1James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 25 August 1834 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of the 20th. and inclose a fair copy of so much of Mr. Jefferson’s letter to me as relates to the resolutions of 98-99. The letter is dated Augt. 23d. not 28th but is so identical with the printed letter to Mr. W. C. Nicholas as to prove that one of the dates is erroneous. I return the letter of Mr. W. C. N. which I found in the letter of Mr. J. I find no letter from Mr. J....
2James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 9 August 1833 (Madison Papers)
I am much obliged by your favor of the 6th. just red. I find I possess the cypher for the period to which that enclosed belongs—I have also the letter of Mr J. from Tuckahoe May 7. 1783, in another cypher, with the words interlined. The paper of Mr Hamilton is the same with that printed in the Journals of the Convention. I shall with pleasure welcome Mr. Davis should he favor me with a call. I...
3James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 23 June 1833 (Madison Papers)
You are aware of the loss the University is sustaining by the resignation of Doctr Dunglison, and must be equally so, of the difficulty of filling the vacancy. There is no prospect of doing it from the Faculty of Virga. I hope you will have turned your thoughts to the subject, and I must ask the favor of you to avail yourself of the opportunities you have, especially if you should visit...
4James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 8 May 1833 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 3d. came safe to hand, with that from Mrs. T. to Mrs. M. Inclosed is the answer of the latter. My hopes & wishes are much encouraged by the detailed view you give of your new destination. We count with assurance now on a visit from both Mrs. T. & yourself, and with a probability of that of Mrs. Randolph, at a day not very distant. Let us know the time when it shall be fixed on....
5James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 29 April 1833 (Madison Papers)
I observe that you have received the appointment of Consul at Havanna. I doubt not that you have well weighed the pro and the con; and I sincerely wish that the scale of the former may preponderate more in reality, than it may have done in contemplation. I am much in the arrears of the thanks due for your successive communications. It has been the effect of my continued hopes that your...
6James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 18 January 1833 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 11th. was duly recd. I am sorry that you could not visit us at the intended time, and still more so for the obstacles to it. We shall look for you at the period you now have in view, with a hope that the trip on horseback will be as favorable to your health as it promises to be. I have not yet looked into the columns of the Gazette kindly enclosed to me, on the Bank transaction. I...
7James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 23 December 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of the 19th. inclosing some of the S. C. papers. There is in one of them some interesting views of the doctrine of secession; one that had occurred to me, and which for the first time I have seen in print, namely that if one State can at will withdraw from the others, the others can withdraw from her, and turn her, nolentem, volentem, out of the Union. Until of late, there...
8James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 4 December 1832 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 28th. Ult: with the accompanying newspaper came duly to hand. I had noticed the "Friend to truth," and was quite at a loss for an author uniting all the qualifications for the task. Your name did not escape me, but I took for granted that your occupations wd. not admit such an avocation. I was impressed also by some remark of the Enquirer, that there had been an interview with the...
9James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 19 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
I return the little Volume on Cholera passed to me thro’ Docr. Dunglison. It attracts respect & confidence by the course of investigation pursued by the authors, & by the modesty with which results are presented. I will return by another mail Lee’s Vial of wrath or rather of rage. It ought to have been done long ago, & I owe an apology for the omission. It was some time before I could learn...
10James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 29 May 1832 (Madison Papers)
Whilst reflecting in my sick bed a few mornings ago, on the dangers hovering over our Constitution and even the Union itself, a few ideas which, tho’ not occurring for the first time, had become particularly impressive at the present. I have noted them by the pen of a friend, on the inclosed paper, and you will take them for what they are worth. If that be anything, and they happen to accord...
11James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 15 May 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have received your letter with the book referred to, and dictate the acknowledgement of it to a pen that is near me. I will read the work, as soon as I may be able; When that will be, I cannot say. I have been confined to my bed many days by a bilious attack. The fever is now leaving me, but in a very enfeebled state, and without any abatement of my Rheumatism; which besides its general...
12James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 17 January 1832 (Madison Papers)
private I regret that my memory can give you no aid in yr. search for the fact in question. It is possible that the Newspaper publishing the laws may have printed it soon as authorized; and may therefore be worth examining. The letters you refer to were both recd. & I thank you for them. Cordial salutations RC (DLC : Nicholas P. Trist Papers).
13James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 2 January 1832 (Madison Papers)
Will a holograph Will without Witnesses , convey real estate in Washington according to the law in force there? Mr. Trist will oblige his friend J. M by an answer. RC (DLC : Nicholas P. Trist Papers).
