The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1871-02-23


has been guilty of embezzlement peculation
or defalcafi0n. or fraud. in his said Office. he
shall forthwith snspe1d said officer from his
said Office.
that. 20 suppose the power Of the Governor
lin pursuance of an act of the Legislature TO
make removals of such officers as are en-
braeed In the provisions Of the act under
review. to be Unconstitutional, IL a viola
ton Of sound principle and settled practice.
The principle and the practice pointed out
in the foregoing cases apply, be IL recolleet-
ed, 70 executive officers holding under the
solemn sanction OF election by the people.
In how much greater force then must we
hold that principle and practice TO apply to
such officers holding under the lea solemn
sanction Of individual appointment The
appointing power carries with 10 as BY
coroIlary, the removing power. The prin-
cipie In the case of appointments BY popu-
l1r election, cannot be applied directly; but
IL Is applied in the only way practicable in
that case by the several forms of proceed
ing laid down in the Constitution and In the
Code in assertion of the right of removal.
Under the expediencies OF the case, the
right of removal incident to the right of APP
pointnent by election, Is exercised by the
people through their agents, the Courts, the
Legislature. the Governor. The suffrage of
the whole people of the State has con ferred
the appointing power under special circum-
stances upon the present Governor; aud
may be fairly held to have conferred with it
the corelative power Of removal in an ex-
traordinary degree.
ON tho Executive rights over his own APP
p0intees, which it can bestow and has be-
slowed over officers holding, by the higher
tenure of popular election is TO say what is
simply absurd.
The act which the bill before me under
takes to repeal was passed under peculiar
circumstances. From two thousand TO
twenty-five hundred offices were to be filled
throughout the State, with the consent of
the Senate, by the Governors appointment
This vast amount of responsibility confront
ed us at a time when there had been already
an interregnum of civil government. Grave
questions had been raised at that time as {
the power of the municipal officers of the
government The Courts had bee. disor- |
ganized; the bench was vacant; the writ OF
hG6eGs corpus was suspended, for the reason
that there was no Judge in the State to
grant IL. Immediate actioH@ in appoint |
ments to office was demanded in order TO OBJ |
tain even legal service of process. Work. |
which If executed with proper care, would |
have conSumedlthe labor of a whole year, had, |
therefore, to be pressed to com pletion with |
In few weeks. Both the Governor and the |
Senate felt, under the necessity of the case. |
constrained to go forward with the duty of
setting going the agencies of law and order /
at the rate OF thirty or forty and often times /
as many as a hundred appointments day;
and consequently without an opportunity |
dinarily TO duty so important and respon-
sible. ask the Legislature earnestly to |
consider whether under the circumstances /
IL be just to the Executive, just to the Sem
ate, just TO the people of the State, TO cut |
OFF whatever power remains for the correc-
ton of the many errors of selection that |
must necessarily have followed such un-
avOidable haste.
The Act which the Bill before me would |
repeal is in the nature Of compact. The |
ofrrkr l..
dealt with by the Executive and probably /
by the Senate, in view of the provisions of
that Act. The surrender made of my judg- |
ment and conscience to the local represent
tatives, in consideration OF the emergency.
OF the moment, would never have been made I
had supposed myself when doing so, hand
ing over the people to men who were stran-
gers TO me, without any power whatever ~ |
put summary stoppage to any resulting |
evils. The Senate would, no doubt, have
refused to give its consent to hundreds of |
my appointments to Office had it supposed /
itself consenting to very possible wrongs |
without any remedy sufficiently rapid to |
supply timely rightings. BY right of the |
individual responsibility incurred by me, |
on the faith of the safeguard placed ia my /
hands IN the form Of the potoer Of remeval l |
object earnestly to the Bill before Inc, be-
cause of its violation of the guarantee which |
assured my conscience in discharging a /
solemn trust, on the representations of the |
honorable bodies.
large proportion of the men appointed |
to office were / repeat, utter strangers to /
me. Without time to ascertain the wishes
of the people of each county as to rival can
had, / repeat no alternative left /
me in making the selections but that of
placing my conscience and Judgment in the /
hands of the several legislative delegations.
Even those delegations themselves were, in
many cases, deceived; aud in several OF
these have urged me to exercise the power
which the Bill before me would repeal. in
order TO revise the wrongs into which l had
been led, by their misrepresentation. L
hold now in my hands applications from
members OF your honorable bodies to still
further revise the appointments made by
the exercise OF my power of removal. l
hold action in those cases subject to the final
action of the Legislature on the Bill before
me.
Even though a majority of the Legisla-
ture may continue TO think that it can af-
ford to assume before the people, the re-
.ponsibility of repeating the provision
whose very existence on the statute book,
as menace, is a wholesome restraint upon
evil-doers in the public service, feel bound
as q duty to nv office aud myself to wash
my hands, as 1 do in this communication,
clean OF any such responsibility.
Sound in principle, sustained in practice,
and called for by every consideration of
public good ana political policy, the Act
which the Bill before me would repeal can
not be repealed with my consent or APP
prevail.
J. L. ALCoRN. Governor.
Executive Office, Feb. Is, 1871.