The Senate is composed of 52 Republicans and 12 Democrats. There are 10 vacancies. The House of Representatives will consist of 176 Republicans, and 51 Democrats, when all now elected have taken their seats. There are 18 vacancies, or districts which have not elected. Joseph S. Smith,† is Representative elect in the Forty-First Congress from Oregon. At the time of writing (July 20th) the following named members of the present House of Representatives have been nominated for re-election: Messrs. Axtell† and Johnson,† of California; Logan, Farnsworth, Washburn, Ingersoll, Cook, Cullom, Burr,† Mar shall, and Raum, of Illinois; Kerr,† Holman,† Coburn, Orth, Shanks and Williams, of Indiana; Loughridge, of Iowa; Lynch and Blaine, of Maine; Beaman, of Michigan; Laflin and Ward, of New York; Lawrence, Ashley, Wilson, Morgan,† (whose seat was vacated) Bingham and Garfield of Ohio; Randall,† O'Neill, Myers, Kelley and Covode, of Pennsylvania; Arnell, of Tennessee. The dominant party in their respective districts have nominated others to succeed Messrs. Harding, Bromwell, Ross,† and Baker, of Illinois; Julian, Washburn and Colfax, of Indiana; Wilson, Price, Dodge and Hubbard, of Iowa; Perham, of Maine; Driggs, of Michigan; Windom, of Minnesota; Lincoln, of New York; Clarke, Shellabarger, Eckley and Spalding, of Ohio; Wilson, Finney and Moorhead, of Pennsylvania; Hubbard, Kitchen and Polsley, of West Virginia. 5 March 2nd, 1867, Congress by a vote of thirty-five to eleven in the Senate, and one hundred and thirty-three to thirty-seven in the House-a strict party vote-passed a law over the veto of the Presi dent, to regulate the tenure of certain civil offices. The act provided among other things "that every person holding any civil office to which he has been appointed by and with the advice of the Senate, and every person who shall hereafter be appointed to any such office, &c., shall be entitled to hold such office until a successor shall have been appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate and duly qualified.” It specified that members of the Cabinet shall hold their offices respectively for and during the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The act likewise provided that the President may for misconduct or other cause, temporarily suspend officers during the recess of the Senate, and on the meeting of that body, he must report his reasons for such action, and if the Senate concurs he may remove the officer and appoint a successor, but if the Senate does not concur the officer resumes the duties of his office. The penalty for the violation of the act is a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars. President Johnson suspended Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, from office, August 12th, 1867, and Gen. Grant was appointed ad interim to perform the duties of the office. January 13th, 1868, the Senate by a vote of thirty-five to six, voted that they do not concur in the suspension of Mr. Stanton, and General Grant retired and Mr. Stanton resumed his former duties. The Senators voted as follows: YEAS.-Messrs. Anthony, Cameron, Cattell, Chandler, Cole, Conkling, Conness, Corbett, Cragin, Drake, Edmunds, Ferry, Fessenden, Fowler, Frelinghuysen, Harlan, Howard, Howe, Morgan, Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Nye, Patterson of New Hampshire, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Trumbull, Wade, Van Winkle, Williams, Wilson. NAYS.-Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Patterson of Tennessee. Messrs. Henderson and Hendricks paired, Mr. Ross refused to vote, and Messrs. Grimes, Guthrie, Johnson, Norton, Saulsbury, Sherman, Sprague and Willey were absent. February 21st, President Johnson issued two orders, one for the removal of Mr. Stanton, and the other designating Adj. Gen. Lorenzo Thomas to perform the duties of Secretary of War ad interim. Mr. Stanton sent the order received by him to the two Houses of Congress, then in session, and by advice refused to give up his office. The Senate in Executive Session resolved that "under the Constitution and laws of the United States, the President has no power to remove the Secretary of War and designate any other officer to perform the duties of that office ad interim." The Senators voting in the affirmative were Messrs. Anthony, Cameron, Cattell, Cole, Conkling, Cragin, Drake, Ferry, Harlan, Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Patterson of New Hampshire, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, Yates. In the previous December, an attempt had been made to have Mr. Johnson impeached, but only fifty-seven members (all Republicans) had voted for it, while one hundred and eight members (sixty-seven Republicans and forty-one Democrats) voted in the negative. The act of the President in attempting to remove Mr. Stanton and appoint a Secretary ad interim, and the votes of the Senate, January 13th and February 21st, revived the subject of impeachment, and on the twenty-fourth of February by a vote of one hundred and twenty-six to forty seven, the House Resolved, That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors. The Representatives voted as follows: FOR IMPEACHMENT. Clarke, Ohio. Hooper, Mass. Hopkins, Wisconsin. |