The resolutions were adopted March 12, 1860, and on the same day Mr. Hyatt was committed to the common jail of Washington. * * * * * On the 15th of June, 1860, Mr. Mason, of Virginia, Chairman of the Harper’s Ferry Investigating Committee, in submitting his final report, further submitted the following order. “_Ordered_, That Thaddeus Hyatt, a witness confined in the jail of this city for refusal to appear and testify before said committee, be discharged from custody, and that a copy of this order be delivered to the jailer by the Sergeant-at-Arms, as his warrant for discharging said prisoner.” On the question upon its passage, Mr. Sumner spoke as follows. MR. PRESIDENT,--I welcome with pleasure the proposition for the discharge of Mr. Hyatt from his long incarceration in the filthy jail where he has been detained by the order of the Senate. But I am unwilling that this act of justice should be done to a much injured citizen, without for one moment exposing the injustice which he has received at your hands. The case, it seems to me, can be made as plain as a diagram. We must not forget a fundamental difference between the powers of the House of Representatives and the powers of the Senate. It is from the former that the Senator from Virginia has drawn his precedents, and here is his mistake. To the House of Representatives expressly are given by the Constitution _inquisitorial_ powers, while no such powers are given to the Senate. This is contained in the words, “The House of Representatives shall have the _sole_ power of impeachment.” Here, then, obviously, is something delegated to the House, and not delegated to the Senate,--namely, those inquiries in their nature preliminary to impeachment, which may or may not end in impeachment; and since, by the Constitution, every “civil officer” of the national government may be impeached, the _inquisitorial_ powers of the House may be directed against every “civil officer,” from the President down to the lowest on the list. This is an extensive power, but it is confined solely to the House. Strictly speaking, the Senate has no general _inquisitorial_ powers. It has, we know, _judicial powers_ in three cases under the Constitution:-- 1. To try impeachments; 2. To judge the elections, returns, and qualifications of its members; 3. To punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, to expel a member. In the execution of these powers, the Senate has the attributes of a court, and, according to established precedents, it may summon witnesses and compel their testimony, although it may well be doubted if a law be not necessary even to the execution of this power.