The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-03-09
CHI HARL EST ON.
SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH 9, 1867.
IMPEACHMENT.

IMPEACHMENT.
The Northern people must have excitement Inc
slavery question is dead -; the ssRebel States arc
properly gagged and brigadiered; the negroes
have suffrage. temperance is unpopular. iho
number of sensation topics is thus becoming more
and more restricted; and by tho ordinary la" oi
compensation the interest centres and antensines
IN those that are left. These We believe just no"
are the Woman Suffrage and the 1mpeacnnon'
:onestions. One or the other Of these now 1ornis
the theme of almost every lecturer IN ne" 1orA,
BROOKLYN, Boston, and all the smaller towns aa'
VILLAGES of the Northern country.
On saturday evening last, on his way to Wash
inrton and Congress, General B. r. BUTLER oe-
lighted the people Of Albany, New York' VIII Dill
oynosition of his views on the impeachment ques-
| ton. This was very kind Of MIR. BuT1 ER, seeing
that he had alreadv done 80 on previous occasion
at Brooklyn: and, in fact, had been venting Ms
oninions freely on this subject ever since last
fall vet he modestly in his exordium says, that ne
comes before the audience on somewhat unusual
tonic. he moreover asked his hearers to examine
with him switho1t heat, calmly, coony, and In the
! full exercise of judgment, why 1t was tnat our
fathers put the great power Of impeachment ana
renoova1 info the Constitution" This he wishes
them to do sto convince the reason and instinct W.
and not tu iafAme the passions" He then salo :
ssHarsh vituperation, hard names, slander, soan-
dal, and personal abuse, never yet harmed any
man for, if it had, he who speaks to you Woulo
have been dead long, long ago." =
ae then examines the grounds. wheretore Sne
President should, in his opinion, be lmpeaonea'
1. Usurpation ofexecutiye power, in that ne estaD
lished governments in the Southern States, with
out having any right to d. 80. '"TWo-thrds OF
both Houses of Congress have said that the aces
wore illegal, and that no legal governments e1ss
there. Somebody ought to be impeached-eitner
both Houses, or the President. Which shall 1t
be ?'' And again he said: 'sWhether he beheVes
he is right or believes he is wrong is not the ques
ton. The question is: els ho in the way =
Laughter and applause.l II he Is, be must DO
got out Of it." This is the whole statement OF tho
question. Ho is in the way, and it Is nothing ou'
most palpable hypocrisy that can induce BUTLER
or any Of his confreres to revert to the Consttu-
tion in plea Of their iniquitous agitadons. Can
any sane man for moment believe that the clause
in the Constitution, providing for impeaehments
ever contemplated an error Of judgment, (suppos-
ing. for the sake Of argument, that the President
is in error), as "high crime and mlsdemeanor +
He next a1raigns the President for his exercise
of the hardening power; and while ne dlsciaims
his intention of bringing Up ssOld Bailey matters
he, nevertheless, meanly and slanderously hi-.ts,
that the President made the granting OF par 1ohs
matter of sale and proft,--one Of the fcliicst
slan1ers and basest falsehoods ever uttered. 1t
puzzles us to think how even the ngenioue Ru-J ER
will be able to show that the Presidents ar1ons for
political offences are unconstitutional though these
pardons were double and triple the c!mber OF what
BUTLER alleges them to have been. he wasted but
little argument on this charge. The following con-
tents him.
ssDoes any one here think that it is constitu-
tional for the President to carry the pardonng
power so far as to be obliged to have pardon-mln
to grind out pardons by the thousand Ooes any
body believe that?"
He then comes to the last count in his indict-
ment:
ssAgain, will not go into the question Of ap-
pointments to Office, for hold that there is some
thing higher, more noble, and more grand IN
political action than the question OF who should
hold office !; and if were to draw articles OF I'M.
pcachment, would put those main great acts OF
per it and salt it with little Of his persona! &C
lions, and the question Of how he disposed OF the
offices but that would be but the condiments to
the great dish which should propose to put be-
fore the American people"
This is all, absolutely all, that can be brought
against the President, by BUTLER even, his bitter
est enemy, the most violent partisan, the most un-
scrupulous politician to be found in all the coun-
try. And is it upon such himsy allegations and
special pleading that the country is to be plunged
into revolution, that the industry of the land is
to be paralyzed, commerce and business OF oil
kinds ruined? Little as we have the right to ex-
pect sensible action on any political question from
the North, we cannot help thinking that the more
sober portion of the people will discountenance
such unprincipled and suicidal party tactics.
But what says BUTLER on these matters? He
propounds these questions: 'Is it expedient? is it
best hadn't We better get along with him is it
worth while? to which we, of course, know his
answers ssBut it is objected" he continues 'that
the business of the country will suffer. How Is
tho business now ? [Laughter.] Paralyzed be-
cause we don't know how the thing is to be settled
Is it best to wait two years longer and allow this
continued chronic state of unsettlement to go on
ssLet me call your attention further to another
trouble. Why am told, don't do this, if you
do you will injure our bonds abroad-you will
shake your credit abroad What has our credit to
do abroad? We carried on this war, and the bank
ers of Europe would not lend us dollar until we
got through substantially, and showed that We
were the strongest and ablest nat on the globe.
Aud thul, when We got through che war, they
10 take orr bonds at 40 so and 60 cents
on the dollar, and believe now they have got up
to II or "a cents, or somewhere thereabout. Well,
they say that our bonds will go down in Europe,
and tho people in Europe won't take them. may
be mistaken, my friends, but it seems to me that
if could bring about that result should al
most be willing to be impeached myself"
But we will not follow the eccentric BENJAMIN
any farther. We earnestly hope, however, that
wiser counsels will prevail, and that BUTLER, and
such as he, may not be permitted to destroy what
little order there is left in the land.