Mr. BUCKALEW. This bill comes from the JtCommee of the 2 Houses upon retrenchment, of the Senate branch of which the Senfrom Vermont is chairman. I desire in addition to what he has just said, the propriety of which will attract the attention of every Senator, to say that there are several subjects comprised in the bill, each of which is perfectly distinct; and what is to be done by the Senate in coming to a correct conclusion on this bill will be to keep the argument upon each point perfectly distinct and separate from the others. The 1st section of the bill, and the matter contained in the 2nd also, raises a very great question; and I hope that the members of the Senate will not commit their judgments upon it until it is distinctly and separately debated. It is new to us and it is hazardous, if not improper, that we should form hasty conclusions upon it. Another and a distinct question is raised by the latter part of the 2nd section, the conferring upon the President of the power of suspending from office without dismissing an officer. A provision of this kind in our legislation, if not altogether new, is new as a general provision, and it may likewise deserve separate consideration. finally, the 3rd section is intended to meet a class of cases which has been spoken of in this debate: where the President fills a vacancy during a recess between the sessions of the Senate by issuing a commission which shall expire at the end of the next session by virtue of an express provision of the Constitution, then if during such next session that office shall not be filled by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, it shall, after the adjournment of the Senate, remain vacant; the appointment shall remain in abeyance, to use the words employed in the section, and the duties of that office shall be discharged by some other officer who may be appointed or selected by law. Now, sir, the 1st question, to wit, the power of the President to make removals from office, is one which was settled in the 1st session of the 1st Congress which met after the organization of our Government, and that decision, if not unchallenged, at least has not been reversed in the practice of this Government77 years; and when we come to reopen the debate upon it we must take care that we approach this great subject in the proper temper, in a spirit of impartiality, and without any disposition or proclivity of mind to be influenced by considerations other than those which pertain to the merits of the question itself. I intend at some point in the debate to be heard upon this one question involved in the bill; but for the present in the hope expressed by the chairman of the Senate branch of the comRetrenchment that we shall not raise that general debate. It is not necessarily involved in the motion now pending before the Senate for the amendment of the 1st clause of the committee's substitute, to wit, the question whether the power of the President with foto removals om office shall be curtailed so far as his own Cabinet ministers are concerned. That is a distinct, and independent question, and, I hope we shall determine it without extending our selves, or permitting the debate to extend itself, into the whole field.