CONGRESS. (FINAL ADJOUBNMENT.) 



recognized in the proceedings as an existing 

 body, it having expired before the ceremonies 

 commenced, but they were recognized as per- 

 sons who had been members of Congress. 

 There has been a gradual change in favor of 

 a more marked recognition of the House of 

 Representatives, and now we have adopted a 

 still more marked change in favor of the House. 

 Here is the order in which the procession is to 

 be formed on the 4th of March : 



Members of the Senate. 



The diplomatic corps. 



Heads of departments. 



The retired General of the Army, the Lieu- 

 tenant-General of the Army, the Admiral of 

 the Navy, and the officers of the Army and 

 Navy who, by name, have received the thanks 

 of Congress. 



Members of the House of Representatives- 

 elect, Governors and ex-Governors of States. 



" It will be seen that in the programme forty 

 years ago the heads of departments, all the 

 heads of bureaus and various executive offices 

 that were then in existence, together with the 

 Governors and ex-Governors of the States, pre- 

 ceded the House of Representatives. But this 

 has been gradually changed, and the House of 

 Representatives is recognized as a constituent 

 body, although it has ceased to exist. 



"I hope, therefore, if anybody in either 

 house of Congress or any one among the peo- 

 ple of this country thinks that the Senate of the 

 United States have sought in any way to make 

 any discrimination, or cast any disparagement 

 on the House of Representatives, either past or 

 present, he will be disabused by this correction 

 of the record." 



Final Adjournment. Just before the final ad- 

 journment of the Senate the Vice-President- 

 elect, Thomas A. Hend ricks, of Indiana, en- 

 tered the Senate - chamber. The President 

 pro tempore of the Senate, Mr. Edmunds, ad- 

 ministered to him the oath of office, and then 

 addressed the Senate as follows : " Senators, we 

 now close another epoch in the course of the 

 republic under the Constitution. The brief 

 period of our national existence has, by the ex- 

 ertion of the co-ordinated forces of national and 

 State systems, brought the experiment of free 

 social and political government to an established 

 and secure triumph. 



" I think I may safely say for us all that we 

 believe that the long years to come in the 

 future of the republic will more and more in- 

 crease the peace, liberty, order, aud security of 

 all the people of our country. 



" But perhaps it may not be improper for me 

 to say that, in view of our recent experience, 

 it may be doubted whether Congress can con- 

 gratulate itself on being the best example of a 

 legislative body conducting its business with 

 that deliberate and timely diligence which is 

 the inseparable handmaid of wisdom and jus- 

 tice, as well in the making as in the adminis- 

 tration of laws. It is, I think, an evil of large 

 and growing proportions that measures of the 



greatest importance, requiring much time for 

 proper examination and discussion in detail, 

 are brought to our consideration so late that it 

 is not possible to deal with them intelligently, 

 and which we are tempted (over-tempted I fear) 

 to enact into laws in the hope that fortune 

 rather than time, study, and reflection will take 

 care that the republic suffer no detriment. 



" The Chair has heard with deep sensibility 

 of the resolution you have kindly adopted con- 

 cerning the administration of his duties, and he 

 begs to express sincerely his gratitude for it. 

 If, in the course of the execution of his duties, 

 he has (as he sometimes may have done) wound- 

 ed the feelings of any Senator or officer of the 

 Senate, he can truly say that he has not in- 

 tentionally given offense to any one; and in 

 closing this session of the Senate he assures 

 every Senator, whether retiring or continuing 

 in public duty, that he wishes for him every 

 friendly good wish, and hopes that he may long 

 enjoy all the happiness that can be realized by 

 citizen or Senator. He now declares the Sen- 

 ate adjourned without day." 



At ten minutes to twelve o'clock, noon, on 

 March 4, it was announced in the House that 

 the business of the session had closed, and Mr. 

 Carlisle, the Speaker, said : " Gentlemen of 

 the House of Representatives: The work of 

 the Forty-eighth Congress is now completed, 

 and the time has come for the performance of 

 my last official act as the presiding officer of 

 this House. I should do violence to my own 

 feelings and be guilty of the grossest ingrati- 

 tude if I should declare a final adjournment 

 without returning to you, individually and col- 

 lectively, rny sincere thanks for the compli- 

 mentary resolution passed this morning. I 

 thank you also, gentlemen, with equal warmth 

 and sincerity, not only for the confidence re- 

 posed in me at the beginning of our labors 

 here, but for the respect and courtesy which 

 have characterized all your personal and official 

 intercourse with me since that time. 



" The membership of this House is so large, 

 its business is so great, and the struggle on the 

 floor for priority in the consideration of meas- 

 ures is so earnest, that without your cordial 

 co-operation and support it would have been 

 utterly impossible to conduct our proceedings 

 in an orderly or regular manner. It is but 

 simple justice to say that your support and co- 

 operation have been promptly and cheerfully 

 given in every emergency, and to that fact, 

 more than to anything else, must be attributed 

 whatever measure of success has attended my 

 efforts to preserve order and facilitate the 

 transaction of the public business. Very few, 

 even among those who are best acquainted 

 with our legislative history, have an adequate 

 conception of the increased labors and respon- 

 sibilities devolved upon Congress by the events 

 of the last quarter of a century, and none who 

 have not had actual experience can fully ap- 

 preciate the difficulties attending the transac- 

 tion of business in a body so large as this. 



