Page:A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865, Volume I.djvu/585

Rh March 14, 1865. To the Senate of the Confederate States.

I herewith transmit for your information a communication from the Postmaster General, relative to the removal of a postmaster from office.

 March 14, 1865. To the House of Representatives.

In response to your resolution of the 2d inst., I herewith transmit for your information communications from the Secretary of the Navy and the commissioner for the exchange of prisoners, relative to the trial and execution of John Y. Beall, Acting Master in the C. S. Navy, by the authorities of the United States.

 VETO MESSAGES. To the Senate of the Confederate States of America. I feel constrained to return to the Senate, without my approval, an act which originated in your honorable body, entitled, "An Act to increase the number of acting midshipmen in the Navy, and to provide the mode of appointment."

The act provides that the additional acting midshipmen "shall be appointed under the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy as follows: One from each Congressional district, upon the recommendation of the Representative in Congress; two at large from each State, upon the recommendation of the Senators thereof respectively; and ten at large by the President."

The Constitution, in the 2d article, 2d section, 2d clause, after giving to the President power to nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate to appoint all officers of the Confederate States whose appointments are not otherwise provided for, adds: "But the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the Heads of Departments."

The framers of the Constitution, in defining the powers of the several Departments of the Government, took care to designate the particular class of offices which the two Houses of Congress may 