The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-06-05
close Of the Impeachment Invessisa'
ten.

The Impeachment committee has con-
cludrd its investigation of the charges
,saiust the President. After being in
sessi.n for period of FIVE months, and
taking nearly two Thousand pages Of
nrinted evidence, the, committee has
roufessed its labors tn have been mag
uilirent izzle, and its Originators set
of iufuriated md senseless partizans.
Tpon the question:; "Does the evidence
warrant the committee in reporting ar
tcles of Impeachment" the vote
stood four ayes, and five nays.
The affirmative voters were
Messrs. boutwell,, THOMAS, LAWRENCE
and WILLIAMS. The negatives were
Nessrs. WILSON, Chairman, WoOD-
BRIDGE, CHURCHILL, ELDRIDGE and
M,RsHALL. 4 resolution of censure
was then adopted, expressing the Opin-
ION of the committee to the effect, that
ANDREW JOHNSON was unworthy of the
confidence and respect of the American
people. This resolution was adopted
by "A vote of ayes :, nays 2-the nays
being ELDRIDGE and MARSHALL, both
Democrats. The eommitte, after de-
trrmining upon the publication of the
above facts adjourned to the 25th of
June, at which time they will re-assem-
be TO deliberate upon the question of q
republican goveAment in Maryland, q
subject into which they have been
directed by the House to inquire.
The resolution of censnre in which
the committee indulged, strikes us as
Icing both silly and out of place.
Whether JOHNSON does or does not merit
the confidence of the American people is
amatter upon which every man has long
since made up his miRd, just as the
members of the committee had before
they commenced their Investigate, MS.
Besides this, they were no.-anthorized
to make any such report. 1t was simp-
ly their duty to ascertain whether the
facts in the case warranted the impeach-
ment OF the President, and their
opinion npon his title to public
confidence, expressed after they had
settled the business upon which they
were employed, is about as much out OF
place in their report as wonld be their
IDEAS as to the habitability of the moon.
There are many persons who believe
this whole impeachment scheme to have
been me. e scarecrow intended by the
majority of the radicals to frighten the
President into submission. We do not
propose to inquire into the correctness
of this view, but if such were its pur-
pose we cannot say that it has failed,
A cotemporary remarks that if Presi-
dent johnson had only had the pluck to
act as well rs talk-if his positive were
equal to his negative fighting quail
ties. he would not have been the foot
ball of an impeachment smelling com
mittee, and those who have supported
him on the platform of his constitu-
tional views would he spared the NOR
tiication they now feel at seeing him
bound hand and foot by the Lilliputi-
aus of ConSress-the ''narrow-minded
Jlockheads" of the Radical party, to
borrow an expression from Horace
Greeley. If he had at the outset kick
ed" the enemies of his administration
from office and appointed Republicans
who were the friends of his administra-
tion to their places, as he conld have
done then without opposition, he would
to-day have the interested support OF
great body of the Republican party and
the disinterested support of the entire
Democratic party, and be able to as
sert the p,erogatives of his Office. He
had the disposition but lacked the
courage to "kick."