by
natural selection of the fittest for that position. It was not an easy
place to take, either by one's own choice or by the suffrages of others;
for at the head of the administration to be opposed stood the man most
revered by a grateful country, surrounded by men among those, at least,
who were best known for their past services and most esteemed for their
ability and character. It was the more difficult for one whose personal
relation to the President was that of the warmest friendship; to whom
the President was accustomed to turn for counsel and even for
guidance; and who, being among those eminent men to whom the people owed
their new Constitution, was counted upon to strengthen the union of the
States and build up a strong and stable government. He played his
difficult part, nevertheless, with dignity; if not brilliant, he was
always ready with the best reasons that could be given for the measures
he supported; and his zeal was invariably tempered with a wise
moderation and a courtesy toward opponents which made him always
respected, and sometimes feared for reserved force, in debate.

Somewhat more than a year before his retirement from Congress Mr.
Madison had married, and it is quite possible that this may in part have
moved him to seek rest in the tranquillity of a country life. Tradition
says that Mrs. Madison was a beautiful woman. She has in our time been a
marked figure in the society of Washington, and many remember her for
her fine presence, her powers of conversation, and that beauty which
sometimes belongs to the aged, though it may not have been preceded by
youthful comeliness. Her maiden name was Dolly Payne, and her parents
were members of the Society of Friends. When Madison married her she was
Mrs. Todd, the widow of John Todd, a lawyer of Philadelphia. Her age at
this time was twenty-six years, Mr. Madison being forty-three, and she
survived him thirteen years, dying in 1849. On her tombstone she is
called "Dolley;" but Mr. Rives, in his life of her husband, ever
mindful of the proprieties, calls her "Dorothea," or rather, Mrs.
Dorothea Payne Madison; for, like the Vicar of Wakefield, he loved to
give the whole name.

CHAPTER XV

AT HOME--"RESOLUTIONS OF '98 AND '99"

Mr. Madison, in retiring for a time from public office, did not lose his
interest in public affairs. Of few Americans can it be said with more
truth that he had a genius for politics, and the subject, wherever he
migh