41 



MADISON, JAMES. 



MADOX, THOMAS. 



42 



laws for removing dangerous and auspicious aliens, and for punishing 

 libels on the government (called Alien and Sedition Laws), which gave 

 their adversaries a fit occasion to make a powerful appeal to the people. 

 To further this object, Mr. Madisou, who was now withdrawn from 

 congress, went into the Virginian legislature, and in the session of 

 1793 prepared resolutions denouncing these acts of congress as infrac- 

 tions of the constitution, and inviting the concurrence of the other 

 states. As some of the states opposed the doctrine?, and the subject 

 produced much discussion in pamphlets, in the following year Mr. 

 Madison prepared new resolutions, with a preamble, in which he 

 examines the whole subject in a close and profound piece of reasoning. 

 It is thought to have contributed more than anything else to the 

 revolution of parties which soon followed. When Mr. Jefferson was 

 elected president, Mr. Madison was made his secretary of state, and 

 from that time until his retirement his life is comprehended in the 

 history of the United States. But the principal parts which he acted 

 will be briefly noticed here. 



His pen was put in requisition in maintaining the claim of the 

 United States to the right of deposit at New Orleans, under the treaty 

 with Spain ; in discussing the question of the true boundary of 

 Louisiana; in corresponding with Mr. Hose and Mr. Jackson, ministers 

 of Great Britain, on the subject of the attack on the Chesapeake ; in 

 drawing up instructions to Mr. Monroe concerning the treaty with 

 England, and the objections to that which was made ; and in corres- 

 ponding with the American ministers on the French Decrees and 

 British Orders in Council. Besides these official papers, he wrote an 

 able ' Examination of the Doctrines of National Law ' asserted by Mr. 

 Stephens. 



In 1809 he succeeded Mr. Jefferson as president of the United 

 States ; he obtained 122 votes out of 176. General Piuckuey, of South 

 Carolina, his opponent, obtained 47 votes. 



It is known that after many fruitless efforts to induce Great Britain 

 and France to respect neutral rights, war was declared against Great 

 Britain during his administration, and that it continued with various 

 success until 1815. It is said that Mr. Madison, being aware how 

 unprepared the United States were for war, and anxious to preserve 

 peace as long as it could be preserved consistently with the neutral 

 rights of America, wished to postpone the declaration of war, but 

 was urged into it by Mr. Clay and some ardent spirits whose patience 

 wai exhausted. If this be so, had his counsels prevailed, the war 

 would have been prevented, for be has often told the writer of this 

 notice that the administration had afterwards indubitable evidence 

 that the British ministry had decided on revoking the offensive Order 

 in Council, in which case the principal cause of war would have been 

 removed. 



After serving two terms Mr. Madison retired to private life in March 

 1817 ; and it may be questioned whether the eight years which he 

 served as president were not the least happy of his life. In 1829, 

 when the constitution of Virgina was submitted to revision, he con- 

 sented to serve as a member of the convention, and no doubt con- 

 tributed largely to soothe the irritation which the conflict of local 

 interests created. He also acted as a visitor of the University of 

 Virginia, and succeeded Mr. Jefferson as its rector. Except in the 

 discharge of these duties, he not only held no office after his retire- 

 ment, but, we believe, never left his county after he quitted 

 Washington. Although Mr. Madison lived to the age of eighty-five, 

 he had a very delicate constitution, and never enjoyed good health. 

 He died on the 28th of June 1830. His physician said that he had 

 two or three diseases, any one of which was commonly sufficient to 

 shorten life. 



In person Mr. Madison was below the middle size; though his face 

 was ordinarily homely, when he smiled it was so pleasing as to be 

 almost handsome. His manner with strangers was reserved, which 

 some regarded as pride, and others as coldness ; but on further 

 acquaintance these impressions were completely effaced. His temper 

 seemed to be naturally a very sweet one, and to have been brought 

 under complete control. When excited, he seldom showed any 

 stronger indication of anger than a slight flush on the cheek. As a 

 husband, Mr. Madison was without reproach. He never had a child. 

 He was an excellent master, and though he might have relieved him- 

 self from debt, and secured an easy income, he could never be induced 

 to sell bis slaves except for their own accommodation (to be with their 

 wives or husbands). The writer has sometimes been struck with the 

 conferences between him and some trusty servant in bis sick chamber, 

 the black seeming to identify himself with his master as to plans of 

 management, and giving his opinions as freely, though not offensively, 

 as if conversing with a brother. Mr. Madison has more than once 

 told the writer that he should have been a great gainer in a pecuniary 

 point of view if he had many years before emancipated his slaves. It 

 was his deliberate conviction that the colonisation of the slaves in 

 Africa was practicable. He endeavoured to keep aloof from party 

 feelings, but regularly read the newspapers, and remembered their 

 contents better than most people. Though he was cautious in express- 

 ing his sentiments, he could not forbear taking the liveliest interest 

 in public concerns, especially in those of the general government, 

 toward* which he seemed always to feel a parental solicitude. He 

 stood well with all parties, and was solicitous so to itand, both from a 

 I of duty and a lore of popularity. He felt great solicitude about 



the irritating discussions between the North and South on the subject 

 of slavery, and was anxious for some compromise. 



(Communication from Virginia.) 



MADOC, the second son of Owen Gwynnedd, prince of Wales, is 

 said by some authors to have discovered America long before Columbus. 

