The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1884-07-10

The President vetoss the Eli for the 1e-
lief OF Gen. Porter.


The president on Wednesday returned to the
House the Fitz John Porter bill with his objec-
tons.
Attorney General Brewster had submitted to
the president in compliance with the latter's
request, long and carefully prepared opinion
hponthe bill for the restoration Of Fitz John
Porter to the army, in which he expressed the
opinion that the bill ID clearly unconstitutional
The President took the same view OF the con
stitutionaIity Of the bill and said:
There are other causes that defer me from
giving this bill the sanction of my approval
The Judgment Of the court-martial, by which.
more than twenty years since. Gen. Fltz john
by tribunal composed of nine general oft1cere
Of distinguished character and ability Its In
vestigatiOn Of the charges of which it found 40
cused guilty was thorough and CONSCIENTIOUS,
and it's findings and sentence in due course Q!
law approved by Abraham Lincoln, then presa
dent of the United States. It's legal competency,
it's jurisdiction Of the accused and OF the subJecs
I'LL it's proceedings, are matters which have nevaS
been brought In question. It's judgement there
fore, is final and conclusive in It's chAractek
The supreme court of the United States has re-
Gently declared that court martial such az
this was sis the organism provided by law and
clothed with the duty Of administering justice
in this class Of cases. Its judgments, when ap-
proved, rest on the same basis, and are sur
rounded by the same considerations which give
conclusiveness to the judgments OF other trlbu-
mails, including as well the lowest as the high
esta It follows, accordingly, that when law
fully constituted court martial has duly d.
clared its findings and Its sentence, and the
same have been duly approved, neither the
president nor congress has any power to set
is not openly asserted, nor, per-
haps, is it necessarily implied in the provisions
of the bill which is before me, but when it's
enacting clauses are read in the light of the re-
citals gifts preamblet will be seen that it seeks
in effect the practical annulment Of the find
ings and sentence of competent court mar
tial A conclusion at variance with these
findings has been reached after investigation
by board consisting of three officers of the
army. This board was not created In pursuance
of any statutory authority, and was powerless
to compel the attendance of witnesses or to
pronounce judgment which could be lawfully
exercised The officers who composed it, In
their report to the secretary of war, dated
March 10, 1872 state that in their opln-
ion ''justice requires such acnon n
as may be necessary to annul and set aside the
findings and sentence of the court martial In
the case of Mai Gen. Fitz John Porter, and to
restore him to the position OF which their SEN
tence deprived him, such restoration to take
effect from the date of his dismissal from the
service" The provisions of the bill now I'M
der consideration are avowedly based on the
assumption that the findings OF the court mar.
tial have been discovered to be erroneous. But
it WILDE borne in mind that the investigation
which is claimed to have resulted IN this dis
covery was made many years after ter. the
and under circumstances that made
it impossible to reproduce the evidence
on which they were based. 1t seems TO
me that the proposed legislation would estab-
lish dangerous precedent, calculated to I'M
fl,<h lJf,nf
and effect of judgments of various tribunals
established under any constitution and laws.
I have already, in the exercise of the par
doning power with which the president is
vested, RENTED the continuing penalty that
made it impossible for FItz John Porter to hold
an Office Of trust or profit under the govern
ment of the United States, but am unwilling
to give my sanction to any legislation which
shall practically annul and set at naught the
solemn and deliberate conclusions of the trib-
unal by which he was convicted, and OF the presl-
dent by whom its findings were examined and
approved.
[Signed.l CHESTER A. ARTHUR,
Executive Mansion, July 2, 1884
When the veto was read in the house. zen.
Slocum then rose and asked if it was IN order
to call for vote on the passage OF the bill over
the presidents veto The speaker replied thai
under the constitution he was required at once
to present the bill to the house for vote upon
II unless the house chose
to take some other action.
He then asked if the vote should be by yeas
and nays, when Mr. Tucker and Gen. helfel
arose simultaneously and said that the consti:
tuition required that it should be by yeas and
nays. The clerk then called the roll and the
vote proceeded with profound attention from
both sides. The bill received the constitutional
majority of two-thirds 16S to IS.
The affirmative vote on the bill is exactly tit.
teen less than that on the bill when it originally
passed the house. The negative vote is just
the same Fifteen Republicans voted with the
Democrats. and the Democrats voted solidly
for the bill. The fifteen Republicans Were
Messrs Bayne of Pennsylvania, Bedford Of
Colorado, Burleigh of New York, Jeffords OF
Mississippi, Laird of Nebraska, Long and Ly.
man of Massachusetts,, Phelps of New Jersey,
Poland of Vermont, Ranney of Massachusetts,,
Ray of New York, Rockwell of Massachusetts,
and, A. Herr Smith of Pennsylvania. Two.
thirds majority was not obtained in the senate
and therefore Gen. Porter will have to ''wait q
lite longer"