The question of the constitutionality of this statute complicates itself with the power of removal under the National Constitution; but I shall not consider the latter question at this stage. It will naturally present itself when we consider the power of removal under the National Constitution, which has been claimed by the President. For the present I assume the constitutionality of the statute. ITS APPLICATION TO MR. STANTON. I come at once to the question of the application of the statute to Mr. Stanton, so as to protect him against removal without the consent of the Senate. And here I doubt if any question would have arisen but for the hasty words of the Senator from Ohio [Mr. SHERMAN], so often quoted in this proceeding. Unquestionably the Senator from Ohio, when the report of the Conference Committee of the two Houses was under discussion, stated that the statute did not protect Mr. Stanton in his office; but this was the individual opinion of this eminent Senator, and nothing more. On hearing it, I cried from my seat, “The Senator must speak for himself”; for I held the opposite opinion. It was clear to my mind that the statute was intended to protect Mr. Stanton, and that it did protect him. The Senator from Oregon [Mr. WILLIAMS], who was Chairman of the Conference Committee and conducted its deliberations, informs us that there was no suggestion in committee that the statute did not protect all of the President’s Cabinet, including, of course, Mr. Stanton. The debates in the House of Representatives are the same way. Without holding the scales to weigh any such conflicting opinions, I rest on the received rule of law, that they cannot be taken into account in determining the meaning of the statute. And here I quote the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States, pronounced by Chief Justice Taney:-- “In expounding this law, _the judgment of the Court cannot in any degree be influenced by the construction placed upon it by individual members of Congress in the debate which took place on its passage_, nor by the motives or reasons assigned by them for supporting or opposing amendments that were offered. The law as it passed is the will of the majority of both Houses, and the only mode in which that will is spoken is in the Act itself; and we must gather their intention from the language there used, comparing it, when any ambiguity exists, with the laws upon the same subject, _and looking, if necessary, to the public history of the times in which it was passed_.”[199] It is obvious to all acquainted with a legislative body that the rule thus authoritatively declared is the only one that could be safely applied. The Senate, in construing the present statute, must follow this rule. Therefore I repair to the statute, stopping for a moment to glance at the public history of the times, in order to understand its object.