A COURSE OF LECTURES ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL JURISPRUDENCE OF THe United States, delivered annually in Columbia College, New-York, by WILLIAM ALEXANDER DUER, LL.D., late President of that Insti tution. From Mr. Madison. "Montpelier, Sept. 4th, 1833. "DEAR SIR-I have received your letter of the 28th ultimo, enclosing the outlines of your work on the Constitutional Jurisprudence of the United States. The object of the work is certainly important and well chosen, and the plan marked out in the analysis gives full scope to the instructive execution which is anticipated. I am very sensible, sir, of the friendly respect which suggested my name for the distinguished use made of it, and am not less so of the too partial terms which are applied to it. I shall receive, sir, with great thankfulness, the promised volume, with the outlines of which I have been favoured; though such is the shattered state of my health, added to the eighty-three years of my age, that I fear I may be little able to bestow on it all the attention I might wish, and doubt not it will deserve. "With great respect and cordial salutations, "JAMES MADISON." From Chief-justice Marshall. "Washington, March 17, 1834. "DEAR SIR-I had the pleasure of receiving, at the commencement of the session of the Supreme Court, your "Outlines of the Constitutional Jurisprudence of the United States," for which I am greatly indebted to you. "The pressure of official duty has been such as not to leave me leisure enough to give it that attentive perusal to which it has the fairest claim. That agreeable task must be deferred until my return to Virginia. I have, however, passed rapidly through it, and that rapid glance has satisfied me of the value of the work, and the correctness of its principles and statements. I wish very much that this and similar works could be introduced into all our seminaries for education. In a government like ours, it is of the last importance that early impressions should be just. Permit me to thank you for this flattering mark of your attention, and to make my acknowledgments for the kind and partial manner in which you speak of the Chief-justice of the United States in your prefWith very great respect and esteem, ace. "I am, sir, your ob't, "J. MARSHALL." From Edward Livingston, late U. S. Minister to France. "Paris, Nov. 22d, 1833. "MY DEAR SIR-I am very much obliged to you for your very valuable little book. It is a work of great use, and must attract great attention in Europe, where all our institutions are scanned, and their operation watched, from different motives, by friends and foes. You are now instructing a royal pupil. Last night, at the Tuileries, the Duc d'Orleans asked me many questions respecting our Constitution and Laws, and seemed so desirous of obtaining correct information, that I told him I had just received from a learned friend a small volume, in which all he required to know could be found, and having obtained permission, I sent him your work. "I am, dear sir, with high regard, your friend and servant, "EDW. LIVINGSTON." From Mons. de Tocqueville. "SIR-I have received the work which you had the goodness to send us, and will not await the return of M. de Beaumont to express in his name, as well as my own, our gratitude for it. The work you address to us, sir, appears to me to be eminently calculated for the purpose to which you destine it. It demonstrates, with as much clearness as precision, the Federal Constitution; and although short, is not superficial. I have no doubt but that it would excite a very great curiosity in France, if the knowledge of the English language was more general among us. For my part, sir, I have personal reasons for offering you my thanks. I am occupied at present with a work upon the American Institutions, and consider your book one of my best documents. "I am, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, Paris, November 24th, 1833." |