Presentment
in law, a formal res port presented to a court by a grand jury. In commerce, the presenting a bill of exchange to the drawee for acceptance or to the acceptor for payment.
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, the chief executive of the government. He is Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy of the country, and has the nomination of most of the executive officers of the government, besides a large number of judicial and administrative functionaries. He is elected for a term of four years, and is eligible for any number of re-elections, though, in conformity with the precedent set by George Washington, no President has yet been elected more than twice. The President's salary was originally $25,000 a year. In 1873 it was doubled. In 1907 an additional $25,000 was allowed for traveling expenses and in 1909 the salary was fixed at $75,000. The President has a veto power and unlimited pardoning prerogative as to offenders against National laws. He is elected by an electoral college, which in some contingencies makes the choice by States. In case of his death or total disability the functions of the office devolve on the Vice-President, who is the presiding officer of the Senate. The following is the list of Presidents up to the present:
George Washington, 1789 and 1793; John Adams, 1797; Thomas Jefferson, 1801 and 1805; James Madison, 1809 and 1813; James Monroe, 1817 and 1821; John Quincy Adams, 1825; Andrew Jackson, 1829 and 1833; Martin Van Buren, 1837; William Henry Harrison (died April 4, 1841); ), 1841; John Tyler (elected as Vice- 1845; Zachary Taylor (died July 9, President), 1841; James Knox Polk, 1850), 1849; Millard Fillmore (elected as Vice-President), 1850; Franklin Pierce, 1853; James Buchanan, 1857; Abraham Lincoln (assassinated April 14, 1865), 1861 and 1865; Andrew Johnson (elected as Vice-President), 1865; Ulysses S.
Grant, 1869 and 1873; Rutherford B.
Hayes, 1877; James A. Garfield (died by assassination Sept. 19, 1881), 1881; Chester A. Arthur (elected as Vice- President), 1881; Grover Cleveland, 1885; Benjamin Harrison, 1889; Grover Cleveland, 1893; William Mc- Kinley, 1897 and 1901 (assassinated PRESIDIO Sept. 6, 1901); Theodore Roosevelt (1901). Elected 1905. William H.
Taft, 1909; Woodrow Wilson, 1913 and 1917; Warren G. Harding, 1921.
PRESIDIO (SPANISH, GARRISON, GUARD). In the United States there are two m military posts or reservations called by this name that of San Francisco and that of Monterey. The Presidio of San Francisco is near the suburbs of that city situated on the harbor. It was a military post under both the Mexican and Spanish Governments and by executive order was reserved as a military base by the United States. Its area is nearly 1,500 acres. The Presidio of Monterey, Cal., is much smaller and likewise was taken over as a military station by the United States, after it had been similarly used by Spain and Mexico.
PRESSBURG (POZSONY), a town in Hungary; 35 miles E. of Vienna, on the left bank of the Danube, and on spurs of the Little Carpathians. The most striking edifice is the ruined royal palace, on the top of an eminence, burned in 1811. The cathedral is a large Gothic structure, dating from the 11th century.
The trade chiefly in corn and timber, is extensive. Pressburg is a place of very great antiquity. In 1541, when the Turks captured Buda, it became the capital of Hungary, and retained the honor till the Emperor Joseph II. restored it to Buda. The treaty by which Austria ceded Venice to France and the Tyrol to Bavaria was signed here in 1805. Pop. about 80,000.