Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-18S6. 305
civil war." He then answers his own question as to whether it is
" —
time to " wake from the deceitful dream of a golden age :
" Let the points of extreme depression to which our national dig-
nity and credit have sunk ; let the inconveniences felt everywhere
from a lax and ill administration of government ; let the revolt of a
part of the State of North Carolina, the late menacing disturbances in
Pennsylvania, and the actual
"
insurrections and rebellions in Massa-
chusetts declare !
Mr. Hamilton, in another part of the " Federalist," asks with nnich
feeling :
'' Who can determine what might have been the issue of her
(Massachusetts) late convulsions, if the malcontents had been headed
by a Cffisar or by a Cromwell? Who can predict Avhat effect a despot-
ism, established in Massachusetts, would have upon the liberties of
New Hampshire or Rhode Island, of Connecticut or New York?"
Four months after the defeat of Daniel Shays, General Washington
was presiding over the convention that drew up the Constitution of the
United States. When GeneralAVashington heard of the repeated stop-
ping of courts of justice in Massachusetts, he made no attempt to
conceal his consternation. " Yox God's sake, tell me," he wrote to
Col. David Humphreys, " what is tlie cause of all these commotions?
Do they proceed from licentiousness, British influence disseminated
by the tories, or real grievances which admit of redress?" It is dis-
tressing to follow his agitation. '' There are combustibles in every
State," he writes to General Knox, " to which a spark might set Are.
In bewailing — wliich I have often done with the keenest sorrow —
the death of our much lamented friend, General Greene, I have ac-
companied my regrets of late with ;i query whether he would not have
preferred such an exit to the scenes which it is more than probable
inau}^ of his compatriots may live to bemoan. You talk, my dear sir,
of employing influence to appease the present tumults in Massachu-
setts. I know not where that influence is to be found ; nor, if attain-
able, that it would be a proper remedy for these disorders. Influence
is not oovernment. Let us have a government bv which our lives.