"Gouvemeur  Morris"  is  in  press   ...     It  will  be  in  three  vol-
umes, the  first  a  memoir,  and  the  other  two  selections  from  his
writings,  all  of  which  I  hope  to  send  you  in  January.     He  has  left

*  H.  B.  Adams,  Life  and  Writings  oi  Jared  Sparks,  II,  230-231.
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514     RECORDS  OF  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION

hardly  a  scrap  of  paper  on  the  subject  of  the  Convention,  and  I
shall  consequently  have  very  little  to  say  of  that  matter.
...  I  doubt  whether  any  clear  light  can  be  gained  till  Pinck-
ney's  original  draft  shall  be  found,  which  is  probably  among  the
papers  of  one  of  the  committee.  It  seems  to  me  that  your  secretary
of  the  Convention  was  a  very  stupid  secretary,  not  to  take  care  of
those  things  better,  and  to  make  a  better  journal  than  the  dry  bones
which  now  go  by  that  name.
CCCLXXXVII.   James  Madison  to  Jared  Sparks.^

Montpellier,  November  25,  1831.
I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  14th  instant.  The  simple
question  is,  whether  the  draught  sent  by  Mr.  Pinckney  to  Mr.