14James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, December 1831 (Madison Papers)
Returned with the respects & thanks of The phenomenon referred to, if authentic and not explained by peculiar & transitory circumstances, is remarkably at variance with the general reasoning on the subject. RC (DLC : Nicholas P. Trist Papers).
15James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 21 December 1831 (Madison Papers)
I return the Newspapers. The passage referred to is a sad sample of Pulpit authenticity, justice & delicacy. In what relates to me, there is scarce any part wholly true in the sense intended. How such a string of misinformations cd. have been gathered, it is not easy to imagine. I never studied law with Mr. Jefferson. The Story of my father’s interference, & my evasion of his anxious...
16James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 18 December 1831 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 14th. with the printed communication is recd. It was not my object in the remarks on Col. H. B Speech to suggest any immediate publication in any form on the subject. I thought it well that a discreet & friendly hand should possess & preserve an antidote to mistatements whether White or black. I detain the newspapers a day or two for perusal of the passages referred to Affect....
17James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 10 December 1831 (Madison Papers)
My Rheumatism is very obstinate. It has baffled all my remedial adjustments including the oiled Silk. Among its effects, it disables my pen, & my hand from holding a Book or handling my papers RC (DLC : Nicholas P. Trist Papers).
18James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 1 December 1831 (Madison Papers)
I return with my thanks the printed speech of Colo. Hayne on the 4th. of July last. It is blotted with many strange errors, some of a kind not to have been looked for from a mind like that of the author. I cannot see the advantage of this perseverance of South Carolina in claiming the authority of the Virginia proceedings in. 98-99, as asserting a right in a single State to nullify an Act of...
19James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 23 September 1831 (Madison Papers)
Interruptions from my Rheumatism and a succession of less unwelcome guests have delayed the thanks now rendered for your several printed communications, particularly, the Pamphlet of Mr. E. and the paper headed "Nullification Theory". The former is an able & well written performance; and will be denied this character by few of the adverse party. If the latter does not silence the adversary,...
20James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 12 July 1831 (Madison Papers)
Your 2 letters of the 7 & 8 have been duly recd. I have complied with the suggestion in the first by a few lines to Mr. Cabell. The communication in the 2d is important, but being simultaneous with an unwelcome resignation, may derive a tincture from that source I have been detained from the University by Rheumatism & an inflamation in my eyes. The latter is leaving me; not so the former. My...
21James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 5 May 1831 (Madison Papers)
I recd. yesterday your favour of the 2d. with its accompaniments. I thank you for the little treatise on mental* Physiology, which I reserve for perusal at the earliest leisure. From the reputed talents & tenets of the Author, something may be anticipated well written & out of the trodden circle. I thank you also for the rectified copy of "Distress for rent," and return the one formerly sent...
22James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 23 September 1830 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 21st. was recd. yesterday. On the question of recalling the communication made for the Natl. Intelligencer I submit the following statement. In a letter, lately noticed from Mr. Jefferson dated Novr. 17. 1799, he " encloses me a copy of the draught of the Kentucky Resolves ", (a press copy of his own manuscript). Not a word of explanation is mentioned. It was probably sent, &...
23James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 17 September 1830 (Madison Papers)
Yours of Sunday last has been duly recd. I thank you for your obliging attention to the packet for Nicholls. He has acknowledged the receipt of its contents, and you need not put pen to paper further on the subject. You observe that you had in a communication to the Nat:. Intelligencer pointed out the error as to Mr. Jefferson’s connection with the Kentucky Resolns. of –99. If not too late to...
24James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 2 September 1830 (Madison Papers)
On the receipt of yours of July 29, I forwarded the Book intended for Mr. Davis, and take for granted it got safe to hand. He met with the ready concurrences of the Board in making him the successor to Mr. Lomax for one year, with a prospect of the permanency, to which I doubt not the probation will recommend him. I need not say that whatever be the future change of Theatre meditated by...
25James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 16 June 1830 (Madison Papers)
I return with thanks the papers in manuscript, and the printed ones also, wch. belong to your files. My health has been a good deal interrupted for some days, and makes me the more readily avail myself of your kind dispensation from the use of the pen. With Cordial salutations Have you ever met with the "Address of the H. of Delates" which passed the Resolutions of -98– explaining the occasion...
