likely to be a large and important one-in the common consultations. He has given the following interesting statement of the considerations which prompted him to this undertaking; of the perseverance with which he devoted himself to it; and of the opportunities and facilities he had for its accomplishment. "The curiosity I had felt during my researches into the history of the most distinguished confederacies, particularly those of antiquity, and the deficiency I found in the means of satisfying it, — more especially in what related to the process, the principles, the reasons, and the anticipations which prevailed in the formation of them, - determined me to preserve, as far as I could, an exact account of what might pass in the convention, whilst executing its trust; with the magnitude of which I was duly impressed, as I was by the gratification promised to future curiosity by an authentic exhibition of the objects, the opinions, and the reasonings from which the new system of government was to receive its peculiar structure and organization. Nor was I unaware of the value of such a contribution to the fund of materials for the history of a Constitution on which would be staked the happiness of a people great even in its infancy, and possibly the cause of liberty throughout the world. "In pursuance of the task I had assumed, I chose a seat in front of the presiding member, with the other members on my right and left hands. In this favorable position for hearing all that passed, I noted, in terms legible and in abbreviations and marks intelligible to myself, what was read from the chair or spoken by the members; and, losing not a moment unnecessarily between the adjournment and re-assembling of the convention, I was enabled to write out my daily notes during the session, or within a few finishing days after its close, in the extent and form preserved in my own hand on my files. In the labor and correctness of this, I was not a little aided by practice, and by a familiarity with the style, and train of observation and reasoning, which characterized the principal speakers. It happened, also, that I was not absent a single day, nor more than the casual fraction of an hour in any day; so that I could not have lost a single speech, unless a very short one." As Mr. Madison was induced to undertake for the benefit and information of future times, the record thus kept of the interior counsels and unshackled deliberations of the convention, so he regarded it as a sacred trust for posterity. It was a sealed book in his life-time; firmly withheld from publication, whilst any object of contemporary interest, ambition, or rivalship could be advanced by it. At his death it passed into the hands of the representatives of the nation, and by them it has been given to the world. With all these guarantees for its faithfulness and impartiality, superadded to the elevated character and practised competency of the author, we shall follow it with undoubting confidence in whatever we may have occasion to say in relation to the proceedings of the convention.. NOTE. Mr. Madison's is the only complete record of the debates of the Federal Convention which has come down to us. Judge Yates, one of the delegates of New York, took notes of a portion of the debates, embracing about one-third of the session of the convention. They were not taken, as we learn from his biographer, with any view to future publication; but they have, nevertheless, since his death been published by his family. Besides their fragmentary character, they are evidently often deficient, as far as they go, in that precision and accuracy of statement which no reporter can attain but by practice, added to quickness of perception and coolness of mind. Mr. Madison has given the following candid estimate of them in a letter addressed to the author of this work on the 21st Octo ber, 1833: "It may be remarked, without impeaching the integrity of the reporter, that he was the representative in the convention of the party in New York which was warmly opposed to the convention, and to any change in the principles of the 'articles of confederation;' that he was doubtless himself, at the time, under all the political bias which an honest mind could feel; that he left the convention, as the journals show, before the middle of the session, and before the opinions or views of the members might have been developed into their precise and practical application; that the notes he took are, on the face of them, remarkably crude and desultory, having often the appearance of scraps and expressions, as the ear hastily caught them, with the liability to omit the sequel of an observation, or an argument which might qualify or explain it." CHAPTER XXIX. Propositions of the Virginia Delegation submitted to the ConventionProceedings upon them' in Committee of the Whole-Proposed New Government to act upon Individuals, not States-Proportional or Equal Representation of the States in the Federal Councils - Gordian Knot of the Convention-Madison, Read, Patterson, Wilson, Franklin-Direct Representation of the People, in one Branch of the National Legislature, advocated by Colonel Mason and Mr. MadisonGeneral Denunciation of the Evils of Democracy - Sherman, Gerry, Mason, Randolph — Line of Demarcation between Republicanism and Democracy · Convention averse alike to Monarchy and Democracy - Power of Coercion against the States opposed by Mr. Madison, and abandoned-Executive Department - Convention decide in Favor of Single, instead of Plural, Executive-Danger of Monarchy, from Corruption of People and their Leaders Prophetic Views of Dr. Franklin - Functions and Mode of Appointment of Federal Judiciary -Term of Service of Popular Branch of Legislature - Noble and Manly Rule of Political Conduct avowed by Mr. Madison - He advocates a Firm and Stable Senate as Counterpoise to Popular Branch — Enlightened Sentiments of Governor Randolph — Virginia Proposi tions, with Partial Modifications, agreed to in Committee of the Whole, and reported to the Convention New-Jersey Plan brought forward - Colonel Hamilton opposed to both Virginia and New-Jersey Plans - Suggests a Plan of his own - Outline of his Speech and Plan They meet with little Favor in the Convention-New-Jersey Plan rejected by Committee of the Whole-Virginia Propositions, as modified, again reported to the Convention - Apocryphal Draught of a Federal Government by Mr. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina. THE main business of the convention was opened on the 29th of May, by Governor Randolph, who submitted, on behalf of the Virginia delegation, a series of resolutions, fifteen in number, embodying in a concrete form, for the convenience of modification and discussion, those leading ideas of reform proposed as the basis of an efficient constitutional system for the Confederacy.' These resolutions set out by affirming the necessity of an alteration and enlargement of the articles of confederation, in order to accomplish the avowed objects of their institution. They then proposed, in lieu of the equal representation of all the States in the national legislature, as under the existing system, to substitute a proportional representation according to numbers or contributions; the division of the legislative department into two independent branches; and the extension of its powers to all cases involving the harmony and common interests of the Confederacy, with a negative upon any of the laws of the States, which, in the opinion of the national legislature, should contravene the articles of union or treaties with foreign powers, and an authority to call forth the force of the Union against delinquent members. 1 The resolutions referred to in the text have been sometimes spoken of as the individual proposition of Governor Randolph. But Mr. Madison states expressly, that "they were the result of a consultation among the deputies of the State; the whole number, seven, being present. Mr. Randolph was made the organ on the occasion, being then the governor of the State, of distinguished tal ents, and in the habit of public |