But this Day has at length terminated the Subject of Amendments in the Comittee of the whole House, & tomorow we shall take up the Report & probably agree to the Amendments proposed, & which are nearly the same as the special Comittee of eleven had reported them.
I have no Doubt but there will be two thirds as required by the Constitution in our House, but cannot say what Reception they will meet with in the Senate. Mr. Gerry & Mr. Tucker had each of them a long string of Amendts. which were not comprised in the Report of the special Comittee, & which they stiled Amendments proposed by the several States. There was a curious medley of them, and such as even our Minority in Pennsylvania would rather have pronounced dangerous Alterations than Amendments—these they offered in separate Resolutions to the House in Order to get them referred to a Comittee of the whole, but both Attempts faild—the previous question having been ruled against Gerrys Motion, &carried, and Mr. Tuckers was negatived by a very large Majority.
1 Thus far I hope this disagreeable Business is finished, & no other Amendments will I think take place for the present. Altho' I am sorry that so much Time has been spent in this Business, and would much rather have had it postponed to the next Session, yet as it now is done I hope it will be satisfactory to our State, and as it takes in the principal Amendments which our Minority had so much at Heart, I hope it may restore Harmony & unanimity amongst our fellow Citizens & perhaps be the Means of producing the much wished for Alterations & Amendments in our State Constitution. It is a strange yet certain Fact, that those who have heretofore been & still profess to be the greatest Sticklers for Amendments to the Constitution of the U. S. have hitherto thrown every Obstacle they could in their way & by lengthy Debates & numberless Amendts. which they know full well neither 2/3ds of Congress nor 3 fourth of the different Legislatures would ever adopt, have endeavoured to mar their progress, but it is obvious their Design was to favour their darling Question for calling a Convention—which however I think is also determined for some Time to come. The Debates in our House have hitherto gone on with much Candor firmness and good Humor, but this Day some Gentlemen got into great warmth—more so indeed than ever since our first meeting, so that a frequent call to Order became absolutely necessary—& from this Day forward I expect, especially as we have sat so long and are about to close the session—that the Debates will be high. Such I think is the present Temper of the House, that I think the sooner we close the Session the better. I am happy however to find that our Delegation have kept cool and moderate & unanimous.