Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1867-02-08
Impeachment.
While we doubt the expediency OF


cally guilty of the "high crimes and
misdemeanors," for which offenses the
Constitution provides for an impeach-
ment. His ofense, in our judgment,
consists both in doing wrong and in
permitting wrong.
l. He has usurped power in at
tempting-without inviting Congress
to cO-operate--to reorganize State
governments in the Southern States.
This he had no TOre constitutional
power to do, than he had to overturn
and reorganize the government OF Yer
mont. Congress had the sole .juris-
diction of that question, as was long
ago decided in the Rhode Island case.
In this usurpation he acted corruptly.
He might have summoned Congress
to meet; he might have deferred &C
tion until Congress regularly met
He did neither, but for the purpose
ofpreventing Congress from thorough
ly reconstructing the South, he made
haste to act where he had not the
shadow of authority for acting. Usur-
patton is at least a "high crime"
?. If he had power to act he went
criminally wrong. He DISTINGUISHED
every colorcd man in the Southern
States. lie assumed that the old
laws and constitutions Of those states
had been overthrow, and then he
proclaimed that no colored man should
approach the ballot-box. The Su,
premc Court have Just decided that
even o rebel, unconyicted of his crime,
cannot be denied, 10y the sovereign
act of people Of a State remodelling
their constitution, his equal rights
They say that equal rights lie at the
foundation OF our government, and are
so strongly guaranteed that, short Of
O trial by jury, traitor cannot forfeit
his claim to them. How much more
are loyal men, who have never com
mitted crimes, entitled to these equal
rights ? Yet President Johnson, by
his reconstruction prOclamations, dis
franchised a whole race; and he now
insists that neither he, nor Congress,
nor the people Of the United States
IN their sovereign capacity, can re-
store this DISTINGUISHED race to equal
rights He has put them under the
feet OF their Oppressors, and now he
interposes his veto, his messages. his
speeches, and all the power of his Of
flee to keep them there. What higher
crime could he commit? What gray
err misdemeanor could he be guilty
of?
3. In the New Orleans riot Presi
dent Johnson wickedly and cOrruptly
used his power to aid Mayor Munrot
and his assassins. He Knew that hC
had no right to interfere, yet he gave
his aid and sympathy against mel
struggling peaceably for equal rights
No king on his throne ever used hi
power more arbitrarily, or more I'm
justly. The blood of those slain b,
Monroe's mob is on his official car
ments; and at st. Louis he justified
the murder. Can the executive com
NIT a more heinous crime, more
evident misdemeanor
4. But guilt consists not wholly il
overt acts. The Constitution define
treason as consisting in overt acts
but it does not define "high crime
and misdemeanors." An executiv
who refuses to execute the laws i
guilty Of the most terrible crime. Tn
laws are for the protection of the il
nocent, the punishment of the guilty
and he who, having the power, refuse
to protect the innocent, refuses t
punish the guilty, is undermining tn
very foundations Of justice, and mai
ing government either a helpless al
archy or partner in gigantic crimes
President Johnson has done what h
could to give our government the la
ter character. He has made it til
accomplice of thousands Of murder
Of Union men, black and white. HI
voice, as the executive Of the nation
speaks through Judge Abel and HI
jury in New Orleans, refusing to indie
the murderers in that city. 1t speak
through the Judge in Mississippi, VIII
has decided the civil rights act III
constitutional. 1t speaks through IL
auctioneer in Maryland, selling me
into slavery. 1t speaks through I'll
shouts of rufhans in Texas and Arkal
sas, hanging and shooting inof1ensiy
citizens. 1t speaks through the a.
ton of the legislature Of every Soutl
ern state, denying equal rights to tn
colored race. 1t speaks at the Will
ping post, the rack and the dungeon
in the brutal voices of the scoundre
who delight in torturing black me
and women. Wherever, in the broa
Union, men are denied justice, refuse
protection for person and propert
wronged and prosecuted because the
are black, the weight Of the executiV
influence is all on the side of the o
pressor, and thus only makes the o
preston possible. If this offense
not named in the catalogue of hie
crimes, and misdemeanors, what sha
it be called?
After naming these ofenses, it
not necessary to add to the list
speaking of the corrupt use of the pa
doning or appointing powers. A
gravated as is the afront which Il
President has offered the nation,
making both these powers the min
tiers of his caprice and the engines {
political corruption, his guilt in Il
use Of them became white-robed VIII,
set beside the blackness of his great
crimes. 1t is only because his 9th
Offenses have heen of Such marni+uc