The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-17
President johnson and the Tenure OF
ONCE Bill,

President JOhnNOn ana the Tenure OF
once Bill,
From the NJ Y. World
A statement was made in Washington on
Tuesday, purporting to have been authorized
by the President, that he was determined to
disregard the Tenure of Office act and treat it
as a nullity. Instead of communicating to the
Senate, as that act requires, his reasons for
suspending Secretary Stanton, and awaiting
its action thereon before appointing regular
successor, he will merely send in nomination
to fill the vacancy precisely as If no such act
had been passed. If the Senate should refuse
to act on the nomination and attempt to rein
state Stanton, the President will forbid the
delivery to him of the keys and papers of the
Office. Stanton, in that case, will apply to the
Supreme Court for a manddmuS to put him in
possession. 1t will not be granted without
argument, and the President expects that the
Court will pronounce the Tenure of Office act
unconstitutional, and thus restore to him the
powers Of removal and appointment which
have been exercised by his predecessors since
the beginning of the Government.
The Republicans will, of course, make this
determination the topic of another great out
cry against President Johnson, whom they
will accuse of defiant disobedience to the laws
of the laud. But his course admits of the
most solid justification. If the Tenure Of
Office act be really, as he deems it, repugnant
to the Constitution, it is no law at all, and
ought not to be obeyed The President does
not assume to decide this question for himself,
but proposes to refer it for decision to the tri-
bunal ordained for Interpreting the laws and
Judging of their consistency with the Constittl-
ton. If the Supreme Court, after full argu-
ment, should decide to issue the mandamuS,
the President will obey it.
Nothing could be more absurd than to dis
pute the right of the President to bring laws
which he believes unconstitutional to judi
cial test. 1t is a right possessed by every citi-
zen. This right, which all aggrieved citizens
possess, of refusing obedience to unconstitu-
tiOnal laws, is the indispensable means of
maintaining the supremacy of the COnstitu-
tion, and keeping the legislative branch of the
| Government within its prescribed bounds.
The courts can take no cognizance of such
| questions until they are brought before them
| by regular suits, which none but aggrieyed
| parties have any motive to bring. The mean
est citizen equally with the highest officer ha s
right to resist any law which he considers
unconstitutional, provided he resists by legal
methods; provided he resists not to make
himself the final Judge in his own cause,
but to bring it before competent tribunal.
The question raised by Mr.. Johnson was
ably argued on constitutional grounds in the
| first Congress, and brought to legislative de-
| cision which was respected for nearly seventy
years. Leading Republicans like Madison,
and leading Federalists like Fisher Ames,
concurred in the opinion that the President
possesses the power of removal by the Censti-
tuition. The authority of the first Congress is
of at least as much weight on such question
as that of the thirty-ninth; the former having
consisted of trainers of the Constitution and
their contemporaries, and the latter of heated,
Incorporate partisans. The deliberate deci,
sion OF the first Congress, after full debate and
the uniform usage Of the Government, create a
presumption against the constitutionality Of
the Tenure Of Office act strong enough to
amply justify the President in referring the
question to the judiciary.