Mr. DONNELLY. I move to amend the bill by adding to the 3rd section the following: Provided, however, That no vacancy shall be held to havehappenedduring the recess of the Senate if theincumbent of the officewas in the exercise of the duties of the officeothe day on which Congress convened;but in such case the personholding such office shall continue to retain and exercisethe same until his successor, is confirmed by the Senate or until he is removed inionsof this act. accordancewith the provis Mr. Speaker, I will ask the attention of the House for a few moments while f explain the purpose of this amendment. It is intended to cover a peculiar class of cases, some of which have arisen in my State and district. It is, sir, a well known fact that it was the intention of the framers of the Constitution that the appointing power should not be exercised by the President alone, but by the President and the Senate acting conjointly. So jealous were they of the exercise of this great power by anyone man, and so deep was the imPression upon their minds made by the fierce strug i. through which they had passed against the espotic power of the Government o;i. that they even provided in that Constitution the o: of many of these officers might, should the interests of the country require it, be entirely removed from the President. In every case occurring while the Senate was in session it was enjoined the appointment should be made jointly by the President and the senate. But it was seen that there would necessarily occur cases of vacancy during the recess of the Senate, when of course the judgment of that body could not be brought to bear upon the case and it was necessary to provide for such an emergency and vest the power of temporarily filling the place in the hands of the President. And the Constitution accordingly provided that where vacancies happen during the recess of the Senate the President may issue his commission, which shall expire at the end of the next session of the Senate. It seems to me nothing could be clearer than the meanin of that portion of the Constitution. The wor “happen” is derived from a Teutonic root, which involvestheidea of “surprise.” Webster defines it as meaning, “to occur accidentally; to fall out; to come without previous expecta.tion.” It was clearly the intention of the framers of the Constitution to provide in this oction simply fo ‘happen.” those yacancies which might by the death, resignation, or misconduct in office. Mr. Hamilton spoke of it as referring to “cases of Now, casual vacancies.”; under the practice that has grown up our Government, it has been assumed by. President that he ney, could actually “createf' which by the terms of the Constitution was expected to “happen;” that is to say, that that which was to o: a casual act beyond the control of the appointing power could be created by the appointing power. such a construction, it seems to me, cannot possibly be g. by the language of the Constitution. But great as are the evils which have grown out of this forced construction of the Constitution, this amendment is intended to strike at a still greater perversion of the meaning of the Constitution, a still greater extension of the illegal and unjust practice which has recently arisen. In my own district the U.S. assess or, one of the best and most capable officers in the entire revenue service of the U.S., was, upon the 6th day of December last, after the convening of the Present session of Congress, in the undisputed exercise of the duties of his office, so recognized by the dept, performing all his duties. Subsequent to that date, no misconduct having been alleged against the incumbent, a party appeared with a commission dated on the 16th of November last, and claimed the possession of the office. The assessor holding office by a perfect title by the appointment of the late President Lincoln confirmed long since by the Senate, refused to yield up his office until the o:of his successor was acted upon by the Senate, then in actual session; and he has to this day so refused to yield, and is still in the exercise of the duties of his office. Now, I seek by this amendment to prevent just such cases. I do not seek to attack the right of the President to make removals during the actual recess of the Senate, although, as I said, I do not think such action, however justified by custom, is consistent with the language and intent of the Constitution. But I desire to prevent this system of removing men from office during the actual session of the Senate upon commissions which may, for aught the incumbent or the Senate knows, be antedated, and may be really made and is sued from the Dept at Washington while the Senate is in session. If my amendment is adopted and becomes part of the bill it will require that in such cases the party so taking the appointment shall abide the action of the Senate, and that the party who is in possession of the office at the time the Senate convenes shall continue to hold it until his successor is confirmed by the Senate. I do not think there can be any reasonable objection to such a provision. If it is not adopted there is no imit to this power of the President. It is in his power, while we are now deliberating and attempting to set up guards against his power of removal, to issue commissions by the whole sale and date them back to November or July or March, if he chooses, and so remove the remnant of good and faithful men who are yet left in office, and who look to this Congress for protection. Neither can there be any reason for the course which the Administration seek to pursue: there can be no motive for it. The senate being actually in session, it is the prerogative of the Senate to judge between the 2 men the incumbent and his proposed successor and I can see no reason why the party holding a commission, received by him after the commencement of the session of Congress, should not abide the action of the Senate. Any other construction will simply tend to do away with the power of the Senate to act upon those cases. P hope, Mr. Speaker, I have given sufficient explanation of the purpose of my amendment and that it will prevail. I feel, at least, that I should be false to many excellent men in my own district and throughout the whole country if I did not make this effort to stay the ; ersecution and usurpation.