From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 3 December 1824
To Thomas Jefferson
Montpellier Decr. 3. 1824
Dear Sir,
I return the letters from Mr. Gilmer inclosed in yours of Novr. 30. His account of the engaged Professors is very encouraging. It is a happy circumstance that none of them are beyond the ages mentioned. They will be the less inflexible in their habits, the more improveable in their qualifications, and will last the lo⟨n⟩ger.1 It would seem that Gilmer’s mind leans now to the station he declined and that the immediate call on us is limited to the Botanical & Ethical Chairs. All that I have heard of Torrey is favorable. So also of Say. Of their comparative ages & incidental fitnesses, I know nothing. The greater difficulty is in finding a tenant for the other vacancy, & for the reason you mention. Of Mr. Terrill I know nothing but the slight hints from yourself. Mr. Preston I have not seen since his return from Europe, whither he went quite a youth. He is well spoken of as a promising genius adorned with noble sentiments. But of the precise character of his mind, and its acquirements I am uninformed. He is indeed young eno’ to learn; but is he not too young to meet the public expectation, unless marked out by a more appropriate and better known fitness. Coopers opinion would be valuable. How far have Judge Carr’s2 studies prepared or disposed him for the place in question? It could scarcely be hoped however that he would give up his present office. What are the collateral aptitudes of George Tucker, the member of Congress? I have never seen him, and can only judge of him by a volume of Miscellaneous Essays published not very long ago.3 They are written with acuteness & elegance, and indicate a capacity & taste for Philosophical Literature. No other names occur, even for consid⟨eration.⟩4 Affectionate respects
James Madison
RC (MHi); draft (DLC). RC damaged at fold; parts of words in angle brackets have been supplied from the draft. Minor differences between the copies have not been noted.
1. In the draft here, JM first wrote then canceled: “Whether English or American wives are preferable, may be a question. With individual merits entirely equal, the latter would have some obvious advantages.”
2. Dabney Carr (1773–1837), a nephew of Thomas Jefferson, was an Albemarle County lawyer from 1796 and commonwealth’s attorney, 1801–11. In 1812 he was elected judge of the Winchester district court of chancery, and in 1824 he was appointed judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia (Kneebone et al., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, 3:27). When Jefferson was in France in the 1780s, he charged JM with the supervision of Carr’s education (see Martha Jefferson Carr to JM, 21 Aug. 1786, and JM to Jefferson, 15 Feb. 1787, , 9:108–9 and n. 1, 267–70 and n. 5).
3. For George Tucker’s book of essays, see his letter to JM, 16 May 1822, , 2:524, 525 n. 1.
4. Here in the draft, JM first wrote then canceled: “In the Eastern States this branch of Science has been much cultivated, but for the most part as interwoven with Theology. It is possible that Cambridge may in some instances have separated them.”