CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



133 



committee called in question, and that was 

 when the committee rendered its report about 

 the very abuses in the New York custom- 

 house of which I have just been speaking ; 

 and mark you, that was one of the very few 

 instances when the committee did conduct an 

 investigation in pursuance of a resolution of 

 the Senate. All those investigations which 

 were conducted by the committee of its own 

 motion, the investigation concerning the tran- 

 sit route, the investigation concerning the 

 postal contracts in Texas, and many others, 

 have never given rise even to a whisper of 

 censure. And now we are suddenly told that 

 the liberties of the American people will be 

 in danger if we continue to do what all the 

 Senators using that extravagant language have 

 been voting for from 1866 to the opening of 

 this Congress. Is it not an astonishing spec- 

 tacle? Whence this bugbear which is raised 

 before our eyes? What flimsy material is it 

 made of? 



"The Senator from Indiana has said some- 

 thing which I think is worth considering. He 

 said: 



I am not mistaken about the whole drift of this 

 debate. It has been to show that there is corrup-% 

 tion existing under this Administration, and gross 

 corruption. The > drift of this debate is a reflection 

 upon the Eepublican party. 



" 'A reflection upon the Eepublican party! ' 

 How so ? Do we not all profess to be in favor 

 of reform? We have listened to the most 

 fervid protestations in this debate time and 

 again. There is not a Senator on this floor, it 

 appears, who will not be glad and happy to 

 disclose corrupt practices and to see them 

 corrected. So we hear. The cry for reform 

 is general and enthusiastic among us, and yet 

 when a member of this body does attempt to 

 lay bare a gross abuse existing in this Gov- 

 ernment, at once we are reprovingly told, 

 'This is done for the purpose of hurting the 

 Republican party.' Gentlemen, either the 

 party is not what you pretend it to be, a party 

 of reform, or the party should, instead of re- 

 pelling the denunciation of abuses, rather en- 

 courage that spirit which will prompt mem- 

 bers of the party fearlessly and without hesi- 

 tation, whenever they find a wrong in this 

 Government, to disclose it before the eves of 

 the country." 



The Presiding Officer (Mr. Wilson in the 

 chair): "The question is on the amendment 

 of the Senator from Illinois" (Mr. Trumbull). 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, called for 

 the yeas and nays, and they were ordered ; 

 and, being taken, resulted as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Alcorn, Bayard. Blair, Casserly, 

 Cooper, Davis of West Virginia, Fentou, Hamilton 

 ot Maryland, Johnston, Kelly, Logan, Patterson, 

 Kobertson, Saulsbury, Schurz, Stevenson, Stockton, 

 Sumner,.Thurman, Tipton, Trumbull, Vickers, West 

 and Wilson 24. 



NATS Messrs. Ames, Anthony, Boreman, Brown- 

 low, Buckingham, Caldwell, Cameron, Carpenter, 

 Chandler, Clayton, Conlding, Corbett, Cragin Ed- 



munds, Ferry of Michigan, Flanagan, Frelinghuy- 

 sen, Gilbert, Hamlin, Hitchcock, Howe, Kellogg. 

 Lewis, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Nye, Osbornj 

 Pomeroy, Pratt, Kamsey, Sawyer, Scott, Sherman, 

 Spencer, and Stewart 35. 



ABSENT Messrs. Cole, Davis of Kentucky, Ferry 

 of Connecticut, Hamilton of Texas, Harlan, Hill, 

 Morrill of Maine, Pool, Kice, Sprague, Windom, and 

 Wright-12. 



So the amendment was rejected. 



The Presiding Officer: "The question re- 

 curs on the original resolution offered by the 

 Senator from Rhode Island " (Mr. Anthony). 



The resolution was agreed to. 



Mr. Trumbull: "I now move that the com- 

 mittee be instructed to inquire as was pro- 

 posed in my amendment to the resolution just 

 adopted. I now move that amendment as an 

 independent proposition." 



The Presiding Officer: " The resolution will 

 be read." 



The Secretary read as follows : 



Resolved, That the Committee of Investigation and 

 Retrenchment be instructed to inquire into the ex- 



Benditures in all branches of the service of the 

 nited States, and report whether any and what 

 offices ought to be abolished ; whether any and what 

 salaries or allowances ought to be.reduced ; what are 

 the methods of procuring accountability in public 

 officers or agents in the care and disbursement of 

 public moneys ; whether moneys have been paid out 

 illegally; whether any officers or agents, or other 

 persons, have been, or are, employed in the public 

 service without authority of law or unnecessarily ; 

 and, generally, how and to what extent the expenses 

 of the service of the country may and ought to be 

 curtailed. 



And also to consider the expediency of so amend- 

 ing the laws, under which appointments to the public 

 service are now made, as to provide for withdrawing 

 the public service from being used as an instrument 

 of political or party patronage. 



Mr. Trumbull said: "Whatever others may 

 say, I have no disposition to have an investi- 



fation that is hostile to the Republican party, 

 disagree utterly with the Senator from In- 

 diana that an investigation of the kind that I 

 propose is hostile to the Republican party. I 

 believe that the Republican party has done 

 great good to this country. It started as a 

 reform party; it proclaims everywhere its 

 devotion to honesty, integrity, purity in the 

 Government ; and the Senator from Indiana is 

 not to put me in the position of saying that 

 the Republican party is more impure than 

 other parties have been. He insisted yester- 

 day that the Republican party was as pure as 

 any of the parties that had preceded it. Did 

 I ever suggest any thing different? But I 

 trust we are progressing and improving, and 

 when I propose to have an inquiry made into 

 the expenditures of the public service and to 

 learn whether any, and what, offices can be 

 abolished, and an inquiry into the accountabil- 

 ity of public officers and agents, is that hostile 

 to the principles of the Republican party? 



" I am utterly astounded at the position 

 taken by some members of this body. Shall it 

 go out to the people of this country that an 

 inquiry to ascertain what are the methods of 