26James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 3 June 1830 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of May 29 was duly recd. The construction put, in the Presidents message, on the Veto in 1817 agst. the power of Congress as to internal improvements, could not fail to surprize me. To my consciousness that the Veto was meant to deny, as well the appropriating, as the executing & jurisdictional branches of the power, was added, the fact that as far as has ever fallen under my...
27James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 16 February 1830 (Madison Papers)
I return the paper enclosed in yours of the 6th I have found in it the proofs of ability for such discussions which I should have anticipated. As I understand your discriminating view, (and it seems to be clearly expressed) of the Virginia documents in -98-99, it rescues them from the hands which have misconstrued & misapplied them. The meaning collected from the general scope, & from a...
28James Madison to [Nicholas P. Trist], 15 February 1830 (Madison Papers)
I have recd your favours of and have looked over the remarks enclosed in them, meant as an introduction to an explanatory comment on the proceedings of Virginia in -98-99. occasioned by the Alien & Sedition laws. It was certainly not the object of the member, who prepared the Documents in question, to assert, nor does the fair import of them, as he believes, assert a right in the parties to...
29James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 31 October 1829 (Madison Papers)
Yours of Octr. 7. was duly recd. and with every disposition to befriend the object of it. Being precluded by a rule forced on me, from doing it in the usual mode, it was my purpose to avail myself, of Mr. V. Buren’s expected visit here, by incidentally turning his attention to your aptitudes for official services. It now appears that he has declined the trip altogether, which leaves me unable...
30James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 4 July 1829 (Madison Papers)
I recd. by yesterday’s mail yours of the 2d. with the communication for Mr. T. J. Randolph wch. will be forwarded by the earliest mail, viz on Monday. I do not find among my Pamphlets that of Docr. Cooper on Government. I am under the impression that it is still in the hands of Mr. Lomax. In that case he will readily let you have it. Should it have been returned, let me know, and I will look...
31James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 6 June 1829 (Madison Papers)
If I have not sooner thanked you for the considerate present in the Box of fruit referred to in your letter of , the apology will I am sure have occurr’d to you. A delay which the Box met with on the way lessened the value of a part of its contents, but not the obligat<ion> felt for the kindness wch prompted <...> the favour. I am regaining, tho’ not rapidly, my health, & strength. I hope the...
32James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 1 March 1829 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 24th. Ult. was recd. by mail of thursday last. The copies of Mr. Monroe’s paper had been just before forwarded to Mr. Johnson & Mr. Cabell, and I sent to Mr Randolph by the earliest mail the copies of Mr. Jeffersons letters to Mr. Adams senr. and myself; having previously adverted to the passages you wished to have my consideration. The word "species" last repeated, I found...
33James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 7 February 1829 (Madison Papers)
Do me the favor to hand the inclosed letters to Mr. Brent, with a request that he will be so good as to let the letters go from the Department with the first dispatches for England We have had no information from Edgehill since Mrs. Randolph & Mrs. Trist left us. We hope the accounts you have are all of them favorable. I take for granted you have not omitted a provision for the copies of Mr....
34James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 17 January 1829 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. with yours of the 12th. the 1st. vol: of Lyman’s Diplomacy. The mail charged with the 2d. is not yet arrived, owing to a failure between Washington & Fredg. Tomorrow’s will probably bring it. I have not examined into the discrepancy of dates you refer to in the origin of the tonnage regulation. Perhaps it may be explained by the circumstance of the same Session of Congress being...
35James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 17 December 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd. yours of the 18th. The delay in sending on the Report of the Visitors was unluckily increased by my error in supposing that your letter to Charlottesville , had been addressed to the Bursar. On the discovery of it by his answer to one from me, I inclosed the Report unsealed to him with a request that he would include the omitted document, and then forward the communication by...
36James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 1 December 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. your favor of the 26 Novr. with the communications relating to the university for which I thank you. I had written to the Bursar & Proctor, and recd answers, but that of the Bursar has I believe < > overlooked the period which your letter to him will probably lead him to attend to. His compliance with your request will probably reach me by the next mail from Charlottesville....
37James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 12 October 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. the inclosed letter, under cover of one from Mr. Clay to me. Be your decision on the subject of it what it may, it gives me pleasure that an option is afforded. It appears to be an expectation that in the event of your becoming a resident in Washington a removal of Mrs. Randolph thither would take place. But I know not that such a condition could be implied if her personal...
