the other hand, the Secretary of State is always a member
of the party that has prevailed in the last election, and
is usually the member of the party, next to the President
himself, highest in its confidence. Our Secretaries of State,
with rare exceptions, have been among the very ablest public
men of the country. Among them have been Timothy Pickering,
John Marshall, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams,
Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, Edward Livingston, Louis McLane,
John Forsyth, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan,
John M. Clayton, Edward Everett, Elihu B. Washburne, Hamilton
Fish, William M. Evarts, James G. Blaine, Thomas F. Bayard,
John Sherman, and John Hay. These men, with scarcely an exception,
have been among the very foremost statesmen of their time.
Several of them have been Presidents of the United States,
and a good many more of them have been prominent candidates
for the Presidency. On the other hand, the list of Presidents
of the Senate contains few names of any considerable distinction.
Another objection to the arrangement was the fact that the
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House might
be changed at the will of the body that elected them. So
the acting President might be displaced at the will of a political
body. There is a good deal of reason, also, for claiming
that if Congress declare that the officer shall act as President,
he must discharge the duties of his office and the duties
of the President at the same time, a burden which would be
very hard for one man to support. Accordingly I drew and
introduced the existing law, which reads as follows:

_"Be it enacted, etc.,_ That in case of removal, death, resignation
or inability of both the President and Vice-President of the
United States, the Secretary of State, or if there be none,
or in case of his removal, death, resignation or inability,
then the Secretary of the Treasury, or if there be none, or
in the case of his removal, death, resignation or inability,
then the Secretary of War, or if there be none, or in case
of his removal, death, resignation or inability, then the
Attorney-General, or if there be none, or in case of his
removal, death, resignation or inability, then the Secretary of
the Interior, shall act as President until the disability of the
President or Vice-President is removed or a President shall
be elected:

"_Provided,_ That whenever the powers and duties of the office
of Pre