Mr. RANDAL said, he had been uniformly opposed to the Constitution. He had, he said, fought like a good soldier; but, as he was beat, he should sit down contented, hoping the minority may be disappointed in their fears, and that the majority may reap the full fruition of the blessings they anticipate. In the hope that the amendments recommended by his Excellency the President will take place, I shall, says he, go home and endeavor to satisfy those that have honored me by their choice, so that we may all live in peace. Major SAWIN declared, that the Constitution had had a fair trial, and that there had not, to his knowledge, been any undue influence exercised to obtain the vote in its favor; that many doubts which lay in his mind had been removed; and that, although he was in the minority, he should support the Constitution as cheerfully and as heartily as though he had voted on the other side of the question. The Convention then passed the pay roll-amounting to £4,499 2s.-and, after unanimously passing votes of thanks to his Excellency the President, the honorable the Vice-President, and the reverend clergymen of the town of Boston, who officiated as Chaplains, for their services, it was Voted, That when the business of the Convention shall be completed, the members will proceed to the State House to proclaim the ratification, and to take an affectionate leave of each other. An invitation from a number of the inhabitants of Boston, requesting the members of the Convention to take refreshment at the Senate Chamber, when the ratification of the Constitution should be declared, was read, and thereon Voted, That the thanks of the Convention be given to the inhabitants of Boston for their polite invitation, and that the Convention will attend as requested. The business being finished, the Convention proceeded to the State House, when the ratification was proclaimed by JOSEPH HENDERSON, Esq., High-Sheriff of the county of Suffolk, after which the Convention was dissolved. MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR HANCOCK. [Extract from the Speech of Gov. HANCOCK, to the Senate and House of Representatives, at the opening of the General Court, held, by adjournment, at Boston, February 27, 1788.] "In the beginning of your last session I laid before you the Constitution and frame of government for the United States of America, agreed upon by the late general Convention, and transmitted to me by Congress. As the system was to be submitted to the people, and to be decided upon by their delegates in Convention, I forbore to make any remarks upon it. The Convention which you appointed to deliberate upon that important subject, have concluded their session, after having adopted and ratified the proposed plan, according to their resolution, a copy whereof I have directed the secretary to lay before you. The obvious imbecility of the Confederation of the United States, has too long given pain to our friends, and pleasure to our enemies; but the forming a new system of government, for so numerous a people, of very different views and habits, spread upon such a vast extent of territory, containing such a great variety of soils, and under such extremes of climate, was a task which nothing less than the dreadful apprehension of losing our national existence, could have compelled the people to undertake. We can be known to the world only under the appellation of the United States; if we are robbed of the idea of our union, we immediately become separate nations, independent of each other, and no less liable to the depredations of foreign powers, than to wars and bloody contentions amongst ourselves. To pretend to exist as a nation without possessing those powers of coerce which are necessarily incident to the national character, would prove a fatal solecism in politics. The objects of the proposed Constitution are, defence against external enemies, and the promotion of tranquillity and happiness amongst the States. Whether it is well calculated for those important purposes, has been the subject of extensive and learned discussion in the Convention which you appointed. I believe there was never a body of men assembled, with greater purity of intention, or with higher zeal for the public interest. And although when the momentous question was decided, there was a greater division than some expected, yet there appeared a candor, and a spirit of conciliation in the minority, which did them great honor, and afforded a happy presage of unanimity amongst the people at large. Though so many of the members of the late Convention could not feel themselves convinced that they ought to vote for the ratification of this system, yet their opposition was conducted with a candid and manly firmness, and with such marks of integrity and real regard to the public interest, as did them the highest honor, and leaves no reason to suppose that the peace and good order of the government is not their object. The amendments proposed by the Convention are intended to obtain a constitutional security of the principles to which they refer themselves, and must meet the wishes of all the States. I feel myself assured that they will very early become a part of the Constitution, and when they shall be added to the proposed plan, I shall consider it the most perfect system of government, as to the objects it embraces, that has been known amongst mankind. Gentlemen: As that Being in whose hands is the government of all the nations of the earth, and who putteth down one, and raiseth up another, according to His sovereign pleasure, has given to the people of these States a rich and an extensive country; has in a marvellous manner given them a name and a standing among the nations of the world, has blessed them with external peace and internal tranquillity; I hope and pray that the gratitude of their hearts may be expressed by a proper use of those inestimable blessings, by the greatest exertions of patriotism, by forming and supporting institutions for cultivating the human understanding, and for the greatest progress of the arts and sciences, by establishing laws for the support of piety, religion and morality, as well as for punishing vice and wickedness, and by exhibiting on the great theatre of the world, those social, public and private virtues, which give more dignity to a people possessing their own sovereignty, than crowns and diadems afford to sovereign princes." |