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this occasion, to the utmost, every power and faculty of his mind.

'The whole question was likely to depend on the decision of New York. He felt the full importance of the crisis; and the reports of his speeches, imperfect as they probably are, are yet lasting monuments to his genius and patriotism. He saw at last his hopes fulfilled; he saw the Constitution adopted, and the government under it established and organized. The discerning eye of Washington immediately called him to that post, infinitely the most important, in the administration of the new system. He was made Secretary of the Treasury; and how he fulfilled the duties of such a place, at such a time, the whole country perceived, with delight, and the whole world saw, with admiration. He smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of the Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet.-The fabled birth of Minerva from the brain of Jove, was hardly more sudden, or more perfect than the financial system of the United States, burst forth from the conceptions of ALEXANDER HAMILTON.

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Your recollections, gentlemen, your respect, and your affections, all conspire to bring before you, at such a time as this, another great man, now, too, numbered with the dead. I mean the pure, the disinterested, the patriotic JOHN JAY. His character is a brilliant jewel in the sacred treasures of national reputation. Leaving his profession at an early period, yet not before he had singularly distinguished himself in it, from the commencement of the Revolution, his whole life, until his final retirement, was a life of public service. A member of the first Congress, he was the author of that political paper which is generally acknowledged to stand first among the incomparable productions of that body: papers, which called forth that decisive strain of commendation from the great Lord Chatham, in which he pronounced them not inferior to the finest productions of the master statesmen of the world. He had been abroad, and he had

also been long intrusted with the difficult duties of our foreign correspondence at home. He had seen and felt, in the fullest measure, and to the greatest possible extent, the difficulty of conducting our foreign affairs, honorably and usefully, without a stronger and more perfect Union at home. Though not a member of the Convention which framed the Constitution, he was yet present while it was in session, and looked anxiously for its result. By the choice of this city, he had a seat in the State Convention, and took an active and zealous part, for the adoption of the Constitution. He was selected by Washington to be the first Chief Justice of the United States; and surely the high and most responsible duties of that station, could not have been trusted to abler or safer hands. It is the duty, one of equal importance and delicacy, of that tribunal, to decide constitutional questions, arising occasionally on State laws. The general learning and ability, and especially the prudence, the mildness, and the firmness of his character, eminently fitted Mr. Jay to be the head of such court. When the spotless ermine of the judicial robe fell on JOHN JAY, it touched nothing not as spotless as itself. These eminent

men, gentlemen, the contemporaries of some of you, known to most, and revered by all, were so conspicuous in the framing and adopting of the Constitution, and called so early to important stations under it, that a tribute, better, indeed, than I have given, or am able to give, seemed due to them from us. There was yet another, of whom mention is to be made. In the revolutionary history of the country, the name of Chancellor LIVINGSTON became early prominent. He was a member of that Congress which declared Independence; and a member, too, of the committee which drew and reported the immortal Declaration. At the period of the adoption of the Constitution, he was its firm friend and able advocate. He was a member of the State Convention, being one of that list of distinguished and gifted men, who represented this city in that body; and threw the whole weight of his talents and influence into the doubtful scale of the Constitution.

'Gentlemen, as connected with the Constitution, you have also local recollections which must bind it still closer to your attachment and affection. It commenced its

being and its blessings here. It was in this city, in the midst of friends, anxious, hopeful, and devoted, that the new Government started in its course. To us, gentlemen, who are younger, it has come down by tradition; but some around me are old enough to have witnessed, and did witness, the interesting scene of the first Inauguration. They remember what voices of gratified patriotism, what shouts of enthusiastic hope, what acclamations, rent the air-how many eyes were suffused with tears of joy-how cordially each man pressed the hand of him who was next to him, when, standing in the open air, in the centre of the city, in the view of assembled thousands, the first President was heard solemnly to pronounce the words of his official oath, repeating them from the lips of Chancellor Livingston. You then thought, gentlemen, that the great work of the Revolution was accomplished. You then felt that you had a Government —that the United States were then, indeed, united. Every benignant star seemed to shed its selectest influence on that auspicious hour. Here were heroes of the Revolution; here were sages of the Convention; here were minds, disciplined and schooled in all the various fortunes of the country, acting now in various relations, but all co-operating to the same great end, the successful administration of the new and untried Constitution. And he-how shall I speak of him ?—he was at the head, who was already first in war-who was already first in the hearts of his countrymen,-and who was now shown also, by the unanimous suffrage of the country, to be first in peace.

