The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-03-10
XLIXth CONGRESS- FIRST SESSION.
> = NAAEs
WASHINGTON, March

Cus
Mr.. Allison, from the appropriation COM
| mittee reported with amendment the ur-
gency deficiency bill. 1t was placed on the
| calendar, Mr.. Allison saying he would call it
on motion of Mr.. Plumb, the Senate took
up the bill forfeiting part of certain lands
| granted to the State of Iowa to aid in the
Construction of railroads in that State.
| At 2 o'clock the resolutions reported by
| Mr.. Edmunds from the Judiciary committee
| were taken up. The resolutions among 9TH
| er things. condemn the Attorney General
for refusing to transmit to the Senate the
papers called for by the Senate, and declare
that refusal to be violation by the Attor-
| ney General of his official duty, and subver-
| sive of the fundamental principles of the
| government and of good administration,
| The resolutions also condemn the discharge
| from government service of ex-Union sol
| dierS.
| AS the resolutions were read by the chief
| clerk, the most absolute silence prevailed ON
| the floor and in the galleries. The galleries
| were crowded to discomfort.
Mr.. Edmunds began his remarks in rather
| a low tone, but his voice soon acquired its
| usual full, clear, ringing volume.
| He said that a calm and orderly adminis-
| tration of the constitutional government is
| a subject in which the Senate and House of
| Representatives, and tie President and peo.
| they are all, in their respec i've stations and
| places, equally responsible 1t was in sup
port of that calm and orderly constitutional
| exercise of the functions of the governmunt
| that he now addressed himself to these reso-
lutions. 1t has been, he said, at least forty
| years since any occasion of this kind has
| arisen between the Executive Department of
1 the government and the Senate, and instances
1 in which there has been evinced the slightest
| reluctance on the part of either the Exec
/ utive or heads of departments to respond to
the calls of either house of Congress orof
| committees for papers in the possession of
the Executive or of the departments have
| been very few indeed. Either house of Con-
| gress, on its request or demand, as the case
| might be, and the committees of either house
| could, without direct and positive authority
| to send for persons and papers, always OBJ
| tain from the departments on their mere re-
| quest, everything they found necessary for
| the proper discharge of their duties. Now,
| again, after almost half century, the Sen
| ate found itself confronted by the refusal OF
the head of the Department of Justice to
| transmit copies of official papers and docu-
| ments relating not to persons but to things;
not relating to officers but to offices, on file
| in the department.
In order that the Senate might perfectly
| understand how the question stood, he caus-
ed to be read the statutes relating to the ten
| ure of office and recess suspensions, (Secs.
/, 767 and 1853 and Mr.. Edmunds himself
| read portions of the statutes creating the
Department of Justice, prescribing the
| functions and duties of its head, and provid-
| ing for the appointment of sub0rdinates by
the attorney General, which subordinates
are responsible to the Attorney General.
Under these provisions, he continued, the
Attorney General has made regulations for
| the control and guidance of his subordinates.
Mr.. Edmunds then reviewed the appoint
ment of Mr.. Dustin as attorney for Alabama,
| his subsequent suspension during the recess
| of Congress, and the appointment of John
1 ID. Burnett as his successor, such suspension
| of Dustin being caused, Mr.. Edmunds said,
| while he was, SO far as the Senate knew,
faithfully performing his duties. The SEN
ate met on 1.-THE first Monday of December,
and on the 14th of that month the President
sent in the nomination of Mr.. Burnett. Mr.
