The Mineral argus., 1884-07-17
FTrz JOHN poRrEz.
The President vetoes the Bill for the Re.
lief OF Gen. Porter.

~ aA& 80
lief OF Gen. Porter.
The president on Wednesday returned to the
House the Fit John Porter Liz with his obiec-
ions
Attorney General Brewster had submitted to
the president in compliance with the ~latter's
request, a long and carefully prepared oDinion
upon the bill for the restoration of Fit John
Porter to the army, in which he expressed the
opinion that the bill is clearly unconstitutional
The President took the same view of the con-
sututonahty of the bull and said:
Ihere are other causes that defer lie from
giving this bill the sanction of my approval.
The Judgment Of the c-Ourt-martial, by which,
more than twenty years since. Gen. Fitz john
Porter was tried and convicted, was pronounced
Dy a tribunal composed of nine general officers
of distinguished character and ability. It's in
Vestlgation of the charges of which it found ac-
cused guilty was thorough and conscientious,
and its findings and sentence in due course Of
law approved by Abraham Lincoln, then presi-
dentof the United States. Its legal competency.
lts jurisdiction Of the accused and of the subjects
ali lts proceedings, are matters which have never
been brought in question. Its judgement there
fore, is final and conclusive in its character.
Ihe supreme court of the UAitod States has re-
Gently declared that a court martial such as
this was rs the organism provided by law and
clothed with the duty of administering justice
In this class Of cases. Its judgments, when APP
proved, rest on the same basis, and are sur
rounded by the same considerations which give
conclusiyeness to the judgments of other tribu-
nails, including as well the lowest as the high
est" 1t follows, accordingly, that when a law
fully constituted court martial has Cuy de-
clared its findings and its sentence, and the
same have been duly approved, neither the
president nor congress has any power to set
them aside. The existence of such a power
is not openly asserted, nor, per-
haps, is it necessarily impliedin the provisions
OF the bill which is before me, but when it's
enactlng clauses are read in the light of the re-
cltals ofits preamble it will be seen that it seeks
in effect the practical annulment of the find
ings and sentence of a competent court mar
tiaL A conclusion at variance with these
findings has been reached after investigation
by a 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, 1873, state that in their opin-
ION Justice requires y = = such action
as may be necessary to annul and set aside the
findings and sentence of the court martial in
the case of Maj. 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
tlal have been discovered to be erroneous. But
it will be borne in mind that the investigation
which is claimed to have resulted In this dis
coVery was made many years after the
event to which these findings related,
and under circumstances that made
1t impossible to reproduce the evidence
on which they were based. 1t seems to
me that the proposed legislation would estab-
lish a dangerous precedent, calculated to i'm
peril in no small measure the binding force
pffncf of 1Tt1npaantq of vapinuG fr1hTInola
under any constitution and laws.
have already, in the exercise of the par
doning power with which the president is
vested, RENTED the continuing penalty that
it impossible for FItz John Porter to hold
an office Of trust or profit under the govern
ment of the United States, put l am unwilling
to give my sanction to any legislation which
practically annul and set at naught the
and deliberate conclusions of the trib-
unal by which he was convicted and of the presi-
dent by whom its findings were examined and
approved.
ISigned,J CHESTER A. ARTHUR,
Executive Mansion, July 2, 1884
When the veto was read in the house, Gen.
Slocum then rose and asked if it was IN order
70 call for a vote on the passage OF the bill over
he presidents veto The speaker replied that
lnder the constitution he was required at once
% present the bill to the house for a vote upon
I, unless the house chose
8N ~ &bAO0 II AAO ONO nAAO0AA NC ~ JOa1
Ind nays, when Mr.. Tucker and Gen. Keifer
arose simultaneously and said that the consti-
5ution required that it should be by yeas and
nays. The clerk then called the roll and the
7ote proceeded with profound attention from
both sides. The bill received the constitutional
of two-thirds 16S to IS.
The affirmative vote on the bill is exactly ff-
cen less than that on the bill when it originally
passed the house. The negative vote is just
he same. Fifteen Republicans voted with the
Democrats, and the Democrats voted solidly
or the bill. The fifteen Republicans were:
Messrs Bayne of Pennsylvania, Belford Of
Colorado, Burleigh of New York, Jeffords Of
Mississippi, Laird of Nebraska, Long and Ly-
nan of Massachusetts,, Phelps of New Jersey.
'oland of Vermont, Ranney of Massachusetts,,
Ray Of New York, Rockwell of Massachusetts,,
nd, A. Herr Smith of Pennsylvania. Two
birds majority was not obtained in the senate
nd therefore Gen. Porter will have to "wait a
lite longer"