on, a distinguished teacher in the
neighborhood, and afterwards under the Rev. Thomas Martin, the parish
minister, a private tutor in his father's family. He was next sent to
the College of New Jersey, of which Dr. Witherspoon was then president.
Here Mr. Madison received the degree of bachelor of arts in the autumn
of 1771. He had impaired his health at college by too close
application; nevertheless, on his return home he pursued a systematic
course of reading. Shortly after his return he signed resolutions of his
county approving of Henry's proceedings in the affair of the gunpowder.
He became a member of the convention in May, 1776, and it was during
this session that the body unanimously instructed the deputies of
Virginia in congress to propose a declaration of independence. He did
not enter into public debate during this session. At the next election
he was defeated, his successful opponent being Colonel Charles Porter,
who was subsequently his frequent colleague in the house of delegates.
Mr. Madison was at the ensuing session appointed a member of the council
of state, and this place he held till 1779, when he was elected to
congress. While he was of the council Patrick Henry and Mr. Jefferson
were governors. Mr. Madison's knowledge of French, of which Governor
Henry was ignorant, rendered him particularly serviceable in the
frequent correspondence held with French officers: he wrote so much for
Governor Henry that he was called "the governor's secretary." Mr.
Madison took his seat in congress in March, 1780, and continued a
leading member until the fall of 1783, when his congressional term
expired by limitation. Such was the commencement of the career of this
man so illustrious for his genius, his learning, and his virtue, and who
was destined to pass through every eminent station, and to fill all with
honor to himself and benefit to his country and the world. As a writer,
a debater, a statesman, and a patriot, he was of the first order, and
his name goes down to posterity one of the brightest of those that adorn
the annals of the age in which he lived.[705:A]

FOOTNOTES:

[701:A] MS. letter of Arthur Lee, Edinburgh, March 20, 1765.

[702:A] See Woodfall's Junius, i. 102, where Arthur Lee is erroneously
called Dr. _Charles_ Lee.

[703:A] Flanders' Lives of Chief Justices, art. JAY.

[704:A] Arthur Lee's Life, i. 88.

[705:A] The Life of Madison, by the Honorable William C. Rives, is a
recent important