Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-03-02

eral Senatorial duty, anu II
itself departure from the general plai
Of our Government, should be held un
der the familiar maxim Of the Constitu
iion to exclude every other right of in
reference with the executive functions
In the first Congress, which assembled
after the adoption of the Cons tuition
comprising many who aided In lis prepa
tion, a alegislaiive construction was give
to that instrument in which the indie
penlence Of the Executive in the mat
ter Of tie removal from office was full,
sustained.
think il will be found that in sub Sc
quent discussions of this question ther'
was generally, il not at all times, th'
proposition pending to in some way cur
tail this power Of the President by legis
Iation, which furnishes the evidence tina
to limit such power it was supposed t.
be necessary to supplement the Constitu
tion by such legislation. The first enact
ment Of this description was passed in th'
absence of partisan incentive to captioul
discussion, the law as it was left by the
amendment Of 1869 was much less de-
structive of the Executive discretion,
and vet of the great General and patri
otic citizen who on the 4th day oi
March, 1869, assumed the duties Of the
Chief Executive, and for whose freezer
administration Of his high Office the
most hateful restraints of the law Of
1867 were on the 5th day OF
AptI, 1869, removed. Mindful Of
his obligation to defend and pro-
tect every prerogative of his great
trust and apprehensive Of the injury
threatened the public service in the con-
tinued operation Of these statutes, even
in their repeal and set forth their uncon-
slitutional character and hurtful ten
dency, / am unable to state whether or
not this recommendation for the repeal
of these laws has been since repealed.
LII it has not, the reason can
probably be found in the expe.
rience which demonstrated the facts
If valid and now in operation it. would
| Justify the present course of the Senate
and command the obedience of the ex.
eeutive to its demands. 1t may, how
ever, be remarked in passing that under
this law the President had the privilege
OF presenting to that body, which as
sumed to review his executive acts, his
reasons therefor instead of being ex-
cluded from the explanation or Judged
by papers found in the departments two
years after the law OF 1867 was
passed, and within less than five
weeks after the inauguration of a
President in political accord with both
branches of Congress, the section of the
act regulating suspensions from Office
during the recess Of the Senate was en-
tirely repealed, and, in their place were
substituted provisions which, instead of
| limiting the causes of suspension to mis-
conduct, crime, disability or disqualiti-
cation, expressly permitted such suspen-
sion by the President in his discretion,
and completely abandoned tho re-
quirement obliging him to report to the
Senate the evidence and reasons for
his action with these notifications and
with all tho branches of the government
in political harmony. That the ne,
cessities of the political situation
but rarely developed their vicious char
acter, and so it happens that after an
extension cf nearly twenty years of al.
most innocuous disuetude these laws are
brought forth, apparently repealed as
well as unrepealed, and put in the
way Of the Executive, who is will
ling. if permitted, to attempt an
Improvement in the methods of the
administration. The constitutionality
Of these laws is by no means admitted;
but why should the provisions of re-
pealed law, which required specific
cause for suspension and report to the
Senate of "eyidence and reasons" be
now in effect applied to the present Ex-
ecutive instead of the law afterwards
passed and unrepealed, which distinctly
permits suspensions by the President in
his discretion, and carefully omits the
requirement that ''evidence and reasons
for his actions in the CASE shall
lie reported to the Senate. The re-
quests and demands which by the score
have for nearly three months been pre-
sented to the different departments of
form have but one completion. They
assume the right of the Senate to sit in
judgment upon the exercise of my exec
utive functions, for which / am solely
responsible to the people from whom
/ have SO lately received the sacred
trust of office. My oath to support
and defend the Constitution, my duty to
the people who have chosen me to the
executive powers Of this great office,
and not to relinquish them and my duty
to the Chief Magistracy. which / must
preserve unimpaired in oil its dignity
and vigor, compel me to refuse to com-
ply with these demands to the end that
the service may be improved. The Sem
ate is invited to the fullest scrutiny Of the
persons submitted to it for public office.
In recognition Of the constitutional
power that body has to advise and con
sent to their appointment. ] shall con-
tinue as have thus far done to furnish
at the request of the confirming body
all the information / possess touching
the fitness of the nominees placed before
them for their action, both when they
are proposed to fill vacancies and to fill
the places of suspended officials. Upon
a refusal to confirm / shall not assume
the right to ask the reasons for the
action of the Senate nor question its
determination. | cannot think that
anything more is required to secure
worthy incumbents in the public offices
than the careful and independent dis
charge of our respective duties within
their well defined limits. Though
properly suspensions might be better
assured if the action of the President
was subject to review by the Senate, yet
if the constitution and laws have placed
this responsibility upon the Executive
branch of the government it should not
be divided nor the discretion which it
involved relinquished. 1t has been
claimed that the present Execu.
tive, having pledged himself not
to remove officials except for cause,
the fact of their suspension implies such
misconduct on the part Of suspended
officials as Injuries his character and
reput tation, and therefor the Senate
should review the case for his vindica-
tion. | have said that certain officials
should not, in my opinion, be removed
during the continuance of the term for
which they were appointed solely for
the purpose of putting in their places
those in political affiliation with the ap-
pointing power, and this declaration was
followed by a description of official
partisanship which does not entitle
those in upon it less entitled to con.
sideration. II is not apparent how an
adherence to the course thus announced
rrieswith it the consequencesdes described.
Ii in any degree the suggestion is worthy
of consideration, it is to be hoped that
there may be some defense against unjust
suspension in justice to the executive.
Every pledge which | have made by
which have placed limitation upon my
exercise of executive power, has been
faithfully redeemed, OF course the pre-
tense is not put forth that no mistakes
have been committed, but not snspen-
sion has been made except when it ap.
peared to my satisfaction that the public
welfare should be improved thereby.
Many applications for suspension have
been denied, and adherence to the
rule laid down to govern my ac-
tion as to such suspension has
caused much irritation and Importance
on the part of those who have insisted
On more changes in Office. The pledges
have made were made to the people,
aud to them l am responsible for the
A. L