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A Reply to the Hon. Reverdy Johnson's Attack on the Administration in the Case of Fitz John Porter: Convicted of Shameful Misbehaviour Before the Enemy
Excerpt from A Reply to the Hon. Reverdy Johnson's Attack on the Administration in the Case of Fitz John Porter
But an outcry is raised because Porter was not allowed an opportunity of replying. No complaint could be more groundless. There is in the office of the Judge Advocate General a volume of similar reviews of the records of courts martial, made since the beginning of the war, to not one of which was a reply made, nor in a solitary instance was the right of making such reply ever claimed by the accused. The President is not a court before which causes are to be argued by contending parties — although under extraordinary circumstances he might permit such argument — and were he ordinarily to assume such a status, the performance of his ever-pressing and multifarious duties would be absolutely impracticable. Communications, verbal and written, are con stantly made to him by the heads of departments and others in the executive service in regard to questions pending before him, but no right to answer such communications on the part of those affected thereby has ever been insisted on or known. Of course, if the President entertains doubts, he may seek information in any quarter where he supposes it likely to be found but this does not affect the force of the general rule as stated. Of its accuracy Mr. Johnson, a former member of the Cabinet, must be fully aware, and no one comprehends better than he does how utterly incompatible with the prao tical dispatch of the public business would be a different course of administration....
But an outcry is raised because Porter was not allowed an opportunity of replying. No complaint could be more groundless. There is in the office of the Judge Advocate General a volume of similar reviews of the records of courts martial, made since the beginning of the war, to not one of which was a reply made, nor in a solitary instance was the right of making such reply ever claimed by the accused. The President is not a court before which causes are to be argued by contending parties — although under extraordinary circumstances he might permit such argument — and were he ordinarily to assume such a status, the performance of his ever-pressing and multifarious duties would be absolutely impracticable. Communications, verbal and written, are con stantly made to him by the heads of departments and others in the executive service in regard to questions pending before him, but no right to answer such communications on the part of those affected thereby has ever been insisted on or known. Of course, if the President entertains doubts, he may seek information in any quarter where he supposes it likely to be found but this does not affect the force of the general rule as stated. Of its accuracy Mr. Johnson, a former member of the Cabinet, must be fully aware, and no one comprehends better than he does how utterly incompatible with the prao tical dispatch of the public business would be a different course of administration....
25 pages, Hardcover
First published July 28, 2015
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