April 25th, Wednesday. Breakfast at Orange Court House. Rode thence to Mr. Madison’s, four miles distant, where I spent the day most agreeably. My principal object in visiting Mr. Madison was to converse on historical matters pertaining to General Washington and Revolutionary times. I found him affable, ready to converse, full of interesting facts, and communicative. A few particulars related by him will here be stated.

Not long before Hamilton’s death he gave Judge Benson a memorandum, in which the authors of the “Federalist” were mentioned by name, and each part assigned to its respective author. This was done in a loose manner, and was imperfect; that is, certain pieces were ascribed to Mr. Madison by name, and others to Mr. Jay, and the remainder he said were written by himself. The names in the edition of the “Federalist,” published in Hamilton’s works, are assigned in accordance with this memorandum. Mr. Madison afterwards corrected the mistake, and the octavo edition lately published, he says, is correct.1 He observed that, in the account of Mr. Jay in Delaplaine’s Repository,2 the circumstance is mentioned that one of the essays ascribed to Hamilton in the above-mentioned memorandum was written by Mr. Jay. The error in Hamilton was considered as an oversight by Mr. Madison. The following anecdote he also mentioned as a remarkable instance of the failure of memory:

It is well known that Hamilton inclined to a less democratical form of government than the one that was adopted, although he was a zealous friend of the Constitution in its present shape after it had received the sanction of the Convention. He considered it less perfect than it might have been, yet he thought it an immense improvement on the old confederation. He drew up a plan in accordance with his own views, which he put into the hands of Mr. Madison, who took a copy of it, and returned the original to the author, telling him at the same time that he had preserved a copy.3 Mr. Madison says he knew not Hamilton’s motive for doing this, unless it was for the purpose of securing a written record of his views, which might afford a ready confutation of any future false statements respecting them.

Some time after the Convention a report went abroad that Hamilton was in favor of a system approaching a monarchy, and particularly that he wished the President to be elected for life. Mr. Pickering wrote to Hamilton asking if this report was true; to which he replied in the negative, and added, moreover, that, so far from its being true, he proposed the presidential office to continue for three years only, as would be seen by his plan of a constitution put by him into the hands of Mr. Madison. Now it is remarkable that, on this very plan, the duration of the presidential office is fixed during good behavior. Mr. Madison expressed his belief very decidedly that this mistake arose from a want of recollection, for it was impossible that he should make the statement, and refer to the only source where it could be confuted, if he meant to deceive.

When Dr. Mason, of New York, was preparing to write a Life of Hamilton, he called on Mr. Madison, and inquired if a copy of Hamilton’s scheme of a Constitution had been preserved.4 He said that Hamilton kept his papers in a very loose state, and that the original containing his plan of a Constitution had either been destroyed or lost. On searching for his copy Mr. Madison could not find it for a long time, and he had nearly given it up as lost, when at length it came to light. He had a copy taken for Dr. Mason, but he afterwards learned that the original was found.

Mr. Giles impeached Hamilton for a misapplication of public money while he was Secretary of the Treasury.5 The matter was brought before Congress. Mr. Madison sustained Giles so far as to show that the Secretary of the Treasury had paid two millions of dollars in a manner not sanctioned by law, nor by the instructions of the President. It was supposed by some that the President had given secret instructions for this act, but no such intimation was made public by the proper authority. The subject became of a delicate nature, as possibly involving the private transactions of the President, and making him accessory to an irregular act of the secretary. When the vote was taken, however, the charge against Hamilton was not sustained by a majority, and Giles’ impeachment failed. Some persons were influenced, Mr. Madison supposes, by a feeling of delicacy towards General Washington, and others by the conviction that Hamilton was actuated by no improper intention, in whatever light the legality of the transaction might be regarded.

In the Convention Dr. Franklin seldom spoke. As he was too feeble to stand long at a time, his speeches were generally written. He would arise and ask the favor of one of his colleagues to read what he had written. Occasionally, however, he would make short extemporaneous speeches with great pertinency and effect.

