The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1868-09-16

crimes and misdeameanors separated,
the removal Of Secretary Stanton, tn
appointment of an officer to perform
the duties of Secretary ad inteyfn,-
that is, to take the custody of the of
fee, the books, and papers and CORES
pondence, until a successor could b
| confirmed and commissioned. The
revert to past acts, and impeached hin
for having replied with bad temper II
their taunts and insults. They inn
peached him. for having expressed al
opinion unfavorable to their power o
framing an amendment to the Cousti
tuition to bind ten States which tkeI
would not suffer to be represented
| while they framed it; they
impeached him for doubling the pro
priety of compelling ten States to ac
cep: the article so prepared for them
under penalty or under the pressure
of military force and they impeached
him for inquiring of military oficei
what had been done with certain reg
iment of troops of the United States
which Congress had, by an act passed
over his veto, taken from under his
command and disposed of without his
knowledge-each of these, and others
too frivolous to name, the House, by q
party vote, found to be a high crime OF
misdelneanor. They so'emnly pre-
ferred these articles to the Senate, and
devoted months of time,S and spent
more than million of the public mon.
ey, in their efforts to produce convic.
ton. I beg you to refer to the articles,
if you are not ashamed to read thine.
The embodied whole looks like what,
in legal parlance, used to be called a
case of malicious prosecution, and there
was nothing in its progress to change
its character, but too much to confirm
it. - .5 Ben -.-.-.s "
Before the passage of the Tenure
of-Civil. office law no man doubted that
the President had right to remove
the Secretary of War. The amend
ment to that act, according to the ex-
pressed opinion of many leading Sena.
tors, acquiosced in by the whole Sen
ate, reserved to him still that power.
No man who reads the act can doubt
it. So clear was the case, that though
the House made it their first article of
impeachment, the Senate passed it by
and declined to put it to vote. STAN
ton, therefore, was lawfully removed
but the President of the Senate stold
him to "stick." So he entered and
held for months, in open contempt and
defiance of the President, certainly
with no more right there than any
stranger who walked the street. For
this impudent and lawless act he re-
ceived a vote of thanks of tho two
houses of Congress.
Nor was this all. Weeks were
spent on the impeachment trial in an
effrrt to get proof that the President
had attempted to expel the insolent in
truder by force, which, if proved,
would have been convincing to the
ethics of the two houses of high
crime or misdemeanor, for which the
President should be removed from Of
flee. To the offeuse Of expelling by
force q tresspasser from an executive
Office, would have been added, in this
case, contemot of the presiding officer
of the Senate, who had bade the intru-
der s'stick." Proof of an intent to
use force, if necessary, to repossess
himself of the department failed, and
with it the article of impeachment
charging it. ~
If the President hsd been in the act
ual possession of his constitutional
powers, he onght to have been i'm
peached for suffering the intruder to
remain a single day in possession of
the department. But he was not
The two houses, backed and supported
by the General-in- Chief, had left him
utterly powerlcss and incapable ef1self.
protection. If robber had 4 Eered
his mansion, by night or by day, he
could not have expelled him, especial
ly if he had been told to "stick. -
That the General was in full accord
with the two houses, and that he had
learned something of their new system
of morals, widely different from what
is taught in military schools, is proved
by his last letter to the President, in
which he tells him that he did not in
tend to surrender to him the depart
ment pursuant to tho conditions on
which he had received it, lest the
President should SO use it so as to de-
feat the action of the radicals in Con
gress. In truth, he not only surrend-
cred to q mere tresspasser the depart
partment, with its papers and seals and
all the muuiments of the office, which
the President had confded to him, but
he gave the intruder guard, detailed
for the purpose from the army of the
United States, which was kept up,
day and night, for months, to protect
him against possible artenPt on tho
part of the President to recover pos
session.
The seiziug and holding possession
of Fort Sumpter against the constitu-
tional authority of the United States,
was an overt act of treason. Is this
less so ? Look at it. Is it less so?-|
The two acts were done under pretense
of right. They were equally illegal
both committed by military force, act
ual or menaced-the fort and the de
partment each held by an armed band
against the lawful authority of the
United States. -
When the trial of impeachment was
at length drawing to close, it was as
oertained that some of the Republican
Senators held their judicial oaths bind
ing them to do impartial justice para
mount to the party mandate to convict,
right or wrong. This caused much
excitement in the party, it struck lead
ers with amazement, and most strenu-
Gus efforts were made, by threats and
entreaties, to compel or persuade vote