Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-12-06
THE IMPEACHMENT FARCE.
DISSENTING REPORT OF MESSRS. MAR
SHALL AND ELDRIDGE.
ExcorIating Exposure of thc Majority and
their Report.

Messrs. Marshall and Eldridge, the onl
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee
which has had charge of the Impeachment
business submitted brief report, EN-
bodying their conclusions and reflection
and showing the report of the committe
and the whole movement for Impeachment
in a way that makes it evident that Their
has not been one particle of honesty o
sincerity in the proceeding, and that tn
attempt to GUST the President is the mos
audaclous, wantOn and groundIess part,
man6uyre that has ever been attempted il
this country. We can make space only fo
that portion of Messrs. Marshall and Ed
ridges report in which they animadver
GU the charges and the testimony. They
say:
With all due respect to the majority o.
the committee, we cannot regard the
charges made against the President as
serious attempt to procure his impeach,
ment. Without dwelling upon their utter
failure tO point to the commission of a
single act that is recognized by the laws OF
our country as high crime or mlsdemean-
or, the inconsistency of the majority can
not fail to challenge the attention of the
country. Acts for which Mr.. Lincoln was
DANGEROUSLY appIauded are deemed high
crimes in Mr.. johnson. For every act SO
graveIy condemned the President had the
sanction and approval of his Cabinet, and
yet while he is arraigned before the world
as q criminal Of the deepest dye, they are
not only not impeached, but are recognized
as special favOTltes of the party Tor i'm
parchment The latter have even gone SO
Tar as to unite in the passage of an extra
ordinary and unprecedented law to pre-
vent the President from removing these
officers from the places which they hold
Mr. Stanton, the late Secretary of War,
gave his emphatic approval OF the acts fol
which the President Is arral9ned, and yet
the ex- Secretary is a favorite and popular
martyr, and the whole country is vexed with
ClamUrS for his restoration to power and
place. The President is held criminally
responsible for the acts of subOrdinates Of
winch he did not even have the slightest
notice on knowledge, and yet those bring
ing him to trial enact a statute deprivins
him OF all control over these same subOrdi-
mates, and they are deemed worthy of the
especial protection Of Congress. The Presi-
dent has used every means within his
power to bring the great State prisoner
Jefferson Davis, to a speedy trial and YET
he has been denounced throughout the
and for prOcrastinatIng and preventing
The trial, while the judges and prosecuting
officers having entire control OF the matter
have been deemed worthy of the most hon
eyed plaudits.
We're ever inconsistencies more glaring
and lneXplieable than these And can We
possibly be mistaken when we assert, thar
however honest may be the majority of the
committee, the verdict of the country ano
OF posterity will be that the crime of til,
President consists, not IL viola ions of, bu;
III reIuSuls to violate the law In being IN
able to keep pace with the tparty of pro
gress III their rapidly advancing move
meuts, OF to step outside of and above
the Constitution in the administration 0
the Government IN preferrlng the Cor
stituuOn If his country to the dictation 0
an UGscrGpulous cabal in bravely darins
to meet the naledictiOns of those who hay,
aimed at the accomplishment of q mos,
wicked and dangerous revolution, rathe,
than encounter the reprOacheS OF his Owl
cous"i nee and the cnrses OF posterity
through all time.
ii t.t~ subject were not too grave and Sc
rious 4 one for mirth, some of the ground
for impeachment presented by the majority
would certainly be sufficiently amusing
The President is graveIy arraigned for al
raging himself against the loyal people OF
the country in vetoing the miscalled recon
struction acts OF Congress, when without
dwelling upon the Constitutional right and
duty Of the President in the premises)
Congress itself has, for the same acts, just
received the most whitening and indignant
condemnation and rebuke of the entire
people from Maine to California. The i'm
peachers, forgetting that they have been
themselves impeached, and that the verdict
Of the tribunal OF last resort has already
been rendered against them, still persist in
trltiIug with the peace, safety, and pros
perity OF the country by precipltating upon
it this dangerous question at a time SO
critical as this. 1t is wicked thus to trifie
with the most vital interests of the nation,
and to disregard the voice of a great PEG
pie, when spoken, as in this case, so en-
phatically in favor of the preservation of
our constitutional form of government, and
the rights and liberties established by our
Revolutionary fathers. We will not attempt
TO add anything to the able, and, rs we be-
heve, unanswerable argument just present
ed by the chairman of our committee upon
the law of impeachment. Had not expert
ence taught us the wonderful diversity of
human judgments and conclusions, we
should find it difficult to believe that there
could, upon the questions submitted to us,
possibly be two opinions among candid and
Intelligent men.
Blind bigotry and unbridled partisan
most meritorious actions, and men govern
ed by these unhallOwed passions do not
hesitate to drag to the stake or the fortunes
OF the inquisitiOn all who will not conform
tOtheir wretched creed and miserable dog
mas. They sub titute their own crude and
often crazy theories for truth and Justice,
and under pain of severest penalties de-
mand Of all men to bow down and worship
the idol they have erected. That their own
judgment may be fallible, or that other
men differing from them may be equally
wise and honest with themselves, never &C.
ours to their minds; and they will, without
hesitation, question the justice even of the
Almighty if the ways of Providence do not
conform 10 their own crude theories. This
class of men has constituted considerable
portion of mankind in all ages. and in none
have they been moro numerous than in
our own.
They have furnished the bigots and per-
secutors of all times, and their pathway
through the long line of history, from its
earliest dawn to the present time, has been
marked with carnage and desolation.-
,0h hoe