-the true meaning of the popular
and dangerous words, "an appeal to the people." The opposition was begun
too late, however, to admit of combined effort, and was not persisted
in; and Mr. Gallatin himself, with practical good sense, consented to
serve as a delegate. Throughout his political course the pride of
mastery never controlled his actions. When debarred from leadership he
did not sulk in his tent, but threw his weight in the direction of his
principles. The convention met at Philadelphia on November 24, 1789, and
closed its labors on September 2, 1790. This was Gallatin's
apprenticeship in the public service. Among his papers are a number of
memoranda, some of them indicating much elaboration of speeches made, or
intended to be made, in this body. One is an argument in favor of
enlarging the representation in the House; another is against a plan of
choosing senators by electors; another concerns the liberty of the
press. There is, further, a memorandum of his motion in regard to the
right of suffrage, by virtue of which "every freeman who has attained
the age of twenty-one years, and been a resident and inhabitant during
one year next before the day of election, every naturalized freeholder,
every naturalized citizen who had been assessed for state or county
taxes for two years before election day, or who had resided ten years
successively in the State, should be entitled to the suffrage, paupers
and vagabonds only being excluded." Certainly, in his conservative
limitations upon suffrage, he did not consult his own interest as a
large landholder inviting settlement, nor pander to the natural desires
of his constituency.

In an account of this convention, written at a later period, Mr.
Gallatin said that it was the first public body to which he was elected,
and that he took but a subordinate share in the debates; that it was one
of the ablest bodies of which he was ever a member, and with which he
was acquainted, and, excepting Madison and Marshall, that it embraced as
much talent and knowledge as any Congress from 1795 to 1812, beyond
which his personal knowledge did not extend. Among its members were
Thomas McKean, signer of the Declaration of Independence and president
of the Continental Congress, Thomas Mifflin and Timothy Pickering, of
the Revolutionary army, and Smilie and Findley, Gallatin's political
friends. General Mifflin was its president.

But mental distraction brought Mr. Gallatin no peace of hear