254 



CONGRESS. (PRECEDENCE AT INAUGURATION.) 



precedent. It is not for a single body of this 

 Congress to dictate to the other co-ordinate 

 branch of Congress and to assign it a subordi- 

 nate and inferior position. If that is done, it 

 can not be otherwise than an intentional and 

 deliberate discourtesy on the part of the Sen- 

 ate. I feel that the Eepresentatives of the 

 people will degrade and dishonor themselves 

 if they do not resent that discourtesy ; and that 

 we could not answer to our constituents any 

 more than we could answer to future Houses of 

 Eepresentatives if we permit this degradation. 



" I regret, Mr. Speaker, that any such ques- 

 tion should have arisen. But common court- 

 esy and the rules of propriety demanded that 

 there should have been a .joint committee of 

 the two houses of Congress to have made these 

 regulations, and not that one house should set 

 itself above everything else. I ask by what 

 authority, by what law, by what custom does 

 it assume this new prerogative of absolutely 

 controlling the inauguration of the President ? 



" They go further, and provide that if it is 

 an inclement day the President shall be inau- 

 gurated in the Senate- chamber instead of in 

 the Representatives' hall, before the Repre- 

 sentatives of the people, and where a larger 

 number of the people of the country at large 

 can be witnesses of that ceremony. It seems 

 to be a close corporation, arranging everything 

 to suit itself and manifesting deliberate dis- 

 courtesy to the House, a discourtesy which if 

 not resented ought to degrade and dishonor the 

 men who submit to it." 



The motion to suspend the rules failed by a 

 vote of 55 yeas to 185 nays. In the Senate, on 

 the same day, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, made the 

 following explanation in behalf of himself and 

 other members of the committee on inauguration 

 arrangements : " I notice in the newspapers and 

 in other places that an impression prevails that 

 the committee on arrangements appointed by 

 the Senate to take charge of the inauguration 

 ceremonies have departed from the established 

 rules in respect to the conduct of the ceremo- 

 nies. I wish now to correct that impression, 

 and to say that in all respects the rules adopted 

 now and published in the programme laid upon 

 the tables of Senators conform to all the pre- 

 cedents of the past except some changes which 

 have been made in favor of the House of Rep- 

 resentatives. 



" It is complained that the committee of ar- 

 rangements is composed only of representatives 

 of the Senate and not of the House. We have 

 had the precedents examined, and find that 

 that has been the case always, for the simple 

 reason that the Senate being a permanent body 

 it is the only body in existence after 12 o'clock 

 on the 4th of March. Therefore a committee 

 of three members of the Senate has uniformly 

 regulated the ceremonies. 



"It has also been complained that a discrimi- 

 nation has been made against the members of 

 the House of Representatives. So far from 

 that being the case, the programme is much 



more considerate as to the members of the 

 House of Representatives than any programme 

 ever before adopted. 



" I have had all the programmes hunted up. 

 The one issued at the time Mr. Buchanan was 

 inaugurated was the first that I witnessed after 

 I was a member of either house of Congress. 

 We went back to the inauguration ceremonies 

 at the time of Mr. Polk's inauguration, and 

 have followed since in that line. I shall read 

 an extract from these proceedings, showing 

 where the changes have been made in favor of 

 the House of Representatives, and in no re- 

 spect whatever discriminating against them. 



" At the inauguration of President Polk, for 

 example, on the 4th of March, 1845, the privi- 

 lege of the floor of the Senate-chamber was 

 given to 'Senators and others who, by the 

 rules of the Senate, and the arrangement of 

 the committee, are entitled to admission, as 

 follows: The President-elect, the ex -Presi- 

 dents, the Chief-Justice and associate justices 

 of the Supreme Court, the diplomatic corps, 

 district judges of the United States, heads of 

 departments and bureaus at the seat of gov- 

 ernment, officers who by name have received 

 the thanks of Congress for their gallantry and 

 good conduct in the service of their country, or 

 who have received medals by a vote of Con- 

 gress, and any persons entitled to a seat on the 

 floor of the Senate, including the Governor for 

 the time being of any State or Territory of the 

 Union, the ex-Governors of the several States, 

 such gentlemen as have been heads of depart- 

 ments or members of either branch of Con- 

 gress.' 



"No other mention was made of gentlemen 

 who had been members of the House of Rep- 

 resentatives which had just expired by limi- 

 tation. Nor was any mention made of the 

 members-elect of the new House, yet to be 

 organized. 



" In the order of procession from the Senate- 

 chamber to the eastern portico the Supreme 

 Court led the way, followed by the President- 

 elect, the ex-President^ the Senate, the diplo- 

 matic corps, the Mayors of Washington. George- 

 town, and Alexandria, and then 'the other 

 persons before admitted on the floor of the 

 Senate.' 



" * On reaching the front of the portico,' the 

 programme goes on to state, 'the President- 

 elect and Chief -Justice will take the seats pro- 

 vided for them. The ex-Presidents, the com- 

 mittee of arrangements, and associate justices 

 of the Supreme Court, will occupy a position 

 several feet in the rear of the President-elect. 

 The Vice-President, Secretary, and members 

 of the Senate will occupy parallel lines next in 

 rear. The diplomatic corps will occupy the 

 next position, and the space immediately in 

 their rear is assigned to the late Speaker, 

 Clerk, and ex-members of the Senate and 

 House of Representatives.' 



" It will be seen that according to the old 

 formula the House of Representatives was not 



