The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-11 00:00:00

mony was refused by 30 to 19. The President's
counsel, however, did not abandon the struggle to
get in the evidence of the Cabinet till they had
been baffled in another attempt, the question next
coming up in this form, " whether there was any
discussion as to the vacation of any office, or the
obtaining of possession of the same by force." On
the failure of this attempt the counsel yielded the
point, and Edgar T. Wells succeeding on the stand,
corroborated what his father had said about the
officers suddenly called to the General's head-
quarters from an evening party on the 21st Febru-
ary. Postmaster-General tmndall gave evidence
that Foster Blodgett, the postmaster at Augusta,
Georgia, had been suspended by him, contrary to
law, on complaint of misconduct, without the know•
ledge of the President, being indicted for perjury
and other crimes. An attempt was made in the
following form by Senator Sherman to extract the
evidence as to the Cabinet deliberations :—" Whe-
ther the question as to the applicability of the
Tenure-of-Office Law to members of the Cabinet
appointed by Mr. Lincoln ever came before the
Cabinet for discussion, and if so, what were the
opinions expressed ?" but it was ruled out by 26 to
20. A sharp passage took pia& between Mr. Butler
and Mr. Randall, and the General was rebuked by
the Chief Justice. Mr. Evarts announced that the
continued illness of Mr. Stanbery prevented coun-
sel stating positively whether the evidence for the
defence was all in, but they believed it was, and the
trial was adjourned till Monday.
April 20.—ThePresident's counsel commenced by
announcing their case as closed, and the Managers
were called upon for rebutting testimony. Mr.
Bingham stated that one or two witnesses had been
subpcenaed early in the trial, but had not been found,
but he hoped to produce them in 48 hours. Senator
Reverdy Johnson wished to know whether the
Managers desired to offer testimony after the argu-
ment was begun. Mr. Bingham; although the
privilege was customary, said he was not aware
that the Managers wished to avail themselves of it.
Senator Yates repeated Mr. Johnson's question,
and Mr. Bingham still evaded a direct answer.
After extracts from the Senate journal and other
documents had been presented by Mr. Butler to
show the practice of appointing officers, the Post-
master-General was placed on the stand. He cer-
tified the correctness of a copy of the indictment
against Foster Blodgett, on which he had suspended
him as postmaster at Augusta. To this Mr.
Butler offered Blodgett's answer, but the defence
objected, Blodgett not being on trial, and he did
not require rebutting testimony. Mr. Butler, while
stating what the Managers proposed to prove, was
interrupted by the Chief Justice to have it put in
writing, when Butler expressed his astonishment at
the interruption, observing that the President's
counsel, had never been interfered with in that way,
but the Chief Justice peremptorily said, the
offer must be put in writing. This was done,
and the testimony without a division declared
to be inadmissible. It was on this occasion that
Mr. Butler observed, " It is probable that Mr.
Blodgett will be sent here to take his seat in this
House beside the noblest of you ; he is a man qua-
lified to fill any position on this floor," a remark
that appears to us not particularly well calculated
for the attainment of the object Mr. Butler had in
view. The President's• order appointing General
Sherman to the command of the department of the
Atlantic was offered, and after an argument with-
drawn, but the nomination of Sherman and Thomas
to be Generals by brevet was refused by a vote of
35 to 14, 24 Republicans joining the majority. As
this class of testimony could not ba admitted, the
Managers announced the case to be closed, and the
President's counsel made a similar statement.
Several attempts to get permission for the other
Managers and counsel to speak, and to print and
file their speeches were defeated, and the trial
was adjourned to Wednesday.
April 22.—Chief Justice Chase announced that
Mr. Stanbery, on account of ill health, had with-
drawn from all further proceedings. For two
hours the Senate discussed whether the Managers
and counsel not authorized to speak should be
allowed to present and file their arguments. Finally
the motion offered by Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, was
adopted, that as many Managers and counsel as
desire, be permitted to file written arguments, or
address the Senate orally, providing that the con-
cluding oral argument be made by only one
Manager as provided in the first rule. The division
on the resolution was 21 to 22. Mr. Boutwell com-
menced his argument for the Managers and prose-
cution a little before one o'clock, the Chamber being
densely filled With a brilliant audience. He spoke
of the prospect of a speedy end of the important
trial and of its arduous duties ; of the magnitude of
the interests and responsibilities involved, the direct
and conclusive proof by which the House had s►ts-
tained its charges. He discussed the claim of the
President to the power to remove at all times any
executive officer, a claim which has never before
been asserted, never sanctioned, and which no law
justifies. If the claim is acknowledged, it strips
the Senate of all practical power in making appoint-
ments, and confers on the President power to re-
move every one refusing to be his instrument. The
effect of the unlimited exercise of such power was
considered and depicted at length, and the
speaker passed to the discussion of the constitu-
tional powers of the President and the Senate.
The legislative was the controlling branch of the
Government, the only one whose power was directly
derived from the Constitution. and the people, the
Executive and judicial being dependent upon it.
The President's assumption of authority not granted
by the Constitution and laws, is a violation of his
oath of office. llis crime is that he violated a law,
and the defence car.not be set up that the law is un-
constitutional, nor is such inquiry within the pro-
vince of the Senate. The' Act is binding upon all
officers and departments, and if the President can
refuse to execute it because he thinks it unconsti-
tutional, then he and his successors may refuse to
execute any law not sanctioned by the Supreme
Court. Purity of motives cannot be pleaded by
the President as an excuse, for he had no right
whatever to commit a crime, and his plea that he
wanted to get the law into the Courts was of no
value, for he had never taken any of the steps
necessary to that result. The act of the President
was usurpation, and no criminal was ever arraigned
who had a more unsatisfactory excuse for he
crimes. He had no right to do what he says he in-
tended to do, and the evidence shows that there was
no attempt to do what he assigned as his purpose.
The legal arguments which the defence had pro-
duced for the support of the President's action
were answered at length by Mr. Boutwell, who
summed up the whole in the statement that "it is
apparent that the President's conduct finds no sup-
port either in the Constitution, in the Act of 1789,
or in the legislation of 1795." The constitutiona-
lity of the Tenure-of-Office Act was properly con-
sidered and defended, and its application in the case
of Mr. Stanton earnestly insisted on, Mr. Boutwell
contending that the office only could be vacated by
resignation, or by confirmation by the Senate of a
nomination by the President. The arguments of
the counsel for the President, relative to the intent,
were combated at length, the Manager maintain
ing that, in the wilful violation of the law, the Pre-
sident disclosed a criminal intent, which cannot be
qualified by any rebutting testimony. He denied
that the President had a right to violate the law to
obtain a judicial determination upon its constitu-
tionality, as is claimed by his counsel ; and the
theory that such a course is right, is abhorrent to
every just principle of government, and dangerous
to the existence of the institutions of the United
States. Mr. Boutwell took up the charges one by
one, and showed, with great force, how they were
established by the evi lence, how the action of the
President infringed the statutes, and set at naught
the customs of the country, and showed the
guilt of his design ; while at much length he
answered the arguments of the President's counsel
and exposed the weak points of the defence. Ile
concluded with these words :—" The corruptions
of the public service have enriched multitudes of
his adherents. These classes of men, possessing
wealth and influence in many cases, have exerted
their power to close up every avenue of information.
Hence the efforts of the House of Representatives
and of the Mauagers.to procure testimony, which