The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1867-12-10

NUMBER II

rived at by majority of the COMMITTEES
They say: s8a esass84f III # say &
| On the Sd day Of June, 1861, II was
declared BY solemn vote in the Com
mittee that, from the testimony then be-
fore them, it did not appear that the,
President of the United States was guilty,
os such high crimes and misdemesnsrsi
as called for an exercise of .theoi,apeaeh-
ling power Of this House, The vote stood
yeas s, nays A.. On; the q st inst this ae-
Ition Of the Committee was reversed, and
a vote of FIVE to four declared in favor Of
recommending to the House an .impeaeh-
Iment of the President. Forty-eisht hours
have not yet elapsed since We were ips
formed tof the character OF the report
which represents this changed attitudesof.
1.-THE Committee. The recentpess of this.
Ieyent eempelsa general treatment ofsomA
features Of 1.-THE case as is presented bYr
the majority, which otherwise would have.
been treated more in detail. The report
Of the majority resolves all prescriptions
against the President, closes the door
against all doubts, afirms facts as estab-
lliahed by the testimony, in support sof
which there is META particle of evidence
before us;whicb would be received By any
court in the land. We dissent from all
of this, and from the temper and spirit Of
the report. The cool and unbiased judg-s
ment of the future, when the excitement
in the midst of which We live shall haye
passed sway, will not fail TO discover that
the political bitterness of the present
time has in 20 considerable degree given
tone to the document which we decline to-
approve Dissenting as We do from the
report of the Committee, both as to the,
law of the case and the conclusions drawn
from the facts developed by the tes timo-
ny, a due regard for the body Whie b inn
posed onus the high and transeendantiy
important duty Involved in an inyestiga-
tion of the charges preferred against the
President,compels US to present at length
our views of the subject which has been
committed to US by a most solemn vote
of the House of Representatives. Ins
approaching this duty we feel that the,
spirit Of the partisan should be laid aside.
aad that the interests of the Republic,'as
they are measured by its Constitution and
laws; alone shall guide us; and we most
deeply regret that in this regard We can.
not approve the report of the majority of.
the Oompistee. While we would not
charse them with a design to act the part
of partisans in this grave proceeding, We
nevertheless feel panied by the tone tenn
per and spirit Of their report. But re-
grets will not answer the demands of the
present grave and commanding occasion,
and we therefore respond to them BY pre-
senting to the House the results OF a
careful, deliberate, and as we hope, q con-
scicutious Investigation Of the case be-
fore us. Is 81 s5lr;.
Messrs. Wilson and Woodbridge then
proceeded to discuss the constitutions
question, with regard to the impeachment
ETC., showing by reference tc the legal
authorities that an impeachment cannot
be supported by any act which falls short
of an indictable crime, or mjsdemeanof.
English precedents are referred to at
length and copious extracts are made
from the testimony Of the Committee in
order to refuts the reasoning and conclp-
sion OF the majority, They conclude as
follows: s
A great deal of the matter contained in.
the volume of testimony reported to the,
House, is Of no value whatever. Much
Of it's mere Learsay opinions Of witness,
es, and no little amount of it is. utterly,
irrelayent TO the case. Comparatively
email amount Of it could be- used on q
trial of this case before the Senate. All
of the testimony relating to the failure
to try and admission to bail of Jefferson
Dayis,the assassination Of President Lin
coin, the diary of J. Wilkes Booth, his
place Of burial, the practice Of pardon
brokerage, the alleged correspondence Of
the President with Jefferson Davis, may
be interesting to reader, but is not Of !,
the slightest importance SO far asa deE
termination Of this case is coneerned.=
Still, much of the irrelayent matter has !,
been interviewer into the majority report,
and has served to beighten its color and !
to deepen its tone. Strike out the stage
effect of this irrelavent matter, and the 4
|prominence given to the Tudors, the Stu !
arts, and the Michael Burns, and much of
the play will disappear; settle down upon !,
the real evidence in the case, that which
will establish in view Of the attending
circumstances substantial crime by ma.
king plain the elements which constitute
lit, and the case, in many respects drops,
into political contest. In rapproachingI
| a conclusion, we do not fail to recognize