[p. 2] After mature reflection on the subject, letter of the 28^th of last month; I am clearly of opinion the President has no power to make alone the appoint of Officers to the Battalion which is to be added [strikethrough: attached] [strikethrough: annexed] to the Second Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers. In my opinion Vacancy is a relative term and presupposes that the Office has been once filled — the power to fill the Vacancy is not the power to make an original appointment. The term "Which [strikethrough: may] have happened" serves to confirm this construction — it implies casualty — and [undecipherable] Officers having been once filled, have become vacant by acci dental circumstances. — This at least is the most familar and obvious sense, and in a matter of this kind it could not be adviseable to exercise a doubtful authority. It is clear that independant of the authority of a Special law, the President cannot fill a vacancy which happens during a Session of the Senate. With great respect, Dear Sir, W^m Aff^d Just. A Hamilton C—