THE  POWER  OF  APPOINTMENT.  429

§  646.  I  shall  now  consider  the  nature  and  extent  of  the
power  itself.  The  President  is  to  nominate,  and  with  the  ad-
vice and  consent  of  the  Senate,  appoint  officers.  At  the  very
outset  of  the  government,  an  attempt  was  made  by  a  few  per-
sons to  give  such  a  construction  to  this  language  as  would
make  the  Senate  the  body  to  take  the  initiative.  It  was  urged
that,  as  the  Senate  was  to  advise  as  well  as  to  consent,  they
could  only  advise  a  course  of  action  prior  to  that  action ;  that
we  consent  to  a  thing  after  we  know  it  is  attempted  to  be
done,  but  we  advise  a  thing  prior  to  any  attempt ;  that  the
only  way  possible  for  the  Senate  to  advise  as  well  as  to  con-
sent to  the  appointment  of  officers,  was  for  them  to  suggest
names  to  the  President,  from  which  he  ^ght  choose  a  person
whose  nomination  would  be  communicated  to  the  Senate,
whereupon  that  body  would  proceed  to  indicate  its  consent  to
that  particular  appointment  by  ratifying  it.  This  course  of
argument,  though  plainly  having  some  grammatical  correct-
ness, was  not  convincing.  It  was  evident  that  such  a  course
would  virtually  make  the  Senate  the  sole  appointing  power ;
that  the  President  would  only  be  the  registrar  of  their  decrees.
