They mean that liberty shall be the basis, a liberty resulting from the equal and firm administration of the laws." Deeply affected by these commotions, General Washington continued his anxious inquiries respecting the course they threatened to take.

"I feel, my dear General Knox," said he, in answer to the letter from which the foregoing extracts are taken, "infinitely more than I can express to you, for the disorders which have arisen in these states.
Good God! who besides a tory could have foreseen, or a Briton have predicted them?
I do assure you that even at this moment, when I reflect upon the present aspect of our affairs, it seems to me like the visions of a dream.

My mind can scarcely realize it as a thing in actual existence:--so strange, so wonderful does it appear to me.

In this, as in most other matters, we are too slow.

When this spirit first dawned, it might probably have been easily checked; but it is scarcely within the reach of human ken, at this moment, to say when, where, or how it will terminate.