Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1859-03-18
FROM WASHINGTON.
THURSDAY, March 10, 1859.

Death in High Places--Ncw appointments.
The events Of the past week have been i'm
portant On Friday, at 2 o'clock noon, the
35th Congress was dissolved. leaving the
Postal Appropriation bill dead on the table
of the Senate. On Saturday, John Marion,
Third Assistant Postmaster General died
very suddenly, He was an old and excellent
officer, who entered the service in a humble
position, and rese by his merit to one Of the
most responsible and important positions in
the Department. the head of the financial
bureau. At the very moment when mis- cx-
perience and abilities were most needed,
death removed him. Within three days from
that event. Aaron V. Brown, the Postmaster
General, died after a brief illness. This was
on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Joseph Holt
of Kentucky. Commissioner of Patents. was
nominated and confirmed as Postmaster Cen
eral and to-day, at - o'clock, the funeral
of Gen. Brown will be attended. at the Pres
ident's house On Wednesday, Ex-senator
Geo. w. Jones of Iowa was nominated and
confirmed as Minister to Bogota. Mr.. Jones
term expired on Thursday last his place bad
been filled by Republican, and before
week had passed he was thus kindly provided
for by the President, with an office of light
duties and large salary.
The lass of he Post Office Bin
Was ugubriously and absudly commented
upon by the official organ, (the Union, on
Sunday morning last The Union" usually
takes Sunday for any task particularly ungra
cious. In this article the whole responsible
itv for the loss of the postal appropriation
bill was thrown upon Mr.. Grow of Pcnns,l-
vania; and the particular charge was, that
Mr.. Grow had cunningly devised this scheme
to cuiorcc an extra session Of the seth Con-
gross before all the elections can be complct-
ed. SO as to secure his own election as Speak
er Now. for the purpose Of putting the
responsibility where it really belongs, | will
recapitulato the leading facts The House
first passed the usual Post Route bill, 'estab-
fishing new mail routes and sent it to the
Senate and to that bill the Senate tackled
an amendment increasing letter postage G6
per cent, and substituting charge upon the
Treasury in lieu of the ranking privilege.
While this question was pending, scmi-ol-
fetal article, apparently from the Post Office
Department, appeared in both the Union"
and the National lntelligencer,' from which
it appeared that this amendment of the SEN
ate was at least altogether more than is neces-
sary, if not entirely crude and considered
in word, it was said that the charge on free
matter alone would altogether more than
meet tho necessity of the Department for rev
enuc-thus showing that the increased pos
tage tax on the bill was utterly unnecessary.
Under these circumstances, when the original
House Post Route bill came back from the
Senate, it was dropped, and Mr.. English
Chairman of Committee on Post Roads and
Post Ofices.) reported new bill, precisely
like the original one, (the postage amendment
of the Senate left OUT with such postage
routes as the Senate had added to the original
bill. This bill was passed at once by the
House, and concurred in by the Senate In
the meantime the House also passed the usual
Post Office Appropriation bin, providing for
the payment Of postmasters, contractors, and
the officers of the Department. When this
bill came up in the Senate. the amendment as
10 postage and free matter which had been put
on to the Post Route bill by the Senate and
been rejected by the House was put on to this
appropriation bill Thus the Senate made
second attempt to increase the rate of pos
tage, and this after the opinion of the House
had been decisively expressed When this
amendment came to the House second time.
Mr. Grow quoted these words of the Consti-
tuition:
"All bills for raising revenue shall originate
- in the House Of Representatives, but the
" Senate may propose or concur with amend
-" ments as on other bills
Grows argument was that the original
House bill simply made appropriations but
as the Senate had tackled on an amendment
increasing the rates of postage and otherwise
increasing the revenue, il had changed the
character of the bill, and, in point of fact,
originated revenue bill He therefore iu-
troduced the following resolution, which the
House adopted by more than forty majority
"Resoiced, That House bill No s72, max
ing appropriations for defraying the expenses
of the Post Office Department for the year
ending 30th June, 1860, with the Senate
amendments thereto, be returned to the Sen
ate, as section thirteen of said amendments is
in the nature Of a revenue bill"
When the bill, with this resolution, was
sent to the Senate, that body replied, by rcs-
oution, that each House has the right TO
judge of its own constitutional powers, and
when one judges that the other has exceeded
its powers by any bill or amendment it may
non-concur. This power of non-concurrence
is the common right of each House on all
subjects the proposition of the Senate there
fore amounts to an utter waiver of the Con
sttutional prerogative of the House to oripi-
nate revenue bills. This is piy opinion: this
matter was not discussed at all in the House. /
committee of conference ensued, which
unanimously agreed that each House should
waive the Constitutional question, and agree