rtments. The President has no more right to
control or exercise the powers conferred by law upon them than they
have to control him in the discharge of his duties. It is especially
the custom of Congress to intrust to the Secretary of the Treasury
specific powers over the currency, the public debt and the collection
of the revenue. If he violates or neglects his duty he is subject
to removal by the President, or impeachment by the House of
Representatives, but the President cannot exercise or control the
discretion reposed by law in the Secretary of the Treasury, or in
any head or subordinate in any department of the government. This
limitation of the power of the President, and the distribution of
power among the departments, is an essential requisite of a republican
government, and it is one that an army officer, accustomed to give
or receive orders, finds it difficult to understand and to observe
when elected President.

Congress convened on the 6th of December, 1869. The chief
recommendations submitted to Congress by the President related to
the gradual reconstruction of the states lately in rebellion, to
the resumption of specie payments and the reduction of taxation.
The relations of Great Britain and the United States growing out
of the war were treated as a grave question, and a hope was expressed
that both governments would give immediate attention to a solution
of the just claims of the United States growing out of the Civil
War. The message was brief, modest, conservative and clear. He
closed by saying that on his part he promised a rigid adherence to
the laws and their strict enforcement.

The most important measure consummated during this Congress was
the adoption of the 15th amendment of the constitution of the United
States, declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State,
dated March 30, 1870, to have been ratified by the legislatures of
twenty-nine of the thirty-seven states, as follows:

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

It is a question of grave doubt whether this amendment, though
right in principle, was wise or expedient. The declared object
was to secure impartial suffrage to the negro race. The practical
result has been that the wise provisions of the 14th amendment have
been modified by the 15th amendment. The latter amendme