Mr. SUMNER. Very well; inspectors also: those can all be counted. He then reminds us of the officers in the customhouses, who would be brought to the Senate. They can all be counted. It would not act on the clerks in the customhouses; it acts only, if at all, on the officers of the customhouses, officers in a certain sense superior, some of them with very considerable responsibility. They can all be counted. It is very easy to say that we shall be obliged to deal with many1,000s, but I say, nevertheless, they can all be counted. But, let me ask, are we not obliged to deal with many 1000s of postmasters, and still further are we not obliged to deal with many 1000s of officers in the Army? How have we carried this great war along? The Senate has acted always upon all the nominations of the Executive for the Army of the U.S., beginning with the general and ending with a 2nd lieutenant. Every one of them comes before the Senate, and what is the consequence?. The Executive has a direct respon. sibility to the Senate with regard to every apointment that it makes in the Army of the U.S. from a general down to a 2nd lieutenant. And are you disposed to renounce that responsibility because it brings into this Chamber many 1,000 nominations, if you please, to act upon?' These officers that I now wish to bring into the Chamber for you to act upon, some of them you may consider as 2nd lieutenants in the civil service of the country; others as 1st lieutenants; others as cap.tains, if you please. And now, why should we act upon them? Having answered the argument which I have called the argument of exaggeration, now why should we act upon these? The Senatorsays we had better follow the received system. One of the finest sentiments that has fallen from one of the most gifted of our fellow country. men was that verse in which he says: “New occasions teach new duties.” We have a new occasion now teaching a new duty. That new occasion is the misconduct of the Executive oft the U.S., and the new duty which this occasion teachesis, that Congress should exercise all its powersinthrow.ing a shield over our fellow citizens. We see that the Executive is determined to continue this warfare upon the incumbents of office: shall we notif possible protect them? I say that it is our duty growing out of this hour. It may not be our duty next year, or 4 yearsfrom now, as it was not our duty last year or 4 years back. But because it may not be our duty next year, and was not our duty last year, it does not follow that it is not our duty now. Let us act in the present according to the exigency of this moment; and if there is an abuse, as no one will hesitate I think to admit, letus meet it carefully, considerately, and bravely.