CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



179 



case is either not to be considered at all or a 

 hasty judgment is to be rendered, and the 

 man's character it may be destroyed forever 

 by consenting to his removal for cause. The 

 thing is impracticable." 



Mr. Dixon, of Connecticut, said: "I was 

 somewhat surprised, Mr. President, when the 

 Senator from New York opened that more than 

 Ciceronian invective against Andrew Johnson. 

 I supposed the day was past for attacks of 

 a political character calculated to produce 

 political influence and effect upon him. I am 

 in the habit of being very much influenced by 

 what that Senator says, and as he went on with 

 his invectives I began almost to believe that it 

 was really true that the President of the United 

 States had for political purposes made all the 

 removals which he stated ; that he had deserted 

 his principles and his party ; and it was not 

 until the Senator alluded to the fact that he 

 came into his place by assassination that I be- 

 gan to doubt somewhat whether I ought to 

 follow the Senator much longer. This charge 

 is often made. I have heard it made in politi- 

 cal meetings with considerable effect. I be- 

 lieve this is the first time it has ever been made 

 in the Senate. Suppose it to be true that the 

 President of the United States did come into 

 his place by the assassination of his predecessor, 

 does the Senator mean to say that he is re- 

 sponsible for that ? Is there any more respon- 

 sibility, any more guilt, upon Andrew Johnson 

 on that account than upon any one of us? 

 The consequences of that assassination were 

 not trammelled up. He is not the only officer 

 of this Government who came into his place by 

 assassination. How came the respected and 

 honored President of this Senate in the seat 

 which he now occupies except by assassina- 

 tion? 



" But for the assassination of Abraham Lin- 

 coln, you, sir, would have been an honored 

 and respected Senator in your chair in this 

 body instead of acting Vice-President of the 

 United States. Suppose I should say here you 

 came into your place by assassination, and bring 

 it as a charge against you and attempted to ex- 

 cite a prejudice against the occupant of the 

 chair of this body because he came into his 

 place by assassination. I think the honorable 

 Senator must see that intimations of this kind 

 are hardly worthy of his high position and the 

 place in which they were spoken." 



Mr. Conkling : " If the Senator will allow 

 me, I made no such observation as he alludes 

 to in the sense or direction which he implies. 

 I was commenting upon the fact that this polit- 

 ical persecution and debauchery was carried 

 on against Eepublicans by a man whom the 

 Republicans had placed so near the Presidency 

 that assassination made him President." 



Mr. Dixon : " I accept that explanation with 

 pleasure. I know that my honorable friend 

 did not intend, himself being the sole authority, 

 to make an allusion of this kind with any other 

 intention than that which he has explained. I 



was stating why I was led to doubt whether 

 his statements and arguments were exactly 

 correct, and whether I ought to be carried 

 away by the torrent of his eloquence. I was 

 checked upon this point. I do not propose to 

 make any party allusions upon this occasion ; 

 but I think I ought to allude to some of the 

 remarks which that Senator made when he 

 spoke of the cause and the origin of this bill, 

 it having been forced upon the country by the 

 perfidy and the falsehood of the President. I 

 think the Senator will admit that that certainly 

 was the drift of his argument." 



Mr. Robertson, of South Carolina, said: 

 "Mr. President, the practice of the Govern- 

 ment from the administration of Washington 

 to the administration of the present Executive 

 was uniform in admitting the President's gen- 

 eral power of removal. This practice worked 

 well, and it is, I think, a strong argument for 

 our returning to it. The present tenure-of- 

 office law, which it is now proposed to repeal, 

 was a special law, called for by the peculiar 

 circumstances under which the country was 

 placed from the wide divergence of views upon 

 the subject of reconstruction between Presi- 

 dent Johnson and Congress. Under the cir- 

 cumstances from which this law arose the Con- 

 gress were justified in the action they adopted ; 

 but President Johnson will no longer be an 

 obstacle to the execution of the congressional 

 policy of reconstruction. I think, therefore, 

 we may with entire propriety go back to the 

 former policy of the Government upon the 

 subject. Under the President's power of re- 

 moval the Government has been, generally 

 speaking, well administered. I am therefore 

 unwilling to depart from that policy. The 

 present law has been, I think, productive of 

 many inconveniences, and I am unwilling 

 longer to continue it. The practice of this 

 Government for nearly three-quarters of a 

 century has demonstrated the wisdom of leav- 

 ing in the hands of the President the general 

 power of removal of his subordinates. What 

 time has so fully tested I think we ought to 

 abide by. 



" Further, as a question of justice, I think 

 that, as the President is made the executor of 

 the law, and is responsible for the conduct of 

 his subordinates, it is proper that he should 

 have the fullest power of removal of incompe- 

 tent officers. It is in this way only, I think, 

 that we can enforce against him his full re- 

 sponsibility for a proper administration of the 

 Government. The President as the chief ex- 

 ecutive officer must be held responsible for the 

 administration of the Government in all its 

 various branches and through its multitude* 

 of officers. To assert this responsibility, and 

 yet tie his hands by the ' Tenure-of-office Bill ' 

 is, in my opinion, a mockery. If the President 

 is compelled to carry on the Government 

 through the instrumentalities of officers in 

 whom he has no confidence, there will be an 

 end to all efficient responsibility on his part. 



