The writings of James Madison, comprising his public papers and his private correspondence, including numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed. |
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MONDAY, JANY. 6TH. |
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 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
MONDAY, JANY. 6TH.
The Memorial from the Army was laid before Congress and referred
to a grand Committee. This reference was intended as a
mark of the important light in which the memorial was viewed.[25]
Mr. Berkley having represented some inconveniences incident
to the plan of a Consular Convention between France & U. S.,
particularly the restriction of Consuls from trading & his letter
having been committed, a report was made purposing that the
Convention should for the present be suspended. To this it had
been objected that as the convention might already be concluded
such a step was improper; and as the end might be obtained by
authorizing the Minister at Versailles to propose particular alterations
moved that the report should be postponed to make place for the
consideration of an instruction & authority to the sd. Minister for
that purpose; and this motion had in consequence been brought
before Congress. On this day the business revived. The sentiments
of the members were various, some wishing to suspend such
part of the convention only as excluded Consuls from commerce;
others thought this exclusion too important to be even suspended;
others again thought the whole ought to be suspended during the
war; & others lastly contended that the whole ought to be new
modelled; the Consuls having too many privileges in some respects,
& too little power in others. It was observable that this
diversity of opinions prevailed chiefly among the members who
had come in since the Convention had been passed in Congress;
the members originally present adhering to the views which then
governed them. The subject was finally postponed; 8 States
only being represented, & 9 being requisite for such a question.
Even to have suspended the convention after it had been proposed
to the Court of France, & possibly acceded to would have
been indecent and dishonorable; and at a juncture when G. B.
was courting a commercial intimacy, to the probable uneasiness of
France, of very mischievous tendency. But experience constantly
teaches that new members of a public body do not feel the necessary
respect or responsibility for the acts of their predecessors, and
that a change of members & of circumstances often proves fatal to
consistency and stability of public measures. Some conversation
in private by the old members with the most judicious of the new
in this instance has abated the fondness of the latter for innovations,
and it is even problematical whether they will be again urged.
In the evening of this day the grand Committee met and agreed
to meet again the succeeding evening for the purpose of a conference
with the Superintendt. of Finance.
"The deputation from the army, which arrived here a few days ago, have
laid their grievances before Congress. They consist of sundry articles, the capital
of which are, a defect of an immediate payment, and of satisfactory provision
for completing the work hereafter. How either of these objects can be
accomplished, and what will be the consequence of failure, I must leave to
your own surmises. I wish the disquietude excited by the prospect, was the exclusive
portion of those who impede the measures calculated for redressing complaints
against the justice and gratitude of the public.
"The Resolution of the House of Delegates against restitution of confiscated
effects is subject to the remark you make. The preliminary requisition of an
acknowledgment of our independence, in the most ample manner, seems to be
still more incautious, since it disaccords with the Treaty of Alliance which admits
the sufficiency of a tacit acknowledgment." Madison to Edmund Randolph,
Jany. 7, 1783. From the Madison Papers (1840).
| The writings of James Madison, | |