Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-02-25
NEWS By TELEGRAPH,
To Ohio Statesman.
CToN.
The WAR OFFICE DIFFICULTIES.
MESSAGE FRON The PRESIDENT
PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS.
The Impeachment Resolution
Passed---l26 to Al.
o. .sg4utl.r lfa t-,IIds 80
Interviews with Thomas and Stanton
GRAND ARMY OF The REPUBLIC.
THE MARYLAND MILITIA.
Nominaiion of Thomas Ewing. sr.,
for Secretary of War.
THE MARYLAND MILITIA.
Nomination of Thomas Ewing. Sr.,
for Secretary of War.
MESSAGE.

to-day sent to the Senate the following
which was read in secret session,
laid on the table and ordered printed. The
Senate removed from it the injunction of
To the Senate of the United States: =
have received copy Of the resolution
adopted by the Senate on the 21st inst, as
follows:
WHEREAS, The Senate have received and
considered the communication of the Pres
ident stating that he had removed Edwin
NJ. Stanton, Secretary of War, and has des-
ignated the Adjutant General of the Army
to act as Secretary of War ad interim
therefore. elGHa t-'A - A-tt-A
Resolved by the Senate of the United States.
That under the Constitution and laws of
the United States, the President has no
and designate any other officer to perform
the duties of that Office ad interim.
This resolution is confined to the power
of the President to remove the Secretary
of War, and to designate another officer
to perform the duties of that officer ad
interim, and by its preamble is made ex-
pressly applicable to the removal of Mr..
Stanton and the designation to act ad in
terim of the Adjutant General of the army.
Without, therefore, attempting to discuss
the general power of removal as to all off,
GERS, upon which subject no expression of
opinion is contained in the resolution, /
shall confine myself to the question as thus
limited, the power to remove the Secretary
of War. <GE3 s5T
1t is declared in the resolution that un-
der the Constitution and laws OF the United
States, the President has no power to re-
move the Secretary of War, and designate
any other officer to perform the duties of
that office dd interim. As to the question
of power under the Constitution, do not
propose, at present, to enter upon its dis
cussiOn. vE f.
The uniform practice, from the begin
ming of the Government, as established by
every President who has exercised the of
flee, and decisions of the Supreme Court of
the United States, have settled the question
in favor of the power of the President to
remove all officers, excepting class hold
ing appointments of judicial character.
No practice or any decision has ever eX-
cepted Secretary of War from this gener-
al power of the President to make removals
should refer to the power of the Executive
under the laws of the United States to re-
move from office a Secretary of War.
The resolution denies that under these
laws this power has any existence. In
other woros it affirms that no such au-
thority is recognized or given by the stat
utes of the country that there are laws of
the United States which deny the President
the power to remove that officer. l know
but two laws which bear upon this ques-
ton. First in order of time, is the act of
August z, 1888, creating the Department of
War, which, after providing fer a Secre-
tary as its principal officer, proceeds as
follows:
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That
there shall be in said Department an infer
ior officer appointed by said principal Off
70 hn fhoroip ho chon
deem proper, and to be called Chief Clerk
in the Department OF War, and who, when
ever the said principal officer shall be re-
moved from Office by the President of the
United States, or in any other case of va
cancy. shall, during such vacancy have
the charge and custody of all records,
books and papers appertaining to said De-
pertinent.
1t is clear that this act, passed by Con-
gress, many of whose members participate
ed in the formation of the Constitution, so
far from denying the power of the Presi-
dent to remove the Secretary of War, rec
ognizes it as existing in the Executive
alone, without the concurrence of the Sem
ate or any other Department of the Gov
ernment.
Furthermore, this act does not purport to
confer power by legislative authority, nor
in fact was there any other existing legis-
latien through which it was bestowed upon
the Executive. The recognition of power
by this act is therefore complete, as re-
cognition under the Constitution itself.
There was 10 other source or authority
from which it could be derived.
The other act, which refers to this ques-
tion is that regulating the tenure of GER
tain civil officers, passed by Congress on
the I'd day of March, 1867. The first Sec
tion of that act is in the following words
That every person holding any civil
Office, to which he has been appointed by
and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, and any person who shall hereafter
be appointed to any such Office, and shall
become duly qualified to act therein, is and
shall be entitled to hold the Office until q
successor shall have been in like manner
appointed and duly qualified, except as
herein otherwise provided that the Secre.
tary of State, of the Treasury, of War, oil
| the Navy, of the Interior, and the Post
master General and Attorney General shall
hold their Offices respectively for and dur.
| ing the term of the President by whom
they may have been appointed, and fol
one month thereafter, subject to removal
by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate. zl1-sI17s
The 4th section of the same act restricts
| the test oath of Office to the limit prescrib.
ed by law, creating them. That part of Isl
section which precedes the proviso declares
that every person holding civil Office te
which he has b1en or may be appointed BY
advice and consent of the Senate, shall
hold such Office until successor shall have
been in like manner appointed. 1t pur
ports to take from the Executive during tht
fixed time established for tenure office, in.
] dependent power of removal, and to re.
| uuire for such removal the concurrent &C.
tion of the President and the Senate,
The proviso that follows proceeds to fi1
| the term of office of the several heads o.
| Departments whose tenure never had beer
defined before, by prescribing that they
shall hold their Office respectively for an(
during the term of the President by whom
they NAV have been appointed, and for ont
month thereafter, subject to removal By
/ and with the advice and consent of the
1 Senate. Thus as to these enumerated Off.
GERS the .proviso takes from the PRESIDENT
power of removal except with the advice
and consent of the Senate. .-a
Bv it's terms, however, before he can be
depriyed of the power to displace them il
must appear that he himself has appointed
them, It is only in that case they have
anv tenure of-off1ce or any independent
right to hold during the term of the Pres.
ident, and one month after cessation OF his
official functions. ..s4s
The proviso therefore gives no tenure ol
office to any one of these officers who has
been appointed by the President beyond
one month after the accession of his sue
cessor. In the case of Mr.. Stanton, the only
appointment under which he held Office as
Secretary OF War was that conferred upon
him by my immediate predecessor, with
the advice and consent of the Senate. Hs
! has never held from me any appointment az
| head of the War Department.. Whatever
right he had to hold the Office was derived
from that original appointment and my
own sufierance,:: THE law was not intended
to protect such an Incumbent of the Wal
Departments, by taking from the President
the power to remove him. Iet9ss lfsn