192 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



public lands or other public property, or be concerned 

 in the purchase or disposal of any public securities 

 of any State or of the United States, or take or apply 

 to his own use any emolument or gain for negotiating 

 any business in the said Department other than what 

 shall be allowed by law ; and if any person shall of- 

 fend against any of the prohibitions of this act he 

 shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor and 

 forfeit to the United States the penalty of $3,000, and 

 shall upon conviction be removed from office and for- 

 ever thereafter incapable of holding any office under 

 the United States : Provided, That if any_ other per- 

 son than a public prosecutor shall give information 

 of any such offence upon which a prosecution and 

 conviction shall be had, one-half the aforesaid penalty 

 of $3,000, when recovered, shall be for the use of the 

 person giving such information." 



In view of these provisions, and the fact that Mr. 

 Stewart has been unanimously confirmed by the Sen- 

 ate, I would ask that he be exempted by joint resolu- 

 tion of the two Houses of Congress from the opera- 

 tions of the same. U. S. GRANT. 



WASHINGTON, D. C., March 6, 1869. 



On March 9th, and before any action had 

 been taken on the preceding message, the fol- 

 lowing was received from the President : 

 To the Senate of the United States : 



I have the lionor to request to be permitted to 

 withdraw from the Senate of the United States my 

 message of the 6th instant, requesting the passage of 

 a joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress to 

 relieve the Secretary of the Treasury from the dis- 

 abilities imposed by section eight of the act of Con- 

 gress approved September 2, 1789. 



U. S. GKANT. 



WASHINGTON, D. C., March 9, 1869. 



The reqnest was granted. 



In the Senate, on March 8th, the bill for the 

 farther protection of equal rights in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, which was passed at the 

 previous session, but failed to receive the sig- 

 nature of the President, was, on motion of Mr. 

 Sumner, taken up and passed (see page ). 

 On March 15th the same bill passed the House. 



In the House, on March 10th, Mr. Boutwell, 

 of Massachusetts, offered the following resolu- 

 tion: 



Resolved, That there be appointed for the Forty- 

 first Congress a select Committee on Eeconstruction, 

 to consist of thirteen members, under the same rules 

 and regulations as governed the proceedings of the 

 Reconstruction Committee in the last Congress, and 

 that all the documents and resolutions before the 

 Committee on Eeconstruction of the last Congress 

 yet undisposed of be referred to them. 



It was adopted by the following vote : 

 YEAS Messrs. Allison. Ambler, Arnell, Asper, 

 Bailey, Banks, Beaman, Benjamin, Bingham, Blair, 

 Boles, Boutwell, Bowen, Buffinton, Burdett, Roder- 

 ick R. Butler, Cake, Cessna, Churchill, Amasa Cobb 

 Coburn, Cook, Conger, Cowles, Cullom, Davis 

 Dawes, Dickey, Donley, Duvall, Dyer, Farnsworth 

 Fernss Ferry, Finkelburg, Fisher, Garfield, Gilfil- 

 lan Hale Hawley, Heaton, Hill, Hoar, Hooper, 

 Hopkins, Hotchkiss, Jenckes, Alexander H. Jones! 

 Judd, Julian, Kelley, Kelsey, Ketcham, Knapp, LafI 

 hn Lash, Lawrence, Logan, Loughridge, Maynard, 

 JJ cCrar Zi. McGrew, Eliakim H. Moore, Jesse H 

 Moore William Moore, Daniel J. Morrell Samuel P. 

 Mornll Negley, O'Neill Orth, Packard, Packer, 

 n % Pa1 * Phelps, Poland, Pomeroy, Prosser 

 Roots, Sandford, Sargent, Sawyer, Scofield, Shanks 

 Sheldon, John A. Smith. William Smyth, Stevenson 

 St ke9, Stoughton, Tafle, Tanner, Tillman, Town- 

 send, Twichell, Tyner, Upson, Ward, Cadwalader C 



Washburn, William B. Washburn, Welker, Wheeler, 

 Whittemore, Wilkinson, Willard, Williams, John T. 

 Wilson, Winans, and Witcher 109. 



NAYS Messrs. Adams, Archer, Axtell, Biggs, 

 Bird, Burr, Cleveland, Dickinson, Eldridge, Golla- 

 day, Griswold, Hamill, Holman, Thomas L. Jones, 

 Kerr, Knott, Marshall, Mayham, McCormick, Mc- 

 Neely, Moffet, Mungen, Niblack, Potter, Randall, 

 Reading, Reeves, Rice, Schumaker, Slocum, Stiles, 

 Strader, Swann, Sweeney, Trimble, Van Auken, 

 Van Trump, Voorhees, Wells, Eugene M. Wilson, 

 Winchester, Wood, and Woodward 43. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Ames, Armstrong, Beatty, 

 Beck, Bennett, Boyd, Brooks, Benjamin F. Butler, 

 Calkin, Clarke, Clinton L. Cobb, Crebs, Deweese, 

 Dixon, Dockery, Fitch, Fox, Getz, Greene, Haight, 

 Haldeman, Hambleton, Hamilton, Hawkins, Hay, 

 Hoag, Ingersoll, Johnson, Lynch, McCarthy, Mercur, 

 Morgan, Morrissey, Peters, Rogers, Schenck, Joseph 

 S. Smith, William J. Smith, Worthington C. Smith, 

 Stone, Strickland, and Van Horn 42. 



On the same day Mr. Butler, of Massachu- 

 chetts, introduced a bill to repeal an act regu- 

 lating the tenure of certain civil offices, which 

 was read and passed yeas 138, nays 16, not 

 voting 40. 



In the Senate, on the same day, this House 

 bill was taken up and referred to the Judiciary 

 Committee. On March 16th the committee 

 proposed to strike out the word "repealed," 

 and to insert "suspended until the next session 

 of Congress." 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, said : " While the 

 Committee on the Judiciary believed that it 

 was proper that the present Administration 

 should not be embarrassed or obstructed in its 

 efforts to introduce reform into the public ser- 

 vice, and to have able and efficient officers to 

 discharge public duties, they were unwilling, 

 after Congress had with such great unanimity 

 adopted this law within the last two years, and 

 adopted it upon the principle that some law 

 of this kind was proper to regulate the civil 

 service, to recommend its absolute repeal ; 

 and believing that every thing could be accom- 

 plished that is desired by any one by removing 

 this law out of the way for the present and 

 affording an opportunity, after the public ser- 

 vice shall have been reformed in this matter 

 of office, to consider the bill disconnected with 

 any pressure for office, they thought it better 

 to recommend the suspension of the act until 

 the next session of Congress, and then Con- 

 gress can either repeal it or adopt some civil 

 service bill, which, in its judgment, shall be 

 thought to be for the best and permanent in- 

 terests of the country. It was with this view 

 that the Committee on the Judiciary recom- 

 mended that, instead of an absolute repeal, the 

 law should be suspended until the next session 

 of Congress." 



Mr. Thurman, of Ohio, said : "It is not my 

 purpose to go into an argument of the consti- 

 tutional question where the power of removal 

 is vested. That question has been argued un- 

 til I imagine no new light is likely to be shed 

 upon it. I shall not, therefore, go into that 

 discussion, further than to notice the different 

 opinions that have prevailed with respect to it. 



