The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-12-07
table, read twice, and referr I'd 70 the Com mltee

II was ordered that when the House adjourn to-
| day IL adjourn 70 meet on Monday next
The bill introduced by Mr.. SOHENOK, OF Ohio,
to fix the times for the regular meeting Of Gong
and made the special order for to-day, was taken
Mr., SCHENOK explained, and advocated, the
oil, saying that II II became law It was import
ant that IL should be enacted soon as possible,
in order to afford three four States which had
not yet held their elections for members to have
extra sessions OF their Legislatures TO allow cleo
! uons to be called. He argued that as there was
continuity In the Executive department and in the
| Judiciary department, there should be like con-
tinuity in the legislative department Instead of
! which there was an interval of nine months be-
! tween the expiring of one Congress and the or
! ganiZation OF the next 1t was not likely, he
! thought that the first session of Congress which
was to meet on the fourth of March would last
on the exigencies Of the country The bill would
| give Congress an opportunity TO organize by the
election of its Speaker the appointment Of its off,
GERS and its committees, and in short, would put
Congress in position to have, as 1t were, comm snd
If Congress had met in March, 1865, the country
| would probably have been saved the disagreement
between the President and Congress that had led
to the present difficulty. Each State that has been
in rebellion, accepting gladly the same terms now
| offered them on terms very much more severe than
| those, would have been submissively obedient to
the requirements made of 1T and would be now re-
presented in Congress; or If one were permitted to
speculate on the possibility of the past it was no
at all certain but that the then Vice President
sidering the exhibition which he made of hmsel
| on the 4th of March, would have been so deal
| with by Congress, after its assemblage, that i
would not have been troubled with any considera-
| Mr.. BINGHAM, of Ohio, proposed to amend
| by providing that when the 4th OF March occurs
on Sunday Congress shall meet the next day.
| Mr.. STEVENS, of Pennsylvania, suggested
that the bill should in that respect conform to the
Constitution, which provided for the termination
Of Congress on the dth of March, without regard
| to whether that day occurred on Sunday.
Mr.. BINGHAM repudiated the idea of the Con-
sttution taking no notice of Sunday, and called
attention to the tact that the Constitution fixed the
| time Of meeting of Congress torthe first Monday
in December. He quoted Chancellor Kents re-
xryad nf thn a0ra
| law of America
The amendment was adopted.
Mr.. STEVENS offered an amendment to make
the first section simply provide for the first meet
ing of each Congress, leaving the law as to other
Various other amendments were offered and dis
Gussed by Messrs. Morrill,, Dawes, Garfield,
Mr.. LIE BLOND, of Ohio, obtained the floor,
and said: On this side of the House we are some
what at loss to know the particular objectof this
bill. We have, however, an idea that the President
stands in the way of some gentleman and whether
it is the object of the bill not to get rid of him,
not fully ad vised, and do not suppose the
gentlemen the other side propose to advise us
fully as TO the object they have in view in making
this change.
Mr.. SOHENCK, of Ohio-May reply to my
colleaguel
Mr., LIE BLOND-Nota at present,
Mr.. SCHENCK-Iu understood the gentleman to
Mr.. LIE BLOND-I will answer it myself 1
Mr.. S0HENCK~We nave not found that the
President las stood In our way at all
II.
to about it this side the house is, that the whole
object of the bill is to strip the Executive of any
appointing power. They have controversy on
that side of the house as to the best mode of ac-
complishing this By this bill, as originally in
troduced, there are three sessions provided for
and the substitute that is offered by MIR. Stevens
is to strike all of that out and let the of
each Congress commence on the fourth day of
March, and continue till the next Congress COM
So far as either of these propositions is con-
cerned feel no interest in them, because the
Il
feel interest in the matter, and that the people
are OF willing that this Congress shall make any
change in the present law, as to keep Congress
perpetually in session. 1t is unnecessary, and it
is uncalled for. The expense that will attend it
But the people will Judge OF the matter, and will
act in such way will not be very satisfactory
Gentlemen sHS5s @ Pf sy sFSa5Sg desire that the
thing plain SO that the people Will unasfstama tnaa IT, IT,
say at once that we have no Executive, but we nave
tenant at will in the White House; that ne mas
United States, as long as it remains radical shall
have the appointing power; This is not the only
position pending here whereby the appointing
| power is taken from the Executive and given to
| the Chief Justice OF the United States. suggest
that the Secretary OF the Interior should appoint
the Chief Justice Of the United States, instead of
the Ohiet Justice appointing certain officers in that
| department of the government.
| can see nothing but mischief in this whole
system of legislation, and would much rather, II
gentlemen are going to legislate in that Way tnat
| they would at once make bold strike, and take
( the head of the Executive Off (Ores of "Good"
| and "Let us understand the mater" Lapghter.)
We have no interest in the Executive on this side
| of the House, not the least. (Renewed laughter
| He is not the man of our choice-we did not put
him there (Clapping of hands) We do not claim
any benefits under him, and certainly we did not
receive any in the late campaign (Renewed
laughter.) We never took him up, and we, there
| fore, had no right TO drop him. There was no ne
cessity Of our dropping that which we had never
taken up. We never took him mp, and he never
took us up: 1t is true, wherever he ran into our our
| line of policy we were bound 10 sustain hlmi put
we never pretended to shoulder that which this
Radical party has put into power. To do so would
destroy any party in the world. tRoars OF laugh
Mr.. SCHENCK-The principal difficulty under
| which the leader of the opposite party labors-
| MIR. LIE BLOND -(InterruptiDg)-Not at all;
we nave none; no leader but the Constitution and
| the laws.
| Mr.. SOHENCK-(R (Resuming)-The gentleman
! complains that we have not done aomething in
such way as to make it plain to him. Now, my
observation leads me TO believe that the people do
need any particular explanation, and that they
| have understood, and have recently proved TO the
| world that they do understand the questions
| submitted to them by this Congress.
| / do do not know that we can make this any
palmer. / congratulate my colleague, however,
that he will escape from all the difficulties that
| may arise, under the proposed law, 70 any sue
| ceeding Congress, relieved as ne Will be or the
| dificulty OF presiding over the deliberations on
that side of the House, and relieved generally from
the charge he now has in the premises daughter.
| My colleague has another apprehension, which is
I that we find the President or something as an
| obstacle in the way OF those who are here legis-
lating, and that we are endeaV9rlng 70 overcome
and get around that obstacle. shall say to my
colleague, as / attempted TO say when inter-
rupted him, that he is entirely mistaken on that
| point, We have not found either the President or
those who support him at all in the OF the de-
termination or decisions of the Congress of the
United States. (Laughter)
that we create q session that will continue until
subsequent session of Congress begins There is
no such provision in the bill. He has not read,
| no amendmant nrODOS6Q,