Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-04-06
SELBY'S LETTER,
The Power Of the President In the
Matter Of Appointments.
Ample Power to Appoint hon-Con-
firmsd Officers.
The Dying Hero Grant, His Young
Days.
Randall, His III Health and In
fluenCe.

Special Correspondence Of he Sunday Register.
WASHINGTON, April +.-Daring the week
renewed some old friendships and went
back, in memories, neary ten years. Thos.
A. Edwards, Albert A. Lewis, and DR..
Eunst, of Weston talked with me at the
National, the other evening, giving me the
history that Lewis county has made during
the last decade. Yesterday, ten years ago.
| met Edwards far the first time in Clarks-
burg. going thence to Weston BY stage, since
supplan:ed By the Weston and West Fork
railroad. Among the party was my cher
ished friend, DIR. Hulhhen, genial, gentle
and witty; a man of talent, like his father
before him, somewhat given to idiosyn-
CRASHES; with a mind for literature and the
drama. Shakespeare never had a more
devoted disciple, unlessit be Mr.. Leighton,
the accomplished president Of the Wheeling
Shakespeare club, or Tom Bradford, over
at Phiippi, in Barbour county.
Judge Edwards is q man OF
observation, clear OF head and sound in
Judgment; keeps the political machinery OF
his section in good shape, and looks over
the horizon Tor the next convention.
The Appointing Power.
Said an official to me to-day: "Selby, if
you had been nominated in my place, and
the Senate adjourned without confirming
you, could the President etterwsrd remove
me and commission yOu? Mind what say.
/ talk of Withdrawing a nomination left
pending in the Senate" Said /: Listen
10 me. The constitution provides
that: The President shall nominate
and By and with the advice and consent Of
the Senate, shall appoint 4 4
officers In the case Of Marbury against
Madison it was held that the woEds shall
nominate mean to recommend in writing
to the Senate the name of an appointee for
confirmation. That is the way the advice
of the Senate is asked. This is the sole act
of the President, and is rOiuRtury. So
says Story on the Constitution, and Paschal,
in his Annotated Constitution. Even after
confirmation the President may, if ne see
fit, withhold a commission; and until q
commission has been signed, the ap-
pointment is not fully consummated.
This has been held by the courts
and the opinion of five Attorney Generals.
II, therefore,, tue GSoAuCAN WoJ "At0AOA3
commission after confirmation, he is not
bound by the action ofthe Senate. And If
he is not bound by the action of the Senate
aGsr confirmation, a tortiori, he IS not
bound when the Senate sdjourns without
action. A nomination not acted upon, or
hung up, is at best only technically before
the Senate. The Revised Statutes have
this provisiou: And if the Senate during
such session shall refuse to advise
and consent to an appointment
in the place Of any suspended
officer, then, and not otherwise, the Presi-
dent shall nominate another person as soon
rs practicable to the same session Of the
Senate for the office. That is in section
l.7tS. That means this: ltJOhn Jones be
reis cted By the Senate, then another must be
couiustedi if the nomination be made TO the
san e session. IfJohn Jones be simply hung
m for want o faction the President can APP
point him the day after adjournment. Furth'
srthan that, he may commission him though
the Senate rejected him. think the COM
m~,ssionipg of a rejected man means more
than a suspended one. %,
"Then you could take my place, Selbyr
Yes said |.