From James Madison to Charles J. Ingersoll, 8 November 1823
To Charles J. Ingersoll
Montpellier Novr. 8. 1823
Dear Sir
I thank you as a friend for the printed copy of your Discourse1 kindly sent me; and I thank you still more as a Citizen for such an offering to the free Institutions of our Country. In testing the Tree of liberty by its fruits, you have shewn how precious it ought to be held by those who enjoy the blessing. I wish the Discourse could be translated & circulated wherever the blessing is not enjoyed. Were the truths it contains in possession of every adult in Europe, the portentous league against the rights & happiness of the human race would be formidable only to its authors & abettors. With great esteem & every good wish2
James Madison
RC (owned by Mary Meigs, Wellfleet, Mass., 1968); draft (DLC). Minor differences between the copies have not been noted.
1. Charles Jared Ingersoll, A Discourse concerning the Influence of America on the Mind; Being the Annual Oration Delivered Before the American Philosophical Society, at the University in Philadelphia, on the 18th October 1823 (Philadelphia, 1823; 12928).
2. This sentence in the draft reads: “With great esteem & cordial regard.”