Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-01-23

provides for sn impeachment. His oGenss. in
our Judgment, consists both in doing wrong
and in permitting wrong.
l. He has usurped power in Attempting
without inviting Congress to eo-operats-to
rsorganise state governments in the Southern
states. This be had no more co institutional
power to do, than he had to overturn and rsor-
gani1e the government Of Vermont. Congress
had ths sole Jurisdiction Of that question, as
was long ago decided in the Rhode Island
case. Ia this usurpation hs'acted corruptiy
He might have summoned Congress to meet;
he might have deferred action until Congress
regularly met. He did neither, but for the
purpose Of preventing Congress from thorough
ly reconstructing the South, he made haste to
act where he had not the shadow Of authority
for acting. Usurpation is at least "high
crime"
2. If he had power to act he went criminally
wrong. He disiranehised every colored man
10 the Southern states. He assumed that the
old laws and constitutions of those states had
bsen overthrow, and then he proclaimed that
no colored man should approach tbs ballot
box. The Supreme Court have just decided
that even rebel, urconvicted of bis crime,
cannot be denied, by the sovereign act Of a PEG
pie of state remodeling their constitution,
his equal rights. They say that equal rshts
lie at the foundation Of our government, and
are so strongly guaranteed that, short Of a trial
by jury, traitor cannot forfeit his claim to
them. How much more are loyal men, who
have never committed crimes, entitled to these
equal rightsT Yet President Johnson, by his
reconstruction proclamations, disfranchised .
whole race and he now insists that neither he.
nor Congress, nor the people of the United
States in their sovereign capacity. can restore
this disfranchise race to equal rights. He
has put them under the feet of their Cypress
ors. and now he interposes his veto his mes
sages, his speeches. and all the power OF his
Office to keep them there. What higher crine
could he commit What gravsr misdemsanor
could he be guilty of
8. In the New Orleans riot President John
son wickedly and corruptly used his power to
aid Mayor Munroe and his assassins. He
knew that he had no right to interfere, yet be
gave his aid and sympathy against men .trug
Cling peaceaby for equal rights. No king on
his throne ever used his power more arbitrsri-
lily, or more unjustly. The blood Of those slain
by Monroe's mob is on his Official garments
and at ST. Louis be justified the murder. Can
the executive commit a more hsinous crime, q
more evident misdemesnorP
4. But guilt consists not wholly in overt
acts. The Constitution defines treason as con-
sisting in overt acts, but it does not define
"high crimes and misdemeanors." An ex-
ecutive who refuses to execute the laws is
guilty Of the most terrible crime. The laws
are for the protection of the innocent, the pun
ishment of the guilty and he who, having the
power, refuses to protect the innocent, refuses
to punish the guilty, is undermining the very
foundations of justice, and making government
either helpless anarchy or partner in gigan-
tic crimes. President Johnson has done what
he could to give our government the latter
character. He has made it the accomplish of
thousands of murders of Union men, black and
white. His voice, the executive Of the
nation, speaks through Judge Abel and his
jury in New Orleans, refusing to indict the
murderers in that city. 1t speaks through the
judge in Mississippi, who has decided the civil
rights act unconstitutional. 1t speaks through
the auctioneer in Maryland, Sc ling men into
slavery. 1t speaks through the shouts Of ruff
fans in Texas and Arkansas, hanging and
shooting inoffensive citizens. Itspeaks through
the action of the legislature of every Southern
state, denying equal rights to the colored race.
Ii speaks at the whipping post, the rack and
the dungeon, in the brutal voices OF the scoun-
drels who delight in torturing black men and
women. Wherever, in the broad Union, men
are denied justice, refused protection for person
and property, wronzed and prosecuted because
they are black, the weight of the executive
influence is all on the side of the oppressor, end
thus only makes the oppression possible. II
this ofense Is no. named in the catalogue of
high crimes. aud misdemeanors, what shall it
be called
After naming these often les, it is not neces-
cary to add to the list by speaking of the cor
rupt of the pardoning or appointing powers.
Aggravated is the afront which the Pres-
dent has offered the nation, by making both
these powers the ministers of his caprice and
the engines o. political corruption, his guilt in
the use of them becomes white-robed when SET
beside the blackness Of his greater crimes. 1t
is only because his other ot.nses have been of
such magnitude, that these have been Judged 90
mildly. The criminal who outrages and then
murders his victim excites no surprise by add
ing theft 20 his guilt.
Shall President Johnson, then, be impeacheds
Although bis guilt is beyond doubt, this ques-
ton is not so easily answered. If he could be
removed from Office pending the trial, he ought
by all means to be impeached, and Congress
should not lose day in Sc ting about the work.
But there is, to say the least, very serious
doubt whether president is not Just as much
president during an impeachment trial as
before, and while that doubt remains Mr..
favor, and retain his power by such force a. he
could command as long as possible. II be is
to remain in Office during the trial, to be pres
ident then as now, to send messages to the
Congress trying him, to receive bills sent by
them to him for his approval, to be all that
time commander-in-chief of the army and
navy, to have a cabinet of his own appointing
to be represented abroad by ministers who
recognise him as the lawful head of the gov
eminent. his impeachment might do more hurt
than good The trial will proceed, if at all,
upon a charge which pronounces him one of
The greatest criminals in the country, and TO