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virtue of a nation. Hence bad examples to youth are more rare in America, which must be a comfortable consideration to parents. To this may be truly added, that serious religion, under its various denominations, is not only tolerated, but respected and practised. Atheism is unknown there; infidelity rare and secret; so that persons may live to a great age in that country without having their piety shocked by meeting with an atheist or an infidel. And the Divine Being seems to have manifested his approbation of the mutual forbearance and kindness with which the different sects treat each other, by the remarkable prosperity with which he has been pleased to favour the whole country.

FINAL SPEECH OF DR. FRANKLIN IN THE LATE FEDERAL CONVENTION.*

MR. PRESIDENT,

I CONFESS that I do not entirely approve of this constitution at present: but, ir, I am not sure I shall never approve it; for havinglived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or further consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is, therefore, that the older I grow, the more apt am I to doubt my own judg ent, and to pay more respect to the judgment Our reasons for ascribing this speech to Dr. Franklin, are its al evidence, and its having appeared with his name, during. jugme, uncontradicted, in an American periodical publication.

of others. Most men, indeed, as well as most sects of religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that whenever others differ from them, it is so far error. Steele, a protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope, that, "the only dif ference between our two churches, in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrines, is, the Roman church is infallible, and the church of England never in the wrong." But, though many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility as of that of their own sect, few express it so naturally as a certain French lady, who, in a little dispute with her sister, said, I don't know how it happens, sister, but I meet with nobody but myself that is always in the right. Il n'y a que moi qui a toujours raison. In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this constitution, with all its faults, if they are such because I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing, if well administered; and I believe farther, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic goverment, being incapable of any other. I doubt too, whether any other convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better constitution. For when you assemble a number of men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish

views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence, to hear that our councils are confounded, like those of the builders of Babylon, and that our states are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting each other's throats.

Thus, I consent, Sir, to this constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that this is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born; and here they shall die. If every one of us, in returning to our constituents, were to re port the objections he has had to it, and endeavour to gain partisans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received and thereby lose all the salutary effects and great advantages resulting naturally in our favour among foreign nations, as well as among our selves, from our real or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength or efficiency of any government, in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends on opinion; on the general opinion of the goodness of that government, as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its

ernors.

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I hope, therefore, that for our own sakes as a part of the people, and for the sake of our pos

terity we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this constitution, wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future thoughts and endeavours to the means of having it well administered.

On the whole, Sir, I cannot help expressing a wish, that every member of the convention, who may still have objection, would with me on this occasion, doubt a little of his own infallibil ity, and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument.

[The motion was then made for adding the last formula, viz.

Done in convention by the unanimous consent, &c. which was agreed to, and added accordingly.]

SKETCH OF AN ENGLISH SCHOOL.

For the Consideration of the Trustees of the Philadelphia Academy.

IT is expected that every scholar to be admit ted into this school, be at least able to pronounce and divide the syllables in reading, and to write a legible hand. None to be received that are under years of age.

FIRST, OR LOWEST CLASS.

Let the first class learn the English Grammar rules, and at the same time let particular care be taken to improve them in orthography. Perhaps the latter is best done by pairing the schol

ars; two of those nearest equal in their spelling to be put together. Let these strive for victory; each propounding ten words every day to the other to be spelled. He that spells truly most of the other's words, is victor for that day; he that is victor for most days in a month, to obtain a prize, a pretty neat book of some kind, useful in their future studies. This method fixes the attention of children extremely to orthog raphy of words, and makes them good spellers very early. It is a shame for a man to be so ignorant of this little art in his own language, as to be perpetually confounding words of like sound and different significations; the consciousness of which defect makes some men, otherwise of good learning and understanding, averse to writing even a common letter.

Let the pieces read by the sholars in this class be short; such as Coxal's fables and little stories. In giving the lesson, let it be read to them; let the meaning of the most difficult words in it be explained to them; and let them con over by themselves before they are called to read to the master or usher; who is to take particular care that they do not read too fast, and that they duly observe the stops and pauses. A vocabulary of the most useful difficult words might be formed for their use, with explanations; and they might daily get a few of those words and explanations by heart, which would a little exercise their memories; or at least they might write a number of them in a small book for the purpose, which would help to fix the meaning of those words in

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