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 HENRY COLMAN. |
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 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
TO HENRY COLMAN.
Dr Sir I have read with pleasure the copy of
your Oration on the 4th of July, obligingly sent me,
and for which I beg you to accept my thanks.
With the merits which I have found in the Oration,
may I be permitted to notice a passage, which tho'
according with a language often held on the subject,
I cannot but regard as at variance with reality.
In doing Justice to the virtue and valour of the
revolutionary army, you add as a signal proof of the
former, their readiness in laying down their arms
at the triumphant close of the war, "when they had
the liberties of their Country within their grasp."
Is it a fact that they had the liberties of their
country within their grasp; that the troops then in
command, even if led on by their illustrious chief,
and backed by the apostates from the revolutionary
cause, could have brought under the Yoke the great
body of their fellow Citizens, most of them with
arms in their hands, no inconsiderable part fresh
from the use of them, all inspired with rage at the
head, but organized & animated by their local
Governments possessing the means of appealing to
their interests, as well as other motives, should such
an appeal be required?
I have always believed that if General Washington
had yielded to a usurping ambition, he would have
found an insuperable obstacle in the incorruptibility
of a sufficient portion of those under his command,
and that the exalted praise due to him & them, was
derived not from a forbearance to effect a revolution
within their power, but from a love of liberty and of
country which there was abundant reason to believe,
no facility of success could have seduced. I am not
less sure that General Washington would have
spurned a sceptre if within his grasp, than I am that
it was out of his reach, if he had secretly sighed for it.
It must be recollected also that the practicability of
a successful usurpation by the army cannot well
be admitted, without implying a folly or pusillanimity
reproachful to the American character, and
without casting some shade on the vital principle of
popular Government itself.
If I have taken an undue liberty in these remarks,
I have a pledge in the candour of which you have
given proofs, that they will be pardoned, and that
they will not be deemed, inconsistent with the esteem
and cordial respect, which I pray you to accept.
| The writings of James Madison, | |