It was customary in the Old Congress for the Secretary to read to the Congress assembled all the letters of our ministers in foreign countries. The letters of John Adams were not interesting to the members in general, because they contained much extraneous matter, discussions and speculations on government, and narratives of events abroad. He had a great deal of leisure, was fond of writing, and thus his letters became voluminous. But Mr. Madison thinks they would be very interesting for the mass of readers at the present day. Mr. Jay’s letters in the Congress were listened to with great eagerness, being generally short, and confined to the business of his mission, or to topics having some bearing on the temper of the Spanish government towards the United States. The hope of bringing Spain into a war against England, and to follow the example of France in regard to the American colonies, was also a source of peculiar interest, and opened the ears of Congress to everything that came from that quarter.

When Cornwallis was overrunning the Southern States, and the British seemed to be gaining an entire ascendency there, the members of Congress from those States began to be alarmed, and a project gradually gained ground among them for ceding the Mississippi to Spain, on condition of her taking part (an active part in America) in the war against England. At that time Mr. Madison and Mr. Bland were the only delegates present in Congress from Virginia. Mr. Bland was for the Southern project, and Mr. Madison against it. This latter gentleman, moreover, considered it not to be sanctioned by the instructions of the State to the delegates, and he prevailed on the friends of the measure to postpone acting on the subject till the Virginia legislature could be consulted. This was done; Virginia approved the plan, and instructed her delegates to promote its consummation. It was accordingly brought before Congress and adopted. Mr. Jay was instructed to make the overture to the Spanish government.

An error has crept into the history of this affair. It has gone out to the world that the scheme originated in the Virginia legislature, whereas it was never taken up there till attention had been called to it by Mr. Madison, as delegate in Congress from that State. He says the error arose from Mr. Thomson’s6 manner of keeping the journal. It was usual with him to note the substance of preliminary discussions on separate sheets of paper, and to enter results only on the regular journals, thus making the jejune compend which the journal now exhibits. So, in the present case, the first thing he entered on the journal was the report of the committee to whom was referred the address of Virginia to Congress respecting the cession of the Mississippi. Hence it has been erroneously understood that the project originated with that State. Mr. Madison says that he some years ago corrected this mistake by a full statement of facts, which he communicated to “Niles’ Register”;7 but historical writers still adhere to the first account.

Mr. Madison remarked, in connection with this anecdote, that he warmly advised Secretary Thomson to publish a selection from his separate papers by way of commentary on the journal as now printed. He had materials for a highly valuable work of this description. It was a strange whim in him to neglect this work, which nobody could execute but himself, and to devote many years of his life to a translation of the Septuagint, which thousands could have done better.

It was Mr. Madison’s custom, after he entered Congress, to take memoranda of the debates, rough sketches and copies of all the principal papers. The debates and proceedings of the Convention for adopting the Constitution he took much pains to record at the time, and has preserved the whole. Yates’ book he speaks of as extremely imperfect, the author having been absent a good deal of the time, and both he and Lansing strenuously opposed to the Constitution.

To show the extraordinary scarcity of articles of clothing during the Revolution, especially in Virginia, Mr. Madison related the following anecdote: He had previously been elected to the state legislature, but was left out at a recent election because he would not treat. The voters were not pleased with this departure from an old custom, and fancied they saw in it a higher spirit of independence than they were disposed to encourage in a young candidate for their favor. But he was soon appointed one of the Council, and his presence was required at Williamsburgh. While sitting one evening in the house of a friend in that place, his hat was stolen from the window seat in which it was left. He sent out for a new hat, but none could be found in all the shops of Williamsburgh, and he was actually obliged to keep within doors two days for the want of a hat. At last he obtained a second-hand one from a tailor, for which he paid an enormous price, and which gave him such an appearance when on his head, as to make him the amusement of his friends during the whole session.

Mr. Madison says his correspondence with Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Monroe is very voluminous, and particularly full while these gentlemen were in France. His letters to Governor Randolph, Mr. Pendleton, and many others are also numerous. He often wrote in haste, and seldom kept copies. He has lately been collecting his original letters, and taking copies of the most important. He never used a press for copying in the most busy periods of his life.

He thinks Judge Marshall’s “Life of Washington” highly respectable, as a specimen of historical composition, much more so than the critics have generally been inclined to allow. The fifth volume he deems quite inaccurate and ill-digested; and he feels qualified to speak with some confidence on the subject, as a large portion of the events recorded are those of which he had a personal knowledge. The bias of party feeling is obvious, and he believes Judge Marshall would write differently at the present day and with his present impressions.