The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-03-27


) wished to ask him WIS whether he intend.
; Ell to have my deb tte on the question
Ihose OF Us who are decidedly in the
wrong would like TO show ourselves in the
wrong. and to put ourselves in the W ons
in the Globe.
Butler-rhat's always so evident that /
do not care for any furtner exhibition in
that direction. Laughter. / will now
yield TO the gentleman from OHIO (BIng-
man want.
Garfiald-AIl the time am entitled to.
ak the favor of the House independent
Parliamentary right.
Bingham-I do not understand this
4 thing OF farming out the floor in this way.
II the matter viii bear discussion, let it be
discussed. l undertake 10 show to the
I House, If have liberty to be heard. that
the Senate amendment about which 50
& mucn ado Is made, does substantially
repeal everything in the Tenure of-Of1ce
ButIer-I have offered courtesy to the
/ gentleman from Ohio. am sorry he does
mos recognize IT.
/ BIngham-I recognize the courtesy Of
me gentleman, but 1 ask, as q matter of
+ Justice, waIch rises above courtesse, to be
1 neard on this bill.
Bubler-The gentleman will get ali ms
/ aIees and viii get his due when he gets jus
k4ce. LRoars OF :aughter.l
Nlbiack said that reference having been
I made to the Democracy, il wouldn't De
! improper for him to define his position on
/ the question, and which he believed 10 be
/ the position OF his associates. They had
1 always opposed the Tenure-of Once bin.
They believed that in most O its proyis-
/ IONS IL was IN conflict with the COhsti u
! ton. Tney believed it was an assault IN
4 the Executive Department. Of the Govern
4 ment. and tina It's tendency was To KVesf ken
4 tnat branch Of the public service. There
I fore, matter of consistency. and as a
/ matter Of principle, whenever the qpSs-
| ton OF the repeal OF that law was pro-
posed, they would vote Tor the repeal
For himself, he should vote for nothing
bat an unconditional repeal of the law.
sui, tney We're IN no hurry t. do
1t just at this particular time As
the late Administration had TO ex-
ist as best IL could, incumbered by
the Tenure-of-Office Law, they were a
little cur iOus to Sc how the present Ad-
minisi ration would get along ham perei
with il. Nevertheless. they were willing
To vote for tGe repeal of the law, under tne /
lead Of he gentleman from Massachusetts,
Butcr,l under the lead Of he gentleman
from Ohio, [Bingham,l or under the lead of
anybody. he used 10 prefer, and would /
generally peter, the gentleman from Ohio, /
IN ali contests OF TINS sort, between h IN I
AM the gentleman from Massachusetgs ;. |
But IN this particular instance the gentle /
man from Ohio as not 81 proper leader for 4
the Democratic side OF the House, and they /
woGiA therefore have 10 transfer tEeir ~ /
Ie.siance for the time befng to the gentle /
man from Massach usetts. He hoped tney I
We're only doing so temporarily. AT all I
eveats, ne Nlbiackl was. Laughter.
Woodward said tie never spoke tor the I
Democratic party ON this floor. He only I
spoke for himself and his constituents. He /
aid not concur at4rely in ali the geatle- I
uan from Indiana kH1bIaek) had said IN
b sia!f If the Democratic party.
Etblack disaYowed having spoken fer
Wepd%ard went on to say that, for one,
he wHs Ia hurry to ct rid of the Tenur
Of-Ohlce Dill. lie had voted against fL last
Congress, for a reason which would ap.
pear ridlcui0us 10 some gentlemen, VIZ:
la 4t was unconstitutional. He Il not
emb Afrass Gen. Grant, but he knew the
act W - he same now as IL had been then.
