e him to administer the Government without
agents of his own choosing. . . . And if I supposed that either of
these gentlemen was so wanting in manhood, in honor, as to hold his
place after the politest intimation from the President of the United
States that his services were no longer needed, I certainly, as a
senator, would consent to his removal at any time, and so would we all."

Still more significant and conclusive was the action of both Senate
and House on the final passage of the Tenure-of-office Act. That
action was based upon the report of a conference committee, of which
Mr. Sherman was chairman on the part of the Senate, and General
Schenck on the part of the House. It will be remembered that the
Senate had insisted that officers of the Cabinet should be excepted
from the operation of the Tenure-of-office Act, and the House had
insisted that they should not be excepted. A compromise was made by
the conference committee, the result of which was thus explained to
the Senate by Mr. Sherman: "In this case the committee of conference
--I agreed to it, I confess, with some reluctance--came to the
conclusion to qualify to some extent the power of removal over a
Cabinet minister. We provide that a Cabinet minister shall hold his
office, _not for a fixed term, not until the Senate shall consent to
his removal, but as long as the power that appoints him holds the
office_." General Schenck, representing the original House amendment,
said: "A compromise was made, by which a further amendment is added
to this portion of the bill, so that the term of office of the heads
of Departments _shall expire with the term of the President who
appointed them_, allowing these heads of Departments one month longer."
These were the well-considered explanations made to their respective
branches by the chairmen of the committees that composed the
conference. It was upon this uncontradicted, unqualified, universally
admitted construction of the Bill that the House and Senate enacted it
into a law.

It must not be forgotten that if the Senate had consented to the
removal of Mr. Stanton, as was confidently anticipated from the
expressions of opinion above quoted, no new Secretary could have been
installed without the Senate's explicit consent, and that meanwhile
the War Department would remain under the control of General Grant, in
whose prudent and upright discharge of duty every senator had perfect
confidence. The complaint of th