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a ce i A ee ee ee "Tl che, rene det aim a aan att ~D- ‘ This is euch a basic principle that it was recognized as early as the administration of our first President. On February 22 last, the very day on which the Senate agreed to the Resolution under which this Com- mittee is proceeding, the Farewell Address of President Washington was read in the Senate chamber. I call your attention to one paragraph of that Address, which appears on page 2158 of the Congressional Record of February 22, and which to me aptly etates the principles by which we must be governed. President Washington stated: It is important likewise, thet the habite of think- ing in a free country should inspire cauticn in those intrusted with its administration, to confine then- selves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one depart- ment, to encrvech upon another. The spirit of encroach~ ment tends to consolidate the powers of all the cepart- ments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. * * * * If, in the opin- ion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amerdment in the way which the constitution designates.--But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. President Washington was specking from personal experience with the very problem we now have before us--namely, a request by a congressional Committee for the production of documents which in the opinion of the Executive branch must be held confidential in the public interest. The problem, you see, is as old as the Government itself. In March of 1792, the House of Representatives adopted a reaclution establishing a Committee to inquire into the causes of the failure of the expedition under Major General St. Cisir, and empowering that Committee to cali for such papers and records as might be necessary to assist the Com-