July 19th, the Senate considered a resolution from the other
House to reassemble November 13th. Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, moved
to amend by making the day of meeting “the first Monday of
December next.” Mr. Sumner moved to amend the amendment by
substituting “the second Wednesday of October next.” He then
said:--
On that question I have a word to say, and I must speak frankly.
I cannot help it. How Congress, after listening to the message of
to-day,[237] which is only the logical consequence of other messages,
can quietly vote to go home and leave this post of duty until next
winter, passes my understanding. To me it is incomprehensible. The
message, from beginning to end, is a menace. Needless to quote its
precise language. Its defiant tone fills this Chamber, and will soon
fill the whole country. Listening to this appeal, so well calculated
to revive the dying Rebellion, I felt that one of two things was
needed,--the removal of its author from the Executive chair, or
Congress in permanent session to watch and counteract him. Such is the
alternative. One failing, the other must be.
Now, Sir, when thus insisting, let it be understood that I am not
unmindful of any of my responsibilities in this Chamber. Other duties
may devolve upon me hereafter. For the present I speak as a Senator,
bound, in the discharge of official duty, to do what he can for the
public good. As a Senator, I must be plain; nor can I be constrained by
the possibility that hereafter I may be called to judge the President.
I am called to judge him now. The proposition that Congress should go
home compels me to judge him.
Unquestionably it is for the other House to initiate the proceedings
which shall bring the President to your bar. But until then it is the
right and duty of every Senator to express himself freely with regard
to his conduct; nor can there be any limit to this latitude. It is as
broad as human thought. No future duty can be a strait-jacket now.
Because the President may be impeached, the Senate is not obliged to be
silent with regard to him. The National Constitution is guilty of no
such absurdity. Until a Senator is sworn on the trial of impeachment,
according to the requirement of the National Constitution, he is a
Senator, free to criticize any public functionary, from the President
to the humblest officer; and if either has so acted as to deserve
removal, there is no reason why he should not say so. This is only
according to the National Constitution and common sense.
Now, since Andrew Johnson remains President and he is not yet at your
bar, I cannot doubt that we ought to stay in our seats to encounter the
evil proceeding from him. We must meet him constantly, and not leave
the field unoccupied.
For this reason, simply and briefly stated, I object to the motion of
the Senator from Ohio. If I had powers of persuasion, I would use them
all to induce you to remain as a guard to the National Constitution
and a constabulary force for the Rebel States. Possibly you may not
like the office. But I doubt if any of us can be better employed
anywhere than in contributing to the success of Reconstruction, and in
preserving peace throughout that distressed region of country. Sitting
in our seats here, we are a mighty police, ready at the call of general
or citizen, and also a terror to the evil-doer.
Senators wish to leave. So do I. Nobody can wish to leave more than
myself. I suffer much from these heats. I long to be at home. But I
feel that it is my duty to be here. All that I have felt before is now
intensified by the menace of this message. Hereafter no Senator can say
that he did not know what to expect. He will not be taken by surprise.
Here is distinct and open notice that the President will do all in his
power to thwart your legislation and to arrest a just Reconstruction.
There he stands, a constant impediment to peace, and an ally to the
Rebellion. And yet, knowing these things, it is proposed to go home and
leave him undisturbed master till winter.
Mr. Sherman said: “It does seem to me a very strange thing
that a judge, by whose vote alone the President can be
removed, should declare that he must be removed. [Mr. Sumner
said, “Or Congress must stay here to watch him.”]… If the
House of Representatives desire to present an impeachment
of any officer of the Government, I am perfectly willing to
stay and try him. No such case is presented.” Mr. Buckalew,
of Pennsylvania, said: “The Senator from Massachusetts who
first spoke [Mr. SUMNER] maintains his usual position at the
end of this session. I do not remember any occasion when
that member supported a resolution of adjournment. I do not
remember an occasion when he did not vote for reassembling,
when the opportunity was afforded him, at an early date. In
fact, I suspect, that, if the truth were known, the Senator
from Massachusetts would be prepared with business the whole
three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, and that, if
we consulted his views, we should make a French revolutionary
assemblage of the two Houses of Congress,--we should be in
permanent session, without vacation and without recess.” He
insisted that “we should withhold ourselves from the expression
of judgment upon a question which is not here, and which
cannot come here, unless it be brought here by the House of
Representatives, over whose action we have no control.” This
brought up Mr. Sumner again.
MR. PRESIDENT,--There is just the point. The Senator says the question
is not here,--in other words, that this is not the time to discuss
the President. He is mistaken; this is the very time. The question is
here at the instance of the Senator from Ohio, who gravely moves that
we leave our seats, and from this time forward till December abdicate
our constitutional guardianship of the public interests. To such a
proposition there is but one natural and logical reply. It is, that we
must not abdicate, so long as Andrew Johnson is in the Executive chair.
If he continues President, we must remain at our posts, precisely as
Grant remained before Richmond.
Sir, if another person wielded the Executive powers of the nation,
if there was anybody in that high office mindful of the National
Constitution as interpreted by the Declaration of Independence,
and disposed to carry forward the Acts of Congress adopted by such
triumphant majorities, then I could vote with Senators to go home.
Unhappily, it is not so. Anything but this. Our President is a public
enemy, successor in spirit and opinion of Jefferson Davis, through whom
the Rebellion is once more on its legs. Does any Senator, accustomed
to vote with the Union party and to sustain the Union cause, question
this simple statement of fact? Does he believe it overdrawn? Let him
answer, if he does. Let him say where my language goes by a hair’s
breadth beyond the exact truth.
Here Mr. Sumner stopped for answer, and then proceeded.
Because we have the successor of Jefferson Davis in the Presidential
chair, therefore Congress must stay. That is my argument. A volume or
oration could not add to the force of this simple statement.
The more I think of this duty, the more commanding it seems. The
President is the Executive; we are the Legislative. His influence is
great; but ours is greater. If we choose to say so, we can be masters.
We can apply the corrective to his mischief. Surely here is a motive.
Ten States are now exposed to his malign influence, all of which may
be arrested by our presence here. Let it be known that we are to
continue in our seats, and every Union man throughout the Rebel States
will feel stronger. He will be conscious at once of a panoply, which
the President, and the Rebel tail, of which he is the head, cannot
penetrate.
There are the generals, also, who, as soon as we are gone, may be
his victims. The telegraph may flash to us, in the comfort of home,
that the gallant Sheridan, as true in government as he was skilful in
war, has been driven from his post by an enemy with whom he could not
contend. It may flash the removal of Pope, who has shown such talent
and thoroughness in the organization of his district, and also the
displacement of Sickles, who has carried into his new duties such
varied experience and patriotic purposes. All this may occur; for the
President is vindictive in his assault upon the upholders of Human
Rights. Is it not worth our care to provide against such calamity? But
you propose to go home and leave all, whether citizen or general, a
prey to the President. I protest against it.
The amendment of Mr. Sumner was rejected. That of Mr. Sherman
was adopted, and the resolution as amended was then agreed
to,--Yeas 23, Nays 14. On the report of a Committee of
Conference, it was amended again by making the adjournment
to “the 21st day of November next,” which was adopted by the
Senate,--Yeas 17, Nays 14,--Mr. Sumner voting in the negative.