a little better and happier because he has lived in it.
"Mr. Madison, I think," says Paul Jennings, 66 was one of the best men that ever lived." This is the testimony of an intelligent man whose opportunities of knowing the personal qualities of him of whom he was speaking were more intimate than those of any other person could be except Mrs. Madison. "He was guilty," says Hildreth, "of the greatest political wrong and crime which it is possible for the head of a nation to commit." One saw the private gentleman, always conscientious and considerate in his personal relations to other men; the other judged the public man, moved by ambition, entangled in party ties and supposed party obligations, his moral sense blinded by the necessities of political compromises to reach party ends. It is not impossible to strike a just balance between these opposing estimates, though one is that of a servant, the other that of a learned and judicious historian.
Mr. Madison left a legacy of "Advice to My Country," to be read after his death and to "be considered as issuing from the tomb, where truth alone can be respected, and the happiness of man alone consulted." It is the lesson of his life, as he wished his countrymen to understand it. "The advice," he said, "nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is, that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated. Let the open enemy
to it be regarded as a Pandora with her box opened, and the disguised one as the serpent creeping with his deadly wiles into Paradise." The thoughtful reader, as he turns to the first page of this volume to recall the date of Mr. Madison's death, will hardly fail to note how few the years were before these open and disguised enemies, against whom he warned his countrymen, were found only in that party which he had done so much, from the time of the adoption of the Constitution, to keep in power.
ADAMS, JOHN, on presidential titles,
129, 131; his administration, 240.
Adams, J. Q., memoir of Madison, 1,
2; opinion of Jefferson, 254.
Alien and Sedition Laws, 240, 250.
Ames, Fisher, on the slave-trade, 137;
on site of Federal capital, 147; on
a United States bank, 170; the ap-
peals to the Constitution, 182, note;
opinion of Madison, 200.
Annapolis, first convention at, 61;
second convention at, 64, 88.
Bank, United States, 170; speculation
in stock of, 186.
Barbary States, war with, 262.
Barlow, Joel, minister to France, ap-
peal to Duke of Bassano, 318.
Barron, Commodore, of frigate Chesa-
peake, 275.
Bassano, Duke of, announces repeal
of decrees, 317.
Bayonne, decree issued at, 281.
Berlin decree issued, 277; informal
repeal of, 316: final repeal of, 316.
Breckenridge, offers resolutions in
Kentucky legislature in 1799, 249.
Bonaparte. See Napoleon.
Butler, Peirce, proposes fugitive slave
clause in Federal Constitution, 111.
Calhoun, John C., in Congress, 304.
Canning, George, repudiates Erskine's
treaty, 284.
Capital, site of the, discussed, 128,
146; the bargain for, 149, 159.
Champagny, French minister, infor-
mal revocation of Berlin and Milan
decrees, 294.
Chesapeake, frigate, attacked by the
Leopard, man-of-war, 275; proposed
settlement of the case of, by Er-
skine, 385.
Clay, Henry, in Congress, 304; his
proposal to take Canada, 305.
Clinton, De Witt, a candidate for
presidential nomination, 308.
Cockburn, Admiral, in Washington,
328.
Commerce of the United States, 264
et seq.
Compromises of the Constitution, 98,
110.
Congress, meeting of the First, under
the Federal Constitution, 128.
Constitution, the, 112; adoption of,
115 et seq.; in New Hampshire
and Virginia, 120.
Constitutional Convention, 88; de-
bates in the, 115 et seq.; character
of the, 112.
Craig, Sir John, and John Henry, 310
et seq.
Curtis, George T., History of the Con-
stitution, 98.
Debt, public, the, 22, 29, 152 et seq.
Dexter, Samuel, estimate of New Eng-
land people, 217.
Disunion, frequent threats of, 31, 313.
Draper, Lyman C., correspondence
with Madison, 4, 5, 6.
Duties. See Tariff.
Ellsworth, Oliver, Member of Con-
gress, 31; on slavery, 106, 107.
Embargo, the, 264; repealed, 286.
Essex Junto, 312, 314.
Federal Government, organization of
the, under the Constitution, 128,
143.
Federalists, origin of the name of the,
90.
Federalist, The, writers of, 116.
Floyd, Catherine, affianced to Madi-
son, 43.
