habitants of other states may be parties. The admiralty jurisdictions to fall entirely within the purview of the national government.

"The national supremacy in the executive departments is liable to some difficulty, unless the officers administering them could be made appointa. ble by the supreme government. The militia ought entirely to be placed, in some form or other, under the authority which is intrusted with the general protection and defence.

"A government composed of such extensive powers should be well organized and balanced.

"The legislative department might be divided into two branches, one of them chosen every — years, by the people at large, or by the legislatures; the other to consist of fewer members, to hold their places for a longer term, and to go out in such rotation as always to leave in office a large majority of old members.

"Perhaps the negative on the laws might be most conveniently exercised by this branch.

"As a further check, a council of revision, including the great ministerial officers, might be superadded.

“A national executive must also be provided. He has scarcely ventured as yet to form his own opinion, either of the manner in which it ought to be constituted, or of the authorities with which it ought to be clothed.

"An article should be inserted, expressly guarantying the tranquillity of the states against internal as well as external dangers.

"In like manner, the right of coercion should be expressly declared. With the resources of commerce in hand, the national administration might always find means of exerting it either by sea or land; but the difficulty and awkwardness of operating by force on the collective will of a state, render it particularly desirable that the necessity of it might be precluded. Perhaps the negative on the laws might create such a mutual dependence between the general and particular authorities as to answer; or perhaps some defined objects of taxation might be submitted along with commerce, to the general authority.

"To give a new system its proper validity and energy, a ratification must be obtained from the people, and not merely from the ordinary authority of the legislature. This will be the more essential, as inroads on the existing constitutions of the states will be unavoidable."

The foregoing views of Mr. Madison, expressed by him before the constitution was formed, are highly interesting, as evincing a remarkable degree of foresight and political wisdom, and forming the basis of the principal features of the constitution as finally adopted by the convention.

The constitution having passed the ordeal of the national convention, in September, 1787, was next, by the recommendation of that body, submitted to conventions elected by the people of the several states, for their

consideration. Mr. Madison was elected a member of the convention of Virginia, chosen for that purpose, and here his best efforts were again called into requisition, to secure the sanction of his native state to a measure which he deemed of the most vital importance to the interests of the whole Union. In this state convention of Virginia were assembled some of the most able and talented of her sons, including many of the patriots of the revolution, and others renowned for wisdom and eloquence; but with widely discordant views on the subject of a form of national government. Among those who acted with Mr. Madison in advocating the adoption of the constitution, were John Marshall, Edmund Pendleton, George Wythe, and Edmund Randolph; while Patrick Henry, James Monroe, William Grayson, and George Mason, were among the opponents. The question was finally carried in favor of adoption by 89 votes

to 79.

Notwithstanding the triumph of the federalists, as the friends of the constitution were then called, in the convention of Virginia, the anti-federalists held the majority in the legislature. An attempt to elect Mr. Madison to the senate of the United States was, therefore, unsuccessful, Messrs. Grayson and R. H. Lee being preferred. Mr. Madison was, however, elected by the people of one of the congressional districts, a member of the house of representatives, and took his seat in the new Congress, at New York, in April, 1789. In that body he bore an active and leading part in the adoption of measures for the organization of the government. He continued a distinguished member of Congress during the eight years of General Washington's administration, which terminated in March, 1797. He opposed the funding system, the national bank, and other measures of he administration which originated with Hamilton, secretary of the treas ury; acting generally with the anti-federalists, who sustained the views of Mr. Jefferson, then secretary of state; notwithstanding Madison had been one of the most distinguished champions of the constitution previous to its adoption, and was associated with Hamilton and Jay in the production of the celebrated essays called "The Federalist," which had an important influence with the people, in favor of the constitution.

In 1794, being then in his forty-third year, Mr. Madison married Mrs. Dolly Paine Todd, of Philadelphia, the widow of a lawyer of Pennsylvania, who died in less than three years after her first marriage. This .ady's maiden name was Paine; and her father, who belonged to the society of Friends, had removed from Virginia to Philadelphia. She was about twenty years younger than Mr. Madison, and still survives. She was always admired for her agreeable manners, her fine person, and talents in conversation. With an amiable disposition, a mild and dignified deportment, few American ladies have been more distinguished than Mrs Madison, in the various and high stations she has been called to occupy and adorn through life

In January, 1794, Mr. Madison introduced into the house of representa. tives a series of resolutions on the subject of the commerce of the United States with foreign nations. They were based on a previous report made to Congress by Mr. Jefferson, secretary of state, on the subject of foreign relations, and were probably prepared with the concurrence of Mr. Jefferson, as a manuscript copy was found among his papers. They were retaliatory in their character toward Great Britain, and considered favorable to the interests of France. They gave rise to a warm debate, parties being nearly balanced in the house, but the subject was finally postponed, without definite action.

Mr. Madison continued to act with the democratic, or republican party, for the remainder of his political career, co-operating with Mr. Jefferson in his views of national policy, and between these two gentlemen there existed through their lives the warmest personal friendship. In 1797, Mr. Madison retired from Congress, and in order to oppose the administration of Mr. Adams in a new form, he accepted a seat in the Virginia legislature, in 1798, where he made a report on the subject of the alien and sedition laws which had been passed by the federal party in Congress, concluding with a series of resolutions against those laws; which resolutions have since formed a text for the doctrine of state-rights, as held oy the democratic party of Virginia and some other states.

