Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1830-05-26
SPEECH OF Mr.. HOLAEs, ~ MAlE..
In SENATE uNlrEs STATES, A,.,. ss. 1880.
CONTINUES.

Sir, I regret that IL has fallen to the lot Of tho
knmbIe individual who addresses you 10 assist in
exposing the fsuacy Of this Illuminating add alaf.
ming doctrine Ef
ST.. the povsuu OF tho Senate. once surrendered to
the President, can never be Northumberland zone.
they ara zone forever. You viM. probably, never End
. Pfesident % vefy complainant. 60 very modest, -
to ask yonits lake nasn back. Surely tis not 20 be
expected ffum the presssf Chief Magistrate If the
President Of the United Ststes abuses this power Ct
rcuoval. ss we know that this PreGdent has done,
end most ~wsntonly, where 10 the reduces! Can Gun
efcss .hsgislite to reach the casce In 1895, a bill,
with an elaborate report, was presented by a Select
Committee. to restrain Executive patronage, which
provided that whenever the President removed and
appointed In the recess, Il should DO hs duty, uu his
nomination to the Senate oftho officer thus appointed,
to communicate Ia them he reasons for The removal!
The bill and report have, after slambering for four
years, been revived this season, and arc now on your
orders of tho day Whethe. il is intended to act up
on the subject or not, Il Is very certain that this rem
ely can never roach the mischief. Suppose that this
bill shou'd pass both hosses of Congress. and you.
the friends of the President, should, in a body, pre-
SEM it Ca him for his signature, wha. would probably
be his reply! "Gentenen, you have, over and over.
again and again, determined that 1 had a right to
remove and appoint IN the recess. AL tibifu'n, and up
on nay high responsibility'-I have you here before
me sin black and white You have repeatedly set.
tied the point, that this was a business exclusively
my own and TINT you had no right to question my
reasons or motives; undif you should, I vac not bound
TO respond. Now. gentlemen, i'll have this power,
pray ,ohcre did 4 get R Surely not by legislation,
for Congress has never given it By Law There IS
thon, but one answer to the qeestion-I derive IL
from the NonsthutiR rscE; and if it is a grant in the
Constitution. what right have you to take It from me
by Legislation. Your lazy is therefore,, unconshfufion
al. Take it back, and if two thirds can be fund to
take this power from M. which a majority Of you
have repeatedly declared l now have by the Consti-
triton, do IL, and / will appeal to the people; and we
shnll Zee what credit you will get for consistency
Now, suppose he should mako this concise but pun
gent argument, how would you answer him! | think
it might puzzle the wisest to give an answer ~satisfac-
terry TO HIM
But he might dd--Gentlemen this is not all;
your bill and report were presented ut On early pc.
rod of the administration of my predecessor: it wns
permitted to sleep till this time-now, when I, at
your insta nce and request, have exercised the power
of remov,l beyond all precedent, you offer me a law
10 restrain me Whatever may be your motives. the
public will draw but one inference from the trans
actiou; they will say this subject was not acted on
under MI Adams's administration, because it was
unnecessary: he never abused this power; there was
no mischief, and therefore no need of a remedy
But the danger has now become 80 alarming, the dis
tress and misery which l have created have produced
such sensations, that l must be restrained by my own
friends. II, therefore,, ! approve this law, ] sign my
own condemnation, my own death warrant Take it
back, aud If two thirds of both houses will pass this
vote of censurc on me, let them do il" So we see,
sir, that this remedy bylsgislstion would be visionary;
when a President conducted correctly there would
UC uO " NbC AdWp oiu WftN u . Ia tAC u
before us, he abused the power, his approval of the
law would be an acknowledgement of the abuse
consequently the remedy by legislation is the mercst
What other remedy do grave Senators proposos>
impeachment: Now, to name it, provokes me 10 an
involuntary smile-not a emile Of appreciation. but OF
a very different character. Impeachment! Conyic,
q President of the United States by two thirds OF
the Senate for an exercise of power in which a ma
Sority Of the same Senate had repeatedly determined
that he could do M sorong? Sir, such q proposition
b. N pYfra UDo0 thu yaru faro M - 70. ocp. ---J----
ton. Besides, the Senate has no control over i'm
pcachments; 1t cannot impeach; it can only trv. It
stands her, as the guardian of Estate Rights and
ID 1t probable that the House of Representatives,, the
populnr branch, would ever impeach a P President for
violating thesci Sir, the trainers of this Constitu-
hon we're never so stupid as to entc rtain a thought
that impeachment was the remedy for this abuse of
Executive power Mr.. Madison, and Others, to be
sure, enterl aimed an opinion that II was an impeach
able offence. Mr. Hamilton was of the belief that
the power Of removal by the President did not exist
ut all But | shall tremble for my Country when the
time sbnil come that the President of the u. States
shail be tried on an impeachment. It would be a
pcrilous experiment, and testing the Constitution In
its weakest point, Nothing, perhaps, but absolute,
pelpabie, overt treason, could justify the attempt
The event woed agItate the Government to is cen.
tre-it wonid be the shock of an earthquake Nav
j never 1--we TO see the time when a President Of the
linked States shall be tried on an Inpeachmeut!-
However, sir, | never shall live TO see it. So long
as Executive patronage is thus ~profuscly poured into
ooth Houses OF Congress, my life for it, no President
will ever be Irnpeached, much less convicted. let him
do what he may. One eighth of the last and this
SENATE, and q large number of the members of the
other House, have been appointed TO important OH
oes, and this, too, against Gen. Jackson's own solemn
pledge; and after this never tell me that the remedy
for any abuse of power is impeachment.
But the Seustor from LouIsiana (Mr Lrvingston)
can feel no danger OF Executive patronage from ap
pointmeuts from tho Senate; aud his reason is. that
O seat OF a Senator is 90 exalted and 90 desirable.
that no gii of the Executive could detach him from
IT.. IL might have been so once, and I wish to heaven
it were so still. But ! sm q practical man; I take
things as they are, and ] consider one fact worth a
hundred theories. We know full weil-tfa truth
starcs as in the face, that there are many offices in
the gift of the Executive which Senators will gladly
nccept, because hey haze accepted them. This throws
his theory to the winds. But a. he has INDUCED in
speculation, let me speculate too-and l think 1 can
find strong reasons why Senators would become soil
citous Tor Executive Office. IL would seem to me
there were two classes that would desire them: The
frsi is the young and ambitious; and ambition, pro-