In April, 1816, congress incorporated a national bank with a capital of $35,000,000, to continue for twenty years. The president had vetoed a similar bill in January of the preceding year, but now approved of it, from a conviction that the derangement of the currency made it necessary. It encountered strong opposition, but was supported by Henry Clay and other friends of the president, and passed both houses.
In December, 1816, Madison sent in his last annual message to congress. Its recommendations were considered judicious and liberal, and secured the general approbation of the country.
On March 4, 1817, his long official relations with the country terminated, and he retired to his farm at Montpelier, Virginia. In this pleasant retreat he passed the remainder of his days in agricultural pursuits. Like most of our famous men, his matrimonial connection was a source of great advantage to him. During his later years, in spite of his ill-health, Madison still busied himself in service to his neighbors.
While at school, for months together, he had slept but three hours out of the twenty-four. He was not an orator naturally; many others of his schoolmates, it is stated, were far superior to him in natural abilities. Why, then, did he succeed, while so many others failed? The strong feature whereby he won success was, like that of many others, his capacity for hard work.
As to Madison's principles, it will be remembered that he was defeated in 1777, because he refused to treat the people to liquor. In 1829 he sat in the Virginia Convention to reform the old constitution. When he rose to utter a few words the members left their seats and crowded around the venerable figure dressed in black, with his thin gray hair powdered as in former times, to catch the low whisper of his voice. This was his last appearance in public.
If not endowed with the very first order of ability, Madison had trained his mind until it was symmetrical and vigorous. An unfailing accuracy and precision marked the operation of his faculties. He was naturally deficient in powers of oratory, and yet made himself one of the most effective speakers of his time, although the epoch was illustrated by such men in his own State as Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason and Edmund Pendleton, to say nothing of Jefferson and Monroe.
Jefferson's testimony on this point is strong: He says: "Mr. Madison came into the house in 1776, a new member, and young; which circumstances, concurring with his extreme modesty, prevented his venturing himself in debate before his removal to the council of state in November, 1777. Thence he went to Congress, then consisting of but few members. Trained in these successive schools, he acquired a habit of self-possession which placed at ready command the rich resources of his luminous mind, and of his extensive information, acquired by intense application, which rendered him eventually the first of every assembly of which he afterward became a member."
"Never wandering from his subject into vain declamation, but pursuing it closely, in language pure, classical, and copious, always soothing the feelings of his adversaries by civilities and softness of expression. He steadily rose to the high station which he held in the great national convention of 1787. In that of Virginia which followed, he sustained the new constitution in all its parts, bearing off the palm against the logic of George Mason, and the burning eloquence of Mr. Henry. With these consummate powers was united a pure and spotless virtue which no calumny has ever attempted to sully."
From his earliest years he was an intense scholar. His memory was singularly tenacious, and what he clearly understood was ever afterward retained. He thus laid up that great store of learning which, in the conventions of 1787-8 especially proved so effective, and later made him president. After Washington, no public man of his time was more widely known or more highly loved and respected.
The public confidence in, and respect for his honesty and singleness of aim toward the good of the country ripened into an affectionate attachment. His bearing and address were characterized by simplicity and modesty. He resembled a quiet student, rather than the head of a great nation. He was a perfect gentleman.