1To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 3 February 1815 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of the 28th. ult. with the approbation of the plan of my work, is peculiarly gratifying. From the concurring opinions of a number of my friends, I have reason to hope, that it will in some degree answer the purpose for which it was intended. I am fearful, however, the disorders of the Country have advanced beyond the power of remedy by reason or argument. The profligate & ambitious...
2To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 24 September 1812 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of the 19th. which I duly recd is before me. I am rejoiced that you, who have so much better opportunities than I have, feel so confident of a favourable issue of the present state of affairs. Altho’ your opinion has allayed my apprehensions in some degree, yet I cannot feel quite so sanguine as you are. I owe it to myself to explain one part of my letters, which you have...
3To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 16 November 1814 (Madison Papers)
The enclosed letter was written on the 30th. ult. I delayed sending it; for I clung to the lingering hope that we might escape the perdition that menaced us. But I now feel satisfied the hope is vain. We are gone past the power of redemption. No man ever laboured a cause with more solicitude & anxiety than I have done this one. Never were labours more unavailing. None of the human race,...
4To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 30 September 1814 (Madison Papers)
For five years & a half I unceasingly strove to induce you to adopt a plain, simple, salutary measure, which wd. have saved your country from external warfare—& from (what now impend) bankruptcy & civil war. Never was there a measure more unexceptionable, more indispensibly necessary, or more practicable. It was all in vain. The events I foresaw & foretold, have partly arrived, & the residue...
5To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 19 February 1814 (Madison Papers)
For five years I have been thoroughly & unalterably convinced that this Country was verging towards anarchy & civil war. And for those five years I have been ardently desirous of the adoption of means of prevention, simple, practicable, efficacious, & incapable of producing ill in any possible event. All my importunity—all my efforts have been in vain, although it required but a single...
6To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 30 October 1814 (Madison Papers)
With a heavy heart, I take up my pen to close a correspondence of nearly six years, which has cost me great uneasiness, & utterly disappointed all my expectations. Invested with the executive magistracy of the nation, it was your imperious & incumbent duty to watch over its safety, to guard it from danger, and to counteract any plots formed for its destruction. A conspiracy of the most...
7To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 12 August 1812 (Madison Papers)
I take up my pen once more, for probably the last time, on the subject of the present crisis. Many persons suppose that the determination to dissolve the Union, which has been formed by the leaders of the federal party in New England, has arisen from the measures of the last and present administration. It is an utter error, & a belief in it has a tendency to lead to ruinous results. To apply...
8To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 21 January 1813 (Madison Papers)
I hope & trust, you will believe that I sit down to trespass on you once more, with no small degree of diffidence & reluctance. There is so strong an appearance, at least, of presumption in an obscure individual obtruding his opinions, liable from his situation to great error, on a chief magistrate whose means of information are so much superior, that nothing short of the alarming explosion...
9To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 15 December 1813 (Madison Papers)
That I once more trespass on you, after the failure of all my former applications, will not, I hope, be ascribed to an incorrect or improper motive. It arises from an earnest solicitude for the preservation of the existing order of things—from an apprehension of imminent danger impending—& from a thorough conviction of the efficacy of the means I have pointed out. Never was there a stronger...
10To James Madison from Mathew Carey, 1 August 1812 (Madison Papers)
I have had considerable hesitation about a second trespass upon your time & attention. And nothing but the extreme delicacy & difficulty of the existing state of affairs wd. have induced me. The press, one of the greatest blessings of mankind, when properly conducted, has for four or five years been the greatest curse & scourge of this Country, particularly of the New England section of it....