Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-05-06

! to these ideas, and this, oncc gained, secures
! the operation that was intended. hen,
then, YOU have been submissive to that oath,
4 that faith among men, which, as Burke says,
holds the moral elements of the world togeth-
or, and that faith in God which binds the
earth to His throne, it subdues you to the SER
vice of truth and justice. The purity OF the
family and the sanctity Of justice have ever
been cared for, and will be cared for by the
Ever Living Guardian of human rights and
interests, who does not neglect what is essen
tial to the preservation of the human race
and its advance. The Furies, in old Mythol-
ogy, had charge of the sanctity of an oath.
The maginatOns of the prophets of the world
have sanctified the solemnity of an oath, and
have peopled the places of punishment with
oath breakers all the tortures and torments
of history are applied to public servants who,
in betrayal of sworn truths, have disobeyed
this solemn obligation. without which
the whole fabric of society falls into pieces
Now, / do not know why or how it is that
we are so constituted, but it is. The
moral world has its laws as well as the mat
erial world Why point of steel lifted over
a temple or home should draw the thunder
bolt, and speed it safely into the ground, l
know not how in our moral constitution
an oath lifted to Heaven can draw from the
great swollen cloud passion, and of inter
est. and of hate, its charge, [ know not.
But SO it is and be sure that long as those
honorable Managers may talk, although
they speak in the voice of all the people of
the United States with their bold persua-
sons that you shall not obey judicial oath,
| can bring against it but single sentence
and in single voice, but that sentence Is a
commandment. and that voice speaks with
awe-''Thou shalt not take the name of the
Lord in vain, for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain The
moth may consume the ermin of that Su-
preme Court whose robes YOU wear rust
may corrodc, Senators, the center OF your
power. Nay Messrs. Managers, time even
shall devour the people whose presence beat
ing against the doors of their Senate House
you SO much lovcto taunt and menace but
g as to the word which l have spoken. heav-
en- and earth maypass away, but no lot or
title of it Will fail
This is very fine rhetoric, and very elo-
quent sentiment, and very manifest truth.
But when urged IN this trial, although it is
keen as a Damascus blade, it is a two-edged
weapon. President johnson is charged with
having violated his solemn oath. He is ar
raigned before the tribunal of impeachment
as false to - Truth, Justice, Oath, Duty"
He is charged with having soiled the robes
of Office. Mr.. Evarts said. at public meet
ing in Cooper Institute last fall where he
spoke as a man and not as an advocate
that i'll Mr. J0hnson's speeches the public
heard the voice of Z. the beaten rebellion. y
Can a President from whose lips defeated
treason again ntters its defiance to the ma
ton, be anything less than false to g Truth,
Justice, Oath, Duty?' Can Mr.. Evarts
tell why Mr.. Johnson-s oath lifted to
Heaven" has only served to = draw from
the great swollen cloud of passion, and of
interest, and of hate = which has survived
the - dead rebellion - '' its charge" and
instead of safely conveying it into the
ground, has delivered its thunderbol on the
helpless heads of the union men of the
South?
When the stern and terrible admonition
of Scripture, which the eloquent advocate
summoned to his aid in his impressive address
to the Senate, is arrayed in judgment against
the official in whose behalf he spoke it Will
need no Managers, nor Senate. nor House,
nor people - beating against the doors of the
halls of trial > to urge conviction, but Truth,
too plain to mislead or be mistaken, will
vindicate itself, and the . Ever-Living
| Guardian of human rights and interests will
not neglect what is essential to the preserva-
ton of the human race. and its advance