Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-23
A SCRAP OF HISTORY.
The senate and the Appointments
Washington I'm the Senate Chamber.

.
Washington I'm the Senate Chamber.
I Taf From the National Intelligencer.F
In connection with the discussion now
going on as to the Executive appointments, |
a correspondent has given ms the following |
copy of q letter addressedto the conductors
of the National Inteligeneer, in 1918, by |
DIR. Lincoln Lear, the son Of Mr.. Tobias |
Lear, the friend and Private Secretary q
Washington :ffri-l.T .s1 -lfrr-8 II
"MEssRs. GALES q SEAToH: l cannot
but suspect some error in the editorial ar
.ticles OF your paper Of the 10th inst, and if
there should be, and il can be corrected By
the journals Of the Senate, think such
correction due to its importance as an his
toTical anecdOte. fa- t.-#
so far from having any personal knowl-E
edge of those times TO which il relates,
am on the contrary very young man.
suspect the whole, however, must have
arisen from the following circumstance;
From among the nominations made TO
the Senate by President Washington, at, \
believe, the first session of Congress
that Of collector for the port of Charles
ton was rejected. The President imme-
diately repaired 70 the Senate chamber,
and entered, % the establishment of
every one. The Vice President left his
chair and offered il 10 the President,
who accepted il. and then told the Senate
that he had come 10 ask their reason for
rejecting his nomination for collector, etc.
After many minutes of embarrassing
silence, General Green rose and said that
as he had been the person who had FIRST OBJ
jeeted 30 the nomination, and had probably
been the cause Of its rejection, it was per
h., IL. ,4Fnn A. = kh.sa
that his personal respect for the personal
character of General Washington was such
that he would inform him Of his grounds
for recommending this rejection, land hedid
so. but that be would have Il distiactly
understood 10 be the sense Of the Senate, ]
that no explanations of their motives or.
proceedings were ever due or would. be
given to any President OF the United States
| Upon which the President retired.
This anecdote received from one who
enjoyed General Wsshington's most init
mate friendship, and 70 whom the General,
Immediately on his return from the Senate
chamber, expressed bis very great regret
at ever having gone there.
"l2th March, lSlS.' HE 8a
| There ale some errors in the above
| which may be due to a failure Of memory
All AAlN liAAA Va tAAN MAAAIA VI INT 10
mistakes in copying. Thus the name
General Green " is evidently a mistake,
there being no person Of that name in the
/ Senate at the time referred 70. The edito-
rial remarks which called Oat the letter are
! probably the following from the IatoHigeR-
/ Ger, OF March u, 1878: ga al.
There are not many, probably, of the
! present generation Of readers who remem-
Der the fact that in the first session of the
| Congress Of the United States, President
| Washington personally came into the SEN
ate when that body was engaged on what is
called executive Business, and took part in
/ their deliberations. When he attended be
took the Vice Presidents chair, and the
Vice President took that Of the Secretary
| of the Senate; one or the other Of the
/ Secretaries occasionally accompanied the
/ President on these visits The President
/ addressed the Senate on the qeslions before
/ them, snd in many respects exercised a
/ power in respect 10 their proceedings, which
would now be deemed entirely ineompati-
bic with their rights and privileges. This
practice, however, did not long continue.
An occasion soon arose Of collision Of opin-
ion between the President and the Senate,
ON some nomination, and be did not after
wards attend, b1t communicated BY mes
sage what he desired % lay before them"