USA > Virginia > The history of the Virginia federal convention of 1788, with some account of eminent Virginians of that era who were members of the body, Vol. I > Part 13
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"Mr. Nicholas opened the business by very ably advocating the sys- tem of representation. Mr. Henry, in answer, went more vaguely into the discussion of the Constitution, intimating that the Federal Conven- tion had exceeded its powers, and that we had been and might be happy under the old Confederation with a few alterations. This called up Governor Randolph, who is reported to have spoken with great pathos in reply, and who declared that, since so many of the States had
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Nor was Madison the only correspondent of Washington in the Convention. There was a young man, who had just reached his thirtieth year, who had been educated at William and Mary, had made a short tour in the Revolution, and, going to Phila . delphia, had studied law under Wilson ; and who, having settled in Richmond, devoted himself to his profession, and published two volumes of reports, which still preserve his name in asso- ciation with his native State. He was destined to distinction in after life. He was the nephew of Washington, bore that hon- ored name, became the heir of Mount Vernon, and for nearly the third of a century after his illustrious uncle had descended to the tomb held a seat in the Supreme Court created by the Consti- tution, the fate of which he was about to decide. It was from this young man, from Madison, and from other friends, that Wash- ington received as regular reports of the proceedings of the Convention as the postal facilities of that day would convey ; and he was thus enabled to keep his friends in other States well instructed in the progress of that great debate, which he re-
adopted the proposed Constitution, he considered the sense of America to be already taken, and that he should give his vote in favor of it without insisting previously upon amendments. Mr. Mason rose in opposition, and Mr. Madison reserved himself to obviate the objections of.Mr. Henry and Colonel Mason the next day. Thus the matter rested when the last accounts gave way.
"Upon the whole, the following inferences seem to have been drawn : That Mr. Randolph's declaration will have considerable effect with those who had hitherto been wavering ; that Mr. Henry and Colonel Mason took different and awkward ground, and by no means equaled the public expectations in their speeches; that the former has receded somewhat from his violent measures to coalesce with the latter ; and that the leaders of the opposition appear rather chagrined, and hardly to be decided as to their mode of opposition.
"The sanguine friends of the Constitution counted upon a majority of twenty at their first meeting, which number, they imagine, will be greatly increased; while those equally strong in their wishes, but more temperate in their habits of thinking, speak less confidently of the greatness of the majority, and express apprehension of the acts that may yet be practiced to excite alarms with the members from the Western District (Kentucky)." It is much to be regretted that Mr. Sparks did not publish all the letters received by Washington during the session of the Convention. In the absence of the newspapers, which seem to have been all lost, they would have been important in many respects.
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garded with an interest not less intense than that with which he had watched the tide of battle or the issue of a campaign.
The morning of Thursday, the fifth day of June, witnessed a dense crowd in the New Academy. It was expected that Madi- son would reply to Henry and Mason; and that Henry and Mason, unrestrained by the order of discussion, would review the Constitution at large. Some business appertaining to con- tested elections was soon despatched; and Pendleton, having called Wythe to the chair, was helped to a seat in the body of the house. There was a pause, for the courtesies of parliament were strictly observed, and Madison was entitled to the floor. But he was nowhere to be seen. It was whispered that he had been taken suddenly ill, and was confined to his room. Every eye was then turned to Henry and Mason, when, to the amaze- ment of all, Pendleton was seen to make an effort to rise, and, supported on crutches, addressed the chair. Those who forty years later, in the Convention of 1829 beheld Mr. Madison, in the midst of an excited discussion rise from his seat, and pro- ceed to make a speech, and can recall the confusion produced by the members hastening from their seats to gather around him, or leaping on the benches in the hope of seeing, if they could not hear, what was passing before them, may form some conception of the interest so suddenly excited by the appearance of Pendleton on the floor with a view of making a regular speech. He had been for the third of a century eminent for skill in debate, and his fame had become a matter of history ; and he had never before been in a body the discussions of which were better adapted to the display of his extraordinary talents ; but he was so far advanced in life, so crippled by his hurt, and so long absent from public bodies and unused to debate, it was not expected that he would be able to do more than to speak to some point of order or to give his vote. He soon, however, gave a remarkable proof that fine powers kept in full employ- ment do not sensibly decay with time, and that he only wanted physical strength to take the lead out of the hands of the prom- ising statesmen who had been born and had grown up since he first entered a deliberative assembly. It is said that some of the oldest members,111 as they looked at the feeble old man on his
111 In the Convention of 1829, when Mr. Monroe was conducted to the chair by Mr. Madison and Chief Justice Marshall, several members
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feet, and at his ancient compeer Wythe leaning forward in the chair to catch the tones of a voice which for the past thirty years he had heard with various emotions, were affected to tears. But there was no snivelling or passion in Pendleton himself. He had resolved to refute the arguments urged by Henry the day before, and he performed his task as thoroughly and as delib- erately, and very much in the same way, as he would deliver an opinion upon the bench. On its face the speech seems conclu- sive ; for, as like Nicholas, he was purely argumentative, and, as he dealt only with special objections, his words are reported with a force and connection which are altogether wanting in the speeches of Henry and Randolph.
