St. Clair and Wayne 343 



break over the land question between the more ex 

 treme States on the two sides. The wisest and cool 

 est leaders saw that the matter could never be deter 

 mined on a mere consideration of the abstract rights, 

 or even of the equities, of the case. They saw that 

 it would have to be decided, as almost all political 

 questions of great importance must be decided, by 

 compromise and concession. The foremost states 

 men of the Revolution were eminently practical 

 politicians. They had high ideals, and they strove 

 to realize them, as near as might be; otherwise they 

 would have been neither patriots nor statesmen. 

 But they were not theorists. They were men of 

 affairs, accustomed to deal with other men ; and they 

 understood that few questions of real moment can 

 be decided on their merits alone. Such questions 

 must be dealt with on the principle of getting the 

 greatest possible amount of ultimate good, and of 

 surrendering in return whatever must be surren 

 dered in order to attain this good. There was no 

 use in learned arguments to show that Maryland's 

 position was the proper one for a far-sighted Amer 

 ican patriot, or that Virginia and North Carolina 

 had more basis for their claims than Connecticut 

 or Georgia. What had to be done was to appeal to 

 the love of country and shrewd common-sense of 

 the people in the different States, and persuade 

 them each to surrender on certain points, so that all 

 could come to a common agreement. 



New York's claim was the least defensible of all, 

 but, on the other hand, New York led the way in 



