Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-07-03

mond Commercial Exchange shows the
offerings of grain for the year to have been,
wheat, 1,36S,15O bushels; corn, 676,350
bushels; oats, 304, $40 bushels; rye, 1884
bushels.
In the Richmond City Circuit Court yes
terday John Turner of Norfolk, and Daniel
Shields, Charles Morris and Martin Brooks,
desperate penitentiary convicts were given
one year additional for attempting to es-
cape. Each of them was already serving q
| long term.
FITZ.JOHN PORTER BILL VETOED.
The President yesterday returned to the
House, without his approval, the bill for
the relief of Gen. Fitz-John Porter. In his
message he says that latter careful consid-
Grafton of the bill entitled an act for the
relief of Fitz-John Porter I herewith re-
turn it with my objections to the House Of
Congress in which it originated. It's enact
ing clause is in the terms following: That
the President be, and he is hereby author
lied to nominate, and by and with the ad-
vice and consent of the Senate, to appoint
Fitz-John Porter, late major-general Uni
ted States volunteers and brevet brigader-
general and colonel in the army, to the pc.
sition of colonel in the army of the United
States of the same grade held by him at the
| time of his dismissal from the army by SEN
tence of court-martial promulgated Jan. q,
1863 &c, &c.
ut is apparent that should this bill be-
come law it will create new office which
can be filled by the appointment of the par
ticuar individual whom it specifies, and
cannot be filled otherwise; or, it may be
said, with perhaps greater precision of state
ment, that it will create a new office on
condition that the particular person desig-
mated shall be chosen to fill it. Such an
act, as it seems to me, is either unnecessary
and ineffective, or it involves all encroach-
ment by the legislative branch of the gov
eminent on the authority Of the Executive.
AS Congress has no power under the cong
stitution to nominate and appoint an officer
and cannot lawfully impose on the Presi-
dent the duty Of nominating and appoint
ing to Office any particular individual of its
own selection, this bill, if it can fairly be
construed as requiring the President to
make the nomination, and by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, the ap-
pointment which it authorizes is in manifest
violation of the constitution. If such be
not its Just Interpretation it must be regard
ed as o mere enactment Of advice and coun-
sci, which lacks in the very nature of things
the force of positive law and can serve no
useful purpose 4on the statute books"
The President adds that there are other
causes which deter him from approving the
bill. He thinks the investigation of the
court-martial which convicted Porter was
thorough and conscientious, and its judg-
| Ero vi Nd
the recent decision of the Supreme Court of
the United States sustaining the conclusive
ness Of the judgments of courts martial prop
| erly constituted. 1t follows from this that
neither the President nor Congress has any
| power to set such judgments aside, which
| the President thinks is the practical effect
of the Porter bill. Referring to the recon-
| mendaton of the board of three army officers
| recommending the amendment of the iudg.
ment of the court-martial, the President
says that the investigations OF this board
were made many years after the event to
which the findings ofthe court martial relat-
| ed, and under circumstances that made it
| impossible to reproduce the evidence on
which they were based. The bill, he thinks
would establish dangerous precedent, cal.
culated to weaken the force of the judgments
of properly constituted tribunals.
The Presidents message, as far as it re-
lates to the legal aspects OF the case, is bas-
ed upon the opinion submitted to him by
Acknowledgement Brewster. The Attorney
General reviews the case at length and
argues that the decision Of the court-mar-
tial which found Porter guilty was fnality
| in law and in fact, and cannot be reversed,
as the bill in effect processes to do. He con-
tends that the bill is merely in the nature of
cd nd fharofnro 1roi inn
ply authorizes the appointment of Porter to
the position of colonel, and that it is a
usurpation of power and unconstitutional if
it means to command his appointment i'm
peratively. He also points out that Con-
gress undertakes by the bill to create an
office only upon condition that it is to be
filed by particular individual, thus inter-
fering with the constitutional rights of the
President and the Senate in the matter of
appointments.
The reading of the message was received
with applause on the republican side in the
House, and with Kisses on the democratic
side. The Speaker announced that imme-
date action on the veto would be in order.
General Slocum moved that the bill be
passed, the objection of the President to the
contrary Notwithstanding, and on this mo-
ton he demanded the previous question.
Under the constitution yea anu nay vote
was necessary, and it was taken, resulting
in the passage of the bill over the veto by
vote of 16S to rs.
The announcement of the vote was greet.
ed with continued cheering by the friends
of the measure and with Kisses by the oppo.
nents.
The message was laid before the Senate
to-day, but the bill failed to pass over the
veto, the vote being ayes 81, noes 81.
Neither Malone nor Riddleberger voted.
LAND SALEs.-Messrs. W. P. Hilleary
real estate agents, Warrenton, Va, have