Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-12-02
Tenure Of Office Law.
The Burlington Daily Times of last Thurs
day has the following:

day has the following;
The New York Tribune is very earnest in
its opposition to any abrogation of the &" ten
ure of office bill" The tenure of office bill,
in SO far as it controls the executive, we have
never believed was other than an enactment
of temporary necessity. In the case of
President johnson Congress went outside of
the ordinary limits Of its jurisdiction, find
ing its justification in the fact that the ex-
~ecutive was a usurper, who needed to be
fettered to prevent his perverting his author
ity to the subversion of the laws. This
justified the tenure of Office bill, which taking
its origin from an exceptional condition of
politics cannot be regarded as more belonging
to the legislation that it is desirable to make
permanent than is the Freedman's Bureau.
Andrew Johnson by his mad pranks com
PEELED Congress TO curtail the Presidential
Office Of much Of its original dignity and
power. To hamper Grant by retaining all
the checks that were devised to restrain
Johnson is at least ungenerous. With the
exception of Mr.. Johnson, our Presidents
have not attempted to set the laws aside,
when their veto has been disregarded, and
until a President proves himself to be as
recusant as johnson it is hardly fair to as
sumo in advance that he is a resolved usurp-
er of the johnson type. With On honest
| GAtCCbtNC VIC udtlOH LCCQ " CAl1b llltO
for his good behavior, and Congress is not
expected to treat Grant as if the moral and
mental mantle of johnson had fallen upon
his shoulders.
We cannot quite agree with our coten-
porary in this view of the tenure Of Office
law. At the time of the passage Of the
enactment, it seemed desirable as a means of
bringing the government back to the prac-
tees of the earlier times, and to a safe and
proper as well as constitutional distribution
of the appointing power. Appointments
and removals from Office had gradually fallen
almost entirely into the hands Of the exc
c%utive. while at the same time the number
Of officers had been multiplied far beyond
any anticipation of those who framed the
government. IF in W~ashington's time it
was wise to provide that the appointing
power should be distributed between the
executive department and the Senate, the
wisdom of such a provision is much more
manifest now when there are 40 600 office
holders.
President Johnson's course in the matter
of appointments was censurab!e mainly
because it was a usurpation. If he had the
constitutional power which was claimed for
him, Congress had no good ground Of COM
plant against him and Congress was %justi-
fed in it's legislation, not because johnson
appointed bad men to Office, but because lie
appointed them and removed good men in an
unconstitutional way. Congress insisted
that tba Senate should he copsuItad as rro-
vided in the constitution and we should be
very sorry to sec the correct position taken
by them abandoned because our party has
triumphed in the election. Whether John
son, or Seymour, or Grant be President. the
appointing and removing power is lodged, by
the constitution, just where the law now
declares it to be, in the President and Sen
ate and the Republican party would be
justly open to the s~harpest criticism, if it
should now attempt to give Grant a power
which the Constitution does not attach to
the presidential Office. Let each department
of the government insist always on all its
constitutional powers, and the proper adj
vantages of the checks and balances Of the
constitution will be thus secured.
Nor can we see any possible advantage tc
be gained now by repeating the law. Tho
Senate and Gen. Grant are n accord politi-
caly, and will scarcely be likely to come il
collision on any appointment. If so desired
the Senate can secure everything TO the mex
President by courtesy hat can be secured t,
him by law. 1t is under no obligation
to reject any of his nominations, but i
may be excused for insisting strictly upor
it's constitutional right to be consulted
whoever holds the presidential Office.
There is another reason which seems to u
quite sufficient for insisting upon the tenure
~of-ofice law. 1t was charged upon the par
ty at the time the law was passed that it
whole object was to secure the Offices an
their emoluments to the party,-in othe
words that it did not seek the good Of tn
country, but was wholly partisan. A repea
of the law now would be the strongest posi-
bio evidence that this charge had a sut
~stantial basis. With even Grant as Presi
dent we are not prepared to urge that Con
/ gress shall surrender any of its powers an
how Gen. Grant can be hampered by bein
left in his appointments to and removal
from Office just where the law now leave
him we cannot understand.
Mr.. RKyERDY JOHNSON, in the brief inter
walls of dining and winning that he has er
1nx,ad hos found Tina 70 ossr,ro Tho 1ao,1a l.