may not be easy even now to decide, which system was the best to attain the end desired in the shortest time. As to the ultimate convenience, they would both have come to nearly the same thing. The primary object was to establish a uniform mode of reckoning money in all parts of the union; the next, to introduce a coinage, which should drive the old coins out of the country, and supersede their use. According to Mr Morris's plan, this was to be done by an entire new coinage, and a system of reckoning, which should adapt itself with the greatest facility both to the old coins, and to the different systems already in vogue. Mr Jefferson believed, that it would be more readily accomplished, by taking a standard coin, whose value the people well understood, and making it the basis of the new divisions and nomenclature. Everybody knew the value of a dollar, and could easily comprehend the parts of a dollar, let them be named as they might.

Forty years of experiment have proved that the process has been slow. As yet it is far from being completed. The fractional remainders in converting the old currencies into the new, which were so much dreaded by Mr Morris, and which it was the first clement in all his plans to evade, have presented the same obstacles that he anticipated. Many values in the old currencies cannot be expressed in the decima! parts of a dollar. Besides, two mischievous little coins of foreign growth, the eighth and sixteenth of a dollar, have kept their hold on the affections of the people, by reason of their being even parts of the adopted unit, although at variance with the decimal notation. Such is their power, that the government itself is to this day obliged to yield obedience to it, in the transactions of the postoffice. As things now stand, it is time for this vassalage to be thrown off, and the rates of postage fixed in the decimals of a dollar. Let the people pay the fractional half or quarter cent, in deference to their money unit, till it becomes so well grounded, as to expel these disorganizing little foreigners from circulation. New coins of home manufacture, and a plenty of them, are the only aids that can be

called in for such a purpose, and these will be feeble auxiliaries, unless a stigma of some sort shall be attached to the intruders from abroad.

Mr Morris's mother had been more or less affected with illness for several years, and she died in January, 1786. This event brought him to Morrisania, at which place and at New York he remained for two or three months. By his father's will, the estate at Morrisania and its appendages were left to his mother during her lifetime. The property then devolved upon the second son, Staats Long Morris, who was a General in the British army, and resided in England. Lewis Morris, the eldest son, had received his portion before his father's death. A legacy of seven thousand pounds was to be paid by General Morris to the other children, before he could take possession of the estate, and of this sum Gouverneur Morris was to receive two thousand pounds.

General Morris also owned lands in New Jersey, and to settle the affairs of these estates he came to America. As he had no intention to reside there, he was of course willing to sell this property upon fair terms, and his brother Gouverneur resolved to make the purchase. The amount required was much above his means, but by the accommodation of friends, and convenient arrangements with his brother, he finally bought the patrimonial estate at Morrisania, and a part, if not all, of the General's lands in New Jersey, the contract being completed before the end of the year.

His business operations had already become extensive, and in several of them he was concerned with Robert Morris. Commercial adventures, and particularly an East India voyage on a large scale, shipments of tobacco from Virginia to France, and shares in iron works on the Delaware River, were among the objects of this kind, to which his time and thoughts were devoted, and by which his fortune was increased. As the winter was approaching when he purchased the estate at Morrisania, he did not remain there long, but returned to Philadelphia.

CHAPTER XVII.

CONVENTION FOR FORMING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.MR MORRIS'S OPINIONS IN THAT BODY.-MR MADISON'S LETTER.-HAM ILTON. MR MORRIS VISITS VIRGINIA.-PREPARES TO DEPART FOR EUROPE-WASHINGTON.

HAVING resided seven years in Pennsylvania, since he ceased to be a member of Congress, he was considered a citizen, and was elected one of the delegates from that State to the Convention for forming the Constitution of the United States. The Convention assembled at Philadelphia in May, 1787, and continued together more than four months, before the Constitution was completed. Mr Morris was present during the whole time, except a few days in the last part of June, which he passed at Morrisania, being called there to arrange the affairs of his farm. He had employed a manager, and a large number of laborers in the spring, and was now commencing extensive improvements upon his estate, such as removing and repairing buildings, planting forest and fruit trees, and directing various agricultural arrangements, which demanded his presence. As soon as he had effected a general supervision of these matters, and left full and, minute written instructions with his manager, he went back and took his seat again in the Convention.

As there is not a note or memorandum among his papers, indicating his acts in the Convention, very little can be said on that subject. In a letter to Colonel Pickering, written two years before his death, he remarks; While I sat in the Convention, my mind was too much occupied by the intesests of our country, to keep notes of what we had done. Some gen

tlemen, I was told, passed their evenings in transcribing speeches from short-hand minutes of the day. My faculties were on the stretch to further our business, remove impediments, obviate objections, and conciliate jarring opinions.' In sundry letters to his friends, contained in his published correspondence, and written after constitutional questions began to be much agitated in Congress, particularly one to Mr Walsh, he explains his views on those topics, and alludes to the proceedings of the Convention, but this only in general terms, and rather as an interpreter of its intentions, than a historian of its deeds.

Thus destitute of written or printed materials on this subject, I applied to Mr Madison, the only survivor of the list. of worthies, who attended the Convention, and signed the great charter of union and freedom. The following are extracts of a letter to Mr Madison.

It is said by several persons, who profess to know the fact, that the Constitution in its present form and language is from the pen of Gouverneur Morris; that, after all the debates were finished, and each part had been adopted in substance, the instrument was put into his hands to be wrought into proper phraseology and style. His friends are in the habit of thinking, that much is due to him for the clear, simple, and expressive language, in which the Constitution is clothed.

The following anecdote is also current. While the Convention was sitting, Mr Morris was absent for several days. On his return to Philadelphia, he called at the house of Robert Morris, where he found General Washington, who, as well as Robert Morris, was much dejected at what they regarded the deplorable state of things in the Convention. Debates had run high, conflicting opinions were obstinately adhered to, animosities were kindling, some of the members were threatening to go home, and, at this alarming crisis, a dissolution of the Convention was hourly to be apprehended. Instructed in these particulars, Gouverneur Morris went into the Convention on the day following, and spoke with such eloquence and power, on

the necessity of union, of partial sacrifices and temperate discussion, that he contributed much to work a change in the feelings of the members, which was the means of restoring harmony, and ultimately of attaining the objects of the Convention. It is added, that, as his absence had prevented his partaking of the warmth, which had been excited by the previous discussions, his counsel and coolness had the greater effect.'

Concerning these points, and in reply to queries on others, Mr Madison wrote an answer, which every reader will be glad to see entire.

Dear Sir,

Montpellier, April 8th, 1831.

'I have duly received your letter of March 30th. In answer to your inquiries, "respecting the part acted by Gouverneur Morris in the Federal Convention of 1787, and the political doctrines maintained by him," it may be justly said, that he was an able, an eloquent, and an active member, and shared largely in the discussions succeeding the 1st of July, previous to which, with the exception of a few of the early days, he was absent.

"Whether he accorded precisely with the "political doctrines of Hamilton," I cannot say. He certainly did not " incline to the democratic side," and was very frank in avowing his opinions, when most at variance with those prevailing in the Convention. He did not propose any outline of a constitution, as was done by Hamilton; but contended for certain articles, (a Senate for life particularly) which he held essential to the stability and energy of a government, capable of protecting the rights of property against the spirit of democracy. He wished to make the weight of wealth balance that of numbers, which he pronounced to be the only effectual security to each, against the encroachments of the other.

The finish given to the style and arrangement of the Constitution fairly belongs to the pen of Mr Morris; the task having, probably, been handed over to him by the chairman of the