r adoption.

ANDREW JACKSON.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

_July 9, 1836_.

The Secretary of State has the honor to report to the President that
there is no resolution of Congress on the death of Mr. Madison on
file in the Department of State. By application at the offices of the
Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House of Representatives the
inclosed certified copy of a set of resolutions has been procured.
These resolutions, being joint, should have been enrolled, signed
by the presiding officers of the two Houses, and submitted for the
Executive approbation. By referring to the proceedings on the death
of General Washington such a course appears to have been thought
requisite, but in this case it has been deemed unnecessary or has
been omitted accidentally. The value of the public expression of
sympathy would be so much diminished by postponement to the next
session that the Secretary has thought it best to present the papers,
incomplete as they are, as the basis of such a letter as the President
may think proper to direct to Mrs. Madison.

JOHN FORSYTH,

_Secretary of State_.

WASHINGTON, _July 9, 1836_.

Mrs. D.P. MADISON,

_Montpelier, Va_.

MADAM: It appearing to have been the intention of Congress to make me
the organ of assuring you of the profound respect entertained by both
its branches for your person and character, and of their sincere
condolence in the late afflicting dispensation of Providence, which has
at once deprived you of a beloved companion and your country of one
of its most valued citizens, I perform that duty by transmitting the
documents herewith inclosed.

No expression of my own sensibility at the loss sustained by yourself
and the nation could add to the consolation to be derived from these
high evidences of the public sympathy. Be assured, madam, that there is
not one of your countrymen who feels more poignantly the stroke which
has fallen upon you or who will cherish with a more endearing constancy
the memory of the virtues, the services, and the purity of the
illustrious man whose glorious and patriotic life has been just
terminated by a tranquil death.

I have the honor to be, madam, your most obedient servant,

ANDREW JACKSON.

The President of the United States having communicated to the two
Houses of Congress the melancholy intelligence of the death of their
illustrious and beloved fellow-citizen, James Madison, of Virginia,
late President of the United