180 



A man of just feelimg in the executive office 

 would under such circumstances be discour- 

 a~ed, and, unable to effect removals, there 

 would be great danger that peculation and in- 

 competency would run riot in all the depart- 

 ments of the Government. The suspension of 

 officers to await the final action of the Senate 

 would, in effect, be constantly placing the Pres- 

 ident on trial here. An unfriendly Senate 

 would soon impair the prestige of the Presi- 

 dent and leave him utterly powerless. 



On March 2d, Mr. Morton, of Indiana, offered 

 the following additional section to the Legis- 

 lative Appropriation Bill : 



enacted, That the act regulating 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



accept or hold any other office or place of trust or 

 profit under the Constitution or laws of the United 

 States shall be deemed to have vacated the office or 

 place which he held at the time of such acceptance. 



SEO. . And oe it further enacted, That nothing in 

 the foregoing section shall be construed to prevent 

 such designations or appointments of officers to per- 

 form temporarily the duties of other officers as are 

 or may be authorized by law, nor to prevent such 

 appointments or designations to office or duty as are 

 required by law to be made from the Army or Navy. 



g EC . . And be it further enacted, That the penal- 

 ties provided in the act to which this is an amend- 

 ment shall apply to violations of this act. 



The amendment of Mr. Sumner was rejected 

 yeas 17, nays 32 



A question of order was raised, during the 

 discussion of which Mr. Sumner, of Massachu- 

 setts, offered the following amendment to the 

 amendment, by striking out all after the enact- 

 ing clause : 



That the first section of the act entitled " An act 

 reo-ulating the tenure of certain civil offices," passed 

 March 2, 1867, is hereby amended so as to read as fol- 

 lows : That every person holding any civil office, to 

 which he has been appointed by and with the advice 

 and consent of the Senate, and every person who 



be entitled to hold "such office until a successor shall 

 have been in like manner appointed and duly quali- 

 fied, except as herein otherwise provided. 



SEO. . And be it further enacted, That the second 

 section of said act is hereby amended so as to read as 

 follows : That it shall be lawful for the President, 

 whenever, during a recess of the Senate, in his opin- 

 ion, the public good shall require it, to suspend any 

 officer appointed as aforesaid, excepting judges of the 

 United States courts, and to designate some suitable 

 person to perform temporarily the duties of such 

 office until the next meeting of the Senate, and until 

 the matter shall be acted upon by the Senate ; and 

 such person so designated snail take the oaths and 

 give the bonds required by law to be taken and given 

 by the person duly appointed to fill such office ; and, 

 in case of such suspension, it shall be the duty of the 

 President, within twenty days after the first day of 

 such meeting of the Senate, to report to the Senate 

 such suspension, with the name of the person so 

 designated to perform the duties of such office ; and, 

 if the Senate shall concur in such suspension, and 

 advise and consent to the removal of such officer, 

 they shall so certify to the President, who may there- 

 upon remove such officer, and, by and with the advice 

 and consent of the Senate, appoint another person to 

 such office ; but, if the Senate shall refuse to concur 

 in such suspension, the officer so suspended shall 

 forthwith resume the functions of his office ; and the 

 powers of the person so performing its duties in his 



liams 17. 



NAYS Messrs. Abbott, Cameron, Cattell, Cole, 

 Conness, Corbett, Dixon, Drake, Ferry, Freling- 



Eoss, Snerman. Spencer-Thayer, Tipton, Trumbull, 

 Van Winkle, Vickera, Wade, Warner, Whyte, and 

 Wilson 32. 



ABSENT Messrs. Anthony, Bayard, Buckalew, 

 Davis, Doolittle, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fowler, Hen- 

 dricks, Kellogg, McCreery, Norton, Patterson of 

 Tennessee, Eice, Saulsbury, Stewart, and Yates 17. 



The amendment of Mr. Morton was rejected 

 by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Cole, Conness, Dixon, Drake, 

 Grimes, Henderson, Kellogg, McDonald, Morgan, 

 Morton, Osborn, Pomeroy, Pool, Ramsey, Robert- 

 son, Boss, Sherman, Thayer, Van Winkle, Vickers, 

 Warner, and Whyte 22. 



NAYS Messrs. Abbott, Anthony, Cameron. Chan- 

 dler, Corbett, Cragin, Ferry, Frelinghuysen, Harlan. 

 Harris, Howard, Howe, Merrill of Maine, Merrill of 

 Vermont, Patterson of New Hampshire, Sawyer, 

 Spencer, Sprague, Sumner, Tipton, Trumbull, Wade, 

 Welch, Willey, Williams, and Wilson. 26. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, Cattell, Conk- 

 ling, Davis, Doolittle, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fowler, 

 Hendricks, McCreery, Norton, Nye, Patterson of 

 Tennessee, Kice, Saulsbury, Stewart, and Yates 18, 



No further action was taken on the subject 

 at this session. 



belong to the person so performing the duties thereof, 

 and not to the officer so suspended : Provided, how- 

 ever, That the President may, in his discretion, be- 

 fore reporting such suspension to the Senate as above 

 provided, revoke the same, and reinstate such officer 

 in the performance of the duties of his office. 



SEO. . And be it further enacted, That no person 

 shall hold nor shall ne receive salary or compensa- 

 tion for performing the duties of more than one office 

 or place of trust or profit under the Constitution or 

 laws of the United States at tlje same time, whether 

 such office or place be civil, military, or naval ; and 

 any person holding any such office or place, who shall 



In the Senate, on February llth, the bill for 

 the further security of equal rights in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia was considered. It proposed 

 to repeal the word " white," wherever it occurs 

 in the laws relating to the District of Columbia, 

 or in the charter or ordinances of the cities of 

 "Washington or Georgetown, and operates as a 

 limitation on the right of any elector of the 



office, or to be selected and to serve as a juror, 

 and it is made unlawful for any person or officer 

 to enforce, or attempt to enforce, that limita- 

 tion, after the passage of the act. 



The bill was reported to the Senate without 

 amendment, ordered to be engrossed for a third 

 reading, read the third time, and passed. 



On March 2d, the bill was called, read, and 

 passed, without debate, and without a count 

 of the votes. President Johnson retained it 

 unsigned. 



