The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-07-10
Fitz-JOlln Porter Bill.

over the veto, M The necessary tWo.thlrus
WAS secured without any difficulty,
fifteen Republicans voting with the Dem
ocrats for the passage Of the bill. OF
course there is no chance of the passage
Of the piIl over the veto in the Senate,
the bill having originally passed that
body by but nine majority SO the result
is that it is defeated. The fate of this
bill is regarded aa u guarantee that the
bill! placing Grant on the retired list Of
the army cannot pass.
THE VETO.
The text Of the veto message is as fol-
lows:
To the House of Representatives
After careful consideration of the bill
entitled "An Act for the relief Of Fi,z.
John Porter" herewith return it with
my objections to the House of Congress
in which it originated Its anacting
clause is in terms as follows: THAT the
President be, and he is hereby, authorized
to nominate and, by aud with the advice
and consent of the Senate, to appoint
Fitz John Porter, late major general
United State Volunteers aud brevet
brigadier general and colonel in the
army, to the position of colonel in the
Army of the United States of the same
grade held by him at the time of his dis
missal from the army by sentence Of
court martial, promulgated January 81,
1863" &C., sc i, is apparent that
should this bill become law il will create
new office, which can be filled by the
appointment Of a particular individual
| whom it specifies, and cannot be filled
otherwise, or it may be said with perhaps
greater precision of statement, that it
will create new Office on condition that
particular person designated shall be
| chosen to fill it. Such an Act, as it
seems to me, is either unnecessary and
ineffective, or it involves an encroach-
ment by the legislative branch of the
| Government on the authority of the
executive.
AS Congress has no power under the
Constitution to nominate and appoint an
| officer and cannot lawfully impose On the
| President the duty of nominating and
appointing TO otiict any particular indi.
vidual Of its own selection, this bill, if it
| can be fairly construed as requiring the
| President to make the nomination, and
by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate the appointment which it
| authorizes, is in manifest violation Of the
Constitution. If such be not it's just in.
depreciation it must be regarded as the
| mere enactment of advice and counsel,
| which lack in the very nature of things
the force of positive law and can serve
no useful purpose on the statute books.
| There arc other causes that deter me
from giving this bill the sanction of my
approval. The judgment Of the court
martial by which more than twenty years
since Gen. Fitz John Porter was tried
and convicted was pronounced by trib-
nnal composed of nine general officers of
distinguished character and ability. Its
| investigation Of tie charges, of which it
found the accused guilty, was thorough
and conscientious, and its findings and
sentence were in due course OF law ap.
proved by A braham Lincoln, the Presi-
dent of the United States. Its lega!
competency, its Jurisdiction Of the &C.
the substantial regularity of all its pro-
been brought in question. Its Judgment,
| character. The Supreme Court of the
United States has recently declared that
court martial, such as this was, "is the
organism provided by law and clothed
with the duty of administering justice in
this class of cases. Its judgments, when
approved, rest on the same basis and are
surrounded by the same considerations
! which give conclusiveness to the judg.
ments Of other tribunals, including the
highest as well as the lowest" 1t fol-
lows accordingly that when lawfully
constituted court-martial has duly de.
clared its findings aud its sentence and
the same have been duly approved
neither the President nor Congress has
| any power to set them aside. Th6 exis-
tence o! such p:%or !s not openly assert
ed nor perhaps is IL necessarily implied
in the provisions OF the bill which is be-.
fore me, but when its enacting clauses
are read in the light of the recitals Of it's
preamble, it will be seen that it seeks In
effect the practical anuulment of the
findings and sentence of competent
court martial. A conclusion ut variance
with those findings has been reached after
Investigations by board consisting of
the officers of the army. This board was
not created in pursuance of any statute
ry authority nnd was powerless to CON-
pei the attendance Of witnesses or TO
pronounce judgment which could be
lawfully enforced. The officers who
composed it, in their report to the secre-
tary of war, dated March 10, 1879, stated
that in their opinion Justice requires
such action as may be necessary to annul
end set aside the findings and sentence
of the col.. martial 10 ,iie case Of Major
Gen. Fitz John Porter, and to restore
him to the position of which their SEN
tepce deprived him, such restoration TO
take effect from the date of his dismissal
from service" The provisions of the
bill now under consideration are avowed.
ly based on the assumption that the find.
ings of the court martial have been dis
covered to be erroneous. But it will be
borne in mind that the investigation
which is claimed to have resulted in this
discovery WAS made many years afte~ -
event to which these findings related \
under circumstances that made it u3-
sible to reproduce the evidence on mich
they we're based: It seems to me that
the proposed legislation would establish
dangerous precedent, calculated to i'm.
peril in no small measure the binding
force and effect of judgments of various
tribunals established under our Constitu.
tion and laws.
| have already, in the exercise of the
pardoning power with which the PIesi-
dent is vested, remitted the continuing
penalty that made 1t impossible for Fitz.
John Porter to hold an office Of trust or
profit under the Government of ,he
United States; but am unwilling to
give my sanction to any legislation which
shall practically annpl and set at naught
the solemn aud deliberate conclusions OF
the tribunal by which he vas convicted,
and of the President by whom it's find.
L I'M erar n1nn 4