f their
undertaking, they would have very imperfectly fulfilled the object of
their appointment, or the expectation of the public; yet that it could
not be easily accomplished, will be denied by no one who is unwilling to
betray his ignorance of the subject. Energy in government is essential
to that security against external and internal danger, and to that
prompt and salutary execution of the laws which enter into the very
definition of good government. Stability in government is essential to
national character and to the advantages annexed to it, as well as to
that repose and confidence in the minds of the people, which are
among the chief blessings of civil society. An irregular and mutable
legislation is not more an evil in itself than it is odious to the
people; and it may be pronounced with assurance that the people of
this country, enlightened as they are with regard to the nature, and
interested, as the great body of them are, in the effects of good
government, will never be satisfied till some remedy be applied to
the vicissitudes and uncertainties which characterize the State
administrations. On comparing, however, these valuable ingredients with
the vital principles of liberty, we must perceive at once the difficulty
of mingling them together in their due proportions. The genius of
republican liberty seems to demand on one side, not only that all power
should be derived from the people, but that those intrusted with it
should be kept in independence on the people, by a short duration of
their appointments; and that even during this short period the trust
should be placed not in a few, but a number of hands. Stability, on
the contrary, requires that the hands in which power is lodged should
continue for a length of time the same. A frequent change of men will
result from a frequent return of elections; and a frequent change of
measures from a frequent change of men: whilst energy in government
requires not only a certain duration of power, but the execution of it
by a single hand.

How far the convention may have succeeded in this part of their work,
will better appear on a more accurate view of it. From the cursory view
here taken, it must clearly appear to have been an arduous part.

Not less arduous must have been the task of marking the proper line of
partition between the authority of the general and that of the
State governments. Every man will be sensible of this difficulty, in
proportion as he has be