time of the great contest, recalling, with the vivid enthusiasm of youth and with faculties undimmed by age, the impressions which the scene had made upon him.

"At the time of the convention," he says, "I was a stripling, and clerk in one of the public offices, and could of course only attend the debates at intervals snatched from the duties of the office. But the impressions made by the powerful arguments of Madison and the overwhelming eloquence of Henry can never fade from my mind. I thought them almost supernatural. They seemed raised up by Providence, each in his way, to produce great results: the one, by his grave, dignified, and irresistible arguments to convince and enlighten mankind; the other, by his brilliant and enrapturing eloquence to lead whithersoever he would. Although there were other brilliant stars in the convention, such as Pendleton, Wythe, Mason, &c. &c. &c., the discussion, after a few days, was narrowed down very much to Mr. Henry and Mr. Madison. They were both, at all times, great and interesting; but the convention yielded gradually to the convincing and irresistible arguments of Madison, and adopted the Constitution. These two eminent men seemed ever deeply impressed with the magnitude of the issues before them, and each to labor with his whole strength and energy to accomplish the object he had in view, the one the adoption, the other the rejection, of the Constitution."

The result of this memorable contest is not without instruction to the candidates for a true public fame. However brilliant and dazzling the triumphs of the gifted popular orator, the eloquence of reason and conviction asserts its legitimate empire when heard in senates and deliberative bodies sitting on the grave questions of State. Eloquence, indeed, has been called the art of persuasion; but conviction is often the surest, as well as lawful, road that leads to persuasion. A great authority has said that dialectics is the foundation of the art of persuasion; and to know how to convince, and to enforce conviction, is to be eloquent.1 Truth honestly and earnestly presented, with the accessories of accumulated and various knowledge, of lucid reasoning, of a graceful and impressive diction, strengthened by the moral power of virtuous and noble sentiments, exerts an irresistible influence upon the heart as well as the mind of man. All these Mr. Madison possessed, and in an exalted degree.

Owing to the difference of manners and institutions, it is difficult to find an apt parallel to his style of eloquence among the statesmen and orators of antiquity. But, in the land from which the lan

1 Aristotle on Rhetoric. - A great modern master of written eloquence, pursuing the idea of Aristotle, has said as pithily as justly, "True eloquence acts upon the soul and reaches the heart by speaking to the understanding." "Pour ceux dont la tête est ferme,

il faut des choses, des pensées, des raisons. Il faut agir sur l'âme et toucher le cœur en parlant à l'esprit." See the admirable discourse of Buffon on the occasion of his reception by the French Academy.

guage and civic usages of America are derived, a contemporary delineation of the manner of Bacon as a public speaker might seem to have been drawn, in anticipation, for the future transatlantic statesman. "There happened in my day," says the famous Ben Jonson, "one noble speaker, who was full of gravity in his speaking. speaking. No man ever spoke more neatly, more pressly, more weightily; or suffered less emptiness, less idleness, in what he uttered. No member of his speech but consisted of its own graces. His hearers could not cough or look aside from him without loss. He commanded where he spoke, and the fear of every man that heard him was that he should make an end." To this attractive portrait of Bacon as a speaker, if we add, with kindred graces of eloquence, the noble integrity, the practised wisdom, and profound constitutional learning of Somers, whose career that of Mr. Madison in so many points resembled, we shall have attained the most perfect idea that comparison can give of the powers and accomplishments of the successful defender of the Constitution before the convention of Virginia.

NOTE.

Chief Justice Marshall, towards the close of his life, being asked which of the various public speakers he had heard - and he had heard all the great orators, parliamentary and forensic, of America-he considered the most eloquent, replied, "Eloquence has been defined to be the art of persuasion. If it includes persuasion by convincing, Mr. Madison was the most eloquent man I ever heard." Mr. Jefferson, as we have already seen (vol. I. p. 172), speaking of the peculiar and consummate powers displayed by Mr. Madison as a parliamentary debater, — in the Federal Convention, in the convention of Virginia, and in the Congress of the

United States, - declared him "the first of every assembly of which he was a member." Mr. Gallatin, who served with him in the House of Representatives of the United States during the memorable and most important sessions of 1795-96 and 1796-97, in which he himself was a most distinguished actor, recalling, in the evening of his days, those who had been and were most eminent in the deliberative assemblies of the nation, pronounced Mr. Madison to be, in his judgment, the ablest man that ever sat in the American Congress.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Convention of New Hampshire re-assembles, and ratifies Constitution This Fact not known to Convention of Virginia, at Time of its Action — Brief Review of Leading Objections urged against Adoption of the Constitution Consolidation - Aristocracy - Objections viewed in Light of Experience, as well as Philosophy - Testimony of De Tocqueville-Actual Working of the Constitution the reverse of Aristocratic- Power of mere Numbers - Warning of Jefferson-Rejoicings at Acceptance of Constitution by Virginia - Convention of New York - Divisions in that Body-Opposition to Constitution headed by Governor Clinton and Messrs. Yates, Lansing, and Melancthon Smith -Its Leading Advocates, Hamilton, Jay, Chancellor Livingston, and Duane - Large Majority of Convention opposed to Constitution — Expedients to obtain a Ratification - Right to secede, in certain Contingencies, proposed - Strong Protest against it in Letter from Mr. Madison to Colonel Hamilton - Call of another Convention agreed to as Price of Ratification - Deprecated by General Washington and Mr. Madison Signal for Renewed Opposition to the Constitution in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Rhode Island — Legislature of Virginia, under Lead of Mr. Henry, recommences War upon the Constitution New York gives no Vote in Presidential Election, and fails to appoint Senators during First Session of Congress Proceedings of Congress for putting New Government into Operation-Efforts of Colonel Hamilton and his Colleagues, to obtain Seat of Government for New York, finally succeed-Letters of Mr. Madison to General Washington on this Subject - Correspondence between Mr. Madison and Mr. Jefferson on Bill of Rights - Secret History of Opposition to the Constitution in certain Quarters - Proposed Amendments - Mr. Madison's Opinions on the Subject - Mr. Henry carries Resolutions through Legislature of Virginia for Call of another Convention-Letter of Colonel Carrington to Mr. Madison,