151James Madison to James Barbour, 18 December 1828 (Madison Papers)
I had the pleasure of duly receiving your interesting favor of Sepr. 29. The agricultural scenery which charmed you so much has had the same effect on other strangers surveying it with an equal taste for such improvements. I wish you may have as much reason to be pleased with the countenance of the Cabinet when your objects are presented to it. We think here it is high time for a...
152James Madison to James Barbour, 11 June 1828 (Madison Papers)
It has been much the wish of Mrs. Madison & myself to give a call at Barboursville whilst you remain there: but find it will not be in our power. We trust it will be in yours, if not before, to make a stage & pass a day at least with Mrs. Barbour and your family, at Montpellier, on the way to the port of your departures; to whom with yourself, we offer our joint and best salutations. RC ( ViHi...
153From James Madison to James Barbour, 11 February 1824 (Madison Papers)
We are not to forget that our arrangt. with the Bank at Fredg. will require renewal at the close of the present month. I allude to it thus early, as I rely again on the preparatory Step on your part wch. you were so good as to take in the first instance. On receiving the two notes with your signatures I will add mine, and send both to Fredg: providing in the mean time, the small sum there due...
154From James Madison to James Barbour, 16 April 1818 (Madison Papers)
⟨The las⟩t mail bro⟨ught⟩ me your favor of ⟨the⟩ 11th. and in ⟨than⟩king you ⟨for it?⟩ I do the same for the documents on ⟨f?⟩orn: affairs previously sent me. Your speech has taken a more correct view of the principle on which the colonial monopoly rests, than has been generally taken of it; and your statistical illustrations have an important bearing on ⟨the⟩ question depending. I entirely...
155James Madison to James Barbour, 6 February 1829 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favour of Novr 13. covering the Seals, for your attention to which I return you many thanks. They fully answer my wishes. I am glad to find that the Duke of Wellington, understood to be the mainspring of the Cabinet policy, and more than his predecessor a manager of the public will, holds a language so friendly towards this Country. The longer a practice corresponding with it...
156James Madison to James Barbour, 7 February 1829 (Madison Papers)
With your favr. of Novr. 13. acknd. yesterday, I recd that of the same date, in which you communicated the steps you had taken & had in view, in relation to a Successor to Professor Long. The Visitors I am sure will all be thankful for your attentions to that important object. Altho’ it appears that Dr. Harrison discharges well his temporary trusts yet besides the uncertainty of his permanent...
157From James Madison to James Barbour, 7 May 1824 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 2d. and thank you for the trouble you have taken in preparing the papers it inclosed: which I have signed and forwardd to Mr. Allen & Mr. Roberts. I had expected to hear from some quarter on the subject of my note to the Bank renewable with yours some time ago; and know not whether the discount be still due or may have been pd. out of tolls accruing on all the...
158From James Madison to James Barbour, 14 February 1820 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the l0th. has but just come to hand. It states that there is a decided majy. in one House agst. an unrestricted admission of Missouri, and in both for applying the restriction to all Territories West of the Mississippi: but that in a spirit of Compromise Missouri will be admitted without restriction, and the restriction as to Territories confined to the Space N. & W. of Missouri,...
159James Madison to James Barbour, September 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have long desired to obtain a simple seal engraved with the initials of my name, encircled by the motto veritas non verba magistri. The material prefered, is a stone of no very costly sort, and as the price of one in silver cannot be great, I should be glad of a duplicate in that metal. The size of the seal, I would wish to be rather small than large. Shd. you succeed in getting this little...
160From James Madison to James Barbour, 5 December 1823 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 2d. was duly recd. the evening before the last. I thank you for it, and return, as desired, the pamphlet of Cunningham. Your remark on it appears very just. You ask my views of a Resolution to be proposed to the Senate advising a Treaty of co-operation with G. Britain agst. an interference of the Allied Powers for resubjugating S. America. You will take them for what they are...
161From James Madison to James Barbour, 25 November 1820 (Madison Papers)
Altho’ I know not that any occasion will arise making it pertinent to bring the political career of Mr. T. Coxe to your attention, I can not in justice to my recollections of it refuse my testimony as to the credit to which he is entitled. I am not unaware that he may have political & perhaps personal enemies who do not speak, as I think, of him. But facts cannot be impaired by opinions. Mr....
162James Madison to James Barbour, 22 September 1828 (Madison Papers)
I need not remind you of the vacancy produced in the professorship of Ancient Languages in the University of Virginia, nor remark on the importance of providing a Successor worthy of it. The anxiety of the Visitors on this subject led them to offer the Chair for the term of one year to M<r.> Gesner Harrison, a distinguished pupil of Mr. Long, who has accepted it with that limitation;...
