ACT INCORPORATING EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 607 general assessment, was taken up. On the 17th of November, 1784, a resolution had passed the House of Delegates by a very large majority, (62 to 23,) in favor of the "incorporation of all societies of the Christian religion which may apply for the same." Mr. Madison here again voted with the minority. On the same day, leave was given to bring in a bill " to incorporate the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church"; and a committee, of which Mr. Henry was the secondnamed member, was appointed to prepare it. This bill was not reported until Mr. Henry had left the House and entered upon the duties of the chief executive office, to which he had recently been again elected; but it was well known that he favored the bill, having been, as we have seen, the chief patron of a kindred measure brought before the legislature at its last session. The bill now reported was free from many of the objections which were felt and urged against the one presented on the former occasion. It was no longer a bill to incorporate the "clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church," as distinct from the laity, - but to incorporate "the Protestant Episcopal Church," embracing both clergy and laity. Other amendments were made, or were supposed to have been made, in its progress through the committee of the whole House, which still further lessened the objections to its passage; and it was felt that there was one argument at least, of a 1 See Journal of House of Delegates, October session, 1784, p. 27. legitimate and practical nature, in its favor, arising from the necessity of some sort of incorporation to enable the church to hold and manage its property. But the consideration by which Mr. Madison was induced finally to give a reluctant vote for the passage of the measure was this. "A negative of the bill," he said, "would have doubled the eagerness and pretexts for a much greater evil, -a general assessment, - which, there is good ground to believe, was parried by this partial gratification of its warmest votaries." When the impending danger of the greater evil was ultimately averted, he took a decided and active part in the movement which led, at an early day, to the repeal of the incorporating act. This measure being passed on the 22d of December, the House of Delegates, on the same day, resolved itself into a committee of the whole to consider the assessment bill, which had been reported under the title of a bill “establishing a provision for teachers of the Christian religion." It was discussed for two days in committee of the whole, and the opposition to it was renewed with great spirit and vigor. Several amendments were made; and on the second day, the bill, with the amendments, was ordered to be engrossed and read the third time. On the succeeding day, (the 24th of December,) the opponents of the measure, gallantly continuing the struggle 1 Letter to Mr. Jefferson, of the 9th of January, 1785. GENERAL ASSESSMENT BILL POSTPONED. 609 to the last, moved that the third reading of the bill be "postponed until the fourth Thursday in November next," -a day beyond the term of the existing legislature. The motion was carried by a vote of 45 to 38. This result, though not a final and decisive victory, was at least a drawn battle, which, considering the large numerical odds with which the contest opened against the opponents of the projected assessment, was matter of just felicitation to all who clung to the standard of an unqualified freedom in religion. Mr. Madison, in writing to Mr. Jefferson immediately after the adjournment of the legislature, summed up the history of the long and arduous struggle in the following quiet manner, abstaining, with characteristic oblivion of self, from the slightest allusion to the leading and distinguished part he had borne in the transactions he records. "A resolution for a legal provision for the 'teachers of the Christian religion' had, early in the session, been proposed by Mr. Henry, and, in spite of all the opposition that could be mustered, carried by 47 against 32 votes. Many petitions from below the Blue Ridge had prayed for such a law; and though several from the Presbyterian laity beyond it were in a contrary style, the clergy of that sect favored it. The other sects seemed to be passive. The resolution lay some weeks before a bill was brought 1 See Journal of House of Delegates, October session, 1784, p. 82. in, and the bill, some weeks before it was called for. After the passage of the Incorporating Act, it was taken up, and, on the third reading, ordered, by a small majority, to be printed for consideration. The bill, in its present dress, proposes a tax of per cent. on all taxable property for support of teachers of the Christian religion. Each person, when he pays his tax, is to name the society to which he dedicates it; and in case of refusal to do so, the tax is to be applied to the maintenance of a school in the county. As the bill stood for some time, the application, in such cases, was to be made by the legislature to pious uses." Immediately after the vote which postponed the further consideration of the subject to the next session of the legislature, a motion was made and carried that copies of the bill, together with the ayes and noes on the question of postponement, be printed for distribution in the several counties of the Commonwealth, and that "the people thereof be requested to signify their opinion respecting the adoption of such a measure to the next session of the legislature." Thus was an appeal formally taken, in this vital cause of religious freedom, to the supreme and ultimate tribunal in representative governments. With what untiring zeal, and with what irresistible force of eloquence and logic, Mr. Madison pleaded the great cause before that tribunal, and what was the final judgment pronounced by it, we shall hereafter see. CHAPTER XX. - Visit of Washington and Lafayette to the Legislature of Virginia – Addresses to them, and their Replies - Washington takes a deep Interest in the Improvement of the navigable Rivers of Virginia, to command the Trade of the West-His able Letter to Governor Harrison on the Subject laid before the Legislature — Leading and active Part taken by Mr. Madison in Coöperation with him -Washington appointed by the Legislature of Virginia a Commissioner to concert with the Legislature of Maryland the Provisions of a joint Act for improving and extending the Navigation of the Potomac - Repairs to Annapolis- Remarkable Letter addressed by him to Mr. Madison in Explanation of the Proceedings and Results of his Mission Mr. Madison introduces Measures to carry into full Effect the Arrangements agreed upon at Annapolis Other Measures brought forward by Mr. Madison to complete the System of Interior Communications for the StateImprovement of James River- Communication between Elizabeth River and Albemarle Sound - Reflections of Mr. Madison upon the vast Importance and future Consequences of these Public Works - Homage rendered by him to Washington's Greatness of Mind in so earnestly engaging in them - Brings in a Bill to confer upon him, in the Name of the State, a number of Shares in the Works authorized Adjournment of the LegislatureAgitation among the People on the Assessment Bill for Support of Religious Teachers - Deep Interest felt by Mr. Madison in the Progress of the Question - His Letters to Mr. Monroe on the Sub |