6893. PRESIDENT, Subpœnas 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that it should be withdrawn from its station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. Washington ed. v, 97.
Ford ed., ix, 57.
(W.
June. 1807)
