Part 18

In March, 1813, soon after the commencement of hostilities, the Russian minister to the United States communicated to the American government a proposal from the Emperor Alexander to mediate between the belligerents. The proposition was accepted, and the president appointed commissioners to go to St. Petersburg to negotiate under the mediation of the emperor. Great Britain declined the Russian mediation in September; but in November the American government was informed that that power was prepared to negotiate the terms of a treaty of peace.

Steps were at once taken to meet this proposal. Mr. Clay and Mr. Russell were added to the commission previously appointed, and in January, 1814, joined their associates in Europe. In August of the same year the country was deeply aroused by the attack on the capitol. A British force of 5,000 men ascended the Chesapeake, landed on the shores of the Patuxent, and marched on Washington. The few troops hastily collected were wholly unable to offer any effective resistance and retired before the enemy, who proceeded to the city, burned the capitol, the president's house, and other public buildings, and returned without loss to their ships. The president and several members of his cabinet were in the American camp, but were compelled to abandon the city in order to avoid capture.

The enemy gained little by their movement, and the wanton outrage only increased the bitterness of the people. Among the public occurrences of the year 1814, the meeting of the Hartford convention, in opposition to the continuance of the war, occupies a prominent place. The victory at New Orleans, however, and the intelligence of the conclusion of the treaty of peace, terminated the popular indignation. A treaty of peace had been signed by the United States commissioners at Ghent, on December 4, 1814, and being communicated by the president to the senate, was ratified by that body in February, 1815.

It was silent on the paramount question of impressment, and left the commercial regulations between the two countries for subsequent negotiation. But the country was tired of the war, and the treaty was hailed with acclamation. In this general joy no one person joined more heartily than did Madison. He had acquiesced reluctantly to the commencement of hostilities, and had longed for peace since the beginning. The country came out of a war, which cost her 30,000 lives and $1,000,000, stronger and more honored than before; thoroughly convinced of her own power and resources, and regarded with increased respect by all the nations of the world.

In 1815 a commercial treaty was concluded with Great Britain based upon a policy of perfect reciprocity. The subjects of impressment and blockades were not embraced in it. The return of peace disbanded the organized opposition to the administration, and the remainder of Madison's term was undisturbed by exciting events.

In April, 1816, congress incorporated a national bank with a capital of $35,000,000, to continue for twenty years. The president had vetoed a similar bill in January of the preceding year, but now approved of it, from a conviction that the derangement of the currency made it necessary. It encountered strong opposition, but was supported by Henry Clay and other friends of the president, and passed both houses.

In December, 1816, Madison sent in his last annual message to congress. Its recommendations were considered judicious and liberal, and secured the general approbation of the country.

On March 4, 1817, his long official relations with the country terminated, and he retired to his farm at Montpelier, Virginia. In this pleasant retreat he passed the remainder of his days in agricultural pursuits. Like most of our famous men, his matrimonial connection was a source of great advantage to him. During his later years, in spite of his ill-health, Madison still busied himself in service to his neighbors.

While at school, for MONTHS TOGETHER, he had slept but three hours out of the twenty-four. He was not an orator naturally; many others of his schoolmates, it is stated, were far superior to him in natural abilities. Why, then, did he succeed, while so many others failed? The strong feature whereby he won success was, like that of many others, his capacity for HARD WORK.

As to Madison's principles, it will be remembered that he was defeated in 1777, because he refused to treat the people to liquor. In 1829 he sat in the Virginia Convention to reform the old constitution. When he rose to utter a few words the members left their seats and crowded around the venerable figure dressed in black, with his thin gray hair powdered as in former times, to catch the low whisper of his voice. This was his last appearance in public.

If not endowed with the very first order of ability, Madison had trained his mind until it was symmetrical and vigorous. An unfailing accuracy and precision marked the operation of his faculties. He was naturally deficient in powers of oratory, and yet made himself one of the most effective speakers of his time, although the epoch was illustrated by such men in his own State as Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason and Edmund Pendleton, to say nothing of Jefferson and Monroe.

Jefferson's testimony on this point is strong: He says: "Mr. Madison came into the house in 1776, a new member, and young; which circumstances, concurring with his extreme modesty, prevented his venturing himself in debate before his removal to the council of state in November, 1777. Thence he went to Congress, then consisting of but few members. Trained in these successive schools, he acquired a habit of self-possession which placed at ready command the rich resources of his luminous mind, and of his extensive information, acquired by INTENSE application, which rendered him eventually the first of every assembly of which he afterward became a member."

"Never wandering from his subject into vain declamation, but pursuing it closely, in language pure, classical, and copious, always soothing the feelings of his adversaries by civilities and softness of expression. He steadily rose to the high station which he held in the great national convention of 1787. In that of Virginia which followed, he sustained the new constitution in all its parts, bearing off the palm against the logic of George Mason, and the burning eloquence of Mr. Henry. With these consummate powers was united a pure and spotless virtue which no calumny has ever attempted to sully."

