To James Madison from Edmund Randolph, 26 April 1783
From Edmund Randolph
RC (LC: Madison Papers). Unsigned but in Randolph’s hand. Cover addressed by him to “The honble James Madison jr. esq of congress Philadelphia.” Docketed by JM, “Apl. 26. 1783.”
Richmond April 26. 1783.
My dear friend
For four weeks past I have been so hurried by the general court, that I have not had leisure to write a page, irrelative to law.1 Indeed the calmness of our times cuts off almost every thing worthy of communication.
Our assembly will be composed of good men in general. Mr. Thomson Mason, Colo. Nicholas, Colo. J. Taylor, Gen: Lawson, Mr. Wm. Nelson and several others who have either never been elected, or not lately, will take their seats.2 From the conversation of Mr. Jefferson I should hope for his return to the legislature; and it is certain, that Mr. Edw: Carter will disqualify himself in order to introduce him.3 The circulation of the proceedings of the army, has demonstrated the necessity of consigning to congress a fund, independent of the breath of individual states: and many of those, who at first were vehement, are reconciled to the expedient.4
But satisfaction is by no means generally diffused, with regard to the stipulations concerning confiscated property, in the provisional articles.5 Indeed some, who conceive, that Virginia has not fully parted from the power of peace and war to congress, are inclined, (as if our legislature were omnipotent) to move at the next session for a repeal of those stipulations. Such a measure as this will surely immortalize the understanding of the mover.6 It is probable, that the late proclamation of congress has excited a jealousy of their high powers, and pointed out the propriety of wresting from them some of their constitutional authority. I have more than once endeavoured to conceive the author of this singular composition: and I hope my conjectures are not right, when I suppose that it came from the pen of the s——cr——y of fo——gn aff——rs.7
The delinquencies of the sheriffs are very great, in the business of collecting. Motions have been made against them this court for about 70,000 £. A great sum in a little revenue: But the excuses, which they have made, argue the poverty of the country. They have distrained, they say, but cannot sell for ¼ of the value of the thing taken, even in produce.8 The courthouse of papers of Lunenburgh has been burnt, partly to prevent the obtaining of those documents, which are necessary to execute the tax.9
Mr. Pendleton came to town last night, to enter upon his duty as a chancellor.10
1. Randolph had not written to JM since 29 March 1783 (q.v.). The General Court was Virginia’s “principal court of judicature.” Its spring term opened in Richmond on 1 April, and Attorney General Randolph necessarily attended its sessions ( , Oct. 1777, p. 136; Oct. 1781, p. 74; , IX, 401–19; X, 455).
2. Thomson Mason (1733–1785), younger brother of George Mason, was an English-trained lawyer who before the Revolution had distinguished himself as a constitutional polemicist. He represented Stafford County in the House of Burgesses in 1758–1761, 1765–1772, and Loudoun County in 1772–1774. He was a member of the House of Delegates for Loudoun County in 1777–1778, for Elizabeth City County in 1779, and for Stafford County in 1783.
For George Nicholas of Albemarle County, see Randolph to JM, 29 Mar. 1783, n. 6; for John Taylor of Caroline County, , III, 37, n. 16; Pendleton to JM, 31 Mar., n. 8; 14 Apr. 1783; for Robert Lawson of Prince Edward County, , II, 170, n. 7.
William Nelson (ca. 1759–1813) of James City County served in the House of Delegates only during the two sessions of 1783. In 1791 he was appointed a judge of the General Court of Virginia and continued in that office until his death (William Brockenbrough, Virginia Cases, or Decisions of the General Court of Virginia … [Richmond, 1826], II, xi; Enquirer [Richmond], 16 and 23 Mar. 1813; Virginia Patriot [Richmond], 23 Mar. 1813).
3. JM to Randolph, 8 Apr. 1783, and n. 10. Edward Carter (1733–1792) of Albemarle County was a member of the House of Burgesses, 1765–1768, and a delegate in the General Assembly, 1783–1785 and 1787–1788 ( , pp. 17, 19, 26; George Selden Wallace, The Carters of Blenheim; A Genealogy of Edward and Sarah Champe Carter of “Blenheim,” Albemarle County, Virginia [Richmond, 1955], pp. 1–2).
4. JM Notes, 20 Feb., and nn. 17, 18, 20; 17 Mar., and nn. 1, 2; JM to Randolph, 25 Feb.; 4 Mar., and n. 5; 18 Mar.; to Jefferson, 22 Apr. 1783, and n. 14. On 5 May Governor Harrison included with a message to the House of Delegates a copy of Washington’s letter of 19 March 1783, giving “an alarming Account of the discontents of the Army” (Executive Letter Book, 1783–1786, p. 109, MS in Va. State Library; , XXVI, 239–41).
5. JM Notes, 12–15 Mar. and citations in n. 2; 20 Mar.; 14 Apr., and n. 3; Delegates to Harrison, 12 Mar., and n. 12; Pendleton to JM, 31 Mar. 1783.
6. In the May 1783 session the Virginia House of Delegates neither repealed the statutes providing for the confiscation of real estate owned by the enemy nor adopted resolutions instructing the delegates in Congress to seek a repeal of the “stipulations concerning confiscated property” in the preliminary articles of peace. See , V, 409–10.
7. For Robert R. Livingston, secretary for foreign affairs, and his “singular composition,” see JM Notes, 11 Apr. 1783, and n. 4.
8. The journal of the House of Delegates during the May 1783 session of the Virginia General Assembly emphatically supports Randolph’s comments. See also the Virginia Gazette of 26 April and 3 May 1783 for notices of sale of many acres of privately owned land to satisfy taxes unpaid by its owners.
Sheriffs, being frequently unable to collect taxes from impoverished families, to sell property distrained for non-payment of taxes, or to dispose of “commutables,” such as tobacco or hemp, received in partial satisfaction of taxes, were by statute subjected to suit by the state for non-fulfillment of their obligations. On 28 June the General Assembly enacted a statute for “the Relief of Sheriffs,” which admitted that, due to “difficulties unforeseen,” they could not “comply with the letter of the law” and hence, until 1 August 1783, they should be immune from suit or enforcement of a court’s judgment for dereliction of duty in collecting taxes for 1782 (
, May 1783, pp. 7, 8, 11, 12, 20, 24, 27, 44, 46, 52, 58, 63, 64, 70, 82, 83, 98, 99; , XI, 189–91). Recognizing the “distressed state” of many Virginians, as illustrated by the letters of sheriffs and petitions from delinquent taxpayers, the General Assembly on 4 June adopted a law assuring them that they would not be sued until 20 November 1783 ( , May 1783, pp. 6, 11, 14, 20, 21, 25, 29, 34, 42, 65, 66, 68, 78; , XI, 194).9. Although the courthouse of Lunenburg was burned ( , 31 May 1783), the county’s records for this period are mostly extant, possibly because the clerk had kept them in his home.
10. Edmund Pendleton, one of two surviving administrators of the estate of John Robinson, who died in 1766, had arrived in Richmond hoping to collect the money owed to Robinson’s heirs. On the day after Pendleton arrived in town, both newspapers carried advertisements entreating all who were indebted to the estate “to discharge their respective balances without delay” ( , 26 Apr. 1793; Virginia Gazette, and Weekly Advertiser, 26 Apr. 1783, supplement). See also David J. Mays, ed., Letters and Papers of Edmund Pendleton, II, 443; , IV, 227, n. 4.