The Van Buren press., 1866-10-26
Impeachment Of the President /.

Impeachment OF the President.
H That the Radicals intend to impcacl
Mr.. Johnson seeems to be, among all in
formed men, a foregone conclusion. This
fatal step taken, the momentous qucs
ton presents itself "What will th.
President do 2 In reply to this query
there seems TO no disagreement as to one
thing, and that is that Mr. Johnson will
not suffer himself tried by the present
body calling itself the Senate of the Uni
ted States. What then will he do? Her,
opinions differ widely, and conjecture is
.onr only resort He may, like Cromwell,
enter the halls Of Congress, backed bv
the all powerful army, and say, Shame
on ye! Begone give place to honest
er men" We do not believe he will do
this, for il would then throw the onus of
open rupture and armed hostility upon the
President, upon which the hue and cry of
military dcspotism would be heard
throughout New England, and would be
re-echoed by the radicals throughout the
entire north, (as well as mum5led by the
bob-tails in the Southern States. Mr..
johnson is too shrewd for this. He will
be more apt to call upon the Conserva-
tive men of Congress, and the members
from the South, to form Congress, and
TO them he will submit his messages.
This body will be by him recognized as
the lawful Congress.
lie can, with perfect consistency, re-
fuse to be tried by the Rump" Parlia.
mcnt because it is not +" the Senate of the
United States" OF course, as soon as
he decides to recognise the new Congress,
the old radical concern, as at present or
ganized, will try to prevent the action OF
the new body, but how can they do it?
They may pronounce it utionary
body. 1t will not be more so than theil
own. They may call these traitors, nc
more than they themselves are, and have
been for long time. Stigmatizing the
new Congress will not break it up, and
the question is again before the Radicals
"how can we break it up?' Hereis a bo
dy organized and acting under the consti
tutional form recognized by the Chief Ex
ccutive Of the Nation, and, perhaps, back
ed by military; what can be done to over
throw it! The longer it is permitted to
live, the more difficult it will be for us to
kill il. Deliberation is ruin to us and
SALVATION to them. The consequence is
precipitate action resort to force, and
the Radicals are driven into the position
of rebels against the organized govern
ment.
This condition Of things they most ear
ncstly desire to prevent and in order to
prevent it, they have been attempting,
for months and months to compel Mr.
johnson to resort to force. In this,
thanks to Mr. Johnson's tact, they have
wholly been foiled. ~.r
In this conjectural, and, by no means,
impossible, state of things, we can see
the great Importance Of the Southern
States being fully represented by men
who cannot be Objectionable to the Con
servative members of Congress, and to
the President.
Let the South be rational. Let her
keep the helm Of reason well in hand and
not be driven on shoals and quicksands
by the rash guidance Of passion There
is an object to be attained, and we should
adopt the best means to attain it. We
must change the present system Of legis
lation, or we, as well as the whole coun.
try. will be irrevocably ruined. The Un-
ion must be restored and speedily. Let
wisdom rule in our deliberations and all
will yet be right.