The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-09 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, DEC. 9, 1867.

The news brought by the Atlantic Telegraph this
morning is hi6hly important, and indicates very
forcibly the change which has come over the spirit
of American politics. " The resolution for the
impeachment of President JOHNSON," so runs the
message, " has been defeated in the louse of Re-
The voting was 57 yeas and 108

presentatives.

nays." Twelve months ago it would have been
difficult to convince the Radicals of the possibility of
such a transformation. They had, as they imagined,
a firm hold of the reins, and they did not believe
that their adversaries would ever be able to hinder
their headstrong and reckless progress. No
doubt this conviction precipitated their downfal
by the extremes to which it led them, and the
tone of the report presented by the Judiciary Com-
mittee in favour of the impeachment shows even now
little abatement of their arrogance. it was only on
Saturday that we published the news brought by
the Scotia from New York on the 27th ult., in which
a full account of the report was given. The com-
mittee, it is true, were divided on the question, two
of them censuring the political conduct of the PRE-
SIDENT, but declaring that his offences did not justify
an impeachment, which the evidence would not sus-
tain. Two others adopted a bolder course, and,
while defending the PRESIDENT, plainly de-
clared their conviction that the real ground of
his offence wag his refusal to endorse its partisan
and unconstitutional course. The majority of the
committee, however, tendered an alarming cata-
logue of crimes and misdemeanours. The PRESI-
DENT, they affirm, had neglected to convene Con-
gress when the rebellion collapsed ; in having
usurped the powers of Congress by attempting to
restore the rebellious States to the Union; in having
established illegalprovisional Governments through-
out the South; in having disparaged Congress
before the people; in having corruptly inter-
fered with the elections, and abused the

appointing, removing, and pardoning powers
of his office ; and in having authorised
the national forces to disperse assemblages of loyal
citizens in Louisiana. The last item in the list of
charges crosses the narrow line between the sublime
and the ridiculous. When we remember the riotous
character of the Louisiana " loyal citizens," the
armed negroes and disorderly whites, we shall
hardly be of opinion that their unceremonious dis-
persion demands so serious a step as the impeach-
ment of the highest officer in the country. The
" corrupt interference" with elections, too, with
which the PRESIDENT is charged, comes rather
strangely from the exponents of that party whose
electioneering manoeuvres hare certainly been very
far from immaculate. When we come to examine
the more serious charges we find them scarcely
more tenable. The accusation of usurping the
powers of Congress by attempting to restore the
rebellious States to the Union is not a little singular.
What should the PRESIDENT have done ? Should
he have forgotten that the whole terrible four years
war with all its attendant loss, suffering, and sacri-
fice was waged to preserve the Union ? The favou-
rite Northern theory was, that the Union had never
been broken, and could not be broken ; yet the
Radicals now talk about restoring the rebellious
States to the Union. The first object with every
honest and patriotic man, North and South, was
the restoration of harmony and union. The leading
Southerners themselves so soon as they found the
cause of the Confederacy was indeed hopeless ad-
vocated submission and tranquillity, and as a surer
test of their sincerity they acted up to what they
advocated. General LEE himself, after openly
advising his followers to accept the fortunes of
war, retired into a private position, which he has
since filled with honour and dignity. The Southern
people exhausted by the struggle, mortified by dis-
appointment, with their money spent, their fighting
population decimated, their leaders gone, and
their plantations desolated, subsided into sul_•en
patience. It needed but little forbearance and
magnanimity on the part of the North to hive won
them over to their old allegiance.- But the turbu-
lent and imperious Radicils appeared upon the
scene, and set themselves industriously to wcrk to
rekindle the expiring flame, and to keep open the
wounds which other men were trying to bind
together. They readily perceived that with the
restoration of political harmony aLd social order
their chances of supremacy would be very much
lessened ; whereas the large bodies of eager,
excitable, and ignorant negroes, who only im-
perfectly understood their new position, and
were filled with vague dreams of grants
of land, and Government assistance, offered
them tempting facilities for pursuing the
mischievous and invidious course they have in
reality adopted. The Judiciary Committee blame
the PRESIDENT for establishing illegal provisional
Governments in the South, while the Radicals them-
selves have set at defiance every principle of con-
stitutional law by establishing military governors
over a people in time of peace. If the case had
been reversed, and Mr. JOHNSON had sanctioned
martial law, had interrupted the action of the
courts, had removed the civil officers and put
civil military men in their place, there might
indeed have been ground for serious charges against
him. Had he squandered the public finances and
hampered the action of the financial Minister—bad
he lavished large sums in bounties to members of
Congress and to soldiers in time of peace—he might
have been accused of trifling with the national ex-
chequer. Had he sought in everything his own
personal advantage and aggrandisement—had he
resented every remonstrance, and broken through
every restraint which law or custom, or pub-
lic opinion, or his constitutional oath im-
posed upon him, reproaches of the Legis-
lature might have been justly directed against
him. The Committee accuse Mr. JOHNSON of
having disparaged Congress before the people, but
what have they to say of the language and the
policy which Congress has adopted towards the head
of the State ? When the whole catalogue is summed
up the list of " high crimes and misdemeanours"
reads rather as if it was directed against the Radicals
themselves than against the PRESIDENT ! The
plain speaking of the two members of the Com-
mittee (whose names are not given), who spoke
the truth in a manner not often heard in
any assembly of the kind, comes with a refreshing
simplicity after the inflated denunciations of the
majority. The fact is, Mr. Joinisort stood in the
way of the Radicals, and hopelessly blocked their
road to the appropriation and confiscation of Southern
property. His firmness was not to be moved by
threats or persuasions, by insinuations or entreaties.
While everything seemed in their favour, when the
last elections had given them a Congressional
majority which made the Presidential veto
an empty form, when Mr. JOHNSON'S
own imprudence had alienated many neutral poli-
ticians, the PRESIDENT still stood undaunted. Now
the scene has changed with a suddenness and a com-
pleteness that have surpassed many. The Radicals
have lost the game. They have played their last
card against the PRESIDENT, and the PRESIDET has
won.

The brief autumn session is over, and its results
have been as satisfactory as could have been desired.
The Abyssinian expedition has met with all the
support that the Government could have hoped for,
and notwithstanding some determined attacks made
upon the promoters of it nothing damaging has
been achieved. It is to the credit of both Houses
of the Legislature that this should be the

case, for the honour of the country is con-
cerned in the affair, and any check put
upon it from an influential quarter would