I communicate a translation of a letter of the 17th of August last addressed to me by His Majesty Alexander, Emperor of Russia, in reply to the joint resolution of Congress approved on the 16th day of May, 1866, relating to the attempted assassination of the Emperor
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No power exists in the Constitution authorizing the joint resolution or the supposed law--the only difference being that one would be more palpably unconstitutional and revolutionary than the other.
The danger of a defeat of the popular choice in an election by the House of Representatives is no greater than in an election made nominally by the people themselves.
I would therefore recommend such an amendment of the Constitution as may remove all intermediate agency in the election of the President and Vice-President.
Strongly impressed with the truth of these views, I feel called upon by an imperative sense of duty to revive substantially the recommendation so often and so earnestly made by President Jackson.
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