Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-05-07


nation AZ to one, you may and must deny
1t as to all except ut the grace and favor
OF the person who happens to be your chief
magistrate.
Having shown that the judiciary com
mittee had asked for the information that
is now denied by the president, in accor-
dance with an unanimous vote of both the
Republican and Democratic members of
the committee, and that the action had
been simply in accordance with u prac-
tlce OF long standing, continued through
many administrations, Mr. Edmunds pro-
ceeded
Our friends on the other side have said,
and with considerable fire and viuOr, that
the republican majority in this Senate is
undertaking TO make raid on this adj
mlnlstration, to embarrass it, and to OBJ
struct 1t, Where Is your proof of 1t
W hat have we done We have done
Stmpttcitcr i'll mode and form what our
Democratic predecessors have done to Il
Republican administration, not against
the opposition OF their Republican col
leagues then in the minority here, but
with their support and favor, as neces-
sary to the due aud true administration OF
Il government that belongs to the people
OF the United States and that is to he ad-
mnlStered upon the principles of honor
and fair play. That is all.
Our Democratic friends say that by
some 1nallgn desire to put obstruction in
the way of this administration, we have
taken new departure. The reverse is the
truth. We give TO this administration
more indulgence than was given to any
OF 1t predecessors in the last twenty
years, as | know.
One word more and shall be done. My
honorable friend from West Virginia has
decorated me with some reflections of in
nj mi an tui N in
1869 provision that the tenure-of-office
act should be suspended for certain
number of months. So / did | stand to
it now, for in 1869, when General Grant
came into the presidency of the United
States, as the records and reports show
reported long, long ago, there was such a
complete decentralization of large part of
the public service, caused by the war in
the first Instance, and then by the admin
istration of Mr.. johnson, conducted and
run by Democratic brokers for office, that
the amount OF embezzlement and defaca-
tons were the majority and the rule, and
| was willing, as | am suspicious that
shall be willing about three years hence,
to suspend this law for a certain period in
order that the peuitentiary gentlemen who
are proposed by this administration and
their allies and friends may be got speedily
rid of, as in the times of extreme Roman
peril some day the Roman constitution
and laws were suspended. and Marius or
somebody was to be dictator for a week or
month. | have here in my hand the
| printed reports of the unreasonable EN-
bezzlements and defalcations of men who
came into the administration of affairs in
that time. So, IN 1869, believing in the
value of this restriction upon the eXecu
| tive patronage and power | was willing
as | shall be willing, | suspect, in three
years from this time, to hold up this good
law, as it is, for little time, in order that
| to use a Democratic phrase, the rascals
might be turned out.
Mr.. President, the Republican party has
not wished to embarrass this administra
ton. 1t believes in a republic. 1t believe:
in supporting an administration that is al
administration of government, and not
the administration of spoils and thieves
and lies and hypocrisy and 50 far as thi.
administration, and hope it is very far
Is DESTROYS to administer a government, tt
execute laws, to promote justice and the
general welfare, this administration vii
have the unanimous support, ! am sure
of the gentlemen on this side of the cham
Der ; but we do not propose to commi
ourselves to trickery, to hypocrisy, t,
| fraud, to instruction.
We are in favor, as we always have been
when three tOurths of our friends Owe
there were not part of this government
Of preserving liberty, justice, equal rights
| and fair play, and whether we stand o.
fail on these resolutions or any others
we shall go steadily forward through
thick and through thin, and we shall tri
umph in the end-for the preservation 0
the private rights Of citizens, both civil
and political in every State of this Union
We shall 20 straight forward to preserV,
and TO vindlcate and to carry out the pc
lltical rights of every American citizen
OverthrOWn, swanped and suflocated a
they are in many States of this Union now
And when we have done those two things
rs we shall in the end, with them we shall
try, in spite of Democratic opposition, t,
give to the labor of the people of tn,
United States, which is its capital, which
is its wealth, that protection and encour
agement and success that belongs to tn,
labor which is the capital of every homes
workingman of the United States.
Now, then, you can carry on your ad
miniStration by secret methods: you cal
carry it on, ii may be, as very likely you
will, because we all know how such thing
90, by sweeping away the regulations o.
Il great number of your fellow-citizens
with no right on their part to he heard
you can carry on your administration by
assumptions of executive power, which II
other respects as regards foreign relations
and as regards the administration of the
postotice affairs of this government, ar,
in the face of the law and of the consttu
ton you may usurp everything now bu
it will not be great while, | trust anC
believe, before all things will rectify them
selves.
The debate here ended, and the resolu
tions reported by the judiciary committee
declaring the right of the Senate to tn,
papers on file in the departments. anC
that the Senate would not confirm ap
pointments in cases where the information
needed for its proper information and &C
ton was withheld, were adopted.