“Whilst I take pleasure in doing justice to the councils of his Britannic Majesty which, no longer adhering to the policy which made an abandonment by France of her Decrees a prerequisite to the revocation of the British Orders, have substituted the amicable course which has issued thus happily, I cannot do less than refer to the proposal heretofore made on the part of the United States, embracing a like restoration of the suspended commerce, as a proof of the spirit of accommodation which has at no time been intermitted, and to the result which now calls for our congratulations as corroborating the principles by which the public councils have been guided during a period of the most trying embarrassments.” When Madison spoke of the “principles by which the public councils have been guided,” he meant to place at their head the principles of embargo and non-intercourse,--a result of Erskine’s arrangement hardly more agreeable to commercial America than to despotic England; but however England might resent what Canning would certainly think an offence, Americans were in no humor for fault-finding, and they received Madison’s allusions with little protest. The remainder of the Message contained nothing that called for dispute. The Federalist minority--strong in numbers, flushed by victory over Jefferson, and full of contempt for the abilities of their opponents--found themselves suddenly deprived by Erskine and Madison of every grievance to stand upon. For once, no one charged that Madison’s act was dictated from the Tuileries. The Federalist newspapers, like their Republican rivals, advanced the idea that their success was the natural result of their own statesmanship. Their efforts against the embargo had opened the path for Canning’s good-will to show itself, and the removal of Jefferson’s sinister influence accounted for the brilliancy of Madison’s success. The attempt to approve Erskine’s arrangement without approving Jefferson’s system, required ingenuity as great as was shown in the similar attempt of Madison to weigh down Erskine’s arrangement by coupling it with the embargo. These party tactics would hardly deserve notice had not John Randolph, in drawing a sharp line between Jefferson and Madison, enlivened the monotony of debate by comments not without interest.