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1Author:  Madison James 1751-1836Add
 Title:  The Writings of James Madison  
 Published:  2003 
 Subjects:  University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text 
 Description: Rev Sir—I am not a little affected at hearing of your misfortune, but cannot but hope the cure may be so far accomplished as to render your journey not inconvenient. Your kind Advice & friendly cautions are a favour that shall be always gratefully remembered, & I must beg leave to assure you that my happiness, which you and your brother so ardently wish for, will be greatly augmented by both your enjoyments of the like blessing. SIR,—The complexion of the intelligence received of late from Spain, with the manner of thinking which begins to prevail in Congress with regard to the claims to the navigation of the Mississippi, makes it our duty to apply to our constituents for their precise, full and ultimate sense on this point. If Spain should make a relinquishment of the navigation of that river on the part of the United States an indispensable condition of an alliance with them, and the State of Virginia should adhere to their former determination to insist on the right of navigation, their delegates ought to be so instructed, not only for their own satisfaction, but that they may the more effectually obviate arguments drawn from a supposition that the change of circumstances, which has taken place since the former instructions were given, may have changed the opinion of Virginia with regard to the object of them. If, on the other side, any such change of opinion should have happened, and it is now the sense of the State that an alliance with Spain ought to be purchased even at the price of such a cession if it can not be obtained on better terms, it is evidently necessary that we should be authorized to concur in it.—It will also be expedient for the Legislature to instruct us in the most explicit terms whether any and what extent of territory on the East side of the Mississippi and within the limits of Virginia, is in any event to be yielded to Spain as the price of an alliance with her.—Lastly, it is our earnest wish to know what steps it is the pleasure of our Constituents we should take, in case we should be instructed in no event to concede the claims of Virginia either to territory or to the navigation of the above-mentioned river, and Congress should without their concurrence agree to such concession. . . . . . . . . . . "My Dear Sir,—Since my last the Danae a French frigate has arrived from France with money for the French army and public despatches. A snow storm drove her on shore in this Bay where she was in danger of following the fate of one of the last Frigates from France. The accident as it turned out only cost her all her masts. The despatches for Congress are from Mr. Franklin, Mr. Jay, & the Marquis de la Fayette, and come down to the 14th. of Octr. They advise that the 1st. Commission issued to Mr. Oswald empowered him to treat with certain colonies &c., which being objected, another issued explicitly empowering him to Treat with commisrs from the thirteen United States. The latter, of which a copy was inclosed, and which will be transmitted to the Executives, is grounded on the Act of Parliament, but is to continue in force no longer than July 1783. It is no doubt on the whole a source of very soothing expectations, but if we view on one side the instability & insidiousness of the British Cabinet, and, on the other the complication of interest and pretensions among the Allies, prudence calls upon us to temper our expectations with much distrust. "Your favor of the 13th. instant arrived a few minutes after I sealed my last. That of the 20th. came duly to hand yesterday. The sensations excited in Mr. Jones and myself by the Repeal of the law in favor of the Impost were such as you anticipated. Previously to the receipt of your information a letter from Mr. Pendleton to me had suspended the progress of the Deputies to Rhode Island. Yours put an entire stop to the mission, until the plan or some other can be extended to the case of Virga. The letter from the Govr., of the same date with your last, gives a hope that our representations may regain her support to the impost without further steps from Congress. Your doubt as to her power of revoking her accession would, I think have been better founded, if she had not been virtually absolved by the definite rejection of Rho: Island; altho' that rejection ought perhaps have been previously authenticated to her. I beg you to be circumstantial on this subject especially as to the parties and motives which led to the repeal, and may oppose a reconsideration. After a silence of 4 weeks your favor of the 26 Ult, was particularly welcome. Your conjecture was but too well founded as to the compiler of the Proclamation. The offensive passages were adverted to by some, but the general eagerness on the occasion, increased by some unavoidable delays, rendered all attempts to draw the attention of Congress to smaller inaccuracies unacceptable. Your favor of the 21. Ult: written at Col: Pendleton's was brought to hand by the Post of last week Col: Floyd's family did not set out until the day after it was received. I accompanied them as far as Brunswick, about 60 miles from this and returned hither on friday evening. . . . Congress have recd a long and curious letter from Mr. Adams, dated in Feb. addressed to the president not to the Secretary for foreign affairs. He animadverts on the revocation of his commn for a treaty of commerce with great Britain presses the appointment of a minister to that Court with such a commn draws the picture of a fit character in which his own likeness is rediculously & palpably studied finally praising and recommending Mr Jay for the appointment provided injustice must be done an older servant. Marbois lately took occasion in our family to complain of ungenerous proceedings of the British against individuals, as well as against their enemies at large, and finally signified that he was no stranger to the letter transmitted to Congress which he roundly averred to be spurious. His information came from Boston, where the incident is said to be no secret; but whether it be the echo of letters from Philada. or has transpired from the correspondence of Mr. Adams to his private friends is uncertain. This conversation passed during my absence in new Jersey, but was related to me by Mr. Carroll. Your favour of the 9th inst. was duly brought by yesterday's Mail. My impatience is great to know the reception given to the propositions of Congress by the Assembly. I foresaw some of the topics which are employed against them, & I dread their effect from the eloquent mouths which will probably enforce them; but I do not despair. Until those who oppose the plan, can substitute some other equally consistent with public justice & honor, and more conformable to the doctrines of the Confederation, all those who love justice and aim at the public good will be advocates for the plan. The greatest danger is to be apprehended from the difficulty of making the latter class sensible of the impracticability or incompetency of any plan short of the one recommended; the arguments necessary for that purpose being drawn from a general survey of the federal system, and not from the interior polity of the States singly.
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