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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TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. |
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 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Dear Sir—I have duly received yours of the 6th,
with the letters of Mr. Cabell, Mr. Gerry, and Judge
Johnson. The letter from Mr. C. proposing an
Extra Meeting of the Visitors, & referred to in yours
was not sent, and of course is not among those
returned.
The friends of the University in the Assembly
seem to have a delicate task on their hands. They
have the best means of knowing what is best to be
as well as their good intentions. The idea
of Mr. Cabell, if successful will close the business
handsomely. One of the most popular objections
to the Institution, I find is the expence added by
what is called the ornamental style of the Architecture.
Were this additional expence as great as
is supposed, the objection ought the less to be
regarded as it is short of the sum saved to the public
by the private subscribers who approve of such an
application of their subscriptions. I shall not fail
to join you on receiving the expected notice from
Mr. Cabell, if the weather & my health will permit;
but I am persuaded it will be a supernumerary
attendance, if the money be obtained, and the sole
question be on its application to the new Edifice.
The two letters from Mr. Gerry are valuable
documents on a subject that will fill some interesting
pages in our history. The disposition of a party
among us to find a cause of rupture with France,
and to kindle a popular flame for the occasion, will
go to posterity with too many proofs to leave a doubt
with them. I have not looked over Mr. Gerry's
letters to me which are very numerous, but may
be of dates not connected with the period in question.[39]
No resort has been had to them for materials
his correspondence with me may contain nothing
of importance or possibly from a displeasure in the
family at my disappointing the expectations of two
of them. Mr. Austen the son in law, was anxious
to be made Comptroller instead of Anderson, who
had been a Revolutionary officer, a Judge in Tennessee,
and a Senator from that State in Congress;
and with equal pretentions only had in his scale
the turning weight of being from the West, which
considers itself without a fair proportion of National
appointments. Mr. Austen I believe a man of very
respectable talents, & had erroneously inferred from
Mr. Gerry's communications, that I was under a
pledge to name him for the vacancy when it should
happen. Thinking himself thus doubly entitled
to the office, his alienation has been the more decided.
With every predisposition in favor of young
Gerry, he was represented to me from the most
friendly quarters as such a dolt, that if his youth
could have been got over, it was impossible to
prefer him to the place (in the Customs) to which
he aspired. I believe that some peculiarities in his
manner led to an exaggeration of his deficiencies
and that he acquits himself well eno' in the subordinate
place he now holds.
Judge Johnson's letter was well entitled to the
perusal you recommended. I am glad you have
course that ought to be pursued by the Court in
delivering its opinions.[40] I have taken frequent
occasions to impress the necessity of the seriatim
mode; but the contrary practice is too deeply rooted
to be changed without the injunction of a law, or
some very cogent manifestation of the public discontent.
I have long thought with the Judge also
that the Supreme Court ought to be relieved from
its circuit duties, by some such organization as he
suggests. The necessity of it is now rendered
obvious by the impossibility, in the same individual,
of being a circuit Judge in Missouri &c, and a Judge
of the supreme Court at the seat of Government.
He is under a mistake in charging, on the Executive
Washington I recommended to Congress the importance
of establishing the Supreme Court at the
seat of Govt., which would at once enable the Judges
to go thro' the business, & to qualify themselves by
the necessary studies for doing so, with justice to
themselves & credit to the Nation. The reduction
of the number of Judges would also be an improvement
& might be conveniently effected in the way
pointed out. It cannot be denied that there are
advantages in uniting the local & general functions
in the same persons if permitted by the extent of
the Country. But if this were ever the case, our
expanding settlements put an end to it. The
organization of the Judiciary Department over the
extent which a Federal system can reach involves
peculiar difficulties. There is scarcely a limit to the
distance which Turnpikes & steamboats may, at
the public expence, convey the members of the
Govt. & distribute the laws. But the delays &
expence of suits brought from the extremities of
the Empire, must be a severe burden on individuals.
And in proportion as this is diminished by giving
to local Tribunals a final jurisdiction, the evil is
incurred of destroying the uniformity of the law.
I hope you will find an occasion for correcting the
error of the Judge in supposing that I am at work
on the same ground as will be occupied by his
historical view of parties, and for animating him
to the completion of what he has begun on that
subject. Nothing less than full-length likenesses
National politics will sufficiently expose the deceptive
colours under which they have been painted. It
appears that he has already collected materials,
& I infer from your acct. of his biography of Green
which I have not yet seen, that he is capable of
making the proper use of them.[41] A good work on
the side of truth, from his pen will be an apt &
effective antidote to that of his Colleague which has
been poisoning the Public mind, & gaining a passport
to posterity.
I was afraid the Docr. was too sanguine in promising
so early a cure of the fracture in your arm.
The milder weather soon to be looked for, will
doubtless favor the vis medicatrix which nature
employs in repairing the injuries done her.
On February 14, 1815, James T. Austin applied to Madison for
the appointment of Comptroller of the Treasury.—Mad. MSS. Austin's
Life of Elbridge Gerry appeared in 1828–29. January 22, 1832,
he wrote to Madison for information concerning Gerry's services in
the Constitutional Convention for use in a revised edition of his book,
which, however, never was published. Elbridge Gerry, Jr., wrote
to Madison December 4, 1814, saying his father had impoverished
himself and his family by his public services, and asked for an office.
—Mad. MSS.
See Jefferson's letter in Writings (P. L. Ford), xii., p. 274. Judge
William Johnson wrote to Jefferson Dec. 10, 1822, from Charleston:
"When I was on our State bench I was accustomed to delivering seriatim
opinions in our appellate Court, and was not a little surprised
to find our Chief-Justice in the Supreme Court delivering all the
opinions in cases in which he sat, even in some Instances when contrary
to his own Judgment & vote. But I remonstrated in vain; the answer
was, he is willing to take the Trouble, & it is a Mark of Respect to him.
I soon, however, found out the real cause. Cushing was incompetent,
Chase could not be got to think or write, Patterson was a slow man &
willingly declined the Trouble, & the other two Judges [Marshall and
Bushrod Washington] you know are commonly estimated as one
Judge." He had succeeded in getting the court to appoint some
one to deliver the opinion of the majority and leave it to the minority's
discretion to record its opinion or not. The real trouble was that
the court was too numerous. "Among seven men," he said, "you
will always find at least one intriguer, and probably more than one
who may be acted upon only by intrigue." Four judges were enough.
He would have the country divided into a Southern, a Western, a
Middle, and an Eastern division and a judge appointed from each.—
Jefferson MSS.
| The writings of James Madison, | |