tinction, I supposed he would not place before the world facts of glaring falsehood, on which SO many living and distinguished witnesses could convict him.-To JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. vii, 87. (M., 1817.)

6857. PRAISE, Undeserved.-To give praise where it is not due might be well from the venal, but it would ill beseem those who are asserting the rights of human nature.-RIGHTS OF BRITISH AMERICA. i, 141. FORD ED., i, 446. (1774.)

6858. PRECEDENT, Oppression and.For what oppression may not a precedent be found in this world of the bellum omnium in omnia?-NOTES ON VIRGINIA. viii, 371. FORD ED., iii, 235. (1782.)

6859. PRECEDENT, Power and.-One precedent in favor of power is stronger than an hundred against it.-NOTES ON VIRGINIA. viii, 367. FORD ED., ii, 230. (1782.)

6860. PREEMPTION, Right of.-If the country, instead of being altogether vacant, is thinly occupied by another nation, the right of the native forms an exception to that of the new comers; that is to say, these will only have a right against all other nations except the natives. Consequently, they have the exclusive privilege of acquiring the native right by purchase or other just means. This is called the right of preemption, and is become a principle of the law of nations, fundamental with respect

to America. There are but two means of acquiring the native title. First, war; for even war may, sometimes, give a just title. Second, contracts, or treaty.-OPINION ON GEORGIAN LAND GRANTS. vii, 467. FORD ED., v, 166. (1790.)

6861. PREROGATIVE, Barriers against. The privilege of giving or withholding our moneys is an important barrier against the undue exertion of prerogative, which if left altogether without control may be exercised to our great oppression.-REPLY TO LORD NORTH'S PROPOSITION. FORD ED., i, 477. (July 1775.)

6862. PRESBYTERIAN SPIRIT, Liberty and.-The Presbyterian spirit is known to be so congenial with friendly liberty, that the patriots, after the Restoration, finding that the humor of the people was running too strongly to exalt the prerogative of the crown, promoted the dissenting interest as a check and balance, and thus was produced the Toleration Act.-NOTES ON RELIGION. FORD ED., ii, 98. (1776?)

6863. PRESENTS, Declination of.-I return you my thanks for a bust of the Emperor Alexander [of Russia]. These are the more cordial, because of the value the bust derives from the great estimation in which its original is held by the world, and by none more than myself. It will constitute one of the most valued ornaments of the retreat I am preparing for myself at my native home. * * * I had laid it down as a law for my conduct while in office, and hitherto srcupulously observed, to accept of no present beyond a book, a pamphlet or other curiosity of minor value; as well to avoid imputation on my motives of action, as to shut out a practice susceptible to such abuse. But my particular esteem for the character of the Emperor, places his image in my mind above the scope of law. I receive it, therefore, and shall cherish it with affection. It nourishes the contemplation of all the good placed in his

power, and of his disposition to do it.-To MR. HARRIS. v, 6. (W., 1806.)

6864.

Mr. Granger has sent me the very elegant ivory staff of which you wished my acceptance. The motives of your wish are honorable to me, and gratifying, as they evidence the approbation of my public conduct by a stranger who has not viewed it through the partialities of personal acquaintance. Be assured, Sir, that I am as grateful for the testimony, as if I could have accepted the token of it which you have so kindly offered. On coming into public office, I laid it down as a law of my conduct, while I should continue in it, to accept no present of any sensible pecuniary value. A pamphlet, a new book, or an article of new curiosity, have produced no hesitation, because below suspicion. But things of sensible value, however innocently offered in the first examples, may grow at length into abuse, for which I wish not to furnish a precedent. The kindness of the motives which led to this manifestation of your esteem, sufficiently assures me that you will approve of my desire, by a perseverance in the rule, to retain that consciousness of a disinterested administration of the public trusts, which is essential to perfect tranquillity of mind.-To SAMUEL HAWKINS. V, 393. (W., Nov. 1808.)

As cus

6865. PRESENTS, Diplomatic. tom may have rendered some presents necessary in the beginning or progress of this business negotiation of a treaty with the Emperor of Morocco] and before it is concluded, or even in a way to be concluded, we authorize you to conform to the custom, confiding in your discretion to hazard as little as possible before a certainty of the event. We trust to you also to procure the best information as to what persons, and in what form, these presents should be made, and to make them accordingly.-To THOMAS BARCLAY. i, 421. (P., 1785.)

6866. PRESENTS, To Foreign Ministers. It was proposed that the medal [to be given to recalled foreign ministers] should always contain 150 dollars' worth of gold; it was presumed the gentleman would always keep this. The chain was to contain 365 links always, but these were to be proportioned in value to the time the person had been here, making each No expense was to be bestowed on the making link worth 3 dimes for every year of residence. because it was expected they would turn_the chain into money.-NOTE BY JEFFERSON. FORD ED., vi, 263. (1793.)

