Mr. EDMUNDS. Mr. President, I think it is best for us to do our whole duty, or else to let it alone, and I do not think it best to let it alone; but I think one of our duties is, when we are passing measures, not to let the enthu siasm or the fanaticism of a little feeling of resentment and revenge, just resentment if you Fo and just revenge as far as revenge can e just at onj all, run away with our common The Constitution provided, and provided with a foreseeing eye to the future, that the appointment of inferior officers might be submitted by law to certain tribunals, not the Senate; and the obvious reason for that it need not be enlarged upon is the necessary convenience of the merely mechanical administrative operations of the Government. The larger the country grows and the more diversi;become the necessary administrative functions that it is obliged to carry on, the more necessary it is, from mere reasons of convenience and good policy in the administration of the Government,?a. those mine r offices should not be a burden and a curse to us as the advisers of the President in the selection of the general agents of the Government to carry on its operations through their subordinates, but that these subordinates ought to be selected in some other way. And the committee, of which the Senator has spoken, have reported to the other House a ifwhich provides how these subordinates shall be selected and how they shall be continued in office. That bill, however, seemed fit to us in quite a different way from this one; and it relates entirely to the inferior offices, merely mechanical, so to speak, most of them, which only require a certain degree of intelligence, and which, when that intelligence is sufficient and the party is appointed, ought to entitle him to make a life business of it if you please, and to continue to serve the country in that capacity as he would in any other calling until there shall be some fit and sufficient reason for changing him; and we propose to allow him to have promotion in o regular and proper and fair way, and all that. We have submitted our views, as I have said, in a bill on that subject. They may be right or they may be wrong. In reporting this bill, however, we have not undertaken in any manner to decide the question what officers ought to be appointed by the concurrence of the senate, and what not. This bill has nothing whatever to do with that question. It merely undertakes to readjust, according to what we conceive to be the true construction of the Constitution, the respective functions of 2 great depts of the Government. That is what we propose to do; and it is entirely immaterial to the consideration of that question whether AB or C D ought to be appointed by the concurrence of the Senate, or whether he ought to be appointed by the head of a Dept. This bill goes upon the supposition that, given that the appointment of certain officers is by law to be by the concurrence of the Senate, the question then is how are they to hold their office and how are they to be removed. That is the point which this bill makes, and that is all. I say, therefore, that the proposition which is now introduced, and introduced obviously without a particle of knowledge on the part of my friendfrom Wisconsin, as to the exten siveness of its operation, taking his own words and the Blue Book together for the proof of what I say, has no relation at all to the subject under consideration; and in my judgment it is improper in itself for the reasons which I gave yesterday, and which were given more at large by my friend, the Senfrom Maine. I am not going to spend a great deal of time on this topic; but I will call attention to the state of things in the postoffice Dept alone. I find in running over the Blue Book that the list of clerks in the postoffices all over this country whose salaries and emoluments amount to more than 1,000 dollars a year is over 3 30, and my friend can count them up as I have nearly 350.