fiQXGRESS, UNITED STATES. 





Senator shall sooner terminate, or he shall bo 



removed for cause, until the Vice -President 



shull return to preside over tho Senate, and in 



. -iuill fail to so return because of death 



or other cause, then until a new Vico-Presi- 



-hall be elected and qualified; and I ask 



t!u- indulgence of the Senate while I state 



hrietly the reasons that have brought mo io 



this conclusion. 



u The Senate is a perpetual body ; it is cre- 

 ated, its powers are conferred, defined, and 

 limited by the Constitution. Tho general laws 

 of parliamentary bodies are applicable to it 

 on'.y so far as the same are not modified by and 

 not inconsistent with tho Constitution. It can- 

 not rightfully exercise powers not so conferred ; 

 it is not a body possessed of arbitrary powers; 

 it nrist be governed in all things by tho spirit 

 of tho Constitution. That it has the physical 

 power to remove at will the President pro tern- 

 pore I do not deny, because there is no tribunal 

 to review its action, but whether it has the 

 right without reasonable cause to make such 

 removal may well be questioned; indeed, I 

 cannot suppose there could exist any disposi- 

 tion to exorcise such arbitrary power. It there- 

 fore appears that the Senate is thus governed 

 by the Constitution. 



" The Vico-President is President of tho 

 Senate, and he is beyond the control of that 

 body, because the Constitution makes him so. 

 It provides in terms no less definite and no less 

 binding another officer to supply his place in 

 his absence. The clause containing that pro- 

 vision is in these words : 



The Semite shall choose their other officers, and 

 also a President pro tempore in the absence of the 

 Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office 

 of 1'resident of the United States. 



" This clause is mandatory ; the Senate must 

 choose its officers, other than its President, and 

 a President pro tempore as well and as surely 

 as any other, when tho contingency requiring 

 one shall arise. This officer is not at tho op- 

 tion of the Senate ; he is essential, as absolute- 

 ly so as any other known to our system of gov- 

 ernment. If the V ice-President shall be ab- 

 sent, the Senate cannot proceed lawfully with 

 business for one hour without this officer, and 

 plainly because the Constitution commands that 

 in that case such officer shall be elected. The 

 Senate may determine what other officers it 

 will have, but this officer it must have ; he is 

 designated. Ho may be not improperly styled 

 an officer provided by the Constitution. 



What, then, is the term of his office ? The 

 words " shall choose .... also a President 

 pro tempore " plainly and necessarily imply 

 for during the time of the absence of the Vioo- 

 Presidjnt from the Senate for any cause. The 

 term or phrase pro tfmpore, has a very general 

 meaning. It implies, generally, for the time, 

 the occasion, the exigency ; as if the president 

 of tho national convention of one of our politi- 

 cal parties should be temporarily absent, in 

 case, by the general law of parliamentary 



bodies, a temporary presiding officer would be 

 appointed or elected to snpply his place during 

 -ii. -li absence. Such officer would be htyled 

 president or presiding officer pro tempore, and 

 he would continue to preside until the return 

 of the regular president, and an adjournment 

 to a day certain would not displace him unless 

 he should bo removed. The time of the ab- 

 sence of the president in that case is the tim.-, 

 the occasion, the exigency, to be supplied. This 

 rule, as thus stated, applies to all deliberative 

 bodies governed by general parliamentary law. 

 But tho special meaning of the term pro tem- 

 pore must bo ascertained by its use in a particu- 

 lar case, and so in the case now under consid- 

 eration. 



"The Senate is required to have always a 

 presiding officer, and tho Constitution provides 

 that 'in tho absence of the Vice-President, or 

 when he shall exercise tho office of President 

 of the United States,' the Senate shall make 

 one which is designated by name as President 

 pro tempore that is, for the time of such ab- 

 sence. To say that the power conferred to ap- 

 point pro tempore may be for one sitting of 

 the Senate, for one hour, a day, a month, a ses- 

 sion, or at the will of the Senate, does not meet 

 tho case provided for : the purpose is to sup- 

 ply a certain, fixed presiding officer for the 

 time tho regular officer shall be absent, whether 

 that be long or short. He may be absent for 

 a day, for a whole session, or for his whole 

 term of office, and that absence is the measure 

 of time to be supplied by the President pro 

 tempore. The term of such an officer could 

 not bo fixed by more definite terms; no other 

 words could describe or fix his term more apt- 

 ly ; it is as certain as if it had provided for a 

 year or four years, and nothing is left to dis- 

 cretion. If this view is not correct, then what 

 is the true measure of time ? And who shall 

 determine it? If it is said the Senate, then 

 whence the power? The power is expressly 

 given to elect, and the term is fixed as definite- 

 ly as language can make it : no power is given 

 to limit the term, either in words or by neces- 

 sary implication. To say that the Senate can 

 determine the term of office thus fixed by tho 

 Constitution, and that without cause, is shock- 

 ing to the legal mind ! If the office were one 

 created by the Senate, then it may fix the 

 term and determine it; but that is not the 

 case: here the office is. fixed, designated, and 

 the term limited by the Constitution itself. 



Tho President pro tempore is an officer in 

 the sense of the Constitution; he is, in the 

 Senate, in the place of tho Vice-President. He 

 exercises the same power. He is clothed with 

 important powers ; grave duties devolve upon 

 him, and ho enjoys privileges which necessarily 

 imply duration ; he is amenable to the Senate 

 for the just and proper exercise of these pow- 

 ers, and great responsibility attaches to him as 

 such officer. The Constitution makes him an 

 officer in tho full sense of that term ; in point 

 of time, power, opportunity, privilege, and, 



