The Enquirer

DOMESTIC.
From Colvin's Weekly Register.
SKETCH OF THE PUBLIC CHARACTER OF
JAMES MADISON.

Mr. James Madison is a native of the
county of Orange, in the state of Virginia.
His family, in all its branches, are respecta-
ble, opulent and independent. His father,
colonel J. Madison, was a man of great res-
pectability ; he provided handsomely for a
large family, and to Mr. Madison, his old-
est son, he gave a considerable estate, inclu-
ding his family seat.

Mr. Madison completed his education at
Princeton College; where he was so much
distinguished for his genius, application, ac-
quirements and amiable qualities, that he
possessed the esteem and respect of the pre-
sident, professors and students of that semi-
nary, in as high a degree as any young man
ever did.

Mr. Madison's first appearance in public
life, was in the year 1776. He was elected
in the spring of that year a member of the
convention of Virginia for his native county.
By that convention, the present government
of Virginia was formed, and the delegates
of Virginia were instructed in the month of
May of that year, to vote in Congress for a
Declaration of Independence. Mr. Madison,
it is said, took no part in the business of that
assembly, owing to his extreme diffidence.
He was soon afterwards appointed a mem-
ber of the Executive Council of Virginia. &
continued a member of that board until he
was delegated to represent that Common-
wealth in the Congress which sat in the year
1779. During all this time it is not known
that Mr. Madison ever made a public dis-
play of his abilities, and it is presumed he
owed his advancement to the strong pledge
that was made by some of our most distin-
guished citizens for his talents. Of that
number, Mr. Jefferson is believed to have
been the first to distinguish and the most ac-
tive to bring into his country's service, the
superior mind of Mr. Madison, whose diffi-
dence and backwardness were such. that it
is possible his services might have been lost
to the nation, if the utmost efforts had not
been made to draw him into the active exer-
cise of his powers. It is believed by a gen-
tleman who knew Mr. Madison well, when
he first went to Congress, that he would not
in that body, small as it was, have been a-
ble to conquer his extreme embarrassment,
if it had not been for the great pressure a-
rising from the importance of the crisis, and
his being sometimes associated with men
who could not, without his aid. sustain the
common burthen From their first acquain-
tance to this moment, it is believed there has
subsisted between Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Ma-
dison the utmost intimacy and confidence,
founded upon mutual esteem and respect.

Mr. Madison continued in Congress until
the latter part of the year 1783; when he
became ineligible under the confederation,
which limited the service of a member of
the Virginia Assembly. From the circum-
stance of Mr. Madison's having been educa-
ted out of the state, and his long service in
Congress, when he took his seat in the Vir-
ginia Assembly, he found himself almost a
stranger: But the very high reputation he
had acquired in Congress, gave him a place
in the confidence of those who did not know
his person. The period was deeply interest-
ing. It began then to be understood that the
union of the states must be lost, or the go-
vernment new modelled. In that session, Mr.
Madison made some efforts to give to Con-
gress, resources to comply with the engage-
ments of the nation. To the state, the time
was peculiarly important. The revisal of
their body of laws, so as to make them con-
form to republican principles, had been re-
ferred to commissioners, had been reported
to the legislature four years before, and had
remained unacted on. That work was now
taken up, and was carried through principal-
ly by the efforts of Mr. Madison. And in
particular, the bill for religious freedom
which made a part of that work, was in-
debted mainly to his able and zealous advo-
cation, for its passage without any retrench-
ment of its liberal principles. Through all
the interesting scenes of that session, Mr.
Madison displayed such talents, integrity and
patriotism, that at the end of that year there
was no man who stood higher in the confi-
dence and affections of all who knew him.

In 1785 he was re-elected to the Virginia
Assembly. During the session of that year
he proposed and carried through that body a
recommendation that deputies should meet
from all the states, at Annapolis, for the pur-
pose of making some change in the confede-
ration. It is known that this effort did not
produce all the good effect expected from it ;
but it is likewise known, that the recommen-
dation of that meeting caused the convocation
of the convention at Philadelphia, that
gave us our present constitution. Mr. Madi-
son was, it is believed, elected a member of
that convention by the unanimous vote of the
Legislature. It is said, in that body there
was no member more distinguished for wis-
dom and love of country. About the same
time Mr. Madison was re-elected a member
of the old Congress. The evidence of the
very able support given by him to this consti-
tution is in print: Upon that subject the rea-
der is referred to the Debates in the Virginia
Convention. Mr. Madison was elected a
member of the first House of Representa-
tives that convened under the constitution.
His services in that body, during the eight
years of the administration of General Wash-
ington are known to all. For several years
before the establishment of this government
and until the commencement of the war be-
tween France and England, there was no
man in America in whom Gen. Washington
confided more than in Mr. Madison; and if
he was afterwards less frequently consulted
by him. it was owing to the ascendency which
Col. Hamilton had obtained in the adminis-
tration. He retired when Gen. Washington
did, but had not been long reposing in the qui-
et of domestic life, when aroused by the dan-
ger into which the principles of administra-
tion pursued by Mr. Adams were evidently
bringing our republican institution, sensible
that the torrent could no longer be resisted
in Congress, and that the state legislatures
could alone arrest its course, he again took
his stand in the Legislature of Virginia, and
there prepared and carried through his cele-
brated report against the alien and sedition
laws. This we may affirm without danger of
contradiction, to have given to federalism its
first mortal blow, & to have first planted the
standard to which the republicanism of the
nation so rapidly rallied. With Mr. Jeffer-
son he came into the present administration.

Mr. Madison has been in public life for 32
years. He is about fifty-five years of age.
During his whole life it is believed there is