163James Madison to John S. Barbour, 15 March 1830 (Madison Papers)
I recd a few days ago yours of the 9th. & shd. have answerd it immediately but for the expectation of learning that the subject of it wd. have explained itself, on the spot. The Mail due today not havg brought me any information, I proceed to mention that on the 2 or 3d. of Mar. I enclosed yr. note to Col. P. P. Barbour requesting him to recover the money from you or Bank as might happen, &...
164From James Madison to John S. Barbour, 3 January 1824 (Madison Papers)
I have just reced your letter of Decr. 28. Relying only on a payment from yourself of the mony so long in your hands, I can only express an earnest hope, that you will not fail to fulfil your promise and with as little delay as possible. With friendly respects. Draft ( DLC ). In Dolley Madison’s hand; docketed by JM . Letter not found.
165From James Madison to John S. Barbour, 21 April 1820 (Madison Papers)
I recd. in due time your favr. of Jany. 27. apprizing me of the rents due by Mr. Ward, & of the oppy. you expected, of ascertaining the real extent of the land embraced by the Mortgage of Mr. Strode. I did not advert then to an expression since observed in your letter, which may imply that your prosecution & exposé of the case, might depend on my intimating a desire to that effect. Shd. this...
166From James Madison to Philip P. Barbour, 1 December 1822 (Madison Papers)
The enclosed letter not having come to hand before your departure for Washington, I cannot so well comply with the request of the writer as by forwarding it for your perusal. Should you think his object a reasonable one, or entitled to a fair consideration, a word of explanation from you to the Secy. of war & the Attorney General, if proper at all, may be more so from you than from me and can...
167James Madison to W. H. Cooper and Others, 23 October 1833 (Madison Papers)
I have recd young Gentlemen, your letter of the 21st and have forwarded it to the other members of the Executive Come. Referring you to the decision, which will be made from them, I tender you my friendly respects & good wishes Draft, with draft of JM to Thomas J. Randolph (DLC) . Addressed to W. H. Cooper, L. Barfoot, E. Ruffin Jr., George Nicholson, and J B Young.
168From James Madison to William T. Barry, 30 December 1826 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd the copy of your Eulogy on Adams Jefferson & Shelby; and I can not return you my thanks without alluding to the particular value given to it by facts which it records; as well as to the additional interest it derives from the glowing patriotism which pervades it. May I remark at the same time that it has not escaped circumstancial errors which will probably be corrected by a...
169From James Madison to William T. Barry, 4 August 1822 (Madison Papers)
I recd. some days ago your letter of June 30, and the printed Circular to which it refers. The liberal appropriations made by the Legislature of Kentucky for a general System of Education can not be too much applauded. A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowlege will for ever govern...
170From James Madison to Ira Barton, 5 September 1822 (Madison Papers)
J.M. with his respects to Mr. Barton returns the thanks for his Oration, which are due as well to its merits, as to the Politeness of Mr. B. in forwarding a Copy. Draft ( DLC ). Ira Barton, An Oration, Delivered at Oxford, on the Forty-Sixth Anniversary of American Independence (Cambridge, Mass., 1822; Shoemaker 7968). Ira Barton (1796–1867) graduated from Brown University in 1819 and...
171From James Madison to Robert Mayo and William A. Bartow, 31 March 1823 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. the copy of an Address in behalf of the Juvenile Library Company of Richmond which you have been pleased to forward to me. Knowledge of the useful kinds, is so conducive to individual & social happiness: and so essential to the form of govt. most friendly to both, that all the means of diffusing it have their merit. Among these means, libraries adapted to the early period of life,...
172From James Madison to Henry B. Bascom, 27 March 1827 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 19th. inst. saying that the Trustees of the College recently established in Union Town have been pleased to call it by my name. Regarding every new Institution for the wholsome instruction of youth as a gain to the cause of national improvement and to the stability and prosperity of our free System of Government, I feel that my name is greatly honoured by such...
173From James Madison to Henry B. Bascom, 10 November 1827 (Madison Papers)
Your letter of Ocr. 19. was recd. in due time. The acknowledgment of it has been delayed by a wish to accompany it with a Copy as requested of the Enactments of our University, which I did not obtain till two days ago. I congratulate you on the encouraging prospect which dawns on the Infant Establishment under your presiding care. A temporary deficiency in the articles of Apparatus & Library,...
174From James Madison to Henry B. Bascom, 21 July 1827 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of June 26. inclosing a copy of the Charter of the College, having arrived during an absence from which I am just returned, I could not sooner acknowledge it. It gives me pleasure to find that the Trustees are about to attach to the Institution, an Agricultural Department, an improvement well meriting a place among the practical ones, which the lights of the age, and the genius of...