He met the objection of Henry, that the General Convention had exceeded its powers in substituting an entirely new system in the place of the Confederation which they were required to amend, in the following manner : "But the power of the Con- vention is doubted. What is the power? To propose, and not to determine. This power of proposing is very broad; it ex- tended to remove all defects in government. The members of that Convention were to consider all the defects in our general government; they were not confined to any particular plan. Were they deceived? This is the proper question here. Sup- pose the paper on your table dropped from one of the planets ; the people found it, and sent us here to consider whether it is proper for their adoption. Must we not obey them? Then the question must be between this Government and the Confedera- tion. The latter is no government at all. It has been said that it carried us through a dangerous war to a happy issue. Not
were seen to weep. There are several points of resemblance in the incidents of the two bodies. Pendleton, speaking on his crutches, recalls William B. Giles, who had broken a leg by a similar accident, [his descendants say that he was disabled by rheumatism-ED. ] and was only a year or two younger than Pendleton. The change in the opinions of Edmund Randolph has its counterpart in the change attribu- ted to Chapman Johnson ; and the collision between Patrick Henry and Edmund Randolph was repeated in that between Chapman Johnson and John Randolph. The election of Pendleton instead of Wythe. who was the more popular of the two, is reflected in the election of Monroe instead of Madison, who was universally fixed upon both in and out of the Convention as its presiding officer, and who alone could have defeated his election, which he did by instantly rising when the body was called to order and nominating Mr. Monroe.
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that Confederation, but common danger and the spirit of Amer- ica were the bonds of our union. Union and unanimity, and not that insignificant paper, carried us through that dangerous war. 'United we stand; divided we fall,' echoed and re-echoed through America, from Congress to the drunken carpenter, was effectual, and procured the end of our wishes, though now forgot by gentlemen, if such there be, who incline to let go this strong hold to catch at feathers-for such all substituted projects may prove."
He also met the objection of Henry, to the words in the pre- amble of the Constitution, "We, the people," in this wise : "An objection is made to the form. The expression, 'We, the peo- ple,' is thought improper. Permit me to ask the gentleman who made this objection, who but the people can delegate powers ? Who but the people have a right to form government? The expression is a common one, and a favorite one with me. The representatives of the people, by their authority, is a mode wholly inessential. If the objection be that the union ought to be not of the people, but of the State Governments, then I think the choice of the former very happy and proper. What have the State Governments to do with it? Were they to determine, the people would not, in that case, be the judges upon what terms it was adopted."
In allusion to the fears expressed by Henry, of the loss of lib- erty under a particular form of Government, he thus expressed his views of the nature of Government, and the mode of relief in the event of maladministration : "Happiness and security can- not be attained without Government. What was it that brought us from a state of nature to society but to secure happiness ? Personify Government ; apply to it as to a friend to assist you, and it will grant your request. This is the only Government founded on real compact. There is no quarrel between Govern- ment and Liberty ; the former is the shield and protector of the latter. The war is between Government and licentiousness, fac- tion, turbulence, and other violations of the rule of society to preserve liberty. Where is the cause of alarm? We, the peo- ple, possessing all power, form a Government such as we think will secure happiness ; and suppose in adopting this plan we shall be mistaken in the end, where is the cause of alarm on that quarter? In the same plan we point out an easy and quiet
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method of reforming what may be found amiss. No; but say, gentlemen, we have put the introduction of that method in the hands of our servants, who will interrupt it from motives of self- interest. What then ? We will resist, did my friend say, con- veying an idea of force? Who shall dare to resist the people ? No; we will assemble in Convention, wholly recall our dele- gated powers,112 or reform them so as to prevent such an abuse ; and punish those servants who have perverted powers designed for our happiness to their own emolument. We should be ex- tremely cautious not to be drawn into dispute with regular Gov- ernment by faction and turbulence, its natural enemies. Here, then, there is no cause of alarm on this side; but on the other side, rejecting of Government and dissolving of the Union, pro- duce confusion and despotism."
Before taking his seat, he said he was of no party, nor actu- ated by any influence but the true interest and real happiness of those whom he represented; that his age and situation, he trusted, would sufficiently demonstrate the truth of his assertion, and that he was perfectly satisfied with this part of the system.
