Litchfield enquirer., 1877-12-13
Senatorial Administration.

of the Atlantic. Readers of English history gre familiar with the growth of parliamentary government in that country. Starting with a practice of asking a redress of grievances be- fore voting supplies, the English House of Commons has finally absorbed tine entire exec utive powers once vested in the crown. Through this wholesome change, the people of Great Britain have come to be their own rulers, and parliamentary administration is one of the best types of government known to our age.
 Under existing parliamentary forms, in case of serious disagreement between the Commons and the Ministry, the decision spractically re- feEred ts thepeople for no sooner does House of Commons pass a vote of want of confidence in its Ministry than the latter may appeal to the people by dissolution of the Commons, and the election decides which party is to have the executive power. 1t is the refusal of Presi- dent McMahou to yield to a decision of the people in favor of the French Republicans that is causing all the present trouble in France. It must be observed that it is not the English House of Lords nor the French Senate with whom the Ministry must be in accord, but the lower, OrpOpular branch of the government. An EngIish Ministry often continues to admin isser the government for years with majority Of the Peers opposed to them; but hostile ma i0rity in the Commons inevitably forces their resignation or an appeal to the people by dis solution Under parliamentary precedents, therefore, President McMahon should form a Ministry that will be satisfactory to the French Chamber of Deputies, whether the Senate likes it or not He had his appeal to the people, hoping. no doubt that they would sustain him in opposition to the Deputies but their decis- ion, fairly given, is decisive, and second dis solution, following 80 soon after the first, would be justly considered as violation of the spirit, if moi of the letter of the French Constitution.
 While the people of France are contending with an obstinate and hostile executive, consest of very different kind is going on st Washington The framers of our constitution gave this country not parliamentary but an independent executive Our represen- tatives still have, it is true, a control over the supplies, which would give them an effect usl check on bad government in case of ex- treme necessity; but neither the Constitution; nor public opinion, authorizes their use of this power for the purpose of interference with the ordinary executive administration. Had OUTS been a parliamentary government of the Eng fish fashion; the Democratic House of Repre- seutatives, elected in 1874, would have refused tO vote 6 single appropriation till President Grant had formed a Democratic Cabinet. Very properly, on the other hand, the framers of our Constitution made the legislative indepen- dent of the executive branch of the govern ment by taking away that right of dissolving peoples house which appertains to every strictly parliamentary ministry.
 But while the popular branch of our nation al legislature has never attempted any inter- ference with the ordinary exercise of executive power, such has not been the case with the Senate. By device unknown to Flu ropean parliamentary forms, the Ameri- can Senate was given the right of rejecting bad . executive appointments. No doubt this check on the executive was intended as sort of compensation for the veto power it was allow ed to retain. That it was intended to give the Senate control over the ordinary exereise of ex- ecufive power no one believes. Such has never heretofore been the practice. Yet, taking ad- vantage of a law passed over presidents veto with the express design of reducing his execu- tive power to the lowest constitutional limit, the Senate is now carrying its encroachments on that power plainly beyond the bounds eith- CT Of right or expediency. Let us take the &C., rio0 of great majority of the republican sen- ators in FtxsimnOns' case, for instance. They opposed hiscOnfrmation simply op the ground Of his politics. Now if a Republican Senate, in the reasonable exercise of its constitutional pOwer,can reject Democrats nominated by MT. Hayes. could it not with equal propriety have rejected Democrats nominated by Mir. Tlden had he been declared President? Let us SUD- Pose that the Senate had triedto compel Tilden to retain Grants Cabinet, by refusing to con- firm their succe ssors, would that have been in accordance with our constitution and the prac- tice of nearly a century ? And, if the present Senate shall refuse to confirm all the Democrats nominated by President Hayes, merely because they are Democrats, cannot the Democratic Senate surely cOmingin with the next Congress rrfasetOcOnfirm every Republican appointment Of his. merely because they are Republicans
 Still more fragrant is the Senate's usurpation of power in the case of the New York ap. poiutmenfs: The convention which nomina- ted Mir Hayes directed him, if elected, to re- form the civil service, especially in the matter Of Congressional interference with appoint. menGA On coming into office he found the civil service full of the creatures of Con- gressmen- They are not in most cases bad men, nor cOnspicuously inefficient officers Yct they are to man devoted to the old sys- tenn. and loyal only to the Congressman to whom they owe their appointments. That MT. Hayes should try to break up this false feudal relation of retainer to Congressman was his plain duty tO the people who elected him. With the manner of the Presidents proceeding inthis most important matter we most emphat- ically assert that the Senate has no constitu- tSOnals rghfto intefere unlessthe men he nomi. nMEcs ara personally unfit. If he merely seeks tO remove retainers of Mr. Conkling to make room for retainers of Mir. Evarts, it. is a mis- conduct for which he is responsible to the peo- ple and n0t to the Senate. That branch of the legislative government has no more right to refuse its confirmation of fit men to office, than the House of Representatives has to re. fuse supplies to an administration whose poli. "a
 eEument would be utterly subversive of the execusi@ independence established under the Co1sgftufion-
 Indeed. if we are to have true parliamen. sAry administration. we should infinitely pre- feT that ministries should be responsible to, and controlled by the House which more near. ly represents the people. Our Senate, slow oi cA@ngs representing States and not popula- sina. was established as conservative check