The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-12 00:00:00

PRICE.... id.
STAMPED sd.

IMPEACH ENT.

While Congress was peaceably discussing the
business before it about two o'clock on the after-
noon of the 21st February, messengers appeared in
both Chambers from the PRESIDENT, and from the
Secretary of War, to announce that the former had
removed the latter, appointing LORENZO THOMAS
Adjutant-General of the Army, to the vacant office,
ad interim ; at the same time the Senate was in-
formed that Major-General G. H. THOMAS had
been promoted Lieutenant-General and General by
Brevet. The Senate immediately ceased its de-
bates, and went into secret session, in which it re-
mained for seven hours, when the following resolu-
tion was adopted by a strict party vote :
" Whereas the Senate has received and considered the
communication of the President, stating that he had re-
moved Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War, and has
designated the Adjutant-General of the Army to act as
Secretary of War, act interim: therefore, resolved, by the
Senate of the United States, that, under the Constitution
and laws of the United States, the President has no power
to remove the Secretary of War and designate another offi-
cer tope/form the duties of that office."

The House also postponed its regular business to
the consideration of the subject, and referred the
following resolution to the Reconstruction Com-
mittee :

"Resolved, that Andrew Johnson, President of the
United States, be impeached for high crimes and misde-
meanours."

Washington was thrown into a state of excitement
unknown since the night of LINCOLN'S assassination.
The PRESIDENT had exploded the magazine, and
all desired to learn what breach had been effected,
and who was to rush in to occupy the citadel. The
following letter was the cause of the commotion :--
"Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., Feb. 21.

" Sir,—By virtue of the power and authority vested in
me as President by the Constitution and laws of the
United States, you are hereby removed from office as
Secretary of War, and your functions as such will termi-
nate upon receipt of this communication.
"You will transfer to Brevet Major-General Lorenza
Thomas, Adjutant-General of the Army, who has this day
been authorised to act as Secretary of War, ad interim, all
records, books, papers, and other public property now in
your custody and charge.—Respectfully yours,

" ANDREW JOHNSON, President.

"To the ion. Edwin M. Stanton, Washington, D.C."
Shortly after its receipt by the Secretary, Adjutant-
General THOMAS proceeded to the War Office,
where he met Mr. STANTON„WhOM he informed
that, by direction of the PRESIDENT, he had come
to relieve him. Mr. STANTON asked when he in-
tended to take possession ; adding, ironically, that
he supposed time would be allowed to remove
papers. General THOMAS replied that he was non
in possession. On the General's withdrawal, several
leading Senators called at the office to advise Mr.
STANTON to resist the order. Notes of encourage-
ment poured in on the Secretary, and promises of
help. his friends procured from the Circuit Court
Is warrant to arrest Adjutant-General THOMAS for
infringing the Tenure-of-Office Act. The Adja-
tau t-General is personally an enemy to STANTON,
through whose means he had been removed from
the post. He was restored by a special order of
the PRESIDENT after an absence of two years, and
but a few days prior to the embro'glio, having re-
sumed his post from General TOWNSEND on the 14th
February. In Mr. JOHNSON'S eyes his enmity to
STANTON was, perhaps, a better qualification than
his known administrative ability.
Major-General GEORGE H. THOMAS, to whom in
his difficulties the PRESIDENT, failing SHERMAN,
has turned, is an officer second only to SHERMAN in
distinction. During all the operations by which
SHERMAN eventually doubled up the Confederacy,
THOMAS, who was one of his generals of division,
was his right-hand man. It may not be without
interest to our readers to recall the connection of
these two distinguished officers, who, under the
present complications at Washington, have been
thrust by the PRESIDENT so prominently forward.
When HOOD superseded JOHNSTON in the last
year of the war by order of JEFFERSON DAVIS
another system of tactics was inaugurated to
stop SHERMAN'S advance. Following the example
of NAPOLEON on the march of the Allies to
Paris, HOOD swung round to the invaders' rear,
hoping to draw him back by placin himself on
the line of communication. SHERMAN detached
THOMAS to deal with HOOD, and proceeded on his
devastating track. THOMAS, outnumbered, re-
treated on Nashville, drawing his enemy on, while
he kept him at bay by skilful manceuvreing and a
determined front. On the 30th November he re-
pulsed a fierce attack on his entrenchments at
Franklin, in which 6,000 Confederate soldiers fell,
and no less than thirteen general officers. THOMAS
retired, and on the 2d December HOOD established
his lines in front of Nashville, where he awaited re-
inforcements under PRICE. The moment was
critical, for if Nashville bad fallen HOOD would
have been greatly strengthened in this effort
the last aggressive move made by the South.
On the 15th December, THOMAS, having gathered
up all his available strengh, attacked HOOD'S
position, and, after a battle which extended over
two days, routed him, capturing most of his artil-
lery and many thousand prisoners. General
THOMAS'S headquarters are now in the city the scene
of his decisive victory, and failing with GRANT, the
director of these operations, failing with SHERMAN,
Thomas's immediate chief and associate in them, the
PRESIDENT has now turned to him for aid. ANDREW
JOHNSON offers him a great bait ; he proposes to
make him in rank the equal of GRANT, preparatory
to conferring on him the Command-in-Chief ; but
the example of his renowned colleague, General
SHERMAN, is before him. That officer, in a note to
the PRESIDENT, courteously declined the new com-
mand, and the proposed promotion, and Mr. JOHN-
SON has withdrawn the nomination. The note was
forwarded unsealed, through General GRANT, much
to the PRESIDENT'S annoyance. It is generally
thought that THOMAS, though a Southerner, by
birth being a native of Virginia, is too staunch a
Northern soldier to aid the PRESIDENT'S plan of
plunging the Union into another Civil War, and
will also decline the promotion. If so, the PRESI.
DENT'S attempts to draw into his party any of the
most celebrated of the Union soldiers will fail, and
with it will fail his power of resisting Congress by
force. The difficulty people on this side expe-
rience in calculating the position is in esti-
mating how far ANDREW JOHNSON may him-
self be in error. Here is a man persisting.
in a course which leads to open war or to
his own political annihilation, for, if convicted,
he is rendered incapable by the Constitution of
again holding public office. We suppose that this
man must understand the circumstances surround-
ing him, and we imagine a force at his back not
the less real because we cannot see it. All try to
penetrate the mystery, to perceive the power on
which ANDREW JOHNSON must rely in his battle
with Congress. It is, however, not even impro-
bable that the person most completely deluded may
be ANDREW JOHNSON himself. We know that in
his celebrated tour he acted as if in the interest of
his enemies, doing exactly what they wanted him
to do, destroying his influence and injuring the
cause be had at heart. From the day he assumed
office he has been ceaselessly employed in thwart-
ing the accomplishment of his own desires. If
ANDREW JOHNSON'S administration has been a
series of mistakes, an apt illustration of the couplet
applied to the King, one word being changed—

" Who never wrote a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one,"

is it unlikely that he may have deliberately raised
the whirlwind, without any means of directing it,
that blows his own destruction ? Frequent cases of
such infatuation or_lcur in history, and notwith-
standing the PRESIDENT'S threat to maintain the
Executive authority by force, and the issue to which
he has compelled Congress, we may see him bowled
out with scarcely a struggle. The continued decline
in gold is a strong indication that ANDREW JOHN-
SON'S powers of resistance do not equal either his
expectation or his inclination, and he may speedily
find himself lost in even a greater obscurity than
usually falls to the lot of ex-Presidents.—Anglo-
American Times.