aud he was in V0r of killing 1t Ii
auy oily auOtcd ITS uacOnstItutiOnattty /
he would refer hIu To the report OF @eua /
tor Spragu~'s speech in the Senate, where
tuefe Was u otinohSLfatton OF It's uhc0n-
as nearly absolute as any
moral proposition could be made. He dld
NOT know whether senator ~prague orig
mated the proLo ittou or not, bat he DID
not care who originated It. Senate Sprague
had produce H. aud he woodward COM
mended IL 10 the prayerfai attention Of
the sentlemen who were c0uscten-
tious about violating their oaths TO
the political science In all times /
aud ali countries. The rem0Vat OF Ex-
ecutlVe officers was an Executive trust
W nat ala 1e care that parcel OF senators,
by patriotic motive, or any
motive, eame together and declared that
the Executive power shall be executed by
a branch of the legislature? He argued
with what the gentleman from Massa-
fButI Ii said Yesterday that Ihe
repeal of the Tenure of-Office Bill was tine |
most acce table measure that Congress
could offer the people lie was, there ore,
modification of this unconstitutional
and in favor OF ITS absolute ana
repeal
Butler stated that the reason why he /
had moved 10 reco asIder the vote re efring
this matte to the Jud ciary Committee
was, that he Was afraid that IL eould not
be got back to the House, : the Commit
tee might not be called on for the reports.
He moved the prev Gus question. .
The House refased 10 second the previ-
Gus question, the Democrats voting against
It, circumstance To which Butler called
by asking his opponent where /
were the allies now.
bingham then took the floor and made
an hours speech in favor OF concurrence
in the 5enat6s amendment, examining
the whole question in its constitute ~. al, / ,
legal, and practical bearing. He stated
THAT ii wa perfectly manifest that an ua-
C pndttiOnal repeal was i'm posstnie. The /
j ouse could not compel the Senate to
change its mind.
Butler : Can the Senate compel The
H0use2
Btugham-I understood lt cannot, but
until the senate snail change its mind, IL
Is impossible 70 repeal the law simply Dy
an act of repeal
q mend eaent was substantial repeal of the ,
Tenure-of-Office Act, in as far as that act J
feitered ne President; therefore, he de-
sired The House TO concur 10 it.
Davis argued against the Senate anend-
ment, and III favor of the unconditional
repeal of the Tenure ot-OHlce law. He
re- MARKED t. was the most i'm ortant
measure that would come before the House
al Unis or any future session. In his fuag-
fneut, the senate, under the pretext of lay
ing down power, had drawn To Itself all the
Executive power Of the nation The Senate
1Onai executive OF one head an executive
Of seventy heads. He believed, SOL
emniy as he believed anything, that the
Tenure of, Ottce Act was utterly in con-
1ict with the Constitution. The senate {
had, under TIE Constitution, no executive
power WhaleE6r. The President could b. :
lmpeached If he appointed corrupt officers;
puI il the senate should restore the ,rrupt !
officers. where was the remedy? Could 7
50e House impeach e Senator Could it {
send the gentleman from OHIO Bingham
10 try the Senate as 1t had sent hip some
IN
rhe representatives of tue people would in
that case be remediIess and powerless.
rhe executive would be powel less, and
there would be placed IN the senste-un-
Inn peachable, responsible. not to be
all the executive power, Sh !ch the Con-
sfitutiOn had declared that the President Z
should take care faithfully to execute.
bingham replied TO the objections and
arGuIueut q Davis.
Horchklss argued IN support OF the SEN
ate amendment. ,
4mendments aod reminded the Republi-
san side o. the House that the irnpeach- y
nent. OF Pfesldent Johnson was based 3
pr 4nclpaily on the stIiutlonaitty Of the :
Teaure-Ot. 0fnce bill, still he was in favor :
Of removing the most restrictive nxtures
Of the law, and that was what the Senate ,
amendment proposed to do. The news !
paper press had facettous!y- divided the I
part on THIS question into repeal rs AID
suspenders. lie was nelsner a rzpeafer or T
4 susp nder. He was meuder.
Hoar inquired OF GARFIELD whether he
wanted any more power for the senate
than the constitution gave 1t, and whether a
IL would not retain all that power If the
law were absolutely and Internationally
= paaled-
GARFIELD replied that the people had. for .
seventy years, sept on their Tights but
that, finding, under the administration of q
Andrew Johnson, its power was abused c
had passed the Tenure-Of- Office Law He
shOu. a vote against referring. against nom
concurrence, and in favor OF C 5ncurrence 1
ScaeBel5 declared thai, ike his colleague,
Garfield ne was neither a repeale. nor a e
su- peuder, but an amendeT. When the 4
bill repeating the Tenure-Of-Ohice Act was .