WASHINGTON, _April 6, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:
I nominate William P. Zantzinger, of Pennsylvania, to be a purser in the
Navy of the United States.
In submitting the above nomination it is deemed proper to give some
detail of the peculiar circumstances of the case. Mr. Zantzinger was
formerly a purser, and after a trial by a court-martial in January,
1830, was dismissed from the naval service. The record is inclosed,
marked A. In July, 1830, verbally, afterwards in writing early in 1831,
he applied for restoration to his former situation and date on the
assumed ground that the proceedings in his trial were illegal and void,
and he fortified himself by the many numerous certificates and opinions
herewith forwarded, marked B.
These have been carefully examined, and though failing to convince me of
the correctness of his position in respect to the nullity of those
proceedings, I am satisfied that under all the circumstances of the case
a mitigation of his sentence can be justified on both public and
personal grounds.
With the loss of his former date and of his pay since his dismission, I
have therefore submitted his nomination to take effect like an original
entry into the service, only from its confirmation by the Senate. There
is now one vacancy in the corps of pursers.