Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/372

 An Episode in Madison s Career. the issue he was striving to bring about, that the man before him argued, listened, wavered, and finally stood silent, his weapons having been broken, one by one, by the iron grasp that met them; and before the sun set that day, the adversary had withdrawn his opposi tion; while the crowd surrounding the dis putants (supporters, for the most part, of the opposing faction), if not won over, at least was neutralized to an extent that attested Madi son's power in debate. Quietly, as the late contestants shook hands, the gathering dis persed; and soon the noble oak, a silent wit ness of one of those momentous, if quiet struggles which Destiny makes use of to shape a Nation's course, stood serene and benign, alone. Upon this event, unremarkable in itself, and almost unknown to history, rests the security of our Nation to-day, — so true it is that from the acorn small the mighty oak doth grow! For had it not been for this per sonal victory, how much greater the odds against Madison, who was all but defeated in the election to the Virginia Convention; and who, in the ^agitation of the vital question of Virginia's ratification of the Constitution, dur ing a session of over three weeks, by un remitting and almost superhuman effort, fighting, step by step, the well-nigh irresist ible power intended to crush him, won the day, indeed, but escaped defeat by a hair's breadth! And so it was that Virginia, by the might of one man as it were,1 took her stand for the 1 " Fortunate it was, for the honor of Virginia and the good of the nation, that James Madison, as the father and special champion of that instrument (the Federal Constitution), in that body (the Convention of Virginia), had the support of so able a collègue as John Marshall in warding off the arguments of Patrick Henry and others, »ho were bitterly opposed to such ratification. Although Marshall was at the time less than 33 years of age, he made three masterly arguments in support of the clauses of the Constitution which were most severely assailed, authorizing federal taxation and the collection of revenue, the ordaining and establishing of a federal judiciary and the powers therein given to Congress and the President over the militia. Without those arguments the instru ment might have been rejected by Virginia, since, as it

341

Constitution. .Who but such a leader could have placed Virginia where she stood, where she stands? And without Virginia's exam ple, what one of the States would have taken the stand she took? And without the Constitution, in whose firm grasp Virginia and her sister States laid each her hand,. where would be the United States of Amer ica to-day? And if not to the United States, to what nation upon the earth can we look for that broad spirit of tolerance which "makes the whole world kin?" It is not too much to say that Madison, though firm in his allegiance to the church of his fathers, was none the less ready to re spect in another that adherence to principle, and honest belief, manfully maintained, so characteristic of himself, though directed in a different channel. And who shall say that the parson's passionate argument in behalf of his own religious views, that day under the oak, did not bear fruit in the aftertime, when Madison's name became the synonym of liberal thought, and freedom of religious sentiment the wide world over? Surely, greenest among the garlands that loving hands may bring to lay upon the quiet grave among the Montpelier hills, is the recogni tion of that broad catholicity of which Madi son was the promoter, and which has spread beyond the bounds of our own fair land, and would fain clasp hands around the world. A few years ago, the writer's father, in company with a friend, visited Gum Spring, whose sole object of interest to the traveler is the fine old oak, which, once upon a time, more than a century ago, sheltered one of Virginia's greatest sons. These gentlemen brought home a small branch of the tree, which the former shortly afterwards carried with him to New York, and presented, with the bit of history here related, to the New York Historical Society. was, it was only ratified by a vote of 89 to 79." Extract from a lecture on " John Scott and John Marshall," by John B. Cassoday, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.