The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2 - Online Library of ...
The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2 - Online Library of ...
The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2 - Online Library of ...
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<strong>Online</strong> <strong>Library</strong> <strong>of</strong> Liberty: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Diary</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Letters</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Gouverneur</strong> <strong>Morris</strong>, <strong>vol</strong>. 2<br />
Dallas’s bank-stock. Your enemy will not be deceived by such a paper machinery <strong>of</strong><br />
force <strong>and</strong> finance, but pursue his plans <strong>of</strong> hostility with a confidence <strong>of</strong> ultimate<br />
success. An union <strong>of</strong> the commercial States, to take care <strong>of</strong> themselves—leaving the<br />
war, its expense, <strong>and</strong> its debt to those choice spirits so ready to declare <strong>and</strong> so eager to<br />
carry it on—seems to be now the only rational course.<br />
To the Honorable Timothy Pickering, <strong>Morris</strong> wrote (November 1st) <strong>of</strong> the alarming<br />
prospect <strong>of</strong> increased taxation: “I see now that we are to be taxed beyond our means<br />
<strong>and</strong> subjected to military conscription. Those measures are devised <strong>and</strong> pursued by<br />
the gentle spirits who, for more than twenty years, have lavished on Britain the<br />
bitterest vulgarity <strong>of</strong> Billingsgate because she impressed her seamen for self-defence,<br />
<strong>and</strong> have shed a torrent <strong>of</strong> crocodile tears over the poor <strong>of</strong> that country, crushed, as<br />
they pretend, by oppressive taxes to gratify royal ambition. Nevertheless, this waste <strong>of</strong><br />
men <strong>and</strong> money, neither <strong>of</strong> which can be squeezed out <strong>of</strong> our attenuated States, is<br />
proposed for the conquest <strong>of</strong> Canada. And thus, after swearing <strong>and</strong> forswearing,<br />
backward <strong>and</strong> forward, about free trade <strong>and</strong> sailors’ rights, till their fondest adherents<br />
had grown giddy, <strong>and</strong> after publishing their willingness to ab<strong>and</strong>on every former<br />
pretext, the administration boldly avow that, although we are so simple as to call this<br />
a war <strong>of</strong> defence, it is still, on their part, a war <strong>of</strong> conquest.”<br />
A request from Mr. Pickering for some history <strong>of</strong> <strong>Morris</strong>’s personal labors in the<br />
convention which formed the Constitution elicited the following letter, referring his<br />
questioner to “some gentlemen who, I was told, passed their evenings in transcribing<br />
speeches from short-h<strong>and</strong> minutes <strong>of</strong> the day; they can speak positively in matters <strong>of</strong><br />
which I have little recollection. All which I can now do is to ask myself what I should<br />
do were the question started anew; for, in all probability, what I should now do is<br />
what I then did, my sentiments <strong>and</strong> opinions having undergone no essential change in<br />
forty years.<br />
“Propositions to countenance the issue <strong>of</strong> paper money, <strong>and</strong> the consequent violation<br />
<strong>of</strong> contracts, must have met with all the opposition I could make. But, my dear sir,<br />
what can a history <strong>of</strong> the Constitution avail towards interpreting its provisions? This<br />
must be done by comparing the plain import <strong>of</strong> the words with the general tenor <strong>and</strong><br />
object <strong>of</strong> the instrument. That instrument was written by the fingers which write this<br />
letter. Having rejected redundant <strong>and</strong> equivocal terms, I believed it to be as clear as<br />
our language would permit; excepting, nevertheless, a part <strong>of</strong> what relates to the<br />
judiciary. On that subject, conflicting opinions had been maintained with so much<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional astuteness that it became necessary to select phrases which, expressing<br />
my own notions, would not alarm others nor shock their self-love; <strong>and</strong>, to the best <strong>of</strong><br />
my recollection, this was the only part which passed without cavil.<br />
“But, after all, what does it signify that men should have a written constitution<br />
containing unequivocal provisions <strong>and</strong> limitations? <strong>The</strong> legislative lion will not be<br />
entangled in the meshes <strong>of</strong> a logical net. It will always make the power which it<br />
wishes to exercise, unless it be so organized as to contain within itself the sufficient<br />
check. Attempts to restrain it from outrage by other means will only render it more<br />
outrageous. <strong>The</strong> idea <strong>of</strong> binding legislators by oaths is puerile. Having sworn to<br />
exercise the powers granted, according to their true intent <strong>and</strong> meaning, they will,<br />
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 300 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1170