Morning journal and courier., 1884-07-03
News by Telegraph
 FROM ALL QUARTERS. PASSED OVER THE VETO. The Bill To Relieve Gene
 raj Porter GOES THROUGH ONCE MORE By a Two-Thirds Vote In
 the House. THE CHOLERA LETTING UP. Signs That 1t Has Spent Hts Tinne.
THE CHOLERA LETTING UP.
Signs That 1t Has Spent
 Its Time.
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.

THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
 vetoeo bv President Arthur-The Act to
 Relieve Fftz John Porter Returned to
 the House UnsIgnsd-The Bill Passed
 Over the Veto.
 WASHINGTON, July 2.-The President to- day returned to the House without his ap- proval the bill for the relief of Fitz John Porter. The text of the veto is as follows:
 To the House of Representatives;
 After careful consideration of the bill enti- fled .tAu act for the relief of Fitz Jotn Por- ter, herewith return it with my objections to the house of Congress in which it origin ated. It's enacting clause is in the words fol lowing: That the President be, and the same IS hereby authorized to nominate, by and
 with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint Fitz John Porter, late
 maior general in the United States
 volunteers and a brevet brigadier gen.
 position 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 courtmartial promulgated January
 27 1863, etc, etc." It is apparent that should this bill become law it will create new office, which can be filled by the ap-
 uointment of the 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 the particular person deslg-
 mated shall be chosen to fill it. Such an act
 as it seems to me, is rather unnecessary
 and ineffective as it involves an encroach-
 ment by the legislative branch of the govern
 ment on the authority of the executive. As
 Congress has no power under the constltu-
 ton to nominate and appoint an officer and
 cannot lawfully impose on the President the
 duty of nominating and appointing to office
 any articular individual of his own selection,
 kI.s E~SI 2 ha foir1 construed 3 Tn-
 ouiring the President to make the nomlna-
 tiou by and with the advice and consent of
 the Senate the appointment which It author
 izes is in manifest violation of the
 constitution. If such be not It's
 just interpretation it must be re.
 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 are 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 FiIz John Porter was tried and con-
 victed was pronounced by a tribunal com
 posed of nine general officers of distinguished
 character and ability Its investigation or
 the charges of which 1t found the accused
 guilty was thorough and conscientious and
 it's findings and sentence were in due course
 of law approved by Abraham Lincoln, the
 President of the United States. It's legal
 competency, it's jurisdiction Of the accused,
 and of the subjects of the accusation, the sub- stantial regularity of all it's proceedings are matters which have never been brought m question. Its judgment. therefore, Is final and conclusive in it's character The Su- preme court of the United States has recent ly declared that court martial such as this was '' is the organization provided by Ia" and clothed with the duty of administering justice in this class of cases. The judgments kla are surrounded by the same considera- tions which give conclusiveness to the judgments of other tribunals, including as we'll the court the highest" It follows accordingly that when lawfully constituted courtmartial has duly declared it's findings and it's sentence and the same nave been du'y approved, neither the President nor Congress has any power to set them aside. The existence of such power Is not openly asserted, nor perhaps 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 recitals of it's preamble It will be seen that it seeks in effect the pract1- cal annulment of the findings and sentence of competent courtmartial
 A conclusion at variance with these find inps has been reached after investigation by a board consisting of three officers of the l army. This board was not created Ia pursu- snce of any statutory authority and was powerless to compel the attendance Of wit nesses or to pronounce a judgment which | could be lawfully enforced. The officers who | composed it, in their report to the Secretary of War dated March 19, 1879, state that lu | their opinion Justice requires | such action as may be necessary to auaul and | set aside the findings and sentence of the I court martial in the cage of Major Gen- eraI Fitz John Porter and to restore l him to the positions of which their sentence l deprived him. such reStorationl to take effect from the date of his dismissal | from the service. The provisions of the bill now under consideration are avowedly based l on the assumption that the finding Of the | court martial have been discovered to be ! erroneous But it will be borne in mind that l the investigation which is claimed to have re- l suited in this discovery was made many 1 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. It seems to me that l the proposed legislation would establish g dangerous precident calculated to imperi' n | no small measure the binding force and effect 1 of the judgments of various tribunals esta5 | lished under our constitution and laws.
 I have already in the exercise of the par 1 donipp power with which tho President Is l vested remitted the continuing penalty tha | made it impossible for Fitz John Porter tt hold an office of trpst CT profit under tht | government of the United States. But am l unwilling to give my sanction to any leglala ton which shall practically annul and set al naueht the solemn and deliberate conclusion of the tribunal by which he WAS convicted and the President by whom it's findings were
 examined and approved.
 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. | Executive maniion, July 2, 1884.