Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1884 — THE WORK OF CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

THE WORK OF CONGRESS.

What Is Being Done by the National Legislature. The river and harbor bill passed the Senate on the Ist Inst. The bill as passed by the Senate appropriates $13,584,700. As It left the House it provided for an appropriation of $12,'086,200. Bills were also passed to provide for a branch of the Soldiers' Home west of the Mississippi; for the relief of soldiers improperly chat tted with deser i Jon, and to grant a pension of SSO per month to the widow of Gen. James B. Steed man. It was t greed to refer to the Committee on Finance resolutions for the redemption of 10,000,000 trade dollgrs, and for an investigation into the condition of the banks m New York. In the House of Representatives, the Conference Committee on the naval appropriation bill announced its inability to agree, objection bei g made to the items for the new cruisers and to continne work on the monitors. The House voted to insist on its disagreement on both of these questions, and new conferrees were appointed. The Conference Committee on the postoffice appropriation bill reported a failure to agree on the items of railway mail clerks and for compensation to land-grant roads, but the House voted to recede and accept the Senate’s decision. The fortification bill was discussed in the House again, Mr. Randall offered a bill embodying the views of the minority, and pending a vote to substitute this for the bill reported by the majority. the House adjourned. The Senate passed the suudry civil appropriation bill on the 2d Inst., after striking out the clause providing salaries instead of fees for United States Marshals. The House, by a vote of 150 to 91. adopted the fortifications bill recommended by the minority of the committee which considered the measure. It appropriates $595,000. The majority recommended a bill appropriating $4,500,000. The President sent to the House a message vetoing the bill for the relief of Fitz John Porter, the Attorney General having pronounced it unconstitutional. The House, on motion of Mr. Slocum, of New York, immediately passed the measure over the President’s veto by 168 to 78. The President, in his veto message, takes the same view as the Attorney General regarding the constitutionality of the bill, and says: There are other causes that deter me from giving this bill the sanction pf my approval. The judgment of the court-martial dv which more than twenty years since Gen. Fitz John Porter was tried and convicted, was pronounced by a tribunal composed of nine general officers of distinguished character and ability. Its investigation of the charges of whieh’it found the accused guilty, was thorough and conscientious, and its findings and sentence in due course of law approved by Abraham Lincoln, th n President ot the United States. Its legal competency, its jurisdiction of the accused and of the subjects ot 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. The Supreme Court of the United States has recently declared that a ccurt-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 ahd are surrounded by the same considerations which give conclusiveness to the judgments of other tribunals, including as well the lowest as the highest.” It follows accordingly that when a lawfully constituted-court martial has duly declared Its findings and i s sentence and the same has been duly approved, neither the President nor Congress has any power to set them aside. The existence of such a power is not openlv asserted nor perhaps is it necessarily implied in the provisions of the bill which is before me, but when its enacting clauses are read in the ligfit of the recitals of its preamble, it will be seen that it seeks in effect a practical annulment of the findings and sentence of a competent courtmartial. 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 enforced. The officers who composed it, in their report to the Secretary of War, dated March 19, 1879, state that In their opinion “Justice requires * * * such action as may be necessary to annul and set aside the findings and sentence ol the court-martial in the case of Maj. Gen. FitzjJolm Porter, and to restore him to the position of which their sentence deprived him, such restoration to take effect from the date of his dismissal from office. The provisions of the bill now under consideration are avowedly based on the assumption that the findings of the court-martial are found to be erroneous. But it will be borne in mind that the inves igation which is claimed to have resulted in this discovery was made many years after the event to which these findings related and under circumstances that made it impossible to reproduce the evidence on which they were based. It seems to me that the proposed legislation would establish a dangerous precedent, calculated to imperil In no small measure the binding force and effect of the judgments of the various tribunals established under our Constitution and laws. I have already, in the exercise of the pardoning power with which the President is vested, remitted the continuing penalty that made it impossible for Fitz John Porter to hold an office of trust or profit under the Government of the United States. But lam unwilling to give my sanction to any legislation which shall practically annul and set at naught the solemn and deliberate conclusions of the tribunal by which he was convicted, and of the President by whom the findings were examined and approved. The anti-Chinese bill passed the Senate on the 3d inst., by a vote of 43 to 12. The Senate, by a vote of 27 to 27, failed to doss the Fitz John Porter bill over the President’s veto. A resolution was adopted for an inquiry into the capa- ' olt.y of the steel-producing works in the United States and the tools In the navy-yards to furnish outfits for new vessels or guns for seacoast defenses. The bill to forfeit unearned lands granted to the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was passed, with an amendment to refer to the courts the question of title after forfeiture. In the House of Representatives, the select commit tee made a report that William H. English was not guilty of a breach of privilege, while a minority declare that he lobbied on the floor in the Interest of his son. The House refused to concur in the Senate amendments to the fortification appropriation bill, and appointed new conferrees. An attempt to pass the Mexican pension hill was followed by the loss of a quorum.

BiLLSto pension the widow of Gen. Ord, to increase the allowance to Mrs. Frank P. Blair, and to authorize the retirement of Gen. Averill with the rank of Colonel passed the Senate on the 4th inst. The conferrees on the deficiency appropriation bill were reappointed, as the Senate insisted on its amendments. The postal telegraph bill was postponed for the session. The House of Representatives resumed consideration of the Mexican pension bill, and as a quorum was not present a call of the House was ordered. A motion to recede from disagreement to the amendments made by the Senate to .the general deficiency appropriation bill was lost, and the conferrees were reappointed. The conference report on the river and harbor appropriation was agreed to. In the Senate, July 5, Mr. Logan made a fresh denial of the charge that he was interested in a large tract of land in New Mexico, unlawfully taken from the Zuni Indians. The interstate commerce bill vas postponed until December. The Senate insisted on its amendment to the legislative appropriation bill reducing the number of customs and revenue collectors. A new conference was ordered, and the House finally surrendered. The report of the conference committee on the fortification bill wa u agreed to. The House of Representatives refused to postpone for the session consideration of the Mexican pensions bill, by a vote of i>s to 135, and much time was consumed by filibustering. The conference committee on the consular appropriation bill reported disagreement on the item of $250,000 for the Nicaragua project, and a motion to recede therefrom was lost. At the evening session Mr. Browne proposed to lav aside the Mexican pensions bill, but Mr. Townshend objected. Both houses held sessions on Sunday, the 6th inst. Conference committees disposed of the fortification and sundry civil-“ervice appropriation bills. The Senate finally yielded to the elimination of the item ot s26* ,000 for the purchase of canal rights in Nicaragua, and the House receded from its disagreement to the salary system for court officials. Something wrong in Ohio again. A man refused to take S9OO back-ponsion money. Taking Ohio as a whole, she makes some of the most unexpected breaks of any section in the universe.— reek’s Sun. No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction. A man js pleased that his wife is dressed as well as other people, and the wife is pleased that she is dressed.— Johnson. New York’s various prisons now have 15,690 convicts in custody.