Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/251

 JAMES MONROE 205 between Great Britain and the United States. Again the disappointed and discredited diplomatist received a token of popular approbation. He was for the third time elected to the assembly, and in 1811 was chosen for the second time governor of Virginia. He remained in this office but a short time, for he was soon called by Madison to the office of secretary of state. He held the portfolio during the next six years, from 1811 to 1817. In 1814- 15 he also acted as secretary of war. While he was a member of the cabinet of Madison, hos tilities were begun between the United States and England. The public buildings in Washington were burned, and it was only by the most strenu ous measures that the progress of the British was interrupted. Monroe gained much popularity by the measures that he took for the protection of the capital, and for the enthusiasm with which he prose cuted the war measures of the government. Monroe had now held almost every important station except that of president to which a politi cian could aspire. He had served in the legislature of Virginia, in the Continental congress, and in the senate of the United States. He had been a member of the convention that considered the rati fication of the constitution, twice he had served as governor, twice he had been sent abroad as a min ister, and he had been accredited to three great powers. He had left two places in the cabinet of