The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-03-20
Jhe s8edfprA GazettR,
GREAT SPEECH OF
HON. WIN. A. WALLACE,

Delivered in the Senate of fPennsyivania,
On Ihc Impeachment Resolution, Feb.
%, 1865.
The Committee on Federal Relations
reported the following;
Resotred 6y the Senate and House Of
Representatives, &c.
1st. That the thanks of the people of
this Commonwealth are due and are
hereby rendered, through their imme
diate representatives, to the House of
Representative Of the Congress of the
United States, for its fidelity to the
people and its promptness in preferring
articles of Impeachment against An
drew johnson for his late acts of usur-
patton.
ID That the thanks of the people of
Pennsylvania are due and are hereby
rendered to Edwin NJ. Stanton, Secre-
tary of War, for his courage and fideli-
ty in resisting the attempted invasion
of his Office and violation of the funda-
mental law, and his resOlute resistance
to executive encrOachment.
Mr.. White moved to proceed to the
consideration of the resolutions, which
was agreed to by a party vote.
Mr.. Wallace offered the following
substitute:
ReSOIred, That in the passage, veto
and re-passage of the tenure of office
law, the executive and legislative
branches of the Government, each for
itself, had the right to Judge of its con-
stitutionality, and there being con-
flict of opinion thereon, it was the
privilege Of either of said departments,
when called to execute or obey the
same, to bring it before the Supreme
Court of the United States for adjudi-
cation.
ReSolred, That in the removal of Ed
win NJ. Stanton from the Office of Sec
retary Of War and the appointment of
General Lorenzo Thomas in his stead,
for the purpose Of testing the constitu-
tionality of the said tenure of office
bill, the President of the United States
tect and defend the Constitution of the
/ United States" and was guilty of no
crime for which he can legally be i'm
peached.
ReS0Ired, That it is the duty of the
executive and legislative branches of
the Government, and of all good citI-
zens, to enforce, respect and obey the
| decisions Of the Supreme Court of the
United States upon the question of the
cOnstitutiOnality of the said tenure of
! office law when it is announced by the
! said court.
MIR. SPEAKER: The position we oc-
cupy upon the question now agitating
the public mind is stated in the amend
ment l have just submitted. Our po-
sition, sir, upon this issue, is that of
obedience to law, of an appeal to legal
! tribunals for its settlement. We are
now, as we have been in the past, for
| the maintenance of the law and the
| Constitution. We are for free system
| of laws against revolution and despot-
ism; for maintaining constitutional
obligations against anarchy and chaos.
In bringing the constitutionality of
| the tenure Of Office law before the Su-
| preme Court for adjudication and set
/ tlement, the President exercised a
right that was vested in him by virtue
of his high Office. In making a prac-
tical case for adjudication he exercised
what was not only his right, but his
sworn duty.
The removal of a Cabinet officer was
an executive power and as such, one
of the high prerogatives Of the eXecu-
tive branch of the Government. This
right you cannot take from him
and preserve this department in its in
tegrity.
The right Of removal by the Presi-
ident alone has, by universal practice
of the Government, been recognized
from 1889 to 1867. Every President OF
the United States exercised it unques-
toned. As early as 1889 the question
came up in Congress, on a motion tC
strike out Of law organizing the State
Department a provision to make the
officer removable at the pleasure Of the
President. This motion, after debate
was negatived by the decisive vote o