Excerpt from Reflections on the Changes Which May Seem Necessary in the Present Constitution of the State of New YorkThe formation or revision of a constitution is as noble a task as the erection of those great cathedrals, toward the rearing of which it was the habit of calling on every one to contribute his share of work or means, however humble it might be and in obedience to your call I shall cheerfully offer my contribution to the building up of our constitution or at least I shall write my views as to the principal points to be looked to in the formation of a new constitution, to use the words of the resolution which you have communicated to me, distinctly understanding that the Club, in publishing my views, makes itself in no way answerable for them, but gives them as the Opinions of a fellow-citizen on subjects of great public interest. Demosthenes, in one of his great speeches, mentions the daily and hourly repeated Athenian question, And what's the news? Let me consider the call of our Club like the frequent American question, What do you think about this matter - put more solemnly, more singling out, indeed, but still addressed by friends to a friend.I beg you, dear sir, to convey my sincere thanks to the Club, and to assure our fellow-members that, however unsuccessful I may be, or however my convictions may occasionally differ from the views of some of them, I shall write down what they have asked for, conscious of the weighty importance attached to the topic, and that not a line will be written either from the love of some theory, or in the temper of a partisan, or in the pliable Spirit of a courtier to his sovereign, although the sovereign with us be called the people.Accept for yourself the assurance of my highest esteem, and believe me, Dear sir, Very truly yours, francis lieber. To john jay, Esq, President of Union League Club, New York.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.