The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1863-05-27
scleet selistellanp.
A DOCUMENT FOR THE TIMES.
Letter from Thomas Jefferson 20 !. u.
Calvin ON the Laws of Necessity in
Times of Public Danger.

The Wheeling HteVigcncer has been fur.
nshed by Gen. Wheat tho Attorney Gen.
crol Of Virginia, with the following letter
which he has recently found in Vol. V,
| PIP, 9I2 81 of Thomas lclerson's works.
| Up to this time it seems to have escaped
the notice of public writer's. It's strikingly
applicable to tho present condition Of the
country and shows what The author of the
Declaration Of Independence and one Of the
fathers of the Republic, thought to be the
duty of u President in tmes OF insurrccton
and public danger;
MONTICELLO, September 20.
! SIR: Your favor of the llth has been
| duly received and have to thank YOU for
the many obligng things respecting my
| self which are said in it, If | have left in
the breasts of my fellow citizens sentiment
of satisfaction with my conduct in the traus-
action of their business, il will soften the
pillow of my rcpOSc through the residue of
my life.
The question you propose, whether cir
cumstances do not sometimes occur, which
make it q duty in officers of high trust. to
assume authorities beyond the law, is easy
OF solution in principle, but sometimes en-
harrassng in practice. \ strict observance
of the written laws is doubtless one of the
high duties of good citizen, but it is not
the highest. The laws Of necessity. of self
preservation, of saving our country when
in danger, are of higher obligations, To
lose our country by scrupulous adherence
! to written law would be to lose itself with
life, liberty, prosperity and all those who
| 81 npip ~ II uh Ia
sacrificing tho end to the means. When, in
the battle of Germantown, Con. Washing
tons army was annoyed from Chew s house,
he did not hesitate to plant his cannon
against it, although tho property of n cit
i2en. When no hesieged Yorktown, he
leveled the suburbs, feeling that the laws
of property must he postponed TO the safety
of the nation. While the army was before
York, the Governor Of Virginia took horses,
carriages, provisions and oven mon, by
force, to enable that army to stay together
till it could master the public enemy, and
he was justified. \ shin at sea in distress
for provisions meets another having album
dance, yet refusing supply; the law of
sclfpreservation authorizes tho distressed
TO take II supply 10y force In all these
cases the unwrittcn laws OF necessity, or
self-preservation, and of the public safety,
control tho unwritten laws OF mcHm and
teun.
Further to exempify the principle, will
state an hypothetical case. Suppose it had
been made known TO the Executive of the
Union, in the autumn of 1902 that we might
have the l'loridas for reasonable sum that
that sum had not been SO appropriated by
law, but that Congress were 10 meet within
three weeks, and might appropriate it on
| AiN 4 IL,
Ought he, for SO great an advantage to his
country, to have risked himself by transcend
ing the law and making tho purchase ?
The public advantage offered, in the sup
posed case was indeed immense but Il rev.
ercnoe for law, and the probability that the
advantage might still be legally accom-
plished by a delay OF only three weeks
were powerful reasons against the hazard
Gus act. But suppose it foresecn that a
John Randolph would find means 10 protract
the proceedings on it by Congress until the
ensuing spring, by which time new circum-
stances would change the mind of the other
party. Ought the Executive, in that case,
with that foreknowledge, have secured the
good to his country, and to have trusted to
their Justice for the transgrcsSon of tho
law? think he ought and that the act
would have been approved. After the af-
fair of the Chesapeake, we thought war q
very possible result. Our magazines werc
lily provided with some necessary articles,
nor had any appropriations been made for
the purchase. We ycntured, however, to
provide them, and to place our country in
safety and stating the case to Congress,
they sanctioned the act. To proceed to the
conspiracy of Burr and particularly to Gen
eral WIlklnBOns situation in New Orleans.
In Judging the case, we are bound to con-
sider the state of information, correct and
incorrect, which he then possessed. He
expected Burr and his band from above, a
British fleet from below, and he knew
there was a formidable conspiracy within
the city. Under these circumstances, was
he iustifiable, LIST, in seizng notorious con-
sprators On this there can be but two
opinions one, Of the guilty and their ac-
completes; the other that of all honest men.
I'd, in sending them TO the seat of govern
ment, when the written law gave them a
right to trial in the territory? The danger
of their rescue, of their continuing their
Vaccinations, the tardmess and weakness of
the law, apathy Of he judges, 7"tiyG pat
ronage OF the Who'll lribo of lawyers, un-
known disposition Of the juries, an hourly
expectation of the enemy, salvation Of the
city, and of the Union itself, which would
have been convused to its center, had that
conspiracy succeeded all these constituted
a law of necessity and self-preservation, and
rendered the saluS pOpMi supreme over the
written law. The officer who is called to
act on this superior ground, does indeed
risk himself on the justice of the controlling
pOweas of the Constitution, and his station
makes it his duty to incur that risk. But
those controlling powers, and his fellow
citizens generally, are bound to judge ac-
cording to the circumstances under which
ding to the circumstances under which he
acted. They were not to transfer the in
formation of this place or moment to the
time and place of his action but to put
himself into his situation. We knew here
that there was never danger of a British
fleet from below, and that Burrs band was
crushed before il reached the Mississippi.
But Gen. Wilkinson's information was very
different, and he could act on no other.
From these examples and principles you
may see what think on the question pro-
posed, They do not go to the case of per-
sons charged with petty duties, where CON
sequences are trifiing and time allowed for
legal course, nor 10 authorize them to
take such cases ont of the written law
In these the example of overlapping the
lawa$s of greater evil than a strict adher-
ence to its imperfect provisions. 1t is in
cumbent upon those only who accept the
great charges, to risk themselves on great
occasions, when the safety of the nation, or
SOME of its very high interests are at stake,