38James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 29 September 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of the 24th. I hope your letter to Mr Monroe will have corrected his error as to the day for the meeting of the Visitors, in time for his attendance. I have heared nothing from him on the subject since his letter asking for information, my answer to which was I thought sufficiently guarded agst. misapprehension. I relied still more on the letter I presume you wrote to him,...
39James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 13 August 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. the enclosed letter from Mr. Lawrence; the last paragraph of which may be communicated to Mr. Bonnycastle Has he written yet to Mr. Barlow for a full report of the transactions committed to him, by Mr. Jefferson? I lost no time in apprizing Mr L. that the Chair of N. P. was provided for by the accepted appt. of Docr. Patterson. I beg pardon for my error in supposing that the...
40James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 11 August 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. a letter from Mr. Monroe, from which I find that he wishes a copy of the Resolution appointing him & Mr. Johnson a Committee to report a plan of police for the university. Be so good as to send him a copy; apprizing him at the same time of the day, the 1st. of Ocr., fixed for the next meeting of the Visitors, which he seems to have forgotten. Mr. Tracie, who has been confined...
41James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 2 August 1828 (Madison Papers)
Since my last I have recd. a letter from Docr. Patterson notifying his acceptance of the Chair of Nat: Philosy. which "he founds on the supposition that the Pavilion occupied by Mr. Long, will be assigned to him". This he was led to believe, when at the University, was intended, in the event of his becoming a Professor; and he seems, now to make a point of it, as materially important to his...
42James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 29 July 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. yours of the 26th. The effect of the failure to provide for such cases as that of Mr Lomax is much to be regretted. I was under an impression that a resolution, adapted to them, was among those drawn up by Mr. Johnson. As you will perhaps see at your Court on Monday next, Genl. Cocke & Mr. Rives; & Mr. Cabell also, be so good as to state the occurrence to them, & obtain their...
43James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 26 July 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. from a Mr. A. ____ Wigfall, of S. Carolina, who appears to have been a Student at our University, a letter which I can the better answer, after some knowledge of his character & conduct whilst there. Be so good as to collect it for me, as soon as may be convenient. I send you a few London Gazettes, which after looking into, you can hand to Dr. Dunglison. We got home the day we...
44James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 17 July 1828 (Madison Papers)
We are very sorry for the cause that detains you from the From the attendance you wished not to omit, but it is the request of us all that you consult your health as the first duty. With best wishes RC ( DLC : Nicholas P. Trist Papers).
45James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 21 June 1828 (Madison Papers)
Be so obliging as to complete the address of the inclosed letter to Mr. Eppes in answer to one recd. from him at Tallahassee, whence I presume he has got back to Virga. You will find the Debate in the Brit: H. of Commons on the subject of Canada, interesting in a historical as well as several other views. Mrs. M. has recd the welcome letter from Mrs. Randolph; and if she does not now answer it...
46James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 5 June 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of the 30th. Ult. and given attention to the passage relating to the Statement of Dr. Watkins. I feel certainly every proper motive to comply with your request, especially under the reserves you annex to it. But I happen not to have the means of doing so which you take for granted. After a lapse of more than 20 years, without intervening occasions, for recurring to the...
47James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 30 April 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. from Mr Gilmer the desired copy of the Power of Attorney to his brother, and inclose a few lines thanking him for his prompt attention to the request conveyed to him. Not knowing the County in which the post office lies, I beg the favor of you to add it on the superscription as there may be other "Libertys", leading the letter astray. With that addition, please to have it...
48James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 23 April 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 17th. & thank you for the copy of Mr. Jeffersons letter to Mr. Norvell on the deceptive & licencious character of the press. My answer to the letter of General Lafayette referring to the abuse abroad of that of Mr. Jefferson in decrying the liberty of the press, appealed for an antidote to the known attachment of Mr. J. to a free press, as a necessary guardian of...
49James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 5 April 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your two letters of Mar. 30. and Apl. 1. the letter inclosing a copy of the contract with Mr. Long; to which I must ask the favor of you to add a copy of the power of attorney to Mr. Gilmer to enter into such engagements. I ought to have done this in the first instance. I feel the greater regret in imposing the trouble, now that I learn the new calls on your time in which it will...
50James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 27 March 1828 (Madison Papers)
I am sorry to take up my pen, when the only object is to impose a tax on yours. Be so good as to let me have, from the University papers left by Mr. Jefferson, a copy of the contract made by Mr. Gilmer, with the Professors, engaged in England. Affectionate salutations. RC ( DLC : Nicholas P. Trist Papers).