The Congressional Globe: Containing the Debates and Proceedings of the First Session of the Thirty-Fifth Congress; Also of the Special Session of the Senate Page: 1,471

                                
1858.
THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
1471
At the proper time I may offer an amendment for
not a great number—I suppose not to exceed ten.
The instances around us occurring every day
show that from some quarter or other, whether
they have arisen in the midst of this-population,
whether they have been sent here for the pur-
f)Ose, or whether they come here because they
ook upon it as a city in a lawless condition, for
some reason or other it is manifest there is the
-most lawless population in our midst that 1 have
known to exist anywhere.
Mr. JOHNSON, of Arkansas. It is aboutfour
o'clock; it is nearly time to adjourn; and I sin-
cerely believe we have had this bill discussed until
every gentleman here understands it. I think it
is a waste of eloquence to speak any longer about
it. I hope very much we shall be able to get the
vote now.'
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question
is on the motion of the Senator from Louisiana,
to strike out the fifth section of the bill.
Mr. BENJAMIN. The suggestions of the
Senator from Virginia have had, I say it with due
respect to him, the effect of confirming my objec-
tions to the section. I thought, originally, this
additional force was intended only for an emer-
gency; but, from the argument of the Senator
from Virginia, it seems that it is intended to vest
a discretion in the President to keep an additional
force of two hundred men, if he finds it necessary
for the general purposes of the bill. That is a
discretion that I would prefer retaining in Con-
gress. I thought, originally, and the Senator
from Mississippi so stated, that it was intended
for special emergencies; but the Senator from
Virginia apprehends that the one hundred we are
now voting may not be sufficient for the general
purposes of the bill, and, if found insufficient, he
proposes to leave to the President the discretion
of increasing the number.
Mr. MASON. That is my idea, clearly.
Mr. BENJAMIN. I think we ought not to do
that. We ou^ht to determine the proper number.
Mr. BROWN. I would prefer that my friend
from Louisiana should judge of the section by
•what appears on its face, rather than by what my
friend from Virginia says. Certainly the lan-
guage of the bill does not justify any such con-
struction as the Senator from Louisiana assumes
that my friend from Virginia meant.
Mr. BENJAMIN. The Senator from Virginia
says it does give that construction, and that that
■was the object.
Mr. BROWN. But what is the fair construc-
tion of the language of the section ? The words
are :
" That whenever, in the judgment of the President of the
United States, the same may be required, he he, and is
hereby, authon/.ed to uider such temporary increase of the
guaid as in his opinion ntay be expedient, not to exceed two
bundled men, who shall be paid at tiie late of two dollars
per day wlule in service, and be dismissed so soon as in the
opinion of tile President thuir services may no longer be re-
quiied."
This shows clearly that it is a mere temporary
force which may be called out at an election or on
any other occasion, and not to exist any longer
than the emergency requires.
Mr. BENJAMIN. I admit that any construc-
tion of this section would accord pretty nearly
with that of the Senator from Mississippi; but still
these words, " temporary service," are of them-
selves exceedingly vague and indefinite; and it
is not at all impossible that, in that appetite for
power which pervades public men generally, an
Executive might be disposed to give that enlarged
and latitudinous construction which strikes the
Senator from Virginia to be the correct one. I
think, on the whole, this is an objectionable sec-
tion. I shall say no more on the subject. I have
given my ideas to the Senate, and I hope the sec-
tion will be stricken out.
Mr. HALE. I shall vote against this section,
and, it may be, against the whole bill. I vote
against it because it is another departure from the
great principles of this Government to give the
citizens of everyplace local self-government, and
' interfere with it as little as possible. This bill is
based on the idea that they want some assistance,
and it goes on to give that assistance; but this
section goes still further, and increases the power
of the President. I was opposed to increasing the
standing Army for him, as a police force all over
the country. That was the ground on which it
-was put; and I am opposed to increasing this min-
iature army in the city of Washington, to be
placed under the disposition of the President.
This bill, I suppose, is reported with the consent
of the city government.
Mr. BROWN. I must say that I considered
the city government so inefficient that I never con-
sulted them about it.
Mr. HALE. I supposed it was an admission,
on the part of the friends of the bill, that this city
corporation was incompetent to carry on the city
government; and I wanted to know whether they
had confessed it, or whether it was to be taken
for granted. It iseems they have not pleaded
at all, and the chairman of the committee has
taken it for granted that they are utterly ineffi-
cient. I have no doubt of it—not the slightest in
the world. The very fact that they have spent
your $20,000 to pay political partisans, instead of
appointing policemen, shows that they are utterly
incompetent to the duties that are assigned to
them. I am opposed, then, to giving the President
this power, and I am not entirely certain but that
it would be the safest way altogether to postpone
this whole matter until next June, and see if there
is not in this city a set of men that can take the
government of the city in their hands, who are
competent and fair and honest, who will faithfully
discharge the duties which belong to a city gov-
ernment. I shall vote for striking out this sec-
tion.
The amendment was rejected; there being on a
division—ayes 20, noes 21.
Mr. JOHNSON, of Tennessee. I desire to in-
quire of the Chair whether it is in order to move
to recommit the bill to the committee that reported
it, with instructions.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Such motion
is in order.
Mr. JOHNSON, of Tennessee. Then I move
to recommit the bill to the Committee on the Dis-
trict of Columbia, with instructious to report a
bill retroceding the District of Columbia to the
State of Maryland, reserving the public buildings
and public grounds, &c., and that said commit-
tee report at the earliest moment practicable.
