Constitution. We, therefore, call the President, with his advisers, the Administration. Thus, as before remarked, we denominate Washington's period of government, Washington's administration, &c.

CHAPTER LV.

The President, &c.

THE President holds his office for four years, and has a salary of $25,000 a year. He is commander-in-chief of the army, the navy, and the militia of the United States, when in actual service; he signs or vetoes bills passed by Congress; and receives ambassadors and other public ministers. He also, by and with the consent of the Senate, appoints the chief naval, military, and civil officers of the government, and signs their commissions.

In addition to all this, the President is charged with the general welfare of the country, and the execution of the laws; and he is required, from time to time, to lay before Congress his views of public affairs.

The Vice President is president of the Senate, with a salary of $6,000 a year. In case of the death of the President, he succeeds to his office.

The President is assisted by several persons, who are his advisers. These consist of the Secretary of State, Secretaries of the Treasury, of the Navy, and of War; the Attorney-General, and the Postmaster-General.

All these persons live in Washington, near the

President, and are frequently called upon by him to furnish him information, and to offer him their counsel and assistance. They are generally selected from among the ablest men in the nation, and each one is supposed to be especially fitted, by his character and former pursuits, for the particular place assigned to him.

The President not only calls upon these persons separately for assistance, as occasion may require, but once or twice a week they all meet together at his house. When assembled, they form the Cabinet, and when met for consultation, they are called the Cabinet Council.

The cabinet being regarded as personal and confidential advisers of the President, are expected to entertain the same political opinions as the President himself, and are usually selected from the President's political party. In this case, as in the other, the President nominates the members of the cabinet, and the Senate of the United States, in secret session, confirm or reject them, as they please. If rejected, the President makes other nominations.

A large and responsible part of the duty of the President consists in his nomination of persons to office, including the secretaries, judges, ambassadors, charges, consuls, custom-house officers, naval and military officers, postmasters, land agents, and various other persons in the employ of the government. The number of officers he is called upon to nominate, amounts, as before stated, to many, thousands.

In all cases, it is necessary that the Senate should confirm the nomination, or the person does not hold his place.

The secret sessions of the Senate, in which they discuss the nominations of the President, are called Executive Sessions, because they then attend to executive business. The characters of persons nominated, are freely discussed. Sometimes what takes place during the discussions, transpires, and sometimes it remains under the seal of secrecy.

The secretaries are in England called ministers. In that country, they have usually a seat in parliament, and take a leading part in the legislation of the country; but in the United States, the executive department is more completely separated from the legislative, and the secretaries, or ministers, or members of the cabinet, have no seat in either branch of Congress. The annual salaries of the secretaries are $6,000 each.

CHAPTER LVI.

Secretary of State.

THE Secretary of State has an office near the President's house. This consists of a large edifice, containing many rooms, in which there are numerous clerks, all engaged in the business of the department. In these rooms, also, are deposited a library for the use of the department, and a multitude of papers and documents, which have accumulated for the last fifty years, belonging to the business of the office.

The main duty of the Secretary of State is to manage the negociations of foreign countries; to give instructions to our foreign ambassadors, to

charges and consuls, and to answer their letters; to receive the communications of the various foreign ambassadors who reside at Washington, and to answer them as directed by the President.

Beside this, the Secretary of State is charged with the preparation of the census of the United States, a general supervision of the Patent Office, and keeping the evidence of copyrights. He also has charge of the federal seal, and preserves the originals of the laws and of treaties.

The Secretary of State in this country is generally considered as the highest officer in the cabinet; he takes the rank of what is called Premier in England and France. His duties are of the most important kind, requiring an intimate knowledge not only of our own, but of foreign countries. He not only is required to know the geographical position, the commerce, the resources, the character of foreign countries, but he must know the nature of their governments, the character and disposition of the king and ministers and leading men in each.

To this vast amount of knowledge, the secretary should add the greatest coolness and calmness of temper, and sagacity of mind. In managing affairs with the agents of foreign countries, called diplomacy, he must watch over every word and action, for peace and war depend upon his conduct. It has frequently happened, in the history of mankind, that an unlucky expression, or careless phrase, used by a Secretary of State, has involved powerful nations in all the horrors of war.

Several eminent statesmen have held this high office; as Thomas Jefferson, John Randolph, John Marshall and James Monroe, of Virginia;

John Pickering, John Quincy Adams, and Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts; Henry Clay of Kentucky; Edward Livingston, of Louisiana; and Martin Van Buren, of New York.

CHAPTER LVII.

Secretary of the Treasury.

THE Treasury Department is held in a large and handsome edifice, contiguous to the office of the Secretary of State. Here is a library, and a variety of subordinate offices, filled with books and papers. Here also is the office of the Treasurer, who has immediate charge of the public money; the Comptroller, who has the supervision of the public accounts; and several Auditors, whose duty it is to examine accounts. Beside these, there are in the department a multitude of clerks.

The Secretary of the Treasury presides over this whole department; the special duty assigned him is to watch over the money affairs of the government; to see to the collection of the revenue at the various custom houses and land offices; to see that the business is properly conducted at those places; to see to the disbursement of the public moneys, the payment of salaries, liquidation of contracts, &c.

His duty is also, to advise the President and Congress, as occasion may require, of the condition of the public finances: to look forward, and devise and recommend such plans, as may enable the government to raise the requisite amount of money, in the manner least burthensome to the people.