Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1868-02-08
Message of ths President.
TIE "wnIrE' BILL" FOR THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA.


COLUMBIA.
Tho President on Thursday last sent to the
Senate the following communication
TO the Senate Of the Unitc1 States: l
have received the following prcamablo aud
resolution, adopted by the Senate on the 9Th
'instant:
q" Whereas Senate bill numbered ono hun.
drcd and forty y-ono, and entitled An act for
tho further security of equal rights in the
District Of Columbia, having, at this present
session, passed both houses of Congress, was
afterwards, on the eleventh day of Deccmbcr
eighteen hundred and sixty seven, duly pro
sentcd to the President Of tho United States
for his approval and signature; and, whereas,
moro than ten days, exclusive of Sundays,
hayo since elapsed in this session without said
bill having been returned, either approved or
disapprovod therefore
Resolvctl That the President Of the Uni
ID States be requested to inform the Senate
whether said bill has been delivered to and
received by tho Secretary of State, as provi.
ded by the second section of the act of the
twenty seventh day of July, scycLtccn hun
drcd and cghty-nine."
AS tho act which thcrosolution mentions has
no rclovency to the subject under inquiry, it
is presumed that it was the intention of the
Senate to refer to tho law of the 18th Sop
tcmbcr, 1889, the second section of which
prcscribcs-
"That whenevora bill, order, resolution or
vote of the Senate and House of Representa-
tivcs, having been approved aud signed by
tho President of the United States, or not
having been returned by him with his OBJ
jcctions, shall become law, or take effect
it shall forthwith thereafter be received by
the said Secretary from the President; and
whenever a bill, order, resolution or vote shall
be returned by the President, with his objcc-
tions, and shall, onSbcing rcconsidcred, be
agreed to bo passed, aud be approved by two
thirds Of both houses Of Congress, and there
by become law or take effect it shall, in
such case, be received by the said Secretary
from the President Of the Senate or tho
Speaker Of tho House Of Representatives, in
whichsocvcr house it shall last have been so
approved.
Innsmuch as the bill "for further security
of equal rights in the District of Columbia"
has not become law in either of tho modes
designated i'll tho section above quoted it has
not been delivered to the Secretary of State
for record and PRONUNCIATION. The constitu,
ton exp, essIy declares that, If any bill shall
not be roturncd by the President within ten
days Sundays excoptcd) after it shall have
boen presented to, him, the same shall be
law in like mnnncr as if he had signed it, un-
less Congress, by their adjournment, prevent
its return, in which case it shall not bo law"
As stated in tho preamble to the resolution,
tho bill to which it refers was presented for
my approval on the 1lth of December 1867.
On tho 10th of same month, and before the
expiration of tho ten days after the prescnta-
ton Of tho bin to the President, the two
houses, in accordance with concurrent rcso-
luton adopted Oil the 3D. Deccmbcr adjourned
until the 9th of January, 1868. Congress,
by their adjournment, thus prevented the re-
turn of the bill within the time prescribed by
tho constitution, and it was therefore left in
tho precise condition in which that instru-
ment positively declares bill " shall not be
law"
& IF tho adjournment in December did not
cause the failure of this bill because not such
un adjournment as is contemplated by the con-
stitution in the clause which have cited, it
must follow that such was tho nature of TIL,
during the past year, on the
30th day of March until the first w Wcdncstlay,
orsJuly, and from the Goth of July until the
27st Of November. Other bills will there
fore be affected by the decision which may be
rendered in this case, among them one having
tho same title as that ramcd in tho resolution
and containing similar provision which, pass
cd by both houses in the month o. July last,
failed to become law by reason Of the ad-
journmcnt Of Congress before ten days for its
consideration had been allowed tho Executive.
!. ANDREW JOHNSON.
Washington, January 23, 1868.
A CoMpLrMENr WE'LL DESERVED. The
London Quarterly Review" replying to an
essay by Goldwin Smith, who cites Lincoln,
Grant, Sherman and Stanton CD as examples
Of American great men, says:
"Wo admit that Mr.. Stanton and his coli