might enable them to escape
from impending calamities and political shipwreck. This distinction is
clear, I conceive, and ought to have some weight even with Cato, as well
as those for whom he writes. I am not one of those who gain an influence
by cajoling the unthinking mass (tho' I pity their delusions), and ringing
in their ears the gracious sound of their _absolute Sovereignty_. I
despise the trick of such dirty policy. I know there are Citizens, who, to
gain their own private ends, enflame the minds of the well-meaning, tho'
less intelligent parts of the community, by sating their vanity with that
cordial and unfailing specific, that _all power is seated in the people_.
For my part, I am not much attached to the _majesty of the multitude_, and
therefore