ameful frauds" were committed by the
English merchants upon those in Virginia, as well as upon the planters
who shipped their own tobacco; that the difference in the price of
tobacco at Philadelphia and in Virginia was from eleven shillings to
fourteen shillings in favor of the Northern ports; and that "the price
of merchandise here is, at least, as much above, as that of tobacco is
below, the Northern standard." He was only the more confirmed in his
opinion that there was no cure for these radical evils except to
surrender to the confederate government complete control over commerce.
The debate upon these petitions was hot and long. It brought out the
strongest men on both sides, Madison leading those who wished to give to
Congress the power to regulate trade with foreign countries when no
treaty existed; to make uniform commercial laws for all the States; and
to levy an impost of five per cent. on imported merchandise, as a
provision for the public debt and for the support of the federal
government generally. A committee, of which he was a member, at length
reported instructions to the delegates of the State in Congress to labor
for the consent of all the States to these propositions. But in
Committee of the Whole the resolutions were so changed and
qualified--especially in limiting to thirteen years the period for which
Congress was to be intrusted with a power so essential to the existence
of the government--that the measure was given up by its friends as
hopeless.

But before the report was disposed of Mr. Madison prepared a
resolution, to be offered as a substitute, with the hope of reaching the
same end in another way. This resolution provided for the appointment of
five commissioners,--Madison to be one of them,--"who, or any three of
whom, shall meet such commissioners as may be appointed in the other
States of the Union, at a time and place to be agreed on, to take into
consideration the trade of the United States; to examine the relative
situations and trade of said States; to consider how far a uniform
system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common
interest and their permanent harmony; and to report to the several
States such an act, relative to this great object, as, when unanimously
ratified by them, will enable the United States, in Congress,
effectually to provide for the same." This he was careful not to offer
himself, but, as he says, it was "introduced by Mr. Tyler, an
influe