In reference to a problem of international law in a long letter to Edmund Pendleton, February 14, 1799, Jefferson quoted a passage from this book: “ . . . every one who ever read a book on the L. of Nations knows that it is an unquestionable right in every power to refuse to recieve any minister who is personally disagreeable. Martens, the latest & a very respected writer, has laid this down so clearly & shortly in his ‘Summary of the Law of Nations. B. 7. Ch. 2. sect. 9. that I will transcribe the passage verbatim. ‘Sect. 9. Of choice in the person of the Minister. The choice of the person to be sent as minister depends of right on the sovereign who sends him; leaving the right however of him to whom he is sent, of refusing to acknolege any one, to whom he has a personal dislike, or who is inadmissable [ sic -- Ed. ] by the laws & usages of the country.’ and he adds notes proving by instances &c. this is the whole section . . .”

Georg Friedrich Von Martens, 1756-1821, German jurist and diplomat. The original edition of the Precis du droit des gens modernes de l’Europe was published in 1789.

William Cobbett, 1762-1835, English essayist, politician and agriculturalist. In 1792 he emigrated to Philadelphia where this translation was made, and returned to England in 1800. The dedication to George Washington at the beginning of this book is signed by Thomas Bradford and dated December 1795. Jefferson’s name is not in the list of Subscribers.

S. Chase, the former owner of a copy of this work in the Library of Congress, has marked his book in a manner similar to Jefferson’s, having placed an S before, and the letters hase after, the signature C.