regard to the waters of the Potomac and Pocomoke; and these commissioners, during a visit at Mount Vernon, had concerted a further plan for regulating the commercial relations between the two States. This plan included arrangements for maintaining a naval force in the Chesapeake, establishing a fixed tariff of duties on imports, and doing other acts in common; and, when it came to be discussed in the Legislature of Virginia, it was resolved to invite the other States to send deputies to consider the whole subject of the commerce of the Union. It was proposed that they should meet at Annapolis, and circulars to that effect were addressed to the different States. Hamilton, who believed his opportunity to be now at hand, urged upon New York the acceptance of the proposal, and was himself appointed one of her commissioners. Arrived at Annapolis, he found there the representatives of five States only, but he was not the less resolved to bring before them, not only the commercial interests, but the political condition of the country. He presented a report, formally proposing to the several States the assembling of a general CONVENTION, to take into consideration the position and prospects of the United States.

He showed in this document that the regulation of trade (the professed object of the present meeting) could not be effected without a corresponding change in the general system of government. The defects in that system were the real cause of the embarrassments both in public and private affairs, and could only be remedied by a complete revision. The Articles of Confederation had provided that no alteration should be made in them, unless agreed to by Congress, and confirmed by the Legislature of every State. It was Hamilton's design to obtain such agreement and confirmation-for he was too wise a man to risk any revolutionary interval between the old government and the new-but he felt that Congress was not the proper body to originate the required reforms. It had fallen into a premature decrepitude, and the chief talent of the country was absent from its debates. He, therefore, suggested that a Convention should be named for the special purpose of proposing the necessary changes, and that these should then be submitted to Congress, and to the State Legislatures. The report was adopted by the commissioners at Annapolis, and, not long after, the gathering dangers of the times forced Congress, though unwillingly, to agree to the plan. On the

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21st of February, 1787, it was resolved, "That, on the second Monday in May next, a Convention of Delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several States, be held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and the several Legislatures such alterations and provisions therein, as shall, when agreed to in Congress, and confirmed by the States, render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of Government and the preservation of the Union.”

Hamilton had thus gained two most important steps. He had the sanction of Congress for that revision of the Constitution which he believed to be essential to the public safety, and the new movement was thereby placed under the protection of the highest existing legal authority; while the scheme of a separate assembly, elected expressly for the purpose, made it almost certain that, on such a momentous occasion, whatever constructive talent was to be found in America would be discovered and brought forward by the several States.

Since the meeting of that First Congress, which led the way in the struggle for independence, America had seen no such body of men as

now assembled at Philadelphia.

Thither came

GEORGE WASHINGTON, from his retirement at Mount Vernon, where he had hoped "to glide gently down a stream which no human effort can ascend," called away from his rural pursuits, and from his muchloved home, to engage once more in the service of his country. Thither, from the same fair land of Virginia, came JAMES MADISON, afterwards President of the United States, but then a young and rising politician-industrious, indefatigable, clear, logical, eloquent and EDMUND RANDOLPH, Governor of his native State, who had defended her both in war and peace, and watched with jealous care to maintain her special interests. Thither, from Massachusetts, came RUFUS KING, jurist and statesman, who had doubted the policy of a Convention, but who, when it was once determined on, resolved to give it his best assistance. And thither, from South Carolina, came CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY, soldier, scholar, and lawyer-brave, honourable, and generous-devoted to the views of his brethren in the Southern States, but prepared to surrender many opinions, and make many sacrifices, in order to bind together the scattered members of the Union.

Pennsylvania was peculiarly fortunate in her repre

sentatives on this occasion. At their head was BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, now in his eighty-second year, the oldest and most widely known of American public men, and in some sort combining in his own person many of the leading characteristics of America. The poor printer's boy, who had lived on potatoes and rice, that he might save money to buy books-the shrewd and skilful tradesman, ever attentive to the advancement of his business, yet stealing time to cultivate his mind, and to make discoveries in science -the philosopher, whose paper kite had drawn the lightning from the sky-the administrator, who had passed from the printing-office to the management of a great public department-the ambassador, who, finding himself suddenly in the presence of courts and kings, had proved more than a match for the trained diplomatists of Europe-the moralist, who touched so lightly on the follies and vices of his fellow-creatures, and who never seems to have lost sight of the maxims of the counter and the shop, even while charming with his conversation the wits and beauties of Versailles-was certainly no ordinary character. It may be conceded, that common sense and prudence were his prime qualities, and that he never rose to what is sublime and heroic in genius or virtue-that he was