THE “National Intelligencer,” which called public attention only to such points of interest as the Government wished to accent, noticed that President Madison was “dressed in a full suit of cloth of American manufacture” when he appeared at noon, March 4, 1809, under escort of the “troops of cavalry of the city and Georgetown,” amid a crowd of ten thousand people, to take the oath of office at the Capitol. The suit of American clothes told more of Madison’s tendencies than was to be learned from the language of the Inaugural Address, which he delivered in a tone of voice so low as not to be heard by the large audience gathered in the new and imposing Representatives’ Hall.[1] Indeed, the Address suggested a doubt whether the new President wished to be understood. The conventionality of his thought nowhere betrayed itself more plainly than in this speech on the greatest occasion of Madison’s life, when he was required to explain the means by which he should retrieve the failures of Jefferson. “It is a precious reflection,” said Madison to his anxious audience, “that the transition from this prosperous condition of our country to the scene which has for some time been distressing us, is not chargeable on any unwarrantable views, nor as I trust on any voluntary errors, in the public councils. Indulging no passions which trespass on the rights or the repose of other nations, it has been the true glory of the United States to cultivate peace by observing justice, and to entitle themselves to the respect of the nations at war by fulfilling their neutral obligations with the most scrupulous impartiality. If there be candor in the world, the truth of these assertions will not be questioned; posterity at least will do justice to them.” Since none of Madison’s enemies, either abroad or at home, intended to show him candor, his only hope was in posterity; yet the judgment of posterity depended chiefly on the course which the new President might take to remedy the misfortunes of his predecessor. The nation expected from him some impulse toward the end he had in mind; foreign nations were also waiting to learn whether they should have to reckon with a new force in politics; but Madison seemed to show his contentment with the policy hitherto pursued, rather than his wish to change it.