July 25, 1790, tendered his resignation, in order, as he said, to enter into a more lucrative engagement.** Henry Remsen, jr., had been connected with the conduct of the foreign affairs of the Government from March, 1784, when, just before Jay's election as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he was elected Under Secretary.† When Alden retired, Remsen succeeded to the rank of Chief Clerk, and held the position until 1792, when he was appointed First Teller to the new United States Bank, and George Taylor, jr., who had been a clerk in the Department for seven years, took his place.‡

From the very beginning the Department of State, more than any other Executive Department, was closely connected with the President, and was, in a measure, the President's office. Washington not only referred to it all official letters bearing upon its business, but made it

*Department of State MS. archives. There is evidence that he was subsequently an applicant for office, being recommended by his old chief, Charles Thomson. † Ante, p. 35.

Department of State MS. archives.

the repository of the drafts of his public letters, and, to a more limited extent, of his private correspondence. It must be borne in mind that at that time the business of the Government was sufficiently light to render it possible for the President to attend personally to matters such as are now rarely, if ever, brought to his attention. The Secretaries of the Executive Departments were then more literally secretaries than they are now, and the President was literally the fountain from whence all Executive action sprang. It was Jefferson's custom to consult his chief frequently. Notes, of which the following is an example, were going constantly from the Secretary to the President:

Mr. Jefferson has the honour of enclosing for the perusal of the President, rough draughts of the letters he supposes it proper to send to the court of France on the present occasion. He will have that of waiting on him in person immediately to make any changes in them the President will be so good as to direct, and to communicate to him two letters just received from Mr Short.

April 5. 1790.

a quarter before one.*

* Department of State MS. archives.

5

The Department had sole control, under the President, of all diplomatic and consular correspondence, and the foreign ministers to this country were required to communicate directly with the Secretary of State. This rule had been laid down before Jefferson's appointment, when Washington declined direct correspondence with Moustier, the French Minister; and Moustier's successor, the notorious Genet, received. a forcible reminder of it in 1793.

The representatives of the United States abroad continued to serve under the Constitution without, in all cases, receiving new appointments. Dumas, for instance, who had been employed by Franklin when the latter was at the head of the Committee of Secret Correspondence, and whose services continued thereafter, received no new commission, but continued to perform his duties and to receive compensation. Jefferson wrote to Washington, February 4, 1792:

*Ante, P. 4.

The laws and appointments of the antient Congress were as valid and permanent in their nature, as the laws of the new Congress, or appointments of the new Executive; these laws & appointments in both cases deriving equally their source from the will of the Nation: and when a question arises, whether any particular law or appointment is still in force, we are to examine, not whether it was pronounced by the antient or present organ, but whether it has been at any time revoked by the authority of the Nation expressed by the organ competent at the time. The Nation by the act of their federal convention, established some new principles & some new organizations of the government. This was a valid declaration of their will, and ipso facto revoked some laws before passed, and discontinued some offices and officers before appointed. Whenever by this instrument, an old office was superseded by a new one, a new appointment became necessary; but where the new Constitution did not demolish an office, either expressly or virtually, nor the President remove the officer, both the office and the officer remained. This was the case of several; in many of them indeed an excess of caution dictated the superaddition of a new appointment; but where there was no such superaddition, as in the instance of Mr. Dumas, both the office and officer still remained: for the will of the nation, validly pronounced by the proper organ of the day, had constituted him their agent, and that will has not

through any of its successive organs revoked his appointment. *

The compensation of our Ministers abroad was regulated under the Act of July 1, 1790, which authorized the President

To draw from the treasury of the United States, a sum not exceeding forty thousand dollars, annually, to be paid out of the moneys arising from the duties on imports and tonnage, for the support of such persons as he shall commission to serve the United States in foreign parts, and for the expense incident to the business in which they may be employed. Provided, That, exclusive of outfit, which shall, in no case, exceed the amount of one year's full salary to the minister plenipotentiary or charge des affaires, to whom the same may be allowed, the president shall not allow to any minister plenipotentiary a greater sum than at the rate of nine thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his personal services, and other expenses; nor

*Department of State MS. archives.

It may be remarked, as bearing upon this subject, that the custom of returning the commission to the Department under which the officer served, upon his resignation, was not uncommon at this period. Washington returned his commission as Commander in Chief of the Army into the hands of the President of Congress when he resigned in 1783, and the Department archives show similar cases after that; but Andrew Jackson, when John Branch resigned as Secretary of the Navy in 1831, sent back to him the commission he had returned, saying: "It is your own private property, and by no means to be considered part of the archives of the government. Accordingly I return it." The custom has since been entirely abandoned.