France, payments to, 201; Revolu-
tion in, 202; declares war against
England, 203; influence of revolu-
tionary ideas of, in the United
States, 216.
Franklin, Benjamin, on slavery, 160.
Freneau, Philip, 176 et seq.; Wash-
ington's opinion of, 214.
Friends, petitions of the Society of,
for abolition of slavery, 160; de-
nounced in Congress, 166.
Gallatin, Albert, fears of effect of laws
against aliens, 243; Secretary of
the Treasury, 286.
Genet, G. C., received as minister
from France, 208; his recall pro-
posed, 218.
Gerry, Elbridge, on slavery, 167.
Giles, W. B., attack on Hamilton,
197.
Great Britain, non- observance of
treaty of 1783, 64; tonnage duties
of ships of, 141; war with France,
203; Jay's treaty with, 220; trade
with, 264; Monroe-Pinkney treaty
with, 273; orders in council, 277;
war declared against, by United
States, 307; repeals orders in coun-
cil, 319; peace, 1814, 331.
Hamilton, Alexander, in Congress, 31;
on right of taxation, 37; on basis
of representation, 98; report of, as
Secretary of State in 1790, 151; dif-
ference with Madison, 170, 190; at-
tacked by the Republicans, 193;
letter to Washington, 196.
Hartford Convention, 323.
Henry, John, 309 et seq.
Henry, Patrick, opposes the adoption
of the Constitution, 117; opposed
to Madison and "Gerrymanders "
the State, 126.
Impressment of seamen, 229, 268, 272,
274, 275, 288.
Jackson, F. J., British minister, 289.
Jay, John, minister to Spain, 32, 34;
negotiations on the Mississippi ques-
tion, 82; negotiates treaty with
Great Britain, 220.
Jefferson, Thomas, on religious free-
dom, 68, note; on use of steam, 74;
his geological theory, 75; on Shays's
Rebellion, 78; letter to Washing-
ton on condition of affairs, 195; re-
lations with Washington, 214: Ken-
tucky resolutions of 1798-99, 246;
inauguration of, 252; inaugural
speech, 253; purchase of Louisiana,
258; rejects Monroe-Pinkney treaty,
274; names his successor to the
presidency, 283.
Jennings, Paul, on the capture of
Washington, 336.
Kentucky resolutions of 1798-99, 243
et seq.
Leopard, man-of-war, fight with the
Chesapeake, 275.
Lewis and Clarke Expedition, 260.
Library, Congressional, proposed by
Madison, 32.
Little Belt, sloop-of-war, fight with
the President, 301.
Livermore, Samuel, on slave-trade,
137.
Liverpool, Lord, ignorance of Henry,
312.
Louisiana, purchase of, 257.
Madison, James, birth and death, 1;
ancestry, 3 et seq.; education, 10;
on religious liberty, 13, 17, 66;
member of Committee of Safety, 16;
of Virginia Constitutional Conven-
tion, 16; of Assembly, 20; delegate
to Congress, 20; letter on public
affairs, 1789, 21; his faithfulness
and industry, 24; his pay, 25; in-
structed on the right to navigation
of the Mississippi, and on imposts,
34; position on public debt, 36,
154; and on taxation, 38; and on
basis of representation, 39; engaged
to be married, 43; elected to State
Assembly, 47; on national and state
commerce, 53; navigation of the
Potomac, 55; proposition to Mary-
land, 56; on state of commerce in
Virginia, 58; proposes a national
convention, 59; position on treaty
obligations, 65; his tastes and stud-
ies, 71; on steam-power, 73; pre-
historic relics in Virginia, 74; on
necessity of union of the States, 77,
79, 314, 336; course on the Missis-
sippi question and National Conven-
tion in Virginia Assembly, 85;
"father of the Constitution," 88;
on slave representation, 98; differ-
ence between the North and the
South, 104; on slavery, 109, 162,
333; in the Constitutional Conven-
tion, 113; author of papers in "The
Federalist," 116; delegate to Con-
stitutional Convention of Virginia,
117 de Warville's sketch of him,
122; candidate for First Congress,
124; opposed by Patrick Henry,
126; on presidential title, 130; on
free trade, 132; on the slave-trade,
137; difference with Hamilton, 174;
changes his party, 181 et seq.; jour-
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