Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol III).djvu/392

cretionary power in congress, to some extent, cannot well be questioned. If any discretion should be allowed, its limits could hardly admit of being exactly defined;

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already waiting for months, and the senate have not been able to find a moment of time to attend to them; and this evil must constantly increase, so that the senate must be constantly sitting, and must be paid as long as they sit.
"'But I have tired your patience. Is there any truth or importance in these broken hints and crude surmises, or not? To me they appear well founded, and very important.'
"To these remarks Mr. Sherman replied, that he esteemed 'the provision made for appointments to office to be a matter of very great importance, on which the liberties and safety of the people depended, nearly as much as on legislation. If that was vested in the president alone, he might render himself despotic. It was a saying of one of the kings of England, "that while the king could appoint the bishops and judges, he might have what religion and laws he pleased." To give that observation its full effect, they must hold their offices during his pleasure; by such appointments, without control, a power might be gradually established, that would be more formidable than a standing army.
"'It appears to me, that the senate is the most important branch in the government, for the aid and support of the executive, for securing the rights of the individual states, the government of the United States, and the liberties of the people. The executive is not to execute its own will, but the will of the legislature declared by the laws, and the senate, being a branch of the legislature, will be disposed to accomplish that end, and advise to such appointments, as will be most likely to effect it; from their knowledge of the people in the several states, they can give the best information who are qualified for office. And they will, as you justly observe, in some degree lessen his responsibility, yet, will he not have as much remaining as he can well support? and may not their advice enable him to make such judicious appointments, as to render responsibility less necessary? no person can deserve censure, when he acts honestly according to his best discretion.
"'The senators, being chosen by the legislatures of the states, and depending on them for re-election, will naturally be watchful to prevent any infringement of the rights of the states. And the government of the United States being federal, and instituted by a number of sovereign states for the better security of their rights, and advancement of their interests, they may be considered as so many pillars to support it, and by the exercise of the state governments, peace and good order may be preserved in the places most remote from the seat of the federal government, as well as at the centre.