Not inattentive to the occurrences of the times, political cares
have not yet materially, or for any long time, disturbed his repose.
In 1820 he acted as elector of president and vice-president, and in the
same year we saw him, then at the age of eighty-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. 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 himself to 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.
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