THE CONSTRUCTIVE STATESMAN 205 



delivery, he would nevertheless have been a fair match 

 for Charles Fox or the younger Pitt. His vast know- 

 ledge was always at command, his ideas were always 

 clear and his grasp of the situation perfect, and al- 

 though he was so modest that the colour came and 

 went upon his cheeks as upon a young girl's, he was 

 never, flurried or thrown off his guard. He repre- 

 sented pure intelligence, which is doubtless one reason 

 why his popular fame has not been equal to his merit. 

 There is nothing especially picturesque about pure 

 intelligence, but it is a great power nevertheless. The 

 opposition in Virginia was strong and well organized, 

 and had for leaders such eminent patriots as Patrick 

 Henry and Richard Henry Lee. The alliance between 

 South Carolina and the New England states, which in 

 exchange for a prolongation of the foreign slave-trade 

 for twenty years gave to Congress the power of regu- 

 lating commerce by a simple majority vote, had 

 alarmed Virginia. It was feared that it would enable 

 the Northern states to enter upon a commercial policy 

 in which the interests of Virginia would be disre- 

 garded. There was also a party from the Kentucky 

 district, which was disgusted at the Northern indiffer- 

 ence to the free navigation of the Mississippi River, 

 and thought that the interests of all that part of the 

 country could best be secured by a separate Southern 

 confederacy. As just observed, South Carolina had 

 already defeated this dangerous scheme by ratifying 

 the Constitution. Nevertheless, when the Virginia 

 convention met, the opponents of the Constitution 

 were doubtless in the majority. The debates lasted 

 nearly a month, and for a considerable part of this 

 time the outlook was not promising. The discussion 



