2l6 JAMES MADISON 



Madison was nominated for a second term, on condi- 

 tion of adopting the war policy. 



The New England Federalists at once accused him 

 here of proving recreant to his own convictions, and 

 the charge has since been often reiterated by Federal- 

 ist writers. Perhaps it would be more correct to 'say- 

 that, as to the question of the advisableness of declar- 

 ing war against England, he did not share in the 

 decided convictions of Clay and Calhoun on the one 

 hand or of the New England leaders on the other. 

 His mind was more evenly balanced, and his natural 

 inclinations led him to shrink from war so long as any 

 other policy was available. As to the entire justice 

 of the war, on our side, there could of course be no 

 doubt. No one called it in question except a few 

 superannuated Federalists in New England. The 

 only question was as to whether a war policy was prac- 

 ticable at that moment, and on this point, in yielding 

 to the arguments of Clay and Calhoun, if Mr. Madi- 

 son sacrificed convictions, they were certainly not 

 convictions that were deeply rooted. He did not 

 approach such questions in the mood of an Andrew 

 Jackson, but in the mood of a philosopher, who hesi- 

 tates and acts sometimes in a yielding to pressure 

 of argument that is akin to weakness. On June 18, 

 1812, war was declared, and before the autumn elec- 

 tion a series of remarkable naval victories had made 

 it popular. Mr. Madison was reflected by 128 elec- 

 toral votes, against 89 for De Witt Clinton of New 

 York. The one absorbing event, which rilled the 

 greater part of his second term, was the war with 

 Great Britain, which was marked by some brilliant 

 victories and some grave disasters, including the cap- 



