As by the National Constitution all appointments must be with the advice and consent of the Senate, therefore any legislation in derogation thereof must be construed strictly; but the President insists that it shall be extended, even in face of the constitutional requirement. To such pretensions is he driven! The exception recognized by the National Constitution is only where a vacancy occurs during the recess of the Senate, when the President is authorized to appoint until he can obtain the consent of the Senate, and no longer. Obviously, cases may arise where sudden accident vacates the office, or where the incumbent is temporarily disabled. Here was the occasion for an _ad interim_ appointment, and the repealing statute, embodying the whole law of the subject, was intended for such cases,--securing to the President time to select a successor, and also power to provide for a temporary disability. Such is the underlying principle, which it is for us to apply. The expiration of a commission, which ordinary care can foresee, is not one of the sudden emergencies for which provision must be made; and assuming that vacancies by removal were contemplated, which must be denied, it is plain that the delay required for the examination of the case would give time to select a successor, while removal without cause would never be made until a successor was ready. Look now at the actual facts, and you will see how little they come within the reason of an _ad interim_ appointment. Evidently the President had resolved to remove Mr. Stanton last summer. Months elapsed, leaving his purpose without consummation till February. All the intervening time was his to select a successor, being a period longer than the longest fixed for the duration of an _ad interim_ appointment by the very statutes under which he professed to act. In conversation with General Sherman, a month before the removal, he showed that he was then looking for a successor _ad interim_. Why not a permanent successor? It took him only a day to find Mr. Ewing. If, as there is reason to suppose, Mr. Ewing was already selected when Adjutant-General Thomas was pushed forward, why appoint the latter at all? Why not, in the usual way, transmit Mr. Ewing’s name as the successor? For the excellent reason, that the offender knew the Senate would not confirm him, and that therefore Mr. Stanton would remain in office; whereas through an _ad interim_ appointment he might obtain possession of the War Department, which was his end and aim. The _ad interim_ appointment of General Thomas was, therefore, an attempt to obtain possession of an office without the consent of the Senate, precisely because the offender knew that he could not obtain that consent. And all this was under pretext of an Act of Congress alike in letter and spirit inapplicable to the case.