mes concede the propriety of that provision; with this
qualification, however, that it ought to have been accompanied with a
declaration, that all elections should be had in the counties where the
electors resided. This, say they, was a necessary precaution against an
abuse of the power. A declaration of this nature would certainly have
been harmless; so far as it would have had the effect of quieting
apprehensions, it might not have been undesirable. But it would, in
fact, have afforded little or no additional security against the
danger apprehended; and the want of it will never be considered, by
an impartial and judicious examiner, as a serious, still less as an
insuperable, objection to the plan. The different views taken of the
subject in the two preceding papers must be sufficient to satisfy all
dispassionate and discerning men, that if the public liberty should ever
be the victim of the ambition of the national rulers, the power under
examination, at least, will be guiltless of the sacrifice.

If those who are inclined to consult their jealousy only, would exercise
it in a careful inspection of the several State constitutions, they
would find little less room for disquietude and alarm, from the latitude
which most of them allow in respect to elections, than from the latitude
which is proposed to be allowed to the national government in the same
respect. A review of their situation, in this particular, would tend
greatly to remove any ill impressions which may remain in regard to this
matter. But as that view would lead into long and tedious details, I
shall content myself with the single example of the State in which
I write. The constitution of New York makes no other provision for
LOCALITY of elections, than that the members of the Assembly shall be
elected in the COUNTIES; those of the Senate, in the great districts
into which the State is or may be divided: these at present are four in
number, and comprehend each from two to six counties. It may readily be
perceived that it would not be more difficult to the legislature of New
York to defeat the suffrages of the citizens of New York, by confining
elections to particular places, than for the legislature of the United
States to defeat the suffrages of the citizens of the Union, by the like
expedient. Suppose, for instance, the city of Albany was to be appointed
the sole place of election for the county and district of which it is
a part, would not the inhabitant