The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-09-25
ID. F.. WADE.

ID. F. WADE.
BENJAMIN F. WADE of Ohio will be President
of the United States, if The Radical party sue
ceed in impeaching ANDREW JOHNSON. That
impeachment should not succeed on any OF the
grounds stated by either Radical leaders or
the Radical press no candid thinker will doubt.
That conviction on any of those grounds would
be impossible before any honest man who has
the slightest knowledge of legal principles or
the slightest acquaintance with constitutional
law, no one at all familiar with the question can
doubt. To be convicted justly the President
must be felon, or he must have violated his
oath of office and failed in the faithful perform
ance of his duty. His first obligation is to
guard faithfully the Constitution, the Charter
of our Union In times of ordinary events,
when the minds of men are cool, these propo-
,itions would not be questioned for single in
slant. To-day however the mind is heated
with passion: war of the most bitter kind, a
war between members of the same political
family, has left its scars upon the body polite.
The blood has not yet been washed from the
hands of the combatants The grass has not
yet entirely hidden the graves Of those who
fell on either side. Prison life at the North
and prison life at the South is still fresh in
the memories of us all. The day of sober
thought has not yet come, and it is easy to de-
nouuce, and in denouncing to find believers in
the guilt of any man who is not ready and
willing to become the partisan of either side
in the late conflict. Irritation exctes men to
believe any assertion, and ambition aided by
want of principle, frequently prompts dema-
gogues to assert anything that may serve their
purposes.
We confess that we were not much astonsh-
ed when HENRY WILSON openly proclaimed
that the President should be impeached
Though HENRY WILSON is Senator, and
though he will be obliged to try the Presl-
dent as juror in case of impeachment we
knew that he was not man of refined taste,
and we believed that he valued party power
more than he did principles of honesty, or a
sense of obligation. We were not surprised
when WENDELL PHILLIPS made q similar dec
laration and openly avowed that his first
choice for the Presidency was the man who
boasts and honestly proclaims that the action
of his party is all outside of the Constitution.
PHILLIPS has always been consistent lie per-
sistently denounced the greatest constitutional
lawyer, and one Of the greatest statesmen that
this country has produced-DANIEL WEBSTER.
He has frequently abused WILLIAM Fl. SEWARD,
because he did not come up to his standard.
Time and again no. cursed the Constitution, 30
long as the Constitution had any active energy.
PHILLIPS is in earnest, and like all earnest
men, is apt to be truthful We were surprised
when the Speaker of the House of Representa-
tiyes of the United States was accused of hav
ing written the sixteen rsasons why GRANT
should not be nominated for the Presidency,
and that SCHUYLER CoLrAx should be, and we
were more surprised when his letter to the
Border State Convention, endorsing impeach-
ment, was published. We were however shock
ed when we saw that BENJAMIN F. WADE had
endorsed the impeachment doctrines, and join
ed in that howl of the extreme wing of the
Radical party. He at least the successor in case
of removal, should not express an opinion.
What in others was breach of taste, was in
him positive indecency. What in others was
a violation of duty in him was infamy.
Whatever might be the effect of impeachment,
successfully carried through, on the party, to
him, would be the first solid benefit; he, B. F.
WADE, would through it become President Of
the United States.
This however is not the only act of Mr..
WADE that has excited astonishment. He, in
common with HORACE GREELEY and other
members Of his party, is to-day singing p@ans
to the memory of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, and
speaking of him as the martyr President"
and " the late lamented.' The history of the
war; however, shows, that like HORACE GREE
LEY, he was during the lifetime of Mr.. LINCOLN
q thorn in his side and clog on his administra-
tion. No one has forgotten GREELxy's "On
to Richmond" cry, and the disastrous results
of the newspaper generals campaign, and no
one will forget that Mr.. WADE did abuse, and
heartily abuse the course of Mr.. LINCOLN at
more than one period of his administration.
The worst blunders made by the North during
the conduct of the late war wers made through
the irritating opportunities of those men and
others of similar character.
Mr.. WADE has, however, recently made fan
honest declaration which entities him to credit.
lie has carried the doctrines of his party TO
their honest results. No one who has taken
the pains to examine the subject carefully will
be disposed to deny that the doctrine of blind
unrestrained by checks, unbound
by obligations, is fraught with danger not only
to the rights of minorities, but also to pro-
perty. On one side of the doctrine stands
despotism; on the other agrarianism He is
coward or knave who shrinks from one of
these two conclusions. Mr.. WADE has chosen
agrarianism. In a speech recently made by
him in Kansas, he said Congress, which
has done so much for the slave cannot quietly
regard the terrible distinctions which exist be-
tween the laborer and the employer. Property
is not fairly divided, and more equal division
must be wrought out" What this means is
sef-evident. Congress represents the will of
the majority. The majority has dictated to
the minority at the South 1t has deprived
that section of all traces of liberty and is now
framing for it code of laws more in accord
ance with the views of Radical aspirants for
power Well, these laws have been framed on
the idea that majorities must govern absolutely
so absolutely that if even the President
asserts his powers under the Constitution, he
must be impeaohed-so absolutely, in fact that
nothing can stand between it and its objects.
Consistency is however necessary (sborera