George F. Hoar

Anthony was a learned man; learned in the history of the Senate and in parliamentary law; learned in the history of his country and of foreign countries; learned in the resources of a full, accurate and graceful scholarship.

No man would attack either with impunity under circumstances which called on him for reply, as he showed on some memorable occasions.

The American people was ready to address itself bravely to the new conditions and new problems, or to old problems under new conditions.

The angers and influences of the Civil War had gradually cooled under the healing influence of Grant.

It was a company of very wise men, fairly representing the best sentiment and aspiration of the Republic.

How can he discharge that duty, if he had already not only formed an opinion, but acted upon the matter under the control and direction of another department of the Government?

He is bound to meet his associates at the great National Council Board as an equal, to hear their reasons as well as to impart his own.

They exercise an authority, and are clothed with a dignity equal to that of the highest and most important diplomatic officer, and far superior to that of most of the civil officers of the country.

But I am afraid my excellent Republican brethren can furnish quite as many instances of this servility as their opponents.

So, if any President shall hereafter repeat this attempt it will require a good deal of firmness to defeat it.

I think that sooner or later some emphatic action will be taken, probably in the form of a declaratory resolution, which will put an end to this abuse.

The fear of Executive influence was in that day constantly before the framers of the Constitution and the people who adopted it.

He was to preserve his independence of Executive influence, and to approach all questions in which he might have to deal with matters which concerned the Executive power, or Executive action, absolutely free from any bias.

The legislator was not to be induced to create a civil office, or to increase its emoluments, at the request of the Executive, in the hope that he might be appointed.

If that practice continue, it will go far, in my judgment, to destroy the independence and dignity of the Senate.

And while the strong will of Jackson subjugated Senators, in many cases, as it did other men, yet it roused an antagonism not only in his political opponents, but in many important men of his own party, which would have overthrown him but…

President McKinley, with his great wisdom and tact and his delightful individual quality, succeeded in establishing an influence over the members of the Senate not, I think, equalled from the beginning of the Government, except possibly by…

I think President McKinley, doubtless with the best and purest intentions, did still more to curtail the dignity and authority of the office.

The reform of the civil service has doubtless shorn the office of Senator of a good deal of its power.

Each of these stars kept his own orbit and shone in his sphere, within which he tolerated no intrusion from the President, or from anybody else.

While, in my opinion, this claim of the Senators was untenable and of injurious public consequences, it tended to maintain and increase the authority of the Senate.

What was called Senatorial Courtesy required every Senator belonging to the party in the majority to support every other in demanding the right to dictate and control the executive and judicial appointments from their respective States.

After the war ended the Senate was engaged in a controversy with Andrew Johnson, during which there could be no healthy action either of the executive or the legislative branch of the Government.

But the National authority itself, of which the Senate was a part, was restricted by the narrow construction which prevailed before the Civil War.

If we may trust the traditions that have come down from the time of the Administrations of Washington and Adams, when the Senate sat with closed doors, none of them ever acquired the authority wielded by the profound sagacity of Ellsworth.