Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-03
NO RELIEF FOR PORTER.
THE HOUSE OVERRIDES A VETO.
BUT THE SENATE WON'T.


on the Republican side Of the House, and
with misses on the Democratic side.
The Speaker announced that immediate
action on the veto would be in order.
Gen. SlOcum moved that the bill be passed,
the objection of the President to the con-
trary Notwithstanding, and, on this mo-
ton, he demanded the previous question.
Under the constitution a yea and nav
vote was necessary. and it was taken. The
vote resulted in 1853 yeas to IS nays. so the
bill was passed over the veto. The an
nouncement of the vote was greeted with
continued cheers by the friends of the
measure, and with Kisses by its Oppo-
nents.
CAN'T PASS THE SENATE.
The bill. cannot be passed over the veto
in the Senate, because it does not COM
mand two-thirds majority there. Gen.
Logan said tonight that the President
mad taken the only proper course, and
that his action would greatly strengthen
the Republican candidates. He thought
the veto message peculiarly strong.
Mr.. Calkins, of Indiana, one of the
foremost opponents of the Fitz John POr-
ter bill, said that he thought the Presi-
dents message the strongest veto message
that had ever been written.
William Walter Philips did not consider
the veto message such a mastery state
paper. He thought that it would have no
particular effect in New jersey or else
where. FitZ John Porter's Republican
friends were too good Republicans not to
vote the Republican ticket. The Repub-
licans who opposed Porter would vote the
ticket all the more willingly. The Demo-
Gratis could do as they pleased. He said
that the friends of Fitz John Porter un-
derstoOd that not only Secretary Freling-
huysen and Attorney General Brewster.
but Postmaster General Gresham. were in
favor of the Presidents signing the BILL
but that Secretaries Chandler and Lincoln
opposed it bitterly.
As another friend of Porter put it, Sec
retary Chandler furnished the legal reason
with which the message began. Secretary
Lincoln furnished the military reason
with which the message ended, and Gen.
Logan licked the two together.
Col. Lyman thought the reasoning Of
the President lacked substantial basis.
1t was rather far-fetched. The Democrats
generally condemned the message as so
much clap-trap, evidently trumped up at
the last moment by a man hard pressed
for reasons to sustain an action which he
knew he ought not to take.
Gen. Slocum said that he thought that
the Presidents action was unjustifable,
9nd that the reasoning of his message
las very flimsy.
RECEIVING THE VETO.
It was half after 3 when the Presi-
dents assistant private secretary arrived
at the capitol with the veto message.
The news that it had arrived soon spread
throughout the building. Members of the
House hurried in and prepared to listen
TO it when it should be read. The Mexi-
can pension bill was then before the
House, which was just concurring in the
Senate amendments. The veto message
was presented and laid on the Speakers
table until the pension bill was out of the
way. Then the House became still and
the clerk began to read the message, as
follows:
To the House Of Representatires: After care
ful consideration of the bill entitled an act
''for the relief of Fitz John Porter" l here
with return it with my objections to the house
Of Congress in which it originated. Its enact
ing clause is in terms as follows:
THAT the President be, and he is hereby au-
thorized to nominate, and by and with the ad-
vice and consent of the Senate to appoint,
Fitz John Porter, late Major General
in the United States volunteers and
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 dismissal
from the army by the sentence of the court
martial promulgated Jan. %. 1863, etc, etc.
1t is apparent that should this bill become
a law it win create a new Office which can be
1lled by the appointment of the particular in
dividual whom it specifies, and cannot be filed
otherwise, or 1t may be said with perhaps
greater precision of statement that il will
create a new Office on condition that a par
ticular person designated shall be chosen to
fill it.
THE ACT INEFFECTIVE. e..
Such an act, as it seems to me, is either un-
necessary and Ineffective, or 1t involves an
encrOachment by the legislative branch of the
government on the authority of the executive.
As Congress has no power under the consti-
tuition to nominate and appoint an officer, and
cannot lawfully impose on the President the
duty of nominating and appointing to Office
any particular individual of its own selection,
this bill, il it can be fairly construed as re-
quiring the President to make the nomina-
tion and by and with the advice and consent
Of the Senate, the appointment which it au-
thorizes is in manifest violation of the consti-
tuition. If such be not its Just inter-
probation it must be regarded as a
mere enactment of advice and coun-
sci which lack in the very nature of
things the force of positive law, and can serve
no useful purpose on the statute books. These
are the causes that deter me from giving this
bill the sanction of my approval. The judg
ment of the cOurt-martial by which more
than twenty years ago Gen. Fitz John Porter
was tried and convicted, was pronounced by
tribunal composed of nine general officers
of distinguished character and ability. Its
investigation of the charges of which it found
the accused guilty was thorough and con-
scientious, aSd its findings and sentence were
in due recourse Oflaw, approved by Abraham
Lincoln, the President of the United States.
It's legal competency, its jurisdiction of the
accused and of the subjects of accusation, the
substantial regularity of all its proceedings,
are matters which have never been brought
in question. Its judgment, therefore, is final
and conclusive in its character.
STANDING OF CoURT-MARTIAL DE-
CIsIONS.
The Supreme Court of the United States has
recently declared that a 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 judgment
when approved rests on the same basis and is
surrounded by the same considerations which
give conclusiveness to the judgment Of other
tribunals, including the highest. as well as
the lowest" 1t follows accordingly that when
a lawfully constituted court-martIal has duly
declared 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 power is
not openly asserted. nor perhaps Is it neces-
sarily implied in the provisions of the bill
which is before me; but when
its enacting clauses are read in
the light or recital Of Its preamble,
it will be seen that 1t seeks in effect practi-
| cal annulment Of the findings and sentence of
I q competentscOurt- martial. A conclusion at
| variance with those findings has been reached
| after Investigations by a board consisting of
| three officers of the army. This board was
not created in pursuance OF any statutory
l authority, and was DOWerlcSS to compel the
| attendance OF witnesses or TO pronounce
| judgment which could be lawfully enforced.
THE FINDING AGAINST PORTER.
The officers who composed it, in their report
| to the Secretary of War, dated March 10, 1873,
stated that, in their opinion, justice requires
such action as may be necessary to annul and
set aside the findings and sentence of the
/ cOurt-martial in the case of Mai. Gen. EitZ
| John Porter, and to restore him to the posi-
/ tiOn of which their sentence deprived him,
| such restoration to take effect from the date
/ of his dismissal from the service.
| The provisions Of the bill now under con-
| sideratiOn are avOWedly based on the assump-
/ tiOns that the findings Of the court
/ martial have been discovered to be erro-
/ peous, but it will be borne in mind
/ have resulted in this discovery 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 establish
/ a dangerous precedent, calculated to imperil
i in no small measure the binding force
/ and effect OF the judgments of the
various tribunals established under our
| constitution and laws. / have already. in
/ the exercise of the pardoning power with
/ which the President IS vested, remitted con-
/ iinuing the penalty that made it impossible
/ for Fitz John Porter to hold an flee OF trust
! or profit under the Government of the United
/ States, but / am unwilling to give my sane
i tion to any legislation which shall practically
/ annul and set at naught the solemn a3d de-
| liberate conclusions of the tribunal by which
/ he was convicted and the President by whom
| its findings were examined ana approved.
| TSigned CHESTER a. ARTHUR.
| Ereeutiue Mansion, July 2, 1881.
William Walter Phelps rested his chin
upon his arms, crossed on the rail Just
| behind Mr.. Keifer's chair. Col. Lyman
| DIaeed the tins of his fingers together and