| EdmundS here caused to be read the letters
of suspension and the message of nomina-
ton, as well as the resolution of the Senate
calling for the papers in the case, and the
Attorney Generals reply. The question
then, Mr.. Edmunds said, was, what was the
nature of the nomination sent by the Presi-
dent to the Senate? The President had not
undertaken, in the face of the statutes for
bidding it, TO remove Mr. Dustin from Office,
but had suspended him, and Mr.. Dustin still
remained the Attorney for the United States
for Alabama; he stood in the attitude of a
military officer under arrest. The act of the
President therefore, was not an attempt to
remove Mr.. Dustin, but to withhold from
him the right to perform the functions of his
office until the judgment of the Senate could
be taken in respect to his removal and the
appointment of his successor. The
President took pains, as he should, in his
order of suspension and his order of desig-
nation to state that both were subject to all
the laws applicable thereto" and the sec
tion of the Revised Statutes forming part of
the law of 1867 and 1869 declared in explicit
terms that this man should not be removed
except by the advice and consent of the Sem
ate. When the nomination of Mr.. Burnett
came to the Senate therefore, Mr.. Dustin
was the attorney of the United States for
Alabama, and the proposition was that he
should be removed by the appointment of
the gentleman selected as his successor, if it
should meet the approval of the Senate.
Therefore, the Senate, if it were even jury
and had to submit to the judgment of the
President as judge, as to what evidence
should be laid before it connected with the
case and its relevancy, it would have been
relevant on the very issues submitted by the
judge to the jury, to know what was the
conduct and management of that office in
the hands of the person whom the President
| asked the Senate to assist him in displaciDg
by the new appointment.
Mr.. EdmundS then had the clerk read the
opinion of Attorney Generals Akermen and
| Devens, rendered inlsimilar cases to that under
| discussion, In which both held that the word
suspension" when applied to an officer never
signifed the final removal of an officer. 1t
would be seen then, Mr. Edmunds continued,
that in spite of sundry misleading discus
Sions in the public press and in spite of sun
| dry Inaccurate things stated in the message
of the President of the United States to
| lHlo UUuy3 anu III SplLc VI ouuuIJ
views of the minority of the committee on
judiciary, by the law as it has been placed
ON the statute books, by the action of all the
administrations that had existed after that
law was passed and by the action of the
| President himself in obedience to it, he has
| invited the Senate to agree with him in re-
moving Mr.. Dustin from Office by the ap-
pointment and commissioning of a successor.
That being so the release of the papers
called for must be matter Of decision of
l thQ SQnato and OOhOdU Q1Sp
1t was not any part of the duty of the
President or the head of the department to
determine whether the official information
in the department which was required by
either House Of Congress was to be furn-
ished or withheld according to the opinion
of the officer called on that it would or would
not be useful to them in their delibera-
tlons. The papers called for this case were
papers filed in the department, The filing"
was the technical term of the art in the law
and In the administration of the law, and the
statute read to the Senate made the Attorney
General and not the President the custodian
Of these papers and that he should preserve
| them.
In regard to ''official papers" Mr.. Edmunds
| declared that any communication addressed
to an official in his official capacity, whether
marked private or not, was an official paper.
| Both the minority and majority of the judi
ciary committee, and the President himself
| agreed that the suspension of an officer was
an official act, and Mr.. Edmunds claimed
| that therefore any communication addressed
to the officer with whom the power of sus-
pension rested, in regard to such suspension
| no matter what the character of that com
| munication might be-whether marked priv
ate or nOt-and no matter how false or vile
must be an official paper. 1t did not belong
to the men, whether the Attorney General or
President, but to the officer in his official
| character. The Attorney General gave no
hint that any part of the papers called for
were private or unofficial or even confidential
public papers Official papers were called
for and such papers only were spoken of in
the response. Did these papers relate to the
motives of the President in suspending
Dustin? Did anybody suppose the Presi-
dent or any of his friends had filed a state
ment of his motive? By no means. That
would be absurd. The papers therefore
stated the facts on the statement of the At
torney General that they related exclusively
to the suspension, and stated facts or alleged
| facts as to the conduct of the officer suspend
ed. Since the Senate was called upon to assist
the President in discharging this man per-
manently, every paper existing there relating
| to him ON the admission of the attorney gen.
eral related to the conduct of the Office While
in possession of Dustin But the papers
were refused because they would not only
give the facts but would enable us to under
stand the reason of the President for exercis-