The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-11-27
Impcachmen, of sle pre.ident.

The writer suggests several things, very OBJ
iectionable in Mr.. johnson, which he considers
insufficient to justify his impeachment 1t is
said we cannot impeach him for his drunken
ness at the time of the Inauguration of Presi-
dent Lincoln, because it has been forgiven. 1t
is said surely, it cannot be "for his faults OF
character" that "we have no more right to i'm
peach him for obstinacy or conceit than 1of reo
hair or squint;" that ''we cannot inpea0h
him for lack of dignity, or for triuniph'hs over
poor little Queen Emma WIN MS sm"Ssoi
about this great country ana 'he inipho" '0"
parison with those paltry islahds Oh hers'
that "we cannot impeach hun Tor his veto mes
sages." ,,,
AGAIN the writer says "We do not assert,
he II observed, that a coup d'etat is the only
Ground of impeachment; but we do say that
il is proper to aodit for some indiSputdble ground
Of action"
Again the writer says: "They [those who
call for impeachment believe him 1.-THE Pres
identl a dangerous man, as no doubt he is.
But he cannot be removed VRon suspicion. He
must do something, and in our opinion it ought
to be very definite and tangible to justify his
impeachment" Again the writer says: Watch
him. Let Congress see to it that he does his
duty. He, like every other citizen, must sub
nit to the laws. If he is guilty of any offence
against the majesty of the people, if he clearly
| transcends the limits of his lawful authority,
| if without warrant of law he sends United
| States troops into Maryland, for instance, I'M
| peach him at once But in amatter of such
moment, let us take no rash step. Let the
proof be clear as daylight, and the act not
merely a technical but an actual crime" The
whole article goes strongly against the I'M
parchment and certainly implies that there
| is no sufficient ground for removing President
johnson from office. We never should for one
moment have thought of removing the Presi-
| dent for any of the causes alluded to in the
| article aforesaid. Yet we maintain that he
deserves to be impeached and removed from
| Office for great crime against the majesty of
| the people. He deserves to be turned out of
office not for a technical, but for an actual
crime; and the proof is as clear as daylight"
| We do not ask his removal upon suspicion"
but for real guilt. We have no occasion to
| soait for indisputable ground of action. We
| have already waited too long, when we had in
disputable ground of action.
Anu SUTdHBc W say tuC BlOoe SlAiS VI SAAuAS'
for which President johnson in our Judgment
should be removed from office, is not even al
luded to in the aforesaid article. 1t is this:
lie has alsaaped the poaoer to reorganize state
governments in seven rebel States conquered By
the national armies, and in reorgonizing goue'n-
n,ents for those States, he has placed the posoer
aoholty in the hands of traitors and having thus
set up illegal governments and placed the poiOer
wholly in the hands Of traitors, he still insists
upon recognizing and maintaining those tyr0n-
nical governments of has creation as legal author
ized TO tran1ple on the rights and destroy the
hoes and property of the Union men black and
unite in those States. This is the great crime
for which the President deserves to be remov-
ed from office 1t is not technical; but actual.
1t as clear as the sun at MONDAY This great
crime is the chief cause of all our national diff
fculties. There is no occasion to wait for 9TH
er crimes. For this crime the President should
have been impeached and removed last winter
We have no doubt the President is guilty as
accessory before the fact, of all the murders and
woundings perpetrated by Mayor Monroe and
the policemen of New Orleans ON the unof-
ending members of the constitutional conven-
ton and the negroes at the time said conven-
ton was called together. He is guilty of gross
abuse of the pardoning power, especially in
pardoning traitors and counterfeitors He is
guilty of appointing to Office and keeping in
Office and paying men, who could
not take the oath required by law, be-
cause they had been implicated in the rebell-
ion. He is guilty ofhigh crimes and misdemean-
ors too numerous to particularize. Some of
these are sufficiently fragrant to justly his inn
parchment and removal from Office. But they
are all or mostly merely incidental to the great
crime of usurpation above set forth in italics.
If Congress will not.impeach the President
and turn him out of office for the great crime of
asu5pation, there is no reason why they should
not pass over all his other crimes and INSIDE
meanors. Moreover if Congress shall be guilty
of such madness as to recognize and ratify the
sham State governments, which Andrew John
son has set up, we hold they will be thereby
stopped from impeaching him for his great
crime In fact, by SO doing the majority of each
House in Congress, will become partakers of |
his great crime.
AS to the political effect of impeachment we
say if the President should be removed from
Office for his usurpation, il would be one of the
adopt On the other hand, if there are SO
many weakened, cowardly Republicans in
the Senate that majorityof two-thirds cannot
be obtained, then the impeachment would re-
act in favor of the usurper, and bring him SYM
pathy. j. w.
Nov. "a 1866