But by what spell, by what formula, are you going to bind the
People to all future time? The days of Lycurgus are gone by, when we
could swear the People not to alter the Constitution until he should
return. You may make what entries on parchment you please; give me a
Constitution that will last for half a century; that is all I wish for.
No Constitution that you can make will last the one-half of half a
century. Sir, I will stake anything, short of my salvation, that those
who are malcontent now, will be more malcontent, three years hence, than
they are at this day. I have no favor for this Constitution. I shall
vote against its adoption, and I shall advise all the people of my
district to set their faces, aye, and their shoulders, too, against it.
* * * * *
From "Letters to a young Relative."
=_75._= THE ERROR OF DECAYED FAMILIES.
One of the best and wisest men I ever knew has often said to me that a
decayed family could never recover its loss of rank in the world,
until the members of it left off talking and dwelling upon its former
opulence. This remark, founded in a long and clear observation
of mankind, I have seen verified in numerous instances in my own
connections, who, to use the words of my oracle, will never thrive until
they can become poor folks.
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