The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-03-27
,rsaTE ON THE TENURE-oF
OFFICE BILL AND Law.
..,ex and washbnrsa for Grant
bingham nna EarnswOrth
FOR sne senate.

Inthe House Of Representatives Thursday
Mr.. BUTLER moved to refer the bill and
.n.ndments to the Judiciary Committee.
Mr.. FARNsWORTH desired to enter o
..,;,n 70 concur in the Senate amendments.
NJ, BINGHAM said he had risen him
,slf for that purpose. te -
s Mr., BUTLER declined I'd yield for that
ro,ion bat he yielded to
Mr.. LOGAN, who moved to amend the
,;iI nv proviso that all civil Offices, except
;n8res of the United States courts, that
xsre filled By the appointment of the Pre-
s;dent Of the United States, by and with the
say;oe and consent Of the Senate, before
.hs A,h Of March, 1859, shall become va
.an, ON the 30th Of June, 1869. He said
Se hsd always thought that the House was
nhtitled to have opinions of its own. He
NEW there had been good deal OF work
done here this morning by certain gentle
men to hsve the Senate amendment con-
Cured in, by insinuating that I it was
arreeable to the President. If members
had no minds Of their own, If they were
70 be used like pack-threads, it vas
time to stop legislation. he insisted
hat the Senate amendment made tho
tenure-of. Office bill far worse than it was
in its original shape. He declared that
this was a struggle for power between the
Executive and the Senate. That was all
there was of it. The bill had been origi-
psIly passed for special purpose, and now
tho Senate was determined to hold the
mower in its hands. Did anybody believe
that the Senate was giving up, in this
amendment, one iota of ito power For
HE own part, he was not to be swerved from
his duty by the insinuation that somebody
consented TO the amendment. He appealed
10 the friends of the President to stand by
the bill repeating the law, or to adopt his
amendment. 49,,
Nj. TASHBURN, of Wisconsin, opposed
the Senate amendment. he hoped the
House would not concur in it, would not
tionsl repeal Of the tenure-of-ofice laws
That law was passed for particular pur-
pose, and to check the usurpations of o
wicked Chief Magistrate. 1t had answered
the purpose Of its enactment; and should
pass away with the cause that brought it
into being. The President was rehponsibls
for the execution IF the iSws, and there
never had been time when there was the
same necessity as now for the President to
have ample power to remove dishonest and
incompetent officials. 1t had been said
that the President was satisfied with
the Senate amendment. While he Mr..
wAsHBURNl knew nothing about that, he
did not believe it. If the President were
satisfied, he was not the man whom he Mr..
WAsHBURN] had taken him for. But they
were not legislating for General Grant.
They were legislating for the country !;
which was nearly unanimous on the cub
ect. He hoped the House would insist on
unconditional repeal. The President might
be satisfied with the Senate amendment,
but he Mr.. WAsHBURNl was not satisfied
with it, and the people would not be salts
fed with it. He believed he represented
all his constituents in demanding an I'M
conditional repeal:
Mr.. FARNSW0RTH argued in favor Of
toncurring in the Senate amendment.
Mr.. BUTLER, of Massachusetts, de-
clared that the Senate amendment was a
new tenure of Office bill, more wrong in
principle, more fatal in action, and more
destructive to the privileges Of the House
and Of the people, and was comforting more
power on the Senate, than the present
tenure of Office bill. 1t fettered the Execu-
tive more. If he Mr.. BUTLEEl we're to vote
for either, he would vote for the one now
On the statute-book in preference to this.
The Senate was au irresponsible body, and
an irresponsible body was ever dangerous.
Mr.. POLAND inquired how the gentle
man from Massachusetts justified the pass
age Of the tenure-of Office bill originally !!
Mr.. BUTLER replied that he had had no
occasion to go into such justification.
Laughter on the Democratic side.
Mr.. POLAND But the gentleman's po-
litical associates have abundant reeson to
60 into their justification.
Mr.. BUTLER: There were many things
which We had to do to save the life Of the
country in the war, for which justification
cannot be found in the Constitution. There
were many things which we had to do I'M
der Andrew Johnson which had better
never be done again laughter, and had
better be got rid of as soon as possible.
Mr.. BUTLER went on to characterize the
Senate amendment as declaration Of q
want of confidence in the President. What
good had the law ever done Had it curbed
a bad President? Ruthlessly and in def
ance of il Andrew Johnson had turned
Edwin M. Stanton out Of office; and when
the House impeached him therefor the
Senate held him acquit and free.
Mr.. FARNSWORTH suggested that the
senator's who had voted 10 convict Mr.
Johnson had voted for this amendment.
Mr.. BUTLER did not know who was in
favor of the amendment. 1t had been
passed in secret caucus. But he knew that
the vote on the repeal Of the law did not
bear out the gentleman's statement.
Mr.. FARNSWORTH The vote on the
Senate amendment does bear me out.
MIR. BUTLER Oh, bah ! Fiddle
sticks [Laughter.] 1t was made mat
ter of caucus dictation. 1t was agreed
to as compromise; and all compromises
in legislation are vicious. have been
told that the President is satisfied with
this law. / do not pretend to have
the knowledge about that which others
claim to have. But he had no doubt that
if President Grant said anything about it,
it was under the circumstances of q Senate
committee going to him and saying: Sir,
you are our President. We are in trouble
in the Senate. If you do not agree to this
we shall have difficulty among ourselves"
And President Grant may have said: L
agree to that, or anything else, rather than
YOU should have trouble. ! do not mean
to put myself in your way. do not mean
to raise any difficulty in your party" But
if he said SO, it was because ne relied on
the sentiment Of the country. lie relied
on the House of Representatives; he re-
lied on our sense of our own dignity, on
cur sense of our own rights, on our sense
of our own consistency, to save him from
the disgraceful law by which his hands are