6867. It has become necessary to determine on a present proper to be given to diplomatic characters on their taking leave of us; and it is concluded that a medal and chain of gold will be the most convenient. I have. therefore, to ask the favor of you to order the dies to be engraved with all the dispatch practicable. The medal must be of thirty lines diameter with a loop on the edge to receive the chain. On one side, must be the arms of the United States, of which I send you a written description: *** round them as a legend must be" The United States of America ". The device of the other side we do not decide on. suggestion has been a Columbia (a fine female figure) delivering the emblems of peace and commerce to a Mercury, and the date of our republic, to wit, 4th July, MDCCLXXVI.-To WILLIAM SHORT. iii. 142. (N.Y., 1790.)

One

6868. PRESENTS, To Indians.-Ï hope we shall give the Indians a thorough drubbing this summer, and I should think it better perhaps afterwards to take up the plan of liberal

President

and repeated presents to them. This would be much the cheapest in the end and would save all the blood which is now being spilt; in time, too, it would produce a spirit of peace and friendship between us. The expense of a single expedition would last very long for presents.To PRESIDENT WASHINGTON. iii, 248. FORD ED., V, 321. (Pa., 1791.)

6869. The giving medals and marks of distinction to the Indian chiefs * * * has been an ancient custom from time immemorial. The medals are considered as complimentary things, as marks of friendship to those who come to see us, or who do us good offices, conciliatory of their good will towards us, and not designed to produce a contrary disposition towards others. They confer no power, and seem to have taken their origin in the European practice, of giving medals or other marks of friendship to the negotiators of treaties and other diplomatic characters, or visitors of distinction. The British government, while it prevailed here, practiced the giving medals, gorgets, and bracelets to the savages, invariable.

TO CARMICHAEL AND SHORT. iv, 15. FORD ED., vi, 336. (Pa., 1793.)

6870. PRESENTS, Public.-The bounties from one's country, expressions of its approbation, are honors which it would be arrogance to refuse, especially where flowing from the willing only.-TO THOMAS RITCHIE. FORD ED., x, 382. (M., 1826.)

6871. PRESENTS, Tribute and.-We

rely that you will be able to obtain an acknowledgment of our treaty with Morocco, giving very moderate presents. As the amount of these will be drawn into precedent, on future similar repetitions of them, it becomes important. Our distance, our seclusion from the ancient world, its politics and usages, our agricultural occupations and habits, our poverty, and lastly, our determination to prefer war in all cases, tribute under any form, and to any people whatever, will furnish you with topics for opposing and refusing high or dishonorable pretensions. -TO THOMAS BARCLAY. ii, 262. (Pa., 1791.)

to

6874.

712

The President is chosen

by ourselves, directly in practice, for we vote for A as elector only on the condition he will vote for B.-To DUPONT DE NEMOURS. 590. FORD ED., x, 23. (P.F., 1816.)

vi,

6875. PRESIDENT, Election of.-The bill for the election of the President and VicePresident has undergone much revolution. Marshall made a dexterous maneuver. He declares against the constitutionality of the Senate's bill, and proposed that the right of decision of their grand committee should be controllable by the concurrent vote of the two houses of Congress; but to stand good if not rejected by a concurrent vote. You will readily estimate the amount of this sort of control. The committee of the House of Representatives, however, took from the committee the right of giving any opinion, requiring them to report the facts only, and that the votes returned by the States should be counted, unless reported by a concurrent vote of both houses.-To E. LIVINGSTON. iv, 328. FORD ED., vii, 443. (Pa., April 1800.) That great opposition is and will be made by federalists to this amendment [to the Constitution], is certain. They know that if it prevails, neither a Presibut by the fair vote of the majority of the nadent nor Vice-President can ever be made tion, of which they are not. That either their opposition to the principle of discrimination now, or their advocation of it formerly was on party, not moral motives, they cannot deny. Consequently, they fix for themselves the place in the scale of moral rectitude to which they are entitled. I am a friend to the discriminating principle; and for a reason more than others have, inasmuch as the discriminated vote of my constituents will express unequivocally the verdict they wish to cast on my conduct.-To THOMAS MCKEAN. FORD ED., viii, 292. (W., Jan. 1804.)

6876.

6877. PRESIDENT, The judiciary and.

v, 97.

6873. PRESIDENT, Direct vote for.One part of the subject of one of your letters is of a nature which forbids my interference altogether. The amendment to the Constitution of which you speak. would be a remedy to a certain degree. So will a different amendment which I know will be proposed, to wit, to have no electors, but let the people vote directly, and the ticket which has a plurality of the votes of any State to be considered as receiving thereby the vote of the State.-To ALBERT GALLATIN. FORD ED., viii, 94. (M., Sep. 1801.)

PRESIDENT, Oath of office.-See

WASHINGTON.

6878. PRESIDENT, Petitions to.-The

right of our fellow citizens to represent to the public functionaries their opinion on proceedings interesting to them, is unquestionably a constitutional right, often useful, sometimes necessary, and will always be respectfully acknowledged by me.-TO THE NEW HAVEN COMMITTEE. iv, 402. FORD ED., viii, 68. (W., 1801.)

6879. PRESIDENT, Polish Kings and. -The President seems a bad edition of a ii, 316.

Polish King. To JOHN ADAMS. (P., Nov. 1787.)

