Page:The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper, 1838.djvu/45

Rh that discretionary authority, to receive, or to reject them, which by the usages of nations and in the necessity of things, must somewhere abide in all governments. Under the confederation this power resided in congress; under the constitution it is in the president. Were this function merely a ministerial function, the president would have no power to decline receiving a foreign agent, and the country would be destitute of a necessary means to protect the interests and dignity of the state.

On the same principle, the right to commission (or empower) as an executive right, in the absence of any specific fundamental law to the contrary, infers the right to withdraw that commission; or in other words, to remove from office.

All the different powers of the president confirm this construction. He is commanded "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," a duty than can be discharged in no other manner, than by displacing unworthy agents, and entrusting the authority to worthier; he nominates, or originates the appointment; with the consent of the senate, he settles the matter in his own mind, or appoints; and according to the true and technical signification of the word, he commissions, or empowers; unless it be intended that all offices shall be held during good behaviour, he removes.

That the constitution did not intend that officers should be irremovable, is to be inferred from the fact that duties are assigned the president, that can be discharged in no other manner than by displacing delinquents; from the general usages of governments; and from the fact that certain officers are named, in the way of exceptions, as those who are to hold their trusts during good behaviour.

An example will show the necessity of this power's existing in the president. A collector is commanded