The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-08
SPIRIT or THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THB LEADING JoURNALs
UPoh CURRENT ToP1Os--OoMPILED EVERY
DAY PoR TIRE EVENING TRLEaRAPH.
Un,ueachment and own War - old
Threhts Renewed.

aTbe radicals may regard IL as certain that II
Congress impeaches The President and attempts
of mis- tmpCachment, he Will resist, without
Tesnect to the result Of the fall elections. IhaJ
thev may as well accept as n fixed fact IL un-
dov;biediy is one. The only question for those
Todicals who desire to avert civil war, IS
whether or not they W, tbS
do i'ongress will 60; ana hpIhing can avert Jhs
result which all good citizens dreau. a.. c,,,
at tbe radicals succeed neXG week IN ONO
ond pennsyIvauis, Congress Will lnlalllDly lu-
pegcb the President, and suspend MIN rom ms
6ffce pendng the Trial # Impeachment, plung'
Inc Inc country INTO a war the end of which
no one could iOresee, but Whlch would see Jhe
nno of millions No tnOughtlul man Will deny
the moral certainty Of this result II, how
ever the radicals fail in those great states,
Congress will tOrego an Impeachment, win
other reckless measures, and the country,
though still OutTageOusly mlsruled, Will remain
in peace This is self evident.
"It is for the men OF Ohio and Pennsylvania
TO say whether they prefer radical victory
with war or q conservative victory with peace.
Certain IL is that the true way for them TO avert
week And the worse they defeat it, the bet
Ter for the p eace and welfare Of the country"
It is difficult to believe that the Journal is
sincere in these declarations, or that they ara
ANYTHING more than The reckless appeals OF an
unscrupulous partisan, eager to carry an cleo
ton. II they are meant in sober earnest,
they simply prove that there is a very con-
siderable class of men still at the South who
have not profted in the least by the expert
ence of the last ten years-who, notwithstand-
ing what has happened, still believe it quite
easy to bully the North into subserviency,
and who have not yet had enough Of civil war.
The Louisville journal in 1867 talks very
much like the Charleston Mercury in 1850.
The Republicans then were threatened with
war if they elected Lincoln. They are now
threatened with war again if they carry Ohio
and Pennsylvania Is the North more likely
to be awed and influenced by such threats now
than it was then Is the South in better con-
dition to make them effective now than it was
thenY
We do not believe in the impeachment pro-
iect. Justice ooes not require it, nor would
any public interest be promoted by it. Presi-
dent Johnson, among all his blunders tollies,
and weaknesses, has committed none of the
"high crimes and misdemeanors" which alone
rightfully subject him to such proceeding.
The project is the desperate resort of an amb-
tiOus ard arrogant political faction, strength
ened by the i'll timed and petulant action of
the President and his 'friends." The whole
scheme, when Congress last adjourned was
utterly dead and abandoned. 1t was out of
the power of any party or Of any body-the
President himself alone excepted-to give it
life. What the radicals could not possibly do
for themselves, President Johnson did for
them. His removal of Sheridan and Sickles
his amnesty proclamation. and kindred acts
too late to serve any good purpose, revived
the fears and animCsties which were slumber-
ing, and gave fresh vigor and force to the pro-
jeCt of impeachment. Still we deem it mis-
chievous and useless act. Still less should we
favor any attempt to suspend the President
from Office upon the finding of articles of im-
peachment by the House and before their trial
by the Senate. Such proceeding would be
unconstitutional, unprecedented, and full of
peril to the future of the republic. 1t would
gfo1,1S 1Suh l.,,t -, 80.
party, dominant for the moment in Congress,
could always get rid of an obnoxious Execu-
tive, and seize upon all the patronage and
power which belong to that Office.
But the House Of Representatives has a
right to impeach the President and Congress
has the power, by a two-thirds majority, to
pass a law suspendng him from office. That
right and that power, if exercised in accord
ance with constitutional forms, will be sus-
tanned. That law if thus passed, will be
Obeyed. 1t may not be constitutional-in our
Judgment 1t would not be-but the President
has no authority to resist il on that account
The Executive is not the tribunal to which the
right of annulling laws that may be unconsti-
tutional has been confded. 1t may be incon-
Venient-it may be of great detriment to the
pubic welfare to submit to the law until it
can be brought before the proper tribunal for
reVlslon-but that cannot be helped. Very
many OF the forms required by the Constitu-
tlon involve more or less of inconvenience
and OF damage to important interests: but
they involve less than would be incurred bv
their violation.
The experience of the last war ought to have
made 1t clear to everybody, that the people of
this country will not tolerate an appeal to
force against law in any case, or as a remedy
for any wrong. The South especially ought to
understand this thoroughly. They tried it.,
under the most favorable circumstances. with
the most powerful support they can ever hope
for, with greater unity of sentiment and of
action than they can ever again expect, with
the moral support, at the outset, of the party
at the North which had controlled the Govern
ment for twenty years, aided by the sympathy
OF all the great foreign powers, and thus en-
abled to raise money and keep great armies in
the field for a succession of years; and their
failure was so complete and overwhelming as
TO stand forever conspicuous among the great
national disasters of history. No statesman
and no Journalist can ever show himself a
nend OF the South by urging armed resist
ahce 10 resist an unconstitutional law or redress
ponucal wrong Such redress can be OBJ
famed only by appealing first to the Supreme
EJourt and next to the balOt-bOx. If both
tnose iail, the case is hopeless. The wrong is
without remedy.
Inc President has no worse "friends,,
than those who give him such counsel az
.he Louisville journal fOreshadows i'm its
thrS@'s' ne mas not hitherto evinced anv
suoh suoh Mlsuoni' elther in the selection of his
VI m in lhe adaptation of his policV
country, as to render it inpossibIo ~ W. 'ne %
may plunge the country into anarcby - iio
pretense OF saving the Constitution 'pt ~ 4aoi +
shall not believe him capable of ancb ,i."V VIC