I have generally refrained from exercising the power of pardon except in those cases where the judges & Attorney present at the trial, & consequently conusant of all the circumstances of the crime, recommend the petitioner as a proper object for the exercise of that power. for as to myself I can rarely know any facts relative to it but those which the petitioner or his friends think proper to present to me. I therefore take the liberty of sending you the inclosed petition, & of asking the favor of you to submit it to the judges before whom the trial was held, giving at the same time your own opinion on the question whether a pardon ought to issue.

Accept my respectful salutations.