The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-05-12

because II & invested ssnersiiy Win the executive
susnonN ana every psracipaticn IN that authority
BE ana ought to Be taken scty s ssicepP the
great responsible oflcer for the faithful execution
to that duty and might often b requisite to uiSl IT,
KentsCom. 8: le Thus the constitution and the law
commentators and publicists a. acted on By all the
Presidents and scquiescod IN BY all Of the Con-
Dresses nom l1ss uns the "a q March, Tc sS. when the
this act reads as fOlOws:-'hat every person holding
any civil once, to which he has been appointed by
every person who shall hereafter be appointed to any
such ofioe, and shall become duly qualined TO act
Is and sna oe % 70 s%cn
vded.n Then comes what u 'otherwise provided"
provided that the Secretaries OF State, OF the Treas
ury, Of War, OF the Navy and Of the Interior, the
Postmaster General and the Attorney General snail
c &c
appointed, and for one month thereafter subject TO
removal by and with the advice and consent OF the
the construction Of this section. How does IL AFFECT
the act Of 1897 and does 1t change the tenure OF
established by that acta To that inquiry / pro
pose to address myself I shall not deny the
constitutional con, validity Of the act Of March 1885,
first question presented is, Is Mr. Stanton's case
within the provisions Of the Tenure Of once act Of
the first section. The tenure which that provides
for is not the tenure Of 'anyn Secretary "A Secre-
to 60 out Of ONCE at the end the erm Of the
Sy they na DO and
consent Of the Senate, while all other civil Officers
are to hold until successor shall be appointed and
attached to it one tenure, other civil onlcers
another and different. tenure, and no one
this n0 iawSoS by sSy other snse
the one which the law specially assigns to that
once The plain intent OF the pfSvisS to the first
tary different from the tenure nxed for other civil
onicers. This u known 70 have been done on &C:
departments and all other officers which made It de-
sable and necessary for the public service that the
~ they 90
law L those Secretaries appointed BY NJ:
BY the oct for ordinary civil ofcers, while All the
other Secretaries should hold by different tenure.
Presidents should hold only during the term Of the
President BY whom they may have been appointed,
hold their oihces under the law, cannot come to
tenure Of once is prescribed BY this law ct ALL It is
| prescribed to him a. Secretary of War under
BY ,re Of the p0yso n to the ss
In that proviso 1t is not included In the law at all
Is clear to my mind that the provso does not In
case 1t is not possible to apply to his case the Ian
guage Of the proviso unless we suppose it to have
| clusiOn consider wholly inadmlssible. He was ap
pointed by President Lincoln during his first term OF
ONCE he cannot IN, hereafter go out OF once at the
| pointed That term was ended before the law was
passed. The proviso, therefore, cannot have been
Intended to make rule for his case, and 1t Is shown
that II not intended. This was plainly declared
in debate by the Conference Committee, both In the
the provso was introduced and It's effect explained
The meaning and effect OF the provso were then ex-
planned and understood to be that the only tenure OF
the Secretaries provided for by this law was tenure
to end with the term OF service OF the President by
whom they were appointed, and as this new tenure
plicitly declared that 1t did not include it. When
this subject under consideration in the House OF
mittee on the disagreeng votes OF the two houses,
| Mr. Schenck, OF Ohio chairman OF the Conferences
Committee, on the part OF the House, said:-"It will
be remembered that by the bill 1t passed the Senate
1t was provided that the concurrence Of the Senate
should be required in all removals from. office
departments. The House amended the bin Of tn,
Senate AZ to extend this requirement to the head
mittee Of Conference have agreed that the senat
| shall accept the amendments Of the House. But IN
Gs,ca a. a. as ,1o9 compel s President res, 70 zee
his term to10 soonld hold oUer 10 further term
conspronatse tcds made bv Uhtch further amend
he term az once or The heads oI departments snai
sxp6e Difh ne term or the President ,oho dppointet
/
When the bill came to the senate and was considered
| on the dsagreeing vote Of the two houses, Mr.
Ss nn;no 81 ~ tse assa Ras
In his opinion to force the President against his
will to retain the Secretaries appointed by Mr. Lin
coin, yet that the phraseoogy was such that the bill
Il passed would not accomplish that object Mr.
Sherman, Of Ohio, who was member Of the Con.
ference Committee and assisted to frame the provisO
said al do not understand the logic Of the Senator
| nom Wisconsin. He first attributes q purpose to
the Committee Of Conference which sag Il not true
l I hat wi a wi n VI
| to any person or any President, and therefore he
BY asserting what II, + no. true we do
the secretary OF the Navy the Secretary OF State
| Then q conversation arose between the Senator
from Ohio continued thus:-''That the Senate had nc
such purpose In shown by It's vote twice to make thif
be aG ts nSs 70
The senator shows that himself and argues truly tina
moving the Secretary Of war the Secretary Of th
Navy and the secretary OF state, and II I supposed
manhood and in honor as to hold his place arier Tn,
politest intimaton by the President Of the Untet
States that his services were no longer needed,
we an" Did any one here doubt a.
act when he declared that It 'lCOld not prevent IN
present Prestde'A rom removing the Secretary O
slater" was there any dissent from his position Wa.
there not entire acquiescence In its Again said Mr.
| Sherman, "In this case the Committee OF Confer
ence-I agreed to &C. CONFESS with some reluctance
came to the conclusion TO qualify to some extent the
power Of removal over cabinet minister. We pro.
vide that cabinet minister shall hold his once not
for fixed term, not until the Senate shall consent to
his removal, 6,R as long as the potcer that appoints
hin, holds oDICe.n But whatever may have been the
character Of the debate at the time OF the passage
OF the law, whatever may have been the
WINGED that the three Secretaries holding over Mr.
Lincon's administration do not fall within Its pro-
visions under any fair Judicial interpretation Of the
act; that Mr. Stanton held his oice under the act OF
I788, and under his only commission Issued In 1892
which was at the pleasure Of the President and am
consequently constrained TO decide that the order for
his removal lawful order. Any other censtruc-
ton would involve US In the absurdlty o. ostensiby
attempting TO limit the OF all cabinet encers
to the term OF the ocer having the power TO appoint
them yet giving to three OF the present cabinet minis
tiers an unlimited tenure. n the construction conten-
ded for by the Managers be the correct one while eur
OF the present cabinet o1cers will 60 out Of once
aeplufelv and without any action BY the SENATE On