States, now remaining in this office, and all acts and proceedings of the Convention which are in the possession of the United States.

"On the 19th March, 1796, there were deposited in this office, by President Washington, a volume in manuscript containing the Journal of the proceedings of the Convention; a second volume, containing their proceedings in committee of the whole; a third volume, containing lists of yeas and nays on various questions; and nine separate papers, two of which are copies of resolutions submitted by Mr. Randolph, and discussed in Convention; one is a printed draft of the Constitution as reported, with manuscript minutes of amendments to it, adopted after debate, and the rest are papers of little or no consequence.

"These are all the documents possessed by the government, coming within the scope of the resolution of Congress at their last session. General Bloomfield transmitted to me, in the month of May last, several papers relating to the proceedings of the Convention, which had come into his hands, as executor to Mr. Brearly, one of its members. Among them are copies of propositions offered on the 15th of June, 1787, by Mr. Patterson, and a plan of Constitution offered by Colonel Hamilton.

"Mr. Patterson's propositions are noticed in the Journal of the 15th of June, but I find throughout the Journal no mention made of the plan of Col. Hamilton. The Journal does mention a plan of Constitution offered by Mr. Charles Pinckney, which appeared to have been taken into consideration, but of which there is no copy in possession of the government.

"The volume containing the Journal of the Convention is incomplete. The second closes with the proceedings of Friday, 14th Sept., 1787. Those of Saturday, the 15th, and of Monday, the 17th, the day of final adjournment, are not entered in the book, which, if published in its present condition, will be a fragment. I have written to Major Jackson, the Secretary of the Convention, to inquire if he could furnish the means of supplying the deficiency. He answers that he cannot. The chasm is remarkable, as the adjournment on the 14th leaves a debate unfinished and to be resumed. There was even a part of the proceedings of Saturday, the 15th, which is crossed out, upon the book.

"Under these circumstances, the President has directed me to write to you and inquire, if you can, without inconvenience, furnish the means of completing the Journal by a note which may indicate the transactions of the Convention on the last two days of the session; and if you have any additional documents relating to the proceedings of the Convention, which you think might be useful to add to the publication directed by Congress, and which you would have the goodness to communicate for that purpose."

"SIR,

Reply of Madison.

"MONTPELIER, Nov. 2, 1818.

"I have received your letter of the 22d ult., and enclose such extracts from my notes relating to the two last days of the Convention, as may fill the chasm in the Journal, according to the mode in which the proceedings are recorded.

"Col. Hamilton did not propose in the Convention any plan of Constitution. He had sketched an outline which he read as part of a speech, observing, that he did not mean it as a proposition, but only to give a more correct view of his ideas.

"Mr. Patterson regularly proposed a plan which was discussed and voted on. I do not find the plan of Charles Pinckney among my papers. I tender you, sir, assurances of my great respect and esteem.”

J. Q. Adams to Madison.

"DEAR SIR,

66 'WASHINGTON, 1 June, 1819.

"In a letter which I had the honor to receive from you last November, you observed, in relation to a plan of government offered by Col. Hamilton to the Federal Convention, 1787, that it was not formally presented as a plan to be debated, but read by him, in the course of a speech. Could you favor me so far as to inform me of the day upon which that speech was delivered, and the question or subject in debate which gave occasion to it? My motive for the inquiry is, that as it is to be published with the Journal of the Convention, it seems proper that it should be printed with reference to the time and occasion upon which it was presented."

J. Q. Adams to Madison.

"WASHINGTON, 18 June, 1819.

"It appears by the Journal that on the 12th of Sept. a revised draught of the plan of the Convention was brought in by a Committee of Revision, consisting of five members. It was printed and copies of it were distributed to the members on the 13th. It was then taken up, collated with the previous draught, and the proceedings of the Convention upon it, corrected and amended. This is the only entry concerning it made on the Journal, but from the list of yeas and nays, of which I now take the liberty to enclose to you, it is apparent that many very important amendments were proposed, some of which were adopted, and others rejected, upon questions taken by ayes and nays in the process of preparing the revised draught for signature.

"The enclosed list is an exact copy of that in the Department, referring to the period of the proceedings of the Convention. Some of the questions are

entered on the list, but many others are omitted, the ayes and nays appearing to have been taken, but the question upon which being left in blank. By recurrence to the alterations of the revised draught, I have been able to ascertain some of them, but of many rejected propositions I have no clue that would enable me to trace the questions.

