The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1869-03-24
xLIsT CONGRESS.
FIRST SESSION SENATE.

bill with the amendment reported by the
/ Judiciary Committee yesterday, striking out
the word repealed" and inserting instead
suspended until the next session of Con-
| gress."
Mr.. TRUAIBU1I briefly reviewed the prac.
tlce and legislation in regard to appointments
to and removal from Office in the past, and
said that while the Judiciary Committee
were satisfied that the present administration
ought to be relieved from the embarTasS-
ment caused by the Tenure-of- Office act,
vet they thought that regard for consisten-
| cy and for the principle underlying the bill
required that it should not be abolished, but
only suspended.
Mr.. TAURllAE (Dem Ohio) said that In
the Judiciary Committee he had not voted
to amend in any way the bill of the House
TO repeal the act, because he believed that it
ought to be repealed. Either the Constitu-
ton vested in the President an unlimited
and unqualified power of removal from Of
| fee, or it made the concurrence of the SEN
ate necessary. If the constitutional power
of the President to remove from Office was
absolute, Congress had, of course, no right
to restrict it; and if, on the other hand, sc-
cording to the theory of the Tenure eff Office
act the Constitution provided that the joint
action of the President and the Senate should
be necessary in order to remove them, Con-
gress had no right to evade that provision
by suspending the Law. The proposal to
suspend the law implied theory of ths con-
stitution, which was wholly untenable. If
the Office act was q good and
constitutional law, to suspend it would be to
disregard the constitution, and the people
would naturally come to the conclusion that
| Congress interprets the constitution to mean
one thing when one man is President, and
another thing when another man is Presi-
dent --
Mr.. MORTON Rad, Ind made an
argument in favor of the uncOndition-
al repeal of the act. The language of
the amendment reported by the Judi
ciaFy Committee was the language Of
distrust. 1t proposed to put the Pres
ident on probation until the next seS-
sion of Congress, saying to him, if
your conduct during the interval does
not please US, the law will then go a
gain into full force. In his opinion
the country had gained nothing by
the law, even during the administra-
ton of President johnson, and the Re
publican party had gained nothing by
it. He then proceeded to discuss the
operation of the law as il stands, and
to shoW that instead of purifying the
public service it actually served to
keep corrupt men in Office under il. He
(MOrton) had talked short time since
upon this subject with Commissioners
Rollins, who had told him that in the
Internal Revenue service a great
many officers were left undisturbed
for want of tangible proof of Their
wrong doing, while the moral evil
dence of it was most convincing.
Mr.. YATES Rad, ILL., expressed
the opinion that the law ought i'm
| | lroa1ioNolxr kr ha ronoaloH HO (Vofac'
if he were to consult his personal IN.
clinations would rather fight against
J an administration at any time than
support it. But he was nevertheless
determined to give to the present ad
} ministratiOn his hearty support until
he should see some good reason tC
Withdraw it.
Mr.. FEssENpEN (Rad., Mel said
that he would vote for the repeal o.
: the law. He would not do so, how.
l ever, upon the ground that the votC
2 otherwise would exhibit distlu lust In
the President, but because he had op.
posed the law from the first and had
fOreseen and foretOld that its opera
, TOPS would do more evil than good
He did not mean to leeture the Senate
| but he thought it was not necessary
or in good taste to be continually slaV
ering the President with praise and
talking about his battles and victor
les. He would vote for the repeal o
this law only because it was a baC
one, and not with regard to its effec
upon any person or persons.
Mr.. Howard Rad. Mich.) protest
ed against the imputation of the Sen
atOr from Indiana Mr.. MOFtop), tina
to vote against the repeal of the sus
pension of this law would Indicate
| ~ o~Voa6nrnn In tho pTsnofrornk
! The imputation was without founda
tion and entirely gratuitous. The Law
: : itself, he thought, an excellent one
! and his chief object in voting for it al
/, excellent one, and his chief object il
e voting for it had not been to Restrain
. Andrew Johnson, but to put upon tn
: statute book salutary enactment
necessary In his Judgment to the Exc
: cutiVe as well as to the people. RI
!, one could have a higher sense thai
o he of the patriotism and brillancy O
General Grants military career, ant
; he trusted that his civil career wOuli
8 be admirable; he eXspected it wOul'
It be so, as he intended TO give his sup
port to every acts and suggestion @
: the President that he could approve
hut he would not be swerved from tn
= line of his duty as q legislator by re
n gard for President Grant or any othe
/ human being. He had never learne
and never would learn s-
: ."To crook the pregnant hinges of the kne
e That thrift may follow fawnin."s
Mr.. Howard was willing, for tn
n sake of being in harmony with hi
brother Senators, to vote to suspen
the law for certain time, but he fel
y that in doing so he did a great dea
and he would not, under any circuR
y stances, agree to its repeal.
Mr., Edmunds (Rad., VT though
- that disinterested spectator, If tbeE
were any such, would have some CT
!. riOsity to know the occasion OF tn
attempt to strike off the statute boo
law for which some Of the wiseS
y and purest Of the fathers of the eOuT
- - try had struggled, and for the wal
of which Executive patronage ha
:. more than once by direct interVel
~ ton been used to control and cOerC
y the will of the people. The supper
- ers of the attempt to repeal this la
- were of two classes. The Democrat
y : party in the Senate advocated it in
- solid body; some of them probabi
= on principle, but Others, no doubt.
: the hope no doubt by repeating Il
o- law the Republican party would pl
n itself in the wrong, and would stan
~ before the people of the country an
~ y the world as party which had r
~ sorted to q mean and unconstitutiOn
contrivance against an executive tn
10 il did not like, and which now NAL
haste to abandon that contrivance
~ favor of an executive that it did lik
oh Acting with the Democratic par
IN were some of the most able and EN-
~ nent members of the Republic,
he party, who, however, acted in tt
90 case as if ours were government
s;r men instead Of a govern ment of Law
Sat There being this strong combinati'
Tot for the repeal of the law, it was wor
ar. while for Senators seriously to Co
o-o slider what it was they were asked
a. do. He would remind them that h
"a. tory was not silent upon this questio
VS. sEo 1t was the old contest Of one M
@ ne power against the power of the pc
~ Tla aS ronPa9euted hV their own aQ0n