(VOL.l.)
AND G E N E R A L A D V E R
W E D N E S D Ai Y, December io, 1788
For the C E N T I N E L.
[Continued from our
To the Members who compofed the
Majoiity in the late Convention.
Gentlemen y .
H aving fully come up to my
undertaking under the firft
point, I (hall now enter upon the Ic-
cond, which you know, was to exa
mine into the reafons, and evidences,
upon which you have complimented
yourfelvcs in fo extraordinary a man?
ncr.
Tlie only moral certainty we can
have tor tlse faithful, and judicious
dilcharge of delegated trufts, .is by fix
ing our choice upon men of under-
and experience, and .whofe
moral charaflers. generally comport
with the firft and acknowledged prin-
cTprfrs iiincnrr This dcicrip*
tion will nece/TariJy take in the moft
dignifiedchara6lei'£,and thofe who hold
the moft confpicuous and wj^cighty
charges in the levtral departments of
government. It alfo ftill further fup-
pofes them to be generally paft that
period of life in which the unruly paf-
fions but too frequently interfere, and
to have arrived more immediately un
der the guidance of reafon. If I am
right Thus far, I think I may clearly af-
fert, that the Philadelphia Convention
comes fully under the defeription in
every particular ; at leaft, there is eve
ry moral evidence which things of fuch
a nature can poflibly admit to induce
the belief. A majority held the firft
places of truft in the late war, which
cffe6ted a revolution that attra6ted the
notice and admiration of the earth j
and not a few have acquired charac
ters both in the cabinet and field, equal
to any of the moft exalted nations of
Europe cr.n produce. Their impor
tance was not the work of a day—was
not the fortuitous produ61ion of tu
multuous war; a goodly number were
confpicuous charafters for a feries of
years prior to the revolution—they
were the virtual choice of the freemen
of America, through the mediation
of their fevcral ftatc rcprefcntatives,
in whom there always exifts a pre-
fumption of judgment fuperior to the
people at large.
If the above^prerj^. arc true, T
may fairly conclude ikxmft have been
a truly auguft and mportant afiem-
bly—^auguft,-from me relpe^ability
of its mcmbcrs^impirtant,^ from the
weighty obje^l of iti liberations, and
confequently the refi|It of their united
councils, claimed wkho^t exception,
the higheft efteem4-the profoundeft
veneration. ]
Now, gentlemen, ifter having taken
a fummary view of tpcgrai]|^^hven-
tion, J fliail turn to jou,^ani§i^^whe
ther you will rife in ihe l^afe oi com
parifori (as you ought) after havin_
made a virtual anapneii^tion of your
fiiperiority. ^ ^
Have you, gentlemen,* or a majority
of you, (hewn in tiw elevated trulls of
Ibciety ?. Have youigiven equal prbdfs
of your abiliticsi And have your .op
portunities been c;^l to thofe.
whom you arc coriffefted?^ Have yo*^
approached to them with rafpedt to rnr
litary fame during the war ? And
where isyour name ? Has your patriot-
ifm, as members bf the republic ab-
ftradledly confidered, been a matter of
acknowledged notoriety .? Or ever has
any of your profcflional abilities been
extcnfively confclfed ? No I no ! is
the reply of general knowledge to
each of thofe folcmn interrogatories.
I acknowledge a number have filled,
and continue to fill, rcfpeclablc ftati-
ons enough, but entirely of a feconda-
ry nature with refpcfl to thofe with
whom you are compared. A number
alfo have acquitted yourfelvcs worthy
of your refpedive trufts, and a num
ber of. you inditferently enough God
knows. And a circumftancc well wor
thy of obfervation, and which is
ftrikingly againft* you, is, that by far
the moll rc(pc6lable charafters of the
convention were of till minority^^
Upon the whole, it fufficiemly"^*^-
pears,tthat you (land entirely deftitute
of any grounds or colour of reafon,
for complimenting your^^ abilities in
the manner before fpecified; but on
the other hand, there appears to have
been an infinite propriety of evidences
for palfing a compliment in its nature
the very reverfe, without you mean to
fay, that knowledge and integrity are
not always found in the confpicuous
charaftcrj, but rather in the more
humble and private walk of Hfe.-?
Such a mode of reafoning will then
lead from one defeent to another, til
ultimately thofe endowments are only
to be procured in the very feum of
God’s creation.
[To be continued,’]
T O . L E T,
[AT commodious DWELL-
ING-HOUSE, ^ Kitchen, Gar-
fituate in Market-ftrcct, late-
by Mrs. Mirfaret Hill,^
Alfo—By the month or week. Three
Good HOUSE Carpenters,—
For terms, apply to
JOHN HILL, .
And
, W. H. HILL.
■December 3,1788.
To the P U B L I C.
T he fubferiber propofes epfnin^ a School in this
^wn, for th. purpofe of tracliing Reading, Wnti^g^
Aridmtuc, E^tijh Crammer, and Geography t-^Aho
•n,. Thofe geiulemcn whj
wifli lohavethcT Children inftrutted as above, may depcS
that Uicgrcateft care flxall be taken to give fatisfaflion. ^
Teyettt-VilU, N.v, 15,1788.
■ L
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3M9
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The Chorifter s Companion, contain
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' An E X C E L L E N T
GUITT AR,
Vot S AL E, "■
... . - Enqim-e of the Printer*,