I have but one object in view. It is, if I can,
to impart some efficiency to the police of this city.
There is great complaint here that we do not make
sufficient appropriations, that Congress has ex-
clusive power of legislation over the District; that
we are their guardians, and that we should appro-
priate whatever they ask. They have no Ropre-
j sentativc in Congress. Now,if we retrocede this
| District to the State of Maryland, they can be
' represented in her Legislature, and have the power
to tax themselves, and appropriate the money
raised by taxation for all the necessary purposes
of the community. The people of that portion
of the District ceded by Virginia were anxious to
go back to her jurisdiction, and they were retro-
ceded to Virginia by a law passed some years
since, and we have never heard any complaints
from them since. Pass this District back to Mary-
land, reserving the public buildings and grounds,
and we get clear of all this trouble. I venture to
predict now, that if you send this bill back to the
committee, with these instructions, with a proba-
bility that the Senate will pass a bill of that kind,
in four weeks from to-day, there will be an effi-
cient, energetic police in this city, and you will
not hear of another murder, or robbery, or assas-
sination during the session of Congress.
Mr. HALE. I move to strike out the reserva-
tion in the instructions as to the public buildings
and grounds.
The amendment was agreed to.
The motion to recommit as amended was re-
jected.
Mr. CRITTENDEN. In the eleventh line of
the first section I move to amend the bill by strik-
ing out " the President by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate," and inserting " the
circuit court of the United States for the District
of Columbia," so as to give the appointment of
the chief of this force to the circuit conrt.
The amendment was rejected.
The bill was reported to the Senate as amend-
ed; and the amendments agreed to as in Commit-
tee of the Whole were concurred in.
Mr. TRUMBULL. I was not exactly satisfied
with the vote on the amendment offered by the
Senator from Kentucky; and I now offer that
amendment again m the Senate, so as to give the
appointment of the chief of this police force to
the circuit court of the United States for the Dis-
trict of Columbia, instead of vesting it in the
President. I renew that amendment.
Mr. GREEN, i call for the yeas and nays on
the amendment. I would rather trust the Presi-
dent and Senate combined than the court by itself.
The yeas and nays were ordered. '
Mr. CRITTENDEN. The honorable Senator
from Missouri took occasion, a little while ago,
to give me some instruction as to the unconstitu-
tionality of the provision which I suggested. I
dare say his remark would have been appropriate
enough if he had not forgotten that this is legis-
lation in relation to the District of Columbia—a
territory under the almost unlimited control of
Congress in all respects. I should like to know
what constitutional inhibition would prevent us
from conferring the appointment of this municipal
force upon the Vice President and Speaker of the
House of Representatives. If I understand the
Constitution in regard to the Territories of the
United States, there is no power that Congress
may not exercise, except that which,is forbidden
by the Constitution. That is my understanding
of the Constitution of the United States, and you
have shown it in all your exercise of power. You
have shown it particularly in the appointment of
judges. The Constitution says that the judicial
power shall be exercised by judges holding their
office during good behavior. You are not limited
by that in respect to the Territories. You appoint
the territorial judges for a term of years. . The
constitutional inhibitions on that subject do not
apply to the Territories, nor does any constitu-
tional provision, that I know of, apply to the
manner in which we may constitute or chouse to
appoint an officer as the head of an official force
of this kind here. I feel myself bound to suggest
this to the honorable Senator for his considera-
tion.
I have heard, and I regret to detain the Senate
a moment while I say so, the most extraordinary
doctrines urged during this debate. Here is a
temporary and momentary exigency demanding
an additional police force. In my opinion, it sets
a most dangerous example, and involves high
principles. You are establishing here, in the heart
of this city, a quasi military force. You are doing
it, as we are told by one gentleman, especially in
respect to elections. We are told by another gen-
tleman that this provision recommends itself to
him, because lie thinks that persons who engage
in election riots, ought to be considered altogether
as enemies to the country, the worst of its ene-
mies, and ought to be shot down as such. These
doctrines are new. They amaze me, I confess;
but we are making provision to shoot down peo-
ple at elections, are w«? Is that the idea, unless
they observe a certain course of demeanor and
practice a decorum which shall be prescribed by
whom? They are at the hazard of their lives to
observe it without anybody to teach it! What
may be right in the opinion of one gentleman
may not be in the opinion of another gentleman.
What is right on the part of our political oppo-
nents in heated elections is, in the eyes of those
who constitute the Opposition, a very different
thing. Who is to decide, and who is to shoot
first? Upon any principle of equality, I should
think both sides ought to have military force ready
to shoot down the other, in case of anything oc-
curring which they should decide upon the instant,
m the heat of an election, to be a riot.
Sir, these elections of ours do sometimes run
into violence, riots, and mobs, thatare to be dep-
recated and condemned, and nobody is more
ready to do it than I am. Nobody feels a stronger
repugnance to any such course of conduct than I
do. The people on all occasions in my country,
and that is almost the only place where I have
ever seen elections, consider themselves entitled to
some little license on that day. It is a free day;
it is the day of the election, when a man feels
rather fuller of his rights and powers than he
does on any other occasion. That is the time the
militia are to be ready to shoot him down, if, in
the exultation of such feelings, excited feelings,
he commits what they would call a riot! I am
surprised at the assertion of such sentiments
here. We are providing for their suppression
with an injunction to shoot them down as the
worst enemies of the country !■ These are entire-
ly new doctrines. I have seen many elections,
and I have hardly ever seen a contested election