of its members have been minutely examined and unsparingly criticised.  We are still ignorant, and shall always remain ignorant, of just how much was due to Washington for the final completion of the work.  His general views and his line of action are clearly to be seen in his letters and in the words attributed to him by Morris.  That he labored day and night for success we know, and that his influence with his fellow-members was vast we also know, but the rest we can only conjecture.  There came a time when everything was at a standstill, and when it looked as if no agreement could be reached by the men representing so many conflicting interests.  Hamilton had made his great speech, and, finding the vote of his State cast against him by his two colleagues on every question, had gone home in a frame of mind which we may easily believe was neither very contented nor very sanguine.  Even Franklin, most hopeful and buoyant of men, was nearly ready to despair.  Washington himself wrote to Hamilton, on July 10:  “When I refer you to the state of the counsels which prevailed at the period you left this city, and add that they are now, if possible, in a worse train than ever, you will find but little ground on which the hope of a good establishment can be formed.  In a word, I almost despair of seeing a favorable issue to the proceedings of our convention, and do therefore repent having had any agency in the business.”  Matters were certainly in a bad state when Washington could write in this strain, and when his passion for success was so cooled that he repented of agency in the business.  There was much virtue, however, in that little word “almost.”  He did not quite despair yet, and, after his fashion, he held on with grim tenacity.  We know what the compromises finally were, and how they were brought about, but we can never do exact justice to the iron will which held men together when all compromises seemed impossible, and which even in the darkest hour would not wholly despair.  All that can be said is, that without the influence and the labors of Washington the convention of 1787, in all probability, would have failed of success.

[Footnote 1:  Just at the close of the convention, when the Constitution in its last draft was in the final stage and on the eve of adoption, Mr. Gorham of Massachusetts moved to amend by reducing the limit of population in a congressional district from forty to thirty thousand.  Washington took the floor and argued briefly and modestly in favor of the change.  His mere request was sufficient, and the amendment was unanimously adopted.]

At all events it did not fail, and after much tribulation the work was done.  On September 17, 1787, a day ever to be memorable, Washington affixed his bold and handsome signature to the Constitution of the United States.  Tradition has it that as he stood by the table, pen in hand, he said:  “Should the States reject this excellent Constitution, the probability is that opportunity will never be offered