These comments are taken from: James Madison's
"Advice to my Country"-- edited by David B. Mattern

These Particular quotes are found in
"The Papers of James Madison, Congressional Series (PJM)

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Those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things be proper or safe judges, whether a war ought to be commenced, continued, or concluded. They are barred from the latter functions by a great principle in government, analogous to that which separates the sword from the purse, or the power of executing from the power of enacting laws.

Helvidius No. 1,24 Aug. 1793 -- PJM 15:71

War is in fact the true nurse of executive aggrandizement. In war a physical force is to be created, and it is the executive will which is to direct it. In war the public treasures are to be unlocked, and it is the executive hand which is to dispense them. In war the honors and emoluments of office are to be multiplied; and it is the active patronage under which they are to be enjoyed. It is in war, finally, that laurels are to be gathered, and it is the executive brow they are to encircle. The strongest passions, and the most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, and honorable or venial love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace.

Helvidius No. 4,14 Sept. 1793 -- PJM 15:108

When a state of war becomes absolutely necessary, all good citizens will submit with alacrity to the calamities inseparable from it.

....

In spite of all the claims and examples of patriotism, which ought by no means be undervalued, the testimony of all all ages forces us to admit, that war is among the most dangerous of all enemies to liberty; and that the executive is the most favored by it, of all the branches of power.

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