The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-03 00:00:00

• I.
now grown used ah to being in;
.00.1:atut ie.- •
constructed in the United States. 'hie-South is
overflowing with Reconstruction, - ju4.q.:54.%"'
sosr is stuffed with impeachment, b -loth lav
come to a crisis. ANDREW JOHNSON iiket nip s
appear at the bar of the Senate, and we sup-
pose the Reconstruction Bill No. 4 will soon be
the law of the land.. It is not easy to over-
rate the importance of these events. Trivial
as may appear the cause of the quarrel, it really
springs from a source deeply affecting the wel-
fare of the nation, and is likely to have a perma-
nent influence on the Government of the Union.
There are few Americans who care two straws about
ANDREW JOHNSON or EDWIN STANTON. Bsth
are personally unpopular. Equalling each other in
obstinacy and ability ; equally impressed with the
truth of their convictions; equally diet ttorial and
despotic, there never were two men less inclined
than these Republican Chiefs to shape their course
at the dictation of the majority. ANDREW JOHN-
SON plants his foot on the Constitutions-STAx-roN
stands on his party principles, and nothing csn
move either. Bat sorry as the quarrel may be,
miserable as is the spectacle of a President en.lea-
vouring forcibly to eject a Member of the Cabinet
from the office of which he is the incumbent, while
the Secretary as forcibly resists, yet, it derives an
importance from the Constitutional principles in-
volved. The real question touches the relative
powers of the President an I of the Congress ;
the struggle is for supremacy. Henceforth the posi-
tion; of the Legislature and the Executive will be
changed,ifor that change must come, sooner or later,
from the events lOW progressing. The struggle
may be a protracted one, or it may be quick and.
decisive ; but future Presidents will either rule
with a more defined power, or they will be, but the
head clerks of Congressional c nntnittees. This
question must ultimately be settled by the people.
Congress may demolish the Preskteattls person .
of ANDREW JOIINSON;AL may shut him up in the
Dry Tortugas, and give him an illuminated copy of
the Constitution over which to ponder, or leave him
to veto bills and concoct Messages in the White
House, but ultimately the people must decide
whether their Representatives assembled in Co»
gres, or their elected one presiding at the White
House, is to be supreme in the United States. It
must now be clear to all that they cannot work
with equal powers ; the one or the other must be
master, and have the means of enforcing decrees.
No written document has ever yet restrained either
a legislative body or a succession of individuals. A
number of Presidents may follow each other and
strictly observe the written code. Decades may
come and go, and the question may not arise to in-
duce the Legislature to pass beyond its limits. But
the time surely arrives when the intractable Presi-
dent and the usurping House, or, the intractable
Legislature and usurping Executive will clash.
Two means only are then open for a settlement—
the one an appeal to arms ; the other an appeal to
the people. If there be a powerful army implicitly
obeying the PRESIDENTaS Commander-in-Chief, and
he has the courage to use it, he will remain master
of the position. But this leads directly to a
despotism. If he cannot make this appeal, and no
other be open, the Legislature will strip him of
power by enactment till he becomes a mere puppet.
Against this the Constitution endeavoured to guard
by providing a tribunal of the most eminent lawyers,
whose decision on the constitutionality of legislative
enactments should be final. The value of this
Court has been tested and found wanting, as the
simple expedient is open to a powerful Congres-
sional majority of passing a law abolishing the
jurisdiction of the Court. If a Legislature can
overthrow such obstacles by enacting that these
obstacles shall cease to exist, no such restraints can
stand between it and absolute control. It is im-
possible to predict how the Republic will escape from
these difficulties. If ANDREW JOHNSON is powerless
to carry into effect his threat of resisting by force,
there is an end of the Presidential power so long
as his term lasts. By degrees parties in Congress
may be more nearly balanced, when the PRESIDENT'S
veto will be effectual against obnoxious measures.
But the struggle cannot fail to leave its effects be-
hind. For years such a contest was carried on in
England,and eventually the powers of the Sovereign
passed into the hands of Parliament. For a dead-
lock, however, such as that at which the Govern-
ment at Washington has arrived, there was the
effectual remedy of a dissolution of Parliament, and
an appeal to the people. This is the true constitu-
tional expedient ; and however perfect may be the
Constitution of the United States, until a provision
for an immediate appeal can be introduced, it can -
never be secure against a repetition of the present
block in public affairs, unless Congress maintains the
power it has assumed of making its laws override
even the Constitution of the country.

