The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1867-02-09

Of congress has passed both Houses, and
has become law. The n o. Picayune
says
Heretofore the anomaly has always exis
ted that every second year the Legislature
OF the Union was incomplete. The con
gressi0nal elections in the States were ar
ranged for local convenience, on the basis Of
nm existing law, that when one Congress e4-
pred by its own limitation, on the 18th of
March, the next was not required by law 20
meet before the December following Con-
sequently in q number Of the States the cleo
lions to the House of Representatives were
not held until some time in that interval
during the summer preceding the actual
meeting Of Congress 1t has, therefore, al
ways happened, when an extra session OF
Congress was called in extraordinary con
jnnctures, that some Of the States were ac-
tually unrepresented or were constrained to
order special elections. This difficulty
might have been obviated in fact by the con
current action Of all these States, in altering
their own laws Of election, and advancing
the period several months. But there is al
ways great difficulty in obtaining the separ-
ate action of a number Of States on g ques-
ton determined in each by circumstances
affecting It's own particular convenience !;
and there was always the plausible reason
that representatives should reflect as much
as possible the actual current opinion of
their constituents, and as little time as posi-
bic should be permitted to elapse between
the choice and the discharge of the duty
The advance Ct the day Of meeting of Con
gress meets these difficulties, an imposes as
necessity the duty Of having Congress al
ways filed, and always eonvOked as early as
practicable. 1t does not impose and Obliga-
ton for more legislation OF for longer ses-
$40 tNrr ~ 4 70
provide that there shall always be legal
House Of Representatives in existence and
organized, as there always is a Senate Of the
United States
There is point gained in this matter
which the Radicals have in view as one that
may be Of some Importance in the course of
the programme Of party operations they
have laid out for the ensuing summer.
In case of vacancy in the Presidency, the
constitution provides that the Vice President
shall succeed; but when Presidency and
Vice Presidency are vacant, Congress was
authorized to prescribe by Law the order Of
succession. The order prescribed by the
law, passed in the Second Congress, is. that
the President of the Senate shall first sue
coed, and if there be no President of the
Senate, the Speaker Of the House Of Repre-
sentatives
If Congress had adjourned without a
change Of the time Of meeting there would
have been ID Speaker of the House of Rep
resentatives In view Of the threatened
impeachment and possible removal of the
President, the successor would be the presid-
ing officer Of the Senate, who may be called
to succeed Mr. Foster. whose term in the
Senate expires on the 4th of March. But
here would have been but single life on
which the lawful exercise of Executive power
would depend there would have been no
Speaker of the House, and all provisions,
constitutional and legal, would be exhausted.
Provisions must, therefore, be made for fur
Their succession; or the permanency in Office
Of q Speaker assured. This is effected by
the provisions for the uninterrupted exis-
tenoe Of an organized House of Representa-
tives. it does not mean that Congress shall
be in perpetual session but there should
always be a Congress in existence fully Or
ganized.
By force of this law, ard unless some new
provisions be adopted before the end Of the
session, the Senate viii elect President of
their body who viii succeed Mr. johnson, if
the impeachment be successful and immedi-
ately after the close the new House will
electa Speaker, who viii succeed, in the event
that the Senate has no President, or its Presi-
dent is in any way disabled
The advance Of the day of the meeting of
Congress has this, among other objects In
view, mainly personal one part of the Radi-
cal scheme for accomplishing partisan objects
through the forms of law. These motives
faint the whole course Of proceedings, which,
if considered on general principles, would
scarcely meet with ripple of opposition.
But Congress has been, Of late such an area
for turbulence, the centre from which so
many wild and disorganizing projects radi-
ate necessarily, to confuse and distress the
people it has assumed such alarming powers,
and employs them with such temper Of i'm
placable tyranny, that thoughtful men shrink
from any proposition which, even within the
forms Of the law, gives it wider scope for
the exercise Of its powers of mischief
This measure, which would have been, in
other times, thought to be certainly harm
less, if not positively an improvement, serves,
as little chip in the far of ocean serves to
show the mariner the set of a current ne
must, for ais safety avoid. It marks how
everything, great and small is tending TO the
great centre of Federal power, to be used
there for the gain of q faction
The new law provides that there shall be
always q Congress, but not that it shall be
always in session.
Little can be said In principle against the
former, and nothing could be imagined il
the people had not begun to find that the less
Congress does, and the less opportunity it
has to do anything, the better it is for the
good and quiet of the country.