This was a characteristic effort of the venerable President. Meagre as the report is, we know from the report itself, as well as from tradition, that it was able and effective ; and it displays not only the skill of the lawyer, but that familiarity with public bodies which places a speaker abreast of his audience, and en- ables a wary debater to strike the level of the general mind. As far as Pendleton saw-and on strictly legal questions he saw all the way-no man saw more clearly ; but his range of political vision was limited ; and his speech is the speech rather of a great lawyer than of a great statesman. While he affirmed in the strongest manner the right of the people of Virginia, in Conven-
112 This opinion, which at that day was deemed a truism, let it be re- membered, was uttered by an old man verging to seventy, who had been the leader of the conservative party of the Colony and of the Commonwealth for forty years. If such a man so thought. what might be expected from the younger members, three-fourths of whom had actually drawn the sword, and one-fourth of whom had held the high- est civil offices, in the great Rebellion of 1776? When Henry touched upon this point in his reply to Pendleton, he admitted it, of course, urged with that sound, practical sense which was his polar star in poli- tics, that, if the power of the purse and the sword were surrendered, the State would have no power to enforce its action.
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tion assembled, to recall their delegated powers at will, he did not see, or failed to recognize, the distinction between the people of the United States and the States so pointedly drawn by Henry, and the bounden duty of representatives charged with a public trust of performing it according to the letter of their instructions and the obvious wishes of their constituents. He did not see that the example of such a body as the General Federal Con- vention, at so early a period in the history of free systems, if unchecked and uncondemned, would take away from posterity all hope of a limited Convention, and that, when a Convention is called to amend a specific system, it may destroy that system en- tirely, and introduce even a monarchy in its stead, and be free from the blame or censure of those whom they have betrayed. It is not enough to say that the people may adopt or reject the new scheme at pleasure. That scheme, ushered under the sanc- tion of able and honorable men, and sustained by august names and an extrinsic authority, is a power in itself; and it is unjust to impose upon the people the risk of a battle which they did not seek, and which, by the intrigues, of a wealthy and unscru- pulous minority, they may lose.
We may well imagine the feelings with which Henry listened to this sophistical, though apparently conclusive, answer to his speech of the previous day. In all the great conjunctures of our history, in which he had borne a conspicuous part, he had been opposed by Pendleton. In the House of Burgesses, in the de- bate on his own resolutions against the Stamp Act; and on the bill separating the office of treasurer from that of the speaker, the suceess of which had been hailed as a triumph by the peo- ple ; on the resolutions of the March Convention of 1775, put- ting the Colony into a posture of defence; and on nearly all the dividing questions in the Conventions and in the House of Dele- getes, that old man, then in the meridian of his strength, and now in his decline, had opposed him with untiring zeal, and made victory itself little more than a drawn battle. There were other recollections which might have flashed across the mind of the husband and the father. When, young and poorly clad, and ruined in fortune, with a wife and children looking to him for daily bread, he had ventured, under the unconscious impulse, perhaps, of that genius which was in a few short years to invest his humble name and the name of liis country with unfading lus-
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tro, as a last resort to seek a license to practice law, with the hope of gathering, in the suburbs of a proud profession, a scanty support for his family, he had applied to Pendleton for his sig- nature, and had been denied so humble a boon-a boon which, though refused by a man who, like himself, had sprung from the people, was promptly granted by the generous Randolphs, whose blood could be traced in the veins of men whose career in British annals was to be measured by centuries.
Therefore, the cause which Henry had upheld was successful. Was his star to decline now when he believed that he was en- gaged in a cause in comparison with which his other contests seemed unimportant, and when the liberties of his country were at stake ? Some such thoughts may have occurred to him as he rose to make one of the greatest exhibitions of his genius which his compeers had ever witnessed, and which, though in a muti- lated form, has come down to us in the pages of Robertson.
He was anticipated, however, by Henry Lee, who, rising near the chairman, caught his eye, and proceeded to address the House. This remarkable young man, now in his thirty-second year, was excelled by none of his contemporaries, with the ex- ception of Hamilton, who was his junior by a single year, if indeed excelled by him, in the display from the beginning to the close of the war of the highest qualities in the field, and in his subsequent position in the legislature of his native State and in the Congress.113 His brilliant achievements in war had con- ferred upon a patronymic known for more than a hundred years in the councils of the Colony a fresh and peculiar honor, the splendor of which was rather enhanced than diminished by the exhibition of those eminent endowments which his kinsmen during the Revolution had exerted in civil life. He had taken his degree in the college of New jersey in 1773, when he had reached his seventeenth year, entering that institution as Madi- son was about to leave it, and received the instruction of Wither- spoon, whose distinctive praise it was not only to have signed with his own hand the Declaration of Independence, but to have trained a band of young men who nobly sustained that instru-
113 It may be worth noting that our fathers always spoke of the Con - gress as we speak of the Congress of Verona, or Vienna. a fact not without political significance.