Gentlemen, how gloriously have the hopes, then indulged, been fulfilled! Whose expectation was then so sanguine-I may almost ask whose imagination then so extravagant, as to run forward and contemplate as probable, the one half of what has been accomplished in forty

years? Who among you can go back to 1789, and see what this city, and this country too, then were-and then beholding what they now are, can be ready to consent that the Constitution of the United States shall now be weakened, nullified, or dishonored?

'Gentlemen, before I leave these pleasant recollections, I feel it an irresistible impulse of duty to pay a tribute of respect to another distinguished person, not, indeed, a fellow-citizen of your own, but associated with those I have already mentioned, in important labors, and an early and indefatigable friend and advocate in a great cause of the Constitution. Gentlemen, I refer to MR. MADISON. I am aware, gentlemen, that a tribute of regard from me to him is of little importance; but if it shall receive your approbation and sanction, it will become of value. Mr. Madison, thanks to a kind Providence, is yet among the living, and there is certainly no other individual living to whom the country is so much indebted for the blessings of the Constitution. He was one of the Commissioners at Annapolis, in 1786, at the meeting, of which I have already spoken; a meeting, which to the great credit of Virginia, had its origin in a proceeding of that State. He was a member of the Convention of 1789, and of that of Virginia the following year. He was thus intimately acquainted with the whole progress of the formation of the Constitution, from its very first step to its final adoption. If ever man had the means of understanding a written instrument, Mr. Madison has the means of understanding the Constitution. If it be possible to know what was designed by it, he can tell us. It was in this city, that in conjunction with Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Jay, he wrote the numbers of the Federalist; and it was in this city that he commenced his brilliant career, under the new Constitution, having been elected into the House of Representatives of the first Congress. The recorded votes and debates of those times, show his active and efficient agency in every important measure of that Congress. The necessary organization of the Government, the arrangement of the Departments, and

especially the paramount subject of revenue engaged his attention, and shared his labors. The legislative history of the first two or three years of the Government is full of instruction. It presents, in striking light, the evils intended to be remedied by the Constitution, and the provisions which were deemed essential to the remedy of those evils. It exhibits the country, in the moment of its change, from a weak and ill-defined confederacy of States, into a general, efficient, but still restrained and limited government. It shows the first working of our peculiar system, moved, as it then was, by master-hands.

'Gentlemen, for one, I confess, I like to dwell on this part of our history. It is good for us to be here. It is good for us to study the situation of the country at this period, to survey its difficulty, to look at the conduct of its public men, to see how they struggle with obstacles, real and formidable, and how gloriously they brought the country out of its state of depression and distress. Truly, gentlemen, these founders and fathers of the Constitution were great men, and thoroughly furnished for every good work. All that reading and learning could do, all that talent and intelligence could do, and what perhaps is still more-all that long experience, in difficult and troubled times, and a deep and intimate practical knowledge of the condition of the country could do, conspired to fit them for the great business of forming a general, but limited government, embracing common objects, extending over all the States, and yet touching the power of the States no farther than those common objects require. I confess, I love to linger around these original fountains, and to drink deep of their waters. I love to imbibe, in as full measure as I may, the spirit of those who laid the foundations of the government, and so wisely and skillfully balanced and adjusted its bearings and proportions.

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Having been afterwards, for eight years, Secretary of State, and as long President, Mr. Madison has had an experience in the affairs of the Constitution, certainly second to no man. More than any other man living, and

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