ence in the community. It would be pronounced by the very men who had been agents in, or opponents of the measures, to which the decision would relate. The passions, therefore, not the reason, of the public, would sit in judgment. But it is the reason of the public alone, that ought to control and regulate the Government. The passions ought to be controlled and regulated by the Government.
We found in the last paper, that mere declarations in the written Constitution are not sufficient to restrain the several departments within their legal rights. It appears in this, that occasional appeals to the People would be neither a proper, nor an effectual provision for that purpose. How far the provisions of a different nature contained in the plan above quoted might be adequate, I do not examine. Some of them are unquestionably founded on sound political principles, and all of them are framed with singular ingenuity and precision.
[From the New York Packet, Tuesday, February 5, 1788.]
THE FŒDERALIST. No. XLIX.
To the People of the State of New York:
IT may be contended, perhaps, that instead of occasional appeals to the People, which are liable to the objections urged against them, periodical appeals are the proper and adequate means of preventing and correcting infractions of the Constitution.
It will be attended to, that in the examination of these expedients, I confine myself to their aptitude for