From his earliest years he was an intense scholar. His memory was singularly tenacious, and what he clearly understood was ever afterward retained. He thus laid up that great store of learning which, in the conventions of 1787-8 especially proved so effective, and later made him president. After Washington, no public man of his time was more widely known or more highly loved and respected.

The public confidence in, and respect for his honesty and singleness of aim toward the good of the country ripened into an affectionate attachment. His bearing and address were characterized by simplicity and modesty. He resembled a quiet student, rather than the head of a great nation. He was a perfect gentleman.

At another time Jefferson said of him: "From three and thirty years' trial I can say conscientiously that I do not know IN THE WHOLE WORLD a man of purer integrity, more dispassionate, disinterested, and devoted to true republicanism; nor could I in the whole scope of America and Europe point out an abler head." What more could be said? O that we could have such a monument left to mark our memory.

JAMES MONROE.

The fifth president of the United States was a native of the grand Old Dominion, being born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, April 28, 1758. Like his predecessor, Madison, he was the son of a planter. Another strange incident:--Within sight of Blue Ridge in Virginia, lived three presidents of the United States, whose public career commenced in the revolutionary times and whose political faith was the same throughout a long series of years. These were Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe.

In early youthhood Monroe received a good education, but left school to join the army and soon after was commissioned a lieutenant. He took an active part in the campaign on the Hudson, and in the attack on Trenton, at the head of a small detachment, he captured one of the British batteries. On this occasion he received a ball in the shoulder, and was promoted to a captaincy. As aide-de-camp to Lord Sterling, with the rank of major, he served in the campaign of 1777 and 1778, and distinguished himself in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth.

Leaving the army, he returned to Virginia and commenced the study of law under Thomas Jefferson, then Governor of the State. When the British appeared soon afterward in the State, Monroe exerted himself to the utmost in organizing the militia of the lower counties; and when the enemy proceeded southward, Jefferson sent him as military commissioner to the army in South Carolina.

In 1782, he was elected to the assembly of Virginia from the county of King George, and was appointed by that body, although but twenty-three years of age, a member of the executive council. In 1783 he was chosen a delegate to congress for a period of three years, and took his seat on December 13th. Convinced that it was impossible to govern the people under the old articles of confederation, he advocated an extension of the powers of congress, and in 1785 moved to invest in that body power to regulate the trade between the States.

The resolution was referred to a committee of which he was chairman, and a report was made in favor of the measure. This led to the convention of Annapolis, and the subsequent adoption of the Federal Constitution. Monroe also exerted himself in devising a system for the settlement of the public lands, and was appointed a member of the committee to decide the boundary between Massachusetts and New York. He strongly opposed the relinquishment of the right to navigate the Mississippi river as demanded by Spain.

Once more we see the value of a proper and elevating marriage, as a feature in the success of our great men. In 1785 he married a daughter of Peter Kortright, a lady of refinement and culture. He, being inelligible for the next three years according to the laws, settled in Fredericksburg.

In 1787 he was re-elected to the general assembly, and in 1788 was chosen a delegate to the Virginia convention to decide upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution. He was one of the minority who opposed the instrument as submitted, being apprehensive that without amendment it would confer too much authority upon the general government. The course of the minority in Congress was approved by the great mass of the population of the Old Dominion, and Monroe was chosen United States Senator in 1790. In the Senate he became a strong representative of the anti-Federal party, and acted with it until his term expired in 1794.

In May of that year he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to France, and was received in Paris with enthusiastic demonstrations of respect. His marked exhibition of sympathy with the French Republic displeased the administration. John Jay had been sent to negotiate a treaty with England, and the course pursued by Monroe was considered injudicious, as tending to throw serious obstacles in the way of the proposed negotiations. On the conclusion of the treaty his alleged failure to present it in its true character to the French government excited anew the displeasure of the cabinet; and in August, 1796, he was recalled under an informal censure.

On his return to America he published a 'View of the conduct of the Executive in the Foreign Affairs of the United States,' which widened the breach between him and the administration, but socially Monroe remained upon good terms with both Washington and Jay.

He was Governor of Virginia from 1799 to 1802 and at the close of his term was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the French government to negotiate, in conjunction with the resident minister, Mr. Livingston, for the purchase of Louisiana, or a right of depot for the United States on the Mississippi. Within a fortnight after his arrival in Paris the ministers secured, for $15,000,000, the entire territory of Orleans and district of Louisiana.

In the same year he was commissioned Minister Plenipotentiary to England, and endeavored to conclude a convention for the protection of neutral rights, and against the impressment of seamen. In the midst of these negotiations he was directed to proceed to Madrid as Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to adjust the difficulties between the United States and Spain, in relation to the boundaries of the new purchase of Louisiana. In this he failed, and in 1806 he was recalled to England to act with Mr. Pickney in further negotiation for the protection of neutral rights. On the last day of that year a treaty was concluded, but because of the omission of any provision against the impressment of seamen, and its doubtfulness in relation to other leading points the president sent it back for revisal. All efforts to attain this failed and Monroe returned to America.