Many suppose that should the Radicals be de-
feated in future elections, and the present Opposi-
tion become the ruling party, that the then Congress
would undo the work of the present Congress,
stripping itself of power and reasserting the ancient
Constitution. History, however, does not support
this supposition. Democratic members may now
denounce in impassioned language the usurpation
of Congress—that is, the rule of their enemies ; but
when the power becomes theirs, are they likely to
strip themselves of it even in obedience to a Con-
stitutional principle ? No. They will strengthen
themselves with every fragment of authority,
and it will be the turn of the Republican mem-
bers to denounce and bewail the tendency of
legislative bodies to appropriate to themselves
the Constitutional privileges of others. People
may rest assured that Congress will keep all
it can get, no matter whether the majority be
Republican or Democratic. Therefore the fight is
between the Legislature and the Executive—not
between parties. It is essentially a contest arising
out'of the Civil War, and affecting the future Go-
vernment of the United States.

Looking dispassionately at the position, setting
aside all Mr. JonNsoN's faults, and weighing as
accurately as we can the merits of the squabble—
for the mere circumstances deserve no better name
—we believe that legally the PRESIDENT has the
balance of right. Mr. JonssoN is impeached for
high crimes and misdemeanours. ;The Constitution
intended that this power should be exercised by
Congress to arrest the career of a cor-
rupt or insane man, or one whose ambi-
tion led to the belief that . he aimed at the
purple. Now what is the crime for which
ANDREW JOHNSON is impeached? For obstructing
an Act which he, and it is believed the Supreme
Court, state to be unconstitutional. There are two
enactments, for opposition to which ANDREW JOHN-
SON will probably be accused. The one is Recon-
struction, the other the Tenure-of-Office Act ; and
on themainly
latter it
he
is b
i s probableeltheo h charges
l
N directly
o and in-
fringed
Twlbe
based, as N
it by his order removing Ira. vseT
nominating Mr. THOMAS EWING as Secretary of
War. As regards his opposition to Reconstruction,
it is clear from the action of the Reconstruction
Committee that no charge could be sustained, for
out of nine members, seven of whom were Republi-
cans, Mr. STEVENS, with all his influence and all
his impetuosity, could only carry two with him in
voting for impeachment. From thisit may be con-
cluded that the charge will altogether hinge on the
PRESIDENT'S recent removal of Mr. STANTON. Vow
Mr. JOHNSON maintains that that removal was no
violation of the Tenure-of-Office Act, while he
affirms that the Act itself is unconstitutional. Two
preliminary questions must then be decided even
before the PRESIDENT'S conduct can be considered.
Supposing both to be given against Mr. JOHNSON,
what degree of criminality is there when a man
responsible both to Congress and the people for the
execution of the laws—recommends the removal of.
a subordinate in whom he has no confidence? As
an incumbent holds office till the Senate confirm
his successor, what is called a dismissal is little more
than this. It will be found, when the question
argued without prejudice, that Congress has no case
and to maintain the position they will have to re-
vert to the arbitrary decree, that it is the will of
the Representatives that an obnoxious PRESIDENT
shall cease to occupy the White House. At the
same time there can be no doubt that Mr. JOHNSON,
while acting within the law, has done all he can to
thwart the legitimate efforts of Congress in reconv
Btructing the LT4ip.--.4ng10-American Times,