From James Madison to Martin Van Buren, 21 February 1828
To Martin Van Buren
Montpellier Feby. 21. 1828
J. Madison, with his respects to Mr. Van Buren, thanks him for the copy of his Speech in behalf of the surviving Officers of the Revolutionary Army.1 They are very fortunate in having such able advocates. It is a painful reflection, that after all that can now be done, so much of the price of Independence, should be left for the pages of history as a charge against the justice & gratitude of the Nation.
RC (owned by Mr. and Mrs. Philip D. Sang, Chicago, Ill., 1958); draft (DLC). RC cover addressed by JM to “Mr. Van Buren Senate of the U. States Washington”; postmarked at Orange Court House, Virginia, 25 Feb.; docketed by Van Buren.
1. See Van Buren to JM, 13 Feb. 1828, in which Van Buren apparently enclosed “Speech of Mr. Van Buren, in the Senate of the United States, January 28, 1828, on the Bill for Granting Pensions to the Surviving Officers of the Revolutionary Army” (printed in William Emmons, comp. and ed., Biography of Martin Van Buren, Vice President of the United States: With an Appendix, Containing Selections from His Writings […], 2nd ed. [Washington, D.C., 1835], 77–119).