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ment in the field and in the cabinet, and whose genius ruled in the deliberations of the Union from the end of the war until nearly the middle of the present century. In 1776, he was elected an ensign in one of the Virginia regiments, and was soon promoted by Governor Henry to a troop of horse ; and having soon been transferred to the North, developed qualities which attracted the commander-in-chief, who in due time despatched him with a separate command to the South. The skill, gallantry and success with which he led his corps amid the complicated embarrassments of a long and predatory war in a sickly and inhospitable country, have not only made his own name immor- tal, but invested the name of his legion with the dignity of a household word of the Revolution. His soldiers were hailed with the most flattering name. The legion was called the right hand of Greene. It was the eye of the army of the South. On that great occasion, when, on the evacuation of Charleston by . the British, whose outstretched canvas, spread upon innumerable spars, was seen in the distant offing seeking the Atlantic, Lee, at the head of his gallant corps, constituting, as a mark of valor, the van of the army of Greene, was the first to enter the lovely city of the South.114 His reputation, which had culminated during his Southern campaigns, was regarded as the property of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, as well as of Vir- ginia; and each of those States would have been proud to offer him, in common with his illustrious commander, a home within her territory. Returning to his patrimonial estate, he entered the General Assembly, and in 1785 he was elected a member of the Congress of the Confederation, and was present during the discussion of the most momentous Southern question that oc- curred in that body. Of his course on that occasion we shall treat in another place. His delight, however, was in arms ; and when the French Revolution broke out, and France, our old ally, was beset by the combined powers of Europe, he wished to offer his sword to the young republic, but was dissuaded from his purpose by his friends. As a soldier, he enjoyed the unlim- ted confidence, respect and esteem of Washington, and he recip- rocated the attachment with an affection which was perceptible in his entire political career. When the death of his illustrious
114 Written in 1857. 1866-alas !
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friend was announced to Congress, the resolutions which were adopted by the body, though offered by the hand of another, were from his pen ; and in the presence of both houses he pro- nounced the funeral oration of the man whom he justly called "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow- citizens." Ten years later he won a victory, not achieved in the field over prostrate foes, but in the closet-the fairest and most unfading of all his honors-in recording with uncommon grace the events of the war in the South. Writing in the shadows of a prison, within the bounds of which he had been committed for debt, oppressed with pecuniary responsibilities which he was unable to meet, anxious to provide for approaching old age, and distant from those records without which an accurate and full history could not be written, 115 we know what his indomitable spirit achieved ; but what he would have done in the enjoyment of honorable repose, surrounded by admiring friends, in close communion with his surviving compeers, whose recollections might have corrected and refreshed his own, and with the affec- tionate and approving eye of the South watching and cheering him in the progress of the history of the war of her deliverance, what animated scenes he would have portrayed, now vanished forever, how many heroic deeds he would have recorded, never to be heard of more, we can only deplore that now we can never know. The deep gloom of his latter life was in sad contrast with the splendor of its dawn. The brutal treatment which he re- ceived in the city of Baltimore from a ruthless banditti on an occasion which involved no personal interest of his own, but into which he was led by the generous impulse of friendship, while it inflicted bodily wounds, from the effects of which he never recovered, was yet more revolting to the sensibilities of a gen- tleman, a scholar, a soldier, and a patriot; and after a brief sojourn in the West Indies, whither he had gone in the vain hope of restoring his shattered system, calling at the residence of his old commander in the Southern war, who had departed before him, but whose hospitable mansion was yet renowned for the cordiality of that welcome which his daughter extended to the friends of her honored sire, he there breathed his last. A
115 If he could have consulted Washington's letters and papers, and especially his own letters in the cabinet of Mount Vernon, he would have been saved from some great mistakes.
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gleam of that military pageantry so familiar to his early years shone at his grave. His pall, borne by six officers of the army and navy along the line of soldiers and sailors who were then engaged in the public service at St. Mary's, was conveyed to the place of interment, and was buried with the honors of war. 116
But when he now rose in the vigor of manhood to reply to Henry, the spectator would easily believe that the highest honors of the new system, in the event of its adoption, would be within his reach. From his childhood a noble ambition animated his bosom. He knew that his ancestors had time immemorial filled many prominent posts in the Colony, and had heard the tradi- tion that the house which sheltered him in his infancy, and which, abounding in historic associations, is still to be seen by the trav- eller as he winds his solitary way through the county of West- moreland, had been reared by the munificence of a British queen. He had already secured an honorable fame in the field ; and in . . the Congress of the Confederation he had gained some experi- ence in civil affairs. Looking forward with the prophetic cast of genius, he clearly saw that there were questions in our civil affairs which in a few years must be decided, if decided at all, by the sword, and that a vigorous and self-sustaining govern- ment, by whatever name it might be called, was an element almost indispensable to complete success. It was impossible that a large and warlike population of savages, hovering like vultures on three sides of the Confederacy, daily excited by the aggressive progress of the white settler, and fostered by the wiles
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