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Show ii" OLD MASTERS James Madison J'U EyC.C.G. HE was among the very brightest. We fear that his countrymen do not quite appreciate his full worth. When In boyhood he was ' asked what studies he most delighted in, he re--. plied: "Those that go toward fitting a man for the very highest places that a man can be exalted to." His dream from the beginning was to lead ' his countrymen and to so fit himself that his leadership lead-ership would seem as a matter of course, to them. He exhausted the learning of the schools, then kept on to higher attainments. If books had not been made before him, he would have compiled the first one. L He made a great local reputation as a scholar, i lawyer and citizen, but it was not until the con vention met to frame a new constitution, that his abilities marked him as a tower of strength to hia country. The convention held but a few sessions until It was plain that the two master spirits there were Hamilton and Madison. Hamilton had already made a great name as a soldier, writer, lawyer, financier and orator. He was, moreover, imperious and commanding. His thought of liberty was liberty under the law, and while controlled by a stern Integrity and while conceding that every American had the same rights that he had, still he did not believe in the wisdom of the masses and wanted things fixed in a way to give those In power the means to preserve order always, al-ways, despite the ravings of the mob. Madison believed In the people, not in the loose sense that Jefferson did, that they would make no mistakes and that If order was sometimes lost and disorder sometimes advanced into revolution it did not matter. But Madison's faith was that the people, no matter how much they might wander away, would on second serious thought, gravitate back to the right. So, when the constitution was finally framed, it reflected back Madison'a thought, and the glory of it is enhanced by the incandescent light from his soul shining through it. A more dliflcult task awaited him when he became be-came secretary of state under Jetfeison. It was a most trying place, for Jeiferson had concealed all the qualities needed to make a successful Mexican president. While he outwardly was the chief believer in the people, at heart he was more imperious thau Hamilton himself. His first term brought him new laurels. The breaking down of practically all opposition to his policy; the acquisition acqui-sition of Louisiana; the increasing prosperity; the coming of the use of steam as a working force so many things to awaken the hopes of the people all combined to cause Jefferson's second election an unparalleled triumph. ' But then he broke down. He seemed to lose all his former confidence and hope. His domestic policy was weak, his foreign policy became contemptible. con-temptible. That he did not utterly fail was due to Madison in the state department and Gallatin in the treasury department. Their work at last got to be little, except the covering up of Jefterson's mistakes and weaknesses. weak-nesses. Madison's election to the presidency was swiftly followed by the war. It had to be to redeem re-deem the land from the lowered position to which it' had fallen. All our wars have been marked by unprepared-noss unprepared-noss at the beginning. That unpreparedness has caused the loss of thousands of lives, and an expenditure ex-penditure of money which would have provided ample forces on land and sea and all needed war munitions. This want of preparation was most apparent when the war of 1812 came no army, no navy, no coast defenses. But it had to be. A principle was behind it which had to bo vindicated, and the result re-sult was to exalt our nation in the world's estimation estima-tion and to restore our nation's self-respect. It caused Great Britain to give up the last remnant of the old piracy which Drake practiced in the seventeenth century. With the means at hand Madison so engineered that war that he brought it to a successful close with all the old prestige of the fathers restored. His own character, through all the trials that assailed him, shone out with increasing brightness. bright-ness. There Is no trace of weakness or personal selfishness in his record. His solicitude was all for his country and his countrymen, and In history his-tory more and more honor will attach to him the more his record and that of his contemporaries Is analyzed. |