Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-01-19
The Tenure-of- Office Law-Important Ac-
tion in Congress-The Extreme Radi-
Gals Nowhere.


General Butler, the man rejected by
the extreme Radicals of the fifth con-
gressional district of Massachusetts, but
reelected for all that by an overwhelm-
ing majority, achieved yesterday, backed
by the potential Washburn, very i'm
portant victory in the House Of Repre-
sentatives in behalf of new departure
of the Republican party under General
Grant. His bill for the repeal of the
Tenure-of-ofice law, under the whip and
spur of the previous question, was
brought to the decisive vote and passed
yeas III. nays AZ.
The affirmative vote, as it will be seen,
included all the Democrats; the mega
tive vote is all Republican, and embraces
such Radical extremists as Schenck,
Shellabarger and Garfield, of Ohio |;
Jenckes, of the civil service bill; May
nard and Stokes, of Tennessee, and
others to the number of forty-seven.
Washburn, the right hand man of
General Grant, OF course, took an
active hand for the repeal, and
his influence, no doubt, greatly
strengthened Butler, inasmuch as it is
generally understood that in reference to
the President elect Washburn speaks
and acts as one having authority. The
passage of the repeal by the heavy vote
given indicates the beginning of a decline
in the power of radicslism, and the as
ceudancy of more moderate and concil-
iatory counsels in Congress than those
which have ruled the two houses in their
long aud desperate conflict with Presi-
dent johnson.
It's possible that the Radicals in the
Senate, where they have no previous
question, will endeavor to prevent the
passage of this bill by parliamentary
evasions and delays; but the friends of
the repeal, we understand, intend to
push it through. The action of the
House, at all events, marks the COM
mencement of q new dispensation. 1t
ferhshadows not only the repeal of the
Z snure -ofofice law, but the failure of
Mr.. Jenckes' civil service bill ana or
III, little bill of Mr.. Edmunds in the Sen
ate. excluding from civil Offices officers
Of tn e army and navy. ThisEdmunds bill,
II is conjec:ured, is aimed especially
a, ,airfst General Schofeld and Admiral
p, ,rter as prospective members of Grant s
Ca binet, the design being to head of
Or, mt iu reference to these apprehended
ann ointments; but from the develop
men. Is Of yesterday we suspect the scheme
will fIil.
Hal the, vote of the House yesterday
been AIKEN without call to the record it
ia prot,able that Buffers bill would have
failed; but tire record, in bringing the
members face face with General Grant,
cut down the I 'enure-of- Office law party
TO forty-seven. These forty-seven, with
their adhcrents i.1 the Senate, headed
by Sumner, may yes create some trouble
in the party camp b efore the final vic
tory is won; but from, the unexpected
success of the first move of Butler on
his new tack we may look for a removal
before the 4th of Marcel OF all the
shackles which have been put upon the
hands of the President, so that with the
inauguration of President Grant the
Office will be restored to its status under
Liz ooln.
The House of Representatives recog-
nizes the President elect as a living
mower in the land, entitled to this degree
Of respect and confidence the Senate
will be constrained TO concur; the new
President will be invested with his con-
stitutional functions, and thus, IN the
absence of two-thirds Radical majority
in the House, be viii be in position at
once to proclaim his own policy, foreign
and domestic, with the power to cause IT
! TO be respected, whatever may become OF
the intractable Radicals Of Congress and
their followers.-Nep York Herald.