6891. PRESIDENT, State executives and. I have the honor to enclose you the draft of a letter to Governor Pinckney, and to observe, that I suppose it to be proper that there should, on fit occasions, be a direct correspondence between the President of the United States and the Governors of the States; and that it will probably be grateful to them to receive from the President, answers to the letters they address to him. The correspondence with them on ordinary business, may still be kept up by the Secretary of State, in his own name.-TO PRESIDENT WASHINGTON. iii, 297. (1791.)

6892. PRESIDENT, State powers and. -As to the portions of power within each State assigned to the General Government, the President is as much the Executive of the State, as their particular governor is in relation to State powers.-To MR. GOODENOW. vii, 251. (M., 1822.)

6893. PRESIDENT, Subpoenas for.-As to our personal attendance at Richmond, I am persuaded the Court is sensible, that paramount duties to the nation at large control the obligation of compliance with their summons in [Burr's] case; as they would, should we receive a similar one, to attend the trials of Blennerhassett and others in the Mississippi Territory, those instituted at St. Louis and other places on the western waters, or at any place, other than the seat of government. To comply with such calls would leave the nation without an Executive branch, whose agency, nevertheless. is understood to be so constantly necessary, that it is the sole branch which the Constitution requires to be always in function. It could not then mean that it should be withdrawn from its station by any coordinate authority.-TO GEORGE HAY. v, 97. FORD ED., ix, 57. (W., June 1807.)

6894.

I did not see till last night the opinion of the Judge [Marshall] on the subpana duces tecum against the President. Considering the question there as coram non judice, I did not read his argument with much attention. Yet I saw readily enough, that, as is usual where an opinion is to be supported, right or wrong, he dwells much on smaller objections, and passes over those which are solid. Laying down the position generally, that all persons owe obedience to subpanas he admits no exception unless it can be produced in his law books. But if the Constitution enjoins on a particular officer to be always engaged in a particular set of duties imposed on him. does not this supersede the general law. subjecting him to minor duties inconsistent with these? The Constitution enjoins his constant agency in the concerns of six millions of people. Is the law paramount to this, which calls on him on behalf of a single one? Let us apply the Judge's own doctrine to the case of himself and his brethren. The sheriff of Henrico summons him from the bench, to quell a riot somewhere in his county. The Federal judge is, by the general law, a part of the posse of the State sheriff. Would the judge abandon major duties to perform lesser ones? Again: the court of Orleans or Maine commands. by subpoenas, the attendance of all the judges of the Supreme Court. Would they abandon their

posts as judges, and the interests of millions committed to them, to serve the purposes of a single individual? The leading principle of our Constitution is the independence of the Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary of each other, and none are more jealous of this than the Judiciary. But would the Executive be independent of the Judiciary, if he were subject to the commands of the latter, and to imprisonment for disobedience; if the several courts could bandy him from pillar to post, keep him constantly trudging from north to south and east to west, and withdraw him entirely from his constitutional duties? The intention of the Constitution, that each branch should be independent of the others, is further manifested by the means it has furnished to each, to protect itself from enterprises of force attempted on them by the others, and to none has it given more effectual or diversified means than to the Executive. Again, because ministers can go into a court in London as witnesses, without interruption to their executive duties, it is inferred that they would go to a court one thousand or one thousand five hundred miles off, and that ours are to be dragged from Maine to Orleans by every criminal who will swear that their testimony may be of use to him". The Judge says, "it is apparent that the President's duties as Chief Magistrate do not demand his whole time, and are not unremitting". If he alludes to our annual retirement from the seat of government. during the sickly season, he should be told that such arrangements are made for carrying on the public business, at and between the several stations we take, that it goes on as unremittingly there, as if we were at the seat of government. I pass more hours in public business at Monticello than I do here, every day; and it is much more laborious, because all must be done in writing.-TO GEORGE HAY. v, 103. FORD ED., IX, 59. (W., June 1807.)

6895. As I do not believe that the District Courts have a power of commanding the Executive government to abandon Superior duties and attend on them, at whatever distance, I am unwilling, by any notice of the subpoena, to set a precedent which might sanction a proceeding so preposterous. I enclose you, therefore, a letter, public and for the court, covering substantially all they ought to desire.-To GEORGE HAY. v, 191. (M., Sep. 1807.)

6896.

The enclosed letter is written in a spirit of conciliation and with the desire to avoid conflicts of authority between the high branches of the government, which would discredit it equally at home and abroad. That Burr and his counsel should wish to [struck out "divert the public attention from him to this battle of giants was to be "] convert his trial into a contest between the Judiciary and Executive authorities, was to be expected. But that the Chief Justice should lend himself to it, and take the first step to bring it on. was not expected. Nor can it be now believed that his prudence or good sense will permit him to press it. But should he, contrary to expectation, proceed to issue any process which should involve any act of force to be committed on the persons of the Executive or heads of departments, I must desire you to give me instant notice, and by express if you find that can be quicker done than by post; and that, moreover, you will advise the marshal on his conduct, as he will be critically placed between us. His safest way will be to take no part in the exercise of any act of force ordered in this case. The powers given to the Executive by the Constitu