five, a member of the Convention of this Commonwealth
called to revise the Constitution. Forty years before, he had
been one of those who formed that Constitution; and he had
now the pleasure of witnessing that there was little which
the people desired to change.[1] Possessing all his faculties
to the end of his long life, with an unabated love of reading
and contemplation, in the center of interesting circles of
friendship and affection, he was blessed in his retirement
with whatever of repose and felicity the condition of man
allows. He had, also, other enjoyments. He saw around
him that prosperity and general happiness which had been
the object of his public cares and labors. No man ever beheld more clearly, and for a longer time, the great and beneficial effects of the services rendered by himselfto his country. That liberty which he so early defended, that Independence of which he was so able an advocate and supporter,
he saw, we trust, firmly and securely established. The population of the country thickened around him faster, and
extended wider, than his own sanguine predictions had
anticipated; and the wealth, respectability, and power of
the Nation sprang up to a magnitude which it is quite impossible he could have expected to witness in his day. He
lived also to behold those principles of civil freedom which
had been developed, established, and practically applied in
America, attract attention, command respect, and awaken
imitation, in other regions of the globe; and well might,
and well did, he exclaim, "Where will the consequences of
the American Revolution end?"
52. If anything yet remain to fill this cup of happiness, let it be added, that he lived to see a great and intelligent people bestow the highest honor in their gift where he had bestowed his own kindest parental affections and lodged his fondest hopes.[2] Thus honored in life, thus happy at death,