175James Madison to George W. Bassett, 30 April 1833 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 25th. inst: which requests my Company at the laying of the Corner Stone of the proposed monument to the memory of the Mother of Washington I feel much regret that my very advanced age, to which is added a continued indisposition, will not permit me to be present; on an occasion commemorative of the mother of him who was the father of his own Country, and has...
176James Madison to Stephen Bates, 24 January 1832 (Madison Papers)
I received long ago your interesting favor on the 31st of Oct with a pamphlet referred to, and I owe an apology for not sooner acknowledging it. I hope it will be a satisfactory one that the state of my health crippled by a severe Rheumatism, restricted my attention to what seemed to have immediate claims upon it, and in that light I did not view the Subject of your communication, ignorant as...
177From James Madison to Frederick Beasley, 22 December 1824 (Madison Papers)
I have just received your letter of the 13th. on its return from Charlottesville, and wish I could gratify you with all the information it asks. In place of it I can only observe that the System of Polity for the University of Virginia, being not yet finally digested & adopted, I can not venture to say what it will be in its precise form & details. It is probable that instead of a President or...
178From James Madison to Frederick Beasley, 20 November 1825 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd. the copy of your little tract on the proofs of the Being & Attributes of God. To do full justice to it, would require not only a more critical attention than I have been able to bestow on it, but a resort to the celebrated work of Dr. Clarke, which I read fifty years ago only, and to that of Dr. Waterland also which I never read. The reasoning that could satisfy such a mind...
179From James Madison to Frederick Beasley, 24 November 1823 (Madison Papers)
I received a few days ago a copy of “A search of truth in the science of the human mind,” for which I perceive I am indebted to your politeness. Other engagements not permitting me at present to read it with the necessary attention, and it being uncertain how long the obstacles to that pleasure may continue, I do not delay the thanks which are due. From the manner in which the work has been...
180James Madison to Frederick Beasley, 22 March 1831 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 17th. and have dropped a few lines to Mr. Clay on the subject of it. I have done so however, more in compliance with your current request, than from a calculation that any thing I could say would add to the weight of communications going from Mr. Southard & Mr. Dickerson, both better acquainted with you, than I could be presumed to be. I thank you, Sir, for your...
181James Madison to Thomas Bee, 20 June 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. Sir, your letter requesting information as to a particular feature in the University of Virginia. The inclosed copy of its Enactments will furnish that & whatever else relating to the polity of the Institution may be acceptable. In reminding me of your father with whom I was a cotempory member of the Revolutionary Congress, I have an oppy. of expressing as I do wth. pleasure the...
182From James Madison to Benjamin Bell, 22 April 1823 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of Mar: 22. I am very sorry that any difficulties shd. have arisen in the case of the land sold to you by Mrs. Willis & myself. All that I had learnt relating to it, had left me under the impression, that no interfering claims existed that could invalidate our conveyance: and I trust that such will be found to be the case. You will of course take the proper steps for...
183From James Madison to Benjamin Bell and William Tapscott, 19 January 1823 (Madison Papers)
It is so very long since payments were due from both particularly one of you for the land purchased of Mrs. Willis & myself without our having recd. even a line on the subject from either, that you cannot be surprized at being now reminded of your obligations, and called to discharge them. I am not unaware of the circumstances which may have embarrass[ed] pecuniary transactions, but they...
184From James Madison to Benjamin Bell, 22 December 1817 (Madison Papers)
I have but just recd. your letter of the 1st. inst. My niece is disposed to part with the land in question; and I shall acquiesce in the sale on the terms to which you refer. It remains with you therefore to come down & close the bargain. Accept my respects Draft (owned by Mike Minor, Kaufman, Tex., 1981). Letter not found. Benjamin Bell and William Tapscott of Jefferson County, Virginia (now...
185James Madison to Simon Bernard, 16 July 1831 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. your letter of the 12 inst. However much you may overrate my title to the sentiments it expresses, it will always be a gratifying recollection, that I had any share in obtaining for the U.S. your invaluable aid in the defensive system now so well matured and so extensively executed. It is with great pleasure, I add Sir that whilst your distinguished talents & indefatigable...
186James Madison to Simon Bernard, 3 August 1831 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his respects to General Bernard and asks the favor of him to take charge of the inclosed letter for General Lafayette RC (ICU) .
187From James Madison to Nicholas Biddle, 31 May 1827 (Madison Papers)
Finding by your favor of the 27. that the Library of the Philosophical Society does not contain a Copy of the Revised Code as reported by Mr. Jefferson & his Colleagues, I send for it the promised one herewith inclosed. The Copies being now very scarce, I have not been able to furnish one in a less Soiled Condition. With great & very sincere esteem Draft ( DLC ). [Thomas Jefferson et al.],...
