th of February last, a report of the Secretary of State, relative to
the papers on file in the Department of State touching the unsettled
claims of citizens of the United States against France for spoliations
prior to July 31, 1801.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 7, 1884_.

_To the House of Representatives:_

In compliance with the concurrent resolution of the Senate and House of
Representatives of the 5th instant, I return herewith House bill 6770,
entitled "An act making appropriations for the consular and diplomatic
service of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1885, and
for other purposes."

CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

VETO MESSAGE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 2, 1884_.

_To the House of Representatives:_

After careful consideration of the bill entitled "An act for the relief
of Fitz John Porter," I herewith return it with my objections to that
House of Congress in which it originated. Its enacting clause is in
terms following:

That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to nominate and,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint Fitz John
Porter, late a major-general of the United States Volunteers and a
brevet brigadier-general and colonel of the Army, to the position of
colonel in the Army of the United States, of the same grade and rank
held by him at the time of his dismissal from the Army by sentence of
court-martial promulgated January 27, 1863. * * *

It is apparent that should this bill become a law it will create
a new office which can be filled by the appointment of the particular
individual whom it specifies, and can not be filled otherwise; or it
may be said with perhaps greater precision of statement that it will
create a new office upon condition that the 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 encroachment by the
legislative branch of the Government upon the authority of the
Executive. As the Congress has no power under the Constitution to
nominate or appoint an officer and can not lawfully impose upon the
President the duty of nominating or appointing to office any particular
individual of its own selection, this bill, if it can fairly be
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 vio