 The Welsh chronicles are said to state that Madoc, having been com- 

 pelled by civil disturbances to leave his native country, set sail in 1170 

 with a small fleet, and directing his course westward, landed after 

 some weeks on a continent which produced abundantly the necessaries 

 of life, and the inhabitants of which differed greatly from those of 

 Europe. After remaining in the country a long time he left there 120 

 persons, and returned to Wales, where he equipped a fleet of 10 vessels, 

 and set sail again, but was never afterwards heard of. Some of those 

 who adopt this narrative suppose Madoc to have landed on the coast 

 of Virginia or Carolina, and support it by an account of the discovery 

 of an -Indian population ia North America who spoke the Welsh 

 language. If however there is any truth in the story, Madoc probably 

 landed in a higher latitude than Virginia. See Filson's ' Discovery, 

 Settlement, and present State of Kentucky ; with an Account of the 

 Indian Nations within the United States,' 8vo, London, 1793 ; also 

 Bertuch, ' Epbe'me'rid. Geog.,' September, 1819. The above narrative 

 of Madoc's voyage (which has been copied by Hakluyt in the third 

 volume of his ' Voyages ') ia given in the ' Historic of Cambria, now 

 called Wales, a part of the famous Ylaud of Brytaiue, written in the 

 Brytish language, above 200 years past, by Caradoc ; translated into 

 English by H. Lloyd, gent. ; corrected, augmented, and continued out 

 of records and best approved authors, by David Powell,' 4to, London, 

 1584. Owen's ' British Remains ' (8vo, London, 1777 ; 12mo, 1785) 

 contains ' An Account of the Discovery of America by the Welsh 300 

 years before the Voyage of Columbus," written by Dr. Plott. Herbert, 

 in his Travels,' defends the claims of his countryman Madoc, as the 

 discoverer of the New World, with more warmth perhaps than good 

 sense. But the Northmen are said to have discovered America some 

 time before the date of Madoc's alleged voyage, and this fact appears 

 to be established by evidence of a stronger kind than that of the 

 expedition of the Welsh prince. 



MADOX, THOMAS. Of the personal history of Madox little is 

 known. He resided in the Middle Temple. He always writes from 

 the Middle Temple. Thomas Madox of London was called to the bar 

 by that society in 1704, and the son of a clergyman of Wales of the 

 same name in 1705. His first work appeared in 1702, entitled 

 'Formulare Anglicanum; or a Collection of Ancient Charters and 

 Instruments of divers kinds, taken from the originals, from the Norman 

 Conquest to Henry V1IL :' to which is prefixed a very learned dis- 

 sertation on ancient charters and instruments. In 1711 he published 

 his great work, entitled 'The History and Antiquities of the Exchequer 

 of the Kings of England, in two periods : from the Norman Conquest 

 to the end of the reign of King John, and from the end of the reign 

 of King John to the end of the reign of Edward II., taken from records : 

 together with a correct copy of the ancient dialogue concerning the 

 Exchequer, generally ascribed to Girvasius Tilburiensis ; and a dis 

 sertatiou concerning the most ancient great Roll of the Exchequer, 

 commonly styled the Roll of Quiuto Regis Stephani.' This work, 

 which was reprinted in two vols. quarto, with the valuable addition of 

 an index, in 1709, begins with a dedication to the queen, followed by 

 a long prefatory epistle to Lord Somers, in which the author saya: 

 " The records which I here vouch were taken by my own pen from the 

 autheutick membranes, unless where it appeareth by my references to 

 be otherwise, and except haply iu two or three instances, which it is 

 not material to recollect ; and in giving an account of the ancient state 

 of the Exchequer, I have for the most part contrived, as far as tho 

 subject-matter would permitt, to make use of such memorials as serve 

 either to make known or to illustrate tho ancient laws and usages of 

 this kingdom : for which reason the present work may be deemed not 

 only a history of the Exchequer, but likewise an apparatus towards a 

 history of the ancient law of England." This epistle concludes with 

 " a large digression concerning the Romanick dialect." 



The ' History of the Exchequer' treats of the court of the kings of 

 England (luring the two periods comprised in it, its great offices, the 

 jurisdiction of the king's exchequer, its officers and business ; of the 

 exchequer of the Jews, showing the peculiar mode in which they were 

 governed and protected as " the king's villeins ; " of the different 

 sources of the royal revenue, fully considered in all its branches ; the 

 whole illustrated by references to an immense mass of documents. 

 The dialogue concerning the exchequer (which Mr. Madox ascribes to 

 Richard Fitz-Nigel, bishop of London), treats, in the form of ques- 

 tions put to the author and his answers, of the functions of the 

 different officers of the exchequer in the reign of Henry II., and of 

 some other miscellaneous matters, in the first book, and of the mode 

 of collecting the king's revenue in the second. It is preceded by an 

 epistolary dissertation addressed to Lord Halifax. The dissertation, 

 with which the volume concludes, relating to the great roll of tho 

 exchequer, commonly called the roll of Quiuto Stephani, is addressed 

 to Lord Soiners. It has been ascertained by that eminent antiquarian, 

 the Rev. Joseph Hunter, that this roll ought to be referred to the 

 31 Henry I., a discovery which has removed some of the obscurity 

 in which this part of the reign of Stephen is involved. Though 

 Madox doubted whether this roll belonged to the reign of Henry 1 , 



