ffairs of the
Constitution, certainly second to no man. More than any other man
living, and perhaps more than any other who has lived, his whole public
life has been incorporated, as it were, into the Constitution; in the
original conception and project of attempting to form it, in its actual
framing, in explaining and recommending it, by speaking and writing, in
assisting at the first organization of the government under it, and in a
long administration of its executive powers,--in these various ways he
has lived near the Constitution, and with the power of imbibing its true
spirit, and inhaling its very breath, from its first pulsation of life.
Again, therefore, I ask, If he cannot tell us what the Constitution is,
and what it means, who can? He had retired with the respect and regard
of the community, and might naturally be supposed not willing to
interfere again in matters of political concern. He has, nevertheless,
not withholden his opinions on the vital question discussed on that
occasion, which has caused this meeting. He has stated, with an accuracy
almost peculiar to himself, and so stated as, in my opinion, to place
almost beyond further controversy, the true doctrines of the
Constitution. He has stated, not notions too loose and irregular to be
called even a theory, not ideas struck out by the feeling of present
inconvenience or supposed maladministration, not suggestions of
expediency, or evasions of fair and straightforward construction, but
elementary principles, clear and sound distinctions, and indisputable
truths. I am sure, Gentlemen, that I speak your sentiments, as well as
my own, when I say, that, for making public so clearly and distinctly as
he has done his own opinions on these vital questions of constitutional
law, Mr. Madison has founded a new and strong claim on the gratitude of
a grateful country. You will think, with me, that, at his advanced age,
and in the enjoyment of general respect and approbation for a long
career of public services, it was an act of distinguished patriotism,
when he saw notions promulgated and maintained which he deemed unsound
and dangerous, not to hesitate to come forward and to place the weight
of his own opinion in what he deemed the right scale, come what come
might. I am sure, Gentlemen, it cannot be doubted,--the manifestation is
clear,--that the country feels deeply the force of this new
obligation.[2]

Gentlemen, what I have said of the benefits of the Const