sorrow occasioned by our irretrievable loss (expressed through their supreme authorities and otherwise) are the only solace of which my heart is susceptible, on the departure of him who had never lost sight of that consistency, symmetry and beauty of character in all its parts, which secured to him the love and admiration of his country, and which must ever be the subject of peculiar and tender reverence to one whose happiness was derived from their daily and constant exercise.

"The best return I can make for the sympathy of my country is to fulfil the sacred trust his confidence reposed in methat of placing before it and the world what his pen prepared for their use-a legacy the importance of which is deeply impressed on my mind.

"With great respect,

"To the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES."

"D. P. MADISON.

On the 15th November following, Mrs. MADISON addressed the following letter to the President:

"Montpelier, November 15, 1836. "SIR: The will of my late husband, JAMES MADISON, contains the following provision:

"Considering the peculiarity and magnitude of the occasion which produced the Convention at Philadelphia, in 1787, the characters who composed it, the Constitution which resulted from their deliberations, its effects during a trial of so many years on the prosperity of the people living under it, and the interest it has inspired among the friends of free government, it is not an unreasonable inference that a careful and extended report of the proceedings and discussions of that body, which were with closed doors, by a member who was constant in his attendance, will be particularly gratifying to the people of the

United States, and to all who take an interest in the progress of political science and the cause of true liberty.'

"This provision bears evidence of the value he set on his Report of the Debates in the Convention, and he has charged legacies on them alone to the amount of twelve hundred dollars for the benefit of literary institutions and for benevolent purposes, leaving the residuary net proceeds for the use of his

widow.

"In a paper written by him, and which it is proposed to annex as a preface to the Debates, he traces the formation of confederacies and of the Articles of Confederation; its defects which caused and the steps that led to the Convention; his reasons for taking the Debates and the manner in which he executed the task; and his opinion of the framers of the Constitution. From this I extract his description of the manner in which they were taken, as it guarantees their fullness and accuracy.

"In pursuance of the task I had assumed, I chose a seat in front of the presiding member, with the other members on my right and left hands. In this favorable position for hearing all that passed, I noted down, in terms legible, and in abbreviations and marks intelligible to myself, what was read to the chair or spoken by the members; and losing not a moment unnecessarily between the adjournment and re-assembling of the convention, I was enabled to write out my daily notes during the session, or within a few finishing days after its close, in the extent and form preserved in my own hand on my files.

"In the labor and correctness of this, I was not a little aided by practice, and by a familiarity with the style and the train of observation and reasoning which characterized the principal speakers. It happened also that I was not absent a single day, nor more than the casual fraction of an hour in any day, so

that I could not have lost a single speech, unless a very short one.'

"However prevailing the restraint which veiled, during the life of Mr. MADISON, this record of the creation of our Constitution, the grave which has closed over all those who participated in its formation, has separated their acts from all that is personal to him or to them. His anxiety for their early publicity after this was removed, may be inferred from his having. them transcribed and revised by himself; and, it may be added, the known wishes of his illustrious friend Thomas Jefferson, and other distinguished patriots, the important light they would shed for present as well as future usefulness, besides my desire to fulfil the pecuniary obligations imposed by his will, urged their appearance without awaiting the preparation of his other works; and early measures were accordingly adopted by me to ascertain from publishers, in various parts of the Union, the terms on which their publication could be effected.

"It was also intended to publish, with these Debates, those taken by him in the Congress of the Confederation, in 1782, '3, and '7, of which he was then a member, and selections made by himself, and prepared under his eye, from his letters narrating the proceedings of that body during the periods of his service in it, prefixing the Debates in 1776 on the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, so as to embody all the memorials in that shape known to exist. This exposé of the situation of the country under the Confederation, and the defects of the old system of government, evidenced in the proceedings under it, seems to convey such preceding information as should accompany the Debates on the formation of the Constitution by which it was superseded.

"The proposals which have been received, so far from cor

responding with the expectations of Mr. Madison when he charged the first of these works with those legacies, have evidenced that their publication could not be engaged in by me, without advances of funds and involving of risks, which I am not in a situation to make or incur.

"Under these circumstances, I have been induced to submit for your consideration, whether the publication of these Debates be a matter of sufficient interest to the people of the United States to deserve to be brought to the notice of Congress. And should such be the estimation of the utility of these works by the representatives of the nation, as to induce them to relieve me individually from the obstacles which impede it, their general circulation will be insured, and the people be remunerated by its more economical distribution among them. "With high respect and consideration,

"To the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES."

"D. P. MADISON.

On the 8th December, immediately after the meeting of Congress, the President transmitted the preceding correspondence to the Senate and House of Representatives with the following message:

"WASHINGTON, December 6, 1836.

"To the Senate and House of Representatives:

"I transmit herewith to Congress, copies of my correspondence with Mrs. MADISON, produced by the resolution adopted at the last session by the Senate and House of Representatives, on the decease of her venerated husband. The occasion seems to be appropriate to present a letter from her on the subject of the publication of a work of great political interest and ability, carefully prepared by Mr. MADISON'S Own hand, under circumstances that give it claims to be considered as little less than official.

B

"Congress has already, at considerable expense, published, in a variety of forms, the naked journals of the Revolutionary Congress, and of the Convention that formed the Constitution of the United States. I am persuaded that the work of Mr. MADISON, considering the author, the subject matter of it, and the circumstances under which it was prepared-long withheld from the public, as it has been, by those motives of personal kindness and delicacy that gave tone to his intercourse with his fellow-men, until he and all who had been participators with him in the scenes he describes have passed away-well deserves to become the property of the nation, and cannot fail, if published and disseminated at the public charge, to confer the most important of all benefits on the present and succeeding generations, accurate knowledge of the principles of their Government, and the circumstances under which they were recommended and embodied in the constitution, for adoption. "ANDREW JACKSON."

The message of the President was referred to the Joint Library Committee, who, on the 24th January, 1837, reported a resolution authorizing that committee "to contract for and purchase, at the sum of thirty thousand dollars, the manuscripts of the late Mr. MADISON, referred to in the letter from Mrs. MADISON to the President, dated 15th November, 1836, and communicated in his message of the 6th December; conceding to Mrs. MADISON the right to use copies of the said manuscripts in foreign countries, as she might think fit."

In the Senate, on the 18th February, Mr. ROBBINS of Rhode Island advocated the passage of the resolution in the following remarks:

"I consider this work of Mr. MADISON, now proposed to be given to the world under the patronage of this Government, as the most valuable one to mankind that has appeared since the