188From James Madison to Nicholas Biddle, 16 April 1825 (Madison Papers)
Such has been of late years the unfavourableness of the Seasons for the staple productions in this quarter, and of the markets also for the main one; and such the disappointment in collecting debts on which I counted, that I find it necessary to resort either to a moderate loan, or to a sale of property, which at the present juncture would be made to great disadvantage. The first alternative...
189From James Madison to Nicholas Biddle, 2 May 1825 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. the letter with which you favored me on the 26th. Ult. In the application made in that to which it is an answer, I was misled by what I understood to be occasionally done by Banks possessing affluent funds, and apprehending neither ultimate loss, nor an early pressure. Of the System adopted by the Bank of the U.S. as explained by you, I can not speak but with entire approbation;...
190From James Madison to Nicholas Biddle, 17 May 1827 (Madison Papers)
I thank you very sincerely for the copy of your “Eulogium on Thomas Jefferson.” I have derived from it the peculiar pleasure which so happy a portraiture could not fail to afford one, who intimately knew and feelingly admired the genius, the learning, the devotion to public liberty, and the many private virtues which characterized the distinguished Original. Ably & eloquently as the subject...
191From James Madison to Nicholas Biddle, 18 December 1826 (Madison Papers)
At the request of Mr Reynolds Chapman, a very respectable neighbour, I take the liberty of making him known to you, for a purpose which he will particularly explain. I understand that as Executor to Doctor Shepherd, who was another respectable neighbour, he has occasion, in adjusting a transaction relating to the Estate of the latter, to obtain some information from the President or Cashier of...
192James Madison to Nicholas Biddle, 2 January 1834 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison with his respects to Mr Biddle thanks him for the Copy of the very able and important "Report of a Committee of the Directors of the Bank of the United States RC (DLC : Nicholas Biddle Papers); draft (DLC) .
193From James Madison to Nicholas Biddle, 23 February 1822 (Madison Papers)
I duly recd. your favour of the 9th. accompanied by a copy of your agricultural address, which I have read with much pleasure, and I can add with instruction also. It is made particularly interesting by the views taken of the ancient and modern husbandry, where unless parts of China be exceptions, the earth has made the greatest returns to human labour. The advantage of contracting and...
194James Madison to Nicholas Biddle, 29 September 1831 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison returns his thanks for the copy of the "Report to the Stockholders of the Bank of the U. States," politely forwarded by Mr. Biddle. So well digested a view of the interesting subject cannot fail to receive the public attention to which it is entitled. (DLC : Nicholas Biddle Papers).
195James Madison to Andrew Bigelow, 2 April 1836 (Madison Papers)
I have received, with your letter of the 15th. inst: a copy of your "Election Sermon on the 6th of Jany.," and thank you for the pleasure afforded by the able, and instructive, lessons which it so impressively adapted to the occasion. I cannot conceal from myself that your letter has indulged a partiality, which greatly overrates my public services: I may say nevertheless, that I am among...
196From James Madison to Julius A. Bingham, 1 July 1822 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 24. Ul. with it a Copy of the prospectus to which it relates. The collective form in which the proposed Documents are to be printed, will doubtless be a recommendation of the work. But most of them have been so often before the public in other forms that the success of the publication might be questionable without an interesting addition of original matter. This...
197From James Madison to Morris Birkbeck, [ca. 9 November] 1817 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of Sepr 18 though at a much later day than that at which it was due. The letter inclosed in it from Mr. Coles wd. have been recd. with additional pleasure from your own hand if you had found it convenient to take Montpellier in your Westward route. He was a few days ago with me, and confirmed verbally His esteem & the friendly interest he takes in your behalf. I can...
198James Madison to George Blaettermann, 2 January 1830 (Madison Papers)
I have recd yours of Decr. 20 20 and am more sorry for the view it has taken of its subject than convinced that it was a necessary view. Premising that I have no authority as Rector, nor any as a Visitor in the view of the Board that as one of the 3 members of the Ex--Come I can only observe with respect to the provided Report of the visitors, that it does not appear to warrant the injurious...
199James Madison to Francis Preston Blair, 28 October 1832 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison with his respects to Mr Blair, informs him in answer to his letter of the 25, that the letter with the name of James Madison to it, published in the Newspaper referred to, was written by him; but without marking for Italics, the words & lines which appear in that character. RC (NjP) ; draft (DLC) .
200From James Madison to James H. Blake, 4 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
I am much indebted to the Citizens of Washington, in whose behalf you speak, for the expressions of regard and respect addressed to me. These sentiments are the more valuable to me, as my long residence among them has made me well acquainted with their many titles to my esteem, at the same time that it has enabled them to mark more particularly the course of my public and personal conduct....