On the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the presidency, in 1801, he ap pointed Mr. Madison secretary of state, which office he held during the eight years of Mr. Jefferson's administration; and in 1809, having received the nomination and support of the democratic party, he succeeded his friend and coadjutor, as president of the United States. During his administration, in 1812, war was declared by Congress against Great Britain, to which measure he reluctantly consented, and the same year he was re-elected to the presidency. In his selection of commissioners to negotiate a treaty of peace, Mr. Madison showed his anxiety for a termination of the war, by the appointment of able men, sincerely desirous of peace, which was concluded at Ghent, in December, 1814.

The anxious and exciting scenes of war were not congenial to a person of the peaceful disposition of Mr. Madison, yet the duties of his high office were performed with firmness and ability. Among the events of the war which were calculated to disturb his equanimity, was the capture of the city of Washington, and the destruction of the public buildings, by the British, in 1814. The president and some other principal officers of the government narrowly escaped from being made prisoners by the Brit ish troops; they, however, were saved by a rapid flight.

After the return of peace, the remainder of Mr. Madison's administration was prosperous and tranquil. The interests of agriculture and commerce revived among the people, and the national revenue was rapidly replenished from the fruits of returning prosperity. The manufacturing

interests, however, languished for want of adequate protection. The president was favorable to their encouragement. He changed his views on the subject of a national bank, and signed the bill for incorporating the bank of the United States, in 1816. He had, in 1791, opposed the bank then incorporated, as unconstitutional, and in 1815 he had returned to Congress a bill incorporating a bank, as he disapproved of some of its provisions; but in the following year he waived his objections, and approved of an act of incorporation, somewhat modified.

On the 3d of March, 1817, Mr. Madison's administration was brought to a close, and he retired from public life, being then sixty-six years of age, to his seat at Montpelier, in Orange county, Virginia, where he passed the remainder of his days. In 1829 he was chosen a member of the state convention to revise the constitution of Virginia, and for several years he acted as visiter and rector of the University of Virginia. He was also chosen president of an agricultural society in the county where he resided, and before this society he delivered an address, admirable for its classical beauty and practical knowledge.

Having arrived at a good old age, and numbered eighty-five years, the mortal career of Mr. Madison was closed on the 28th of June, 1836. Congress and other public bodies adopted testimonials of respect for his memory. He left no children.

In his personal appearance, Mr. Madison was of small stature, and rather protuberant in front. He had a calm expression, penetrating blue eyes, and was slow and grave in his speech. At the close of his presidency he seemed to be care-worn, with an appearance of more advanced age than was the fact. He was bald on the top of his head, wore his hair powdered, and generally dressed in black. His manner was modest and retiring, but in conversation he was pleasing and instructive, having a mind well stored with the treasures of learning, and being particularly familiar with the political world. On his accession to the presi dency he restored the custom of levees at the presidential mansion, which had been abolished by Mr. Jefferson. It was on the occasion of these levees, that his accomplished lady, by her polite and attractive attentions and manners, shone with peculiar lustre. Mr. Madison was fond of soci ety, although he had travelled but little; never having visited foreign countries, or seen much of the people and country over which he presided. When a member of deliberative bodies, Mr. Madison was an able debater, having acquired self-confidence by slow degrees. As a writer, he has few equals among American statesmen, and the style of his public documents and his correspondence has always been much admired. He was at the time of his death, the last surviving signer of the constitution, and the part he bore in framing that instrument, his subsequent advocacy of it, by his writings, with his adherence to its provisions, obtained for him the title of "Father of the Constitution."

MADISON'S

ADDRESSES AND MESSAGES

INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

MARCH 4, 1809.

UNWILLING to depart from examples of the most revered authority, I avail myself of the occasion now presented, to express the profound impression made on me by the call of my country to the station, to the duties of which I am about to pledge myself by the most solemn of sanctions. So distinguished a mark of confidence, proceeding from the deliberate and tranquil suffrage of a free and virtuous nation, would under any circumstances have commanded my gratitude and devotion, as well as filled me with an awful sense of the trust to be assumed. Under the various circumstances which give peculiar solemnity to the existing period, I feel that both the honor and the responsibility allotted to me are inexpressibly enhanced.

The present situation of the world is indeed without a parallel, and that of our own country full of difficulties. The pressure of these too is the more severely felt, because they have fallen upon us at a moment when the national prosperity being at a height not before attained, the contrast resulting from the change has been rendered the more striking. Under the benign influence of our republican institutions, and the maintenance of peace with all nations, while so many of them were engaged in bloody and wasteful wars, the fruits of a just policy were enjoyed in an unrivalled growth of our faculties and resources. Proofs of this were seen in the improvements of agriculture; in the successful enterprises of commerce; in the progress of manufactures and useful arts; in the increase of the public revenue, and the use made of it in reducing the public debt; and in the valuable works and establishments everywhere multiplying over the face of our land.

It is a precious reflection that the transition from this prosperous condition of our country to the scene which has for some time been distressing us, is not chargeable on any unwarrantable views, nor as I trust on any involuntary errors in the public councils. Indulging no passions which trespass on the rights or repose of other nations, it has been the true glory of the United States to cultivate peace by observing justice, and to entitle themselves to the respect of the nations at war by fulfilling their neutral obligations with the most scrupulous impartiality. If there be candor in the world, he truth of these assertions will not be questioned; posterity at least will do justice to them.