Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-10-29
TERRORS OF THE NEW.

lEhhohS oT me NEW
A little less than 1873 years ago The
New York journal was calling the Con
stitution of the United States, not yet
adopted. "as deep and wicked a CON
spiracv az ever was invented in the dark
est ages against the liberty Of the free
people" In that paper and in The New
York Packet George Mason and Richard
II. Lee accumulated objections to the pro
posed new government. The sovereignty
of theStates and the liberties of the people
would be destroyed Trial by jury was
gone. Farewell TO annual electionsi The
country was to be at the mercy of stand
ing army. All the people had TO expect
was taxes If they kicked against them
they would be put to death. There was TO
be government by an aristocracy. The
wicked LAWYERS. the dreaded ''well-born,
were filchinp the rights CT the people In
the Virginia Convention in l7SS Patrick
Henry spoke on the new plan. Mr.. Me
Master summarizes this sagaclous criticism
and prophecy:
II was pcrnicous, an lmpolltic,
dangerous system 1t WIS n great con
solidatcd government Under II neither
the rights Of conscience, nor the liberty OF
the press, nor trial by jury could be Sc
cured. An aristocracy of the rich and the
well-born would spring up and trample on
the masses A standing army would do
the will Of tvrants. The Mississippi would
be closed and the Ohio Valley gwen up 10
red men and buffalo. The Indiana claim
would be revived and 10000 families IN
Northwestern Virginia be turned out OF
their cabins in single day.
At Albany a troop of anti-Frederallsts
al, dinner
these patriots, each with pocket full Of
stones. hunted the Federalists. Encoun-
terinr them in lane. there was brisk
discharge Of bricks, stones. iron. The
State Convention, under the thumb OF
Governor George Clinton was dawdlng
away weeks at Poughkeepsie. The anti
Federalists hoped for another Confedera-
tiOn much like the poor old, futile bat
tered concern under which tho Thlr-
teen States were drifting 10 bankruptcy
and anarchv- confederation Of the
South and New York They began to
have dreams Of league, Mr.. McMas-
ter writes How dcliclously contempo-
rarv that dream seems They even
agreed 10 ratifv the Constitution on the
condition that the thirty-two amend
ments for which they asked should be
adopted. or they would ratify II. with the
reservation Of right to quit the union 4
at the end of a certain time the amend
ments were not accepted
Hamilton wouldn't stard for that
After davs Of bickcring, the convention
voted unanimously for anew convention
OF all the States 10 amend the Cotsttu-
ton, and passed an act Of ratification
which was little moro than lingle Of
words In Pennsylvania the ant-Fcd-
eralists discovered that Nashlr gton
was q TOOL from nature, and Franklin
was a fool from age II Virginia men
of distinction ana character asserted
that the Constitution was merely dc
vice of the Eastern States 10 control the
carving trade Ia the thc1 Kentucky
district the voters were told that the East
would close the Mississippi IN consldera-
ton OF Spain 5 assistance II the matter
~ foreign treaties In Philadelphia
Chief Justice Mexican AID James VII
son were burned in efflgy In the South
Carolina Legislature Rawlins Lowndcs
charged that the east would use the
power to regulate interstate commerce
bv absorbing the carrying trade and I'M
posirg whatever freight rates II pleased
upon the South
EVERYWHERE there was bitter cam
paiga OF misrepresea atation, falsehood.
The most extraordinary deiuslors were
entertained IL Massachusetts ratItica-
ton won by only IS7 TO los N Virginia
by 50 10 20. in New York by 80 TO q.
North Carolina didn't ratlfy until late
in November. 1889 Rhode Island, then
the most cantal kerous AID radical OF the
States consented TO come into the union
on Nav 29. 1890 The evils Of the Con
federation. its impoteLce. must have been
known to everybody Why did 50 many
Of the people, nearly half OF them, APP
parentlv, in the great States, refuse TO
remedy almost impossible conditions, 70
restore credit and commerce. 10 have
done with the regime Of worthless money,
declining trade and agriculture. OF clvil
war in some States, Of court houses nalied
up or burned by passionate debtors.
Isolation, indivldualism, want OF com
munication. old use and wont, the effect
Of many trials and disasters upon the
nerves. had their part in this strange
and widespread aversion 10 the charge
of government which was 10 be so tor
tunate and fruitful; but probably the
natural human distrIst Of anything new
was the main cause Of antl-tederalism.
Both in It's sirceritles and us lnsn-
cerities in its honest preiudlces and lts
studied disseminated canards and caium-
MES. the campaign against the Constr
tuition had curious analogies with the
campaign against the League OF Nations.
New York Times