The form of our Government and the functions of the President as
a component part of it have in their relation to this subject been
sufficiently explained in my previous correspondence, especially in
my letter to the Comte de Rigny of the 29th of January last. I have
therefore little to add to that part of my representation which is
drawn from the form of our Government and the duties of the President
in administering it. If these are fully understood, the principles of
action derived from them can not be mistaken.
The President, as the chief executive power, must have a free and
entirely unfettered communication with the coordinate powers of
Government. As the organ of intercourse with other nations, he is
the only source from which a knowledge of our relations with them
can be conveyed to the legislative branches. It results from this
that the utmost freedom from all restraint in the details into which
he is obliged to enter of international concerns and of the measures
in relation to them is essential to the proper performance of this
important part of his functions. He must exercise them without having
continually before him the fear of offending the susceptibility of the
powers whose conduct he is obliged to notice.
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