1^25 



a corruption in this, as in the country from which we 

 derive our origin, will have seized the heads of <irovern- 

 ment, and he spread hy them through the hody of the 

 people; when they will purchase the voices of the peo- 

 ple, and make them pay the price. Human nature is 

 the same on every side of the Atlantic, and will he alike 

 influenced by the same causes. The time to guard 

 against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall 

 have gotten hold on us. It is better to keep the wolf 

 out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and 

 talons after he shall have entered. To render these 

 considerations the more cogent, we must observe in 

 addition : 



5. That the ordinary legislature may alter the consti- 

 tution itself On the discontinuance of assemblies, it 

 became necessary to substitute in their place some other 

 body, competent to the ordinary business of government, 

 and to the calling forth the powers of the state for the 

 maintenance of our opposition to Great Britain. Con- 

 ventions were therefore introduced, consisting of two 

 delejfates from each countv, meetinsr together and form- 

 ing one house, on the plan of the former house of bur- 

 gesses, to whose places they succeeded. These were at 

 first chosen anew for every particular session. But in 

 March 1775, they recommended to the people to choose 

 a convention, which should continue in otfice a year. 

 This was done accqrdingly in April 1775, and in the July 

 following that convention passed an ordinance for the 

 election of delegates in the month of April annually. 

 It is well known, that in July 1775, a separation from 

 Great Britain and establishment of republican govern- 

 ment had never yet entered into any ])erson's mind. A 

 convention therefore, chosen under that ordinance, can- 

 not be said to have been chosen for the purposes which 

 certainly did not exist in the minds of those who passed 

 it. Under this ordinance, at the annual election in April 

 1776, a convention for the year was chosen. Indejien- 

 dence, and the esial)lishment of a new form of govern- 

 ment, were not even yet the objects of the people at 

 large. One extract from the pamphlet called Common 



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