Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

June 17, 1799 - Letter from Bishop James Madison to Robert Carter
CWF Rockefeller Library, Special Collections - Shirley Plantation Collection SCMS 91.01

I read your late favors with singular
pleasure. The electrical experiment which you first
mention, satisfies me that the Principles of Nat. Phil^s .
Which you acquired whilst I had the happiness to
assist you in your studies, will be extended by you,
& prove a friend of rational amusement, & continual
Improvement in Knowledge. This other part, which ~
respects myself, apprises me of the goodness of your
Heart, & of your Regard for me. Greatly as I am ~
delighted with seeing those who have had the patience
to listen to my lessons, distinguished for their talents, &
useful knowledge; yet, be apprised, I feel infinitely
greater delight in the evidence which they give of
distinguished virtues & goodness.

Your Electrical Experiment is precisely
similar to those upon which the Galvanic Electricity
is now founded. I have not repeated it in the manner
I wish, as yet, on acct. of the weather, but I do not
doubt a like Result. You will find
in the 3^d vol. of Cavallo upon Elect^s ., in View of the
discoveries made in Animal Electricity when
you wish. In [ye] Annales de Chemie for Sep^t . 1797
there is a very interesting letter from M. Volta upon [ye]
same Subject. He divides Bodies into two classes
of dry conductors, & humid conductors. In all cases,
he says, the contact of different conductors awakens the
Electric Fluid, & empresses upon it a certain Impulse.
In every situation^instance , in which [we] make a complet Circle
of Conductors, one of the second class between two of
the first, being different from each other, or one of [ye]
first class between two of [ye] 2^d , also differing from each
other, then will be produced an Electrical Current, a
Circulation of this Fluid, which ceases only by breaking
the Circle, & which is restored [illegible] & as often as
the circle is renewed. Thus let B be a Drop of Water
or any humid Conductor, C, & D two different Metals;

[Close-up of sketch]

upon placing these, as above, the Electc Current
is produced. This principle may be greatly varied
& extended-; & I doubt not but your Expr. Comes
under it.— There is a case mentioned in Cavallo,
of a gentleman's having caught a mouse, & holding it
between his thumb & finger, received a shock w^ch
affected him considerably.

You ought to have credit for ^your expr., as it
might have led to the Discoveries lately made in
animal electricity.

As to the remaining part of your letter, which
so kindly informs me of the Reports which are circulated
affecting my moral, my religious & my
political character, I can only deplore the Depravity of that
Society which I am a member. I will never make
any other answer, than to request my calumniators
to inspect my life, to examine its Tenor, to expose it to
any Fortune they please; they will not find that I have
ever injured a single man by word or deed; they
will not find that I have ever expressed a senti
ment unfriendly to Religion, but they will find, that
I have, for four & twenty years attended a Church,
& [illegible]I have received, during this Period, six [pounds]
for my Labor; they will find that my children
are early instructed in Religion & accustomed to Duties
most likely to impress a Sense of Religion; they
will find that I have long introduced Paley's
M[or.] Philor^s . into college, in preference to any other
System, in [illegible] that the Excellency of the X's Religion
may make [blot] full Impression upon the Minds
of Students; - they will find, that in Politics, I have
uniformly reprobated the Idea of being attached
to any Party
that so far from encouraging Students to oppose
any constituted authority, I have ever discouraged
the Discussion of public measures, nay, that I have
never permitted it. The Political course pursued
in College is precisely the same, which commenced
after the American Revolution; except that Paley
& Smith on the Wealth of Nations have been
added. — This is a course suited to Republicanisms
calculated to give just, enlarged & truly philosophi-
cal Ideas of the Nature of Govt. — & of political Institutions
in general. If any one can point out a better, I will gladly
embrace it; but my calumniators do not even know of what it
consists.

For five & twenty years I have laboured at
College. In that period, I challenge the world to say that
I have ever lost a single Hour by any avocations
of my own; or, that I have ever attempted to instill
a Sentiment, in which morality, Religion, or Patriotism
ought to recoil. Of what I have done, I will not
boast; but surely, I may be allowed to declare what
I have not done.

These Calumnies are not pleasing to me,
because I thought I had not an Enemy in the World, &
that I had in some degree, merited a different Return;
but still they will not depress me, nor prevent me from
ever acting as my own judgment & conscience shall direct. -