to do, and request his collaborators to undertake the portions
for which they were particularly fitted. It is not, then, with-
out significance that in the opening paragraph of No. 3T, the
first of the connected Madison papers, it is said that the plan
of the writers "cannot be complete without taking a more
critical and thorough survey of the work of the Convention,
etc." This is called "the remaining task." Madison was by
far the most competent person to perform the "remaining
task." He was present at every session of the Convention
and did more than any one else to bring it to a successful
issue. Hamilton, on the other hand, was absent from
June 29 to Aug. 13, and did not speak ^ from Aug. 13 to
Sept. 6, on account of "his dislike of the scheme of gov-
ernment in general. " ^ If Hamilton refrained from participat-
ing in the discussions of the Convention for this reason, is it
not altogether probable that he proposed to leave to Madison,
as far as practicable, the task of defending the details of the
Constitution ? This supposition is strengthened by the fact
that Madison had evidently formed a plan of treatment for
the numbers that he did not write. ^
His work, however, was cut short by his having to leave New York early in March to prepare for the Virginia Conven- tion. Nos. 49-58 appeared between Feb. 5 and Feb. 22, and are closely connected in subject-matter with the preceding Madison numbers. Nos. 62 and 63 discuss the make-up of the Senate and logically attach themselves to No. 58, which concludes a similar treatment of the House of Representa- tives. They were published Feb. 29 and March 7. They could have been written by Madison; that they should be was in accordance with the apparent plan of 77ie Federalist On the other hand, there seems to be no good reason why they should come from Hamilton as long as Madison was in
1 He could not vote, as both Yates and Lansing of New York had left the Convention.
2 Madison's Debates, Scott's ed., 671.
^ After he left New York he wrote at least once to Hamilton in regard to the later course of The Federalist. April 3, Hamilton replies, explaining the line of argument which seemed best to him. Lodge's Works of Hamilton, VIU, 182.