"The favor I have to ask you is, as far as your minutes or documents or recollections may enable you, to fill up the blanks of the questions in the enclosed list. I received your favor in answer to my question concerning Colonel Hamilton's plan, for which I pray you to accept my thanks, and add at the same time the renewed tender of my perfect respect and attachment."

J. Q. Adams to Madison.

"WASHINGTON, 21 June, 1820.

"I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter of the 13th instant. The error in the printed Journal of the Convention by which the motion on the 7th Sept. for the establishment of a Council of State is ascribed to you, is in the original list of ayes and noes, taken at the time by the Secretary, who probably in the hurry of writing made the mistake which you suggest of your name instead of that of Mr. Mason.*

"I am apprehensive that upon examination of the volume you will find many other errors and inaccuracies, some of which may be traceable to the same source as this, and the others to the imperfections of all the assiduity with which it was my intention to exhibit all the evidence that did exist at this Department of the proceedings of the Convention. If without intruding too much on your leisure, I could take the liberty of requesting, that you would take the trouble to examine the volume throughout, and to minute all the passages which your recollection or your notes would detect are errors, it would confer a new and valuable obligation upon and might enable to correct hereafter the misapprehensions which may have crept into the compilation from the manner in which the materials for it were necessarily collected and arranged."

* Journal, p. 840, Sept. 7, 1787.—"It was moved by Mr. Madison, and seconded, to postpone the consideration of the fourth section of the report, in order to take up the following:

"That it be an instruction to the Committee of the States to prepare à clause or clauses for establishing an Executive Council, or a Council of State, for the President of the United States, to consist of six members, two of which from the Eastern, two from the Middle, and two from the Southern States, with a rotation and duration of office, similar to that of the Senate; such Council to be appointed by the Legislature or by the Senate.""

Yeas-Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia. Nays-Eight States.

THE HISTORY

OF THE

REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

FRANCE was all joyous at the restoration of peace. The burthens of the conflict were weighing heavily upon her impoverished treasury. Enough of glory had been gained. The nation's pulse was beating weakly. Prince and People were alike weary of the war, for England, though maimed for a time, was not "overthrown."

Enthusiastic pomp and festival proclaimed the conclusion of the comprehensive treaties of compensation.

A day of celebration being appointed, "the king-atarms and six heralds-at-arms, all attired in a garb not unlike that of the knave of diamonds, sallied forth on horseback, through the streets of Paris, preceded by the band of the king's stables, and by the Master of Ceremonies. The procession went first to take (by the special direction of the king) the Mayor of Paris, the City authorities, and the Judges of the Châtelet, whose chief had previously delivered to the king-at-arms the ordinance of peace, which was to be proclaimed.

VOL. III.-1

"All these corporations, formed in a body, repaired in succession to fourteen public squares, where the reading of the royal document took place, attended each time with these formalities.

"The Chevalier de la Haye, after having ordered three peals from his Majesty's bells-at-arms, thrice exclaimed, "In the name of the king," then added, “First herald-atarms of France, by the title of Burgundy, attend to the performance of the duties of your office." The official, thus bidden, received the ordinance from the hands of his chief, and read it aloud. The king-at-arms, after the conclusion of the reading, ordered three flourishes from the royal trumpeters; and then cried out three times, "Long live the king." About the middle of his stately march, the king-at-arms and his heralds, in conformity with a custom as ancient as it is peculiar, entered the convent of the Feuillants, whose monks had prepared a collation for those officials. The rest of the procession, being by the laws of etiquette excluded from the privilege of the feast, waited in the streets the return of the guests of the convent. The ceremony was concluded with a sumptuous supper at the City Hall, where every inhabitant of Paris was a welcome guest.

66

During this official promenade, the Peace was announced from the stage of the opera to a delighted audience."*

While France was thus jubilant, the British Parliament spoke the discontents of the people. By the opposition, the terms of the treaty were loudly condemned; and even its most powerful advocate, William Pitt, held language wounding to the pride of the nation. "To accept the treaty or to continue the war," he declared," was the only alternative in the power of ministers. Such was the ulti

* Oeil de Bœuf, ii. 291.