The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1868-03-11
Their Friends Condemn Them

eWSpapef- tuat5 ourCS HOW 3uu In0n
speak aright out; in meeting" its honest
opinions, gives the following sound: ad-
vice to the hot-headed impeachcrs :.
The amendment to the orignalltenure.-
ofoffice bilE which made apply to Cabi-
net officers reluctantly acceded to by
the Senate, and even as it passed, was de-
clared by one, if not more, OF the most
prominent Republican Senators, to be In
applicable to the case of those Cabinet Of
fcers who held. under Mr.. Lincoln's ap
| pointment after his death.
It has not received the united and cor
dial appreciation of the Republican party,
/ which has never openly abandoned the
fdoctrine that the President is personally
responsible for the administration of all
the executive departments, and must,
therefore, Of necessity be left to great
extent untrammeled in the choice and Sc
lection Of his Cabinet
The Republican press Of the country
has quite generally conceded that tho
tenure-ofofice law was, in the respect we
are considering, an exceptional piece of
Legislation, which must OF necessity be ig
nored or repealed whenever regularly
elected President should be inaugurated
and that the principle of it, while it might
do as a fetter for Mr.. johnson, would
Eneyer work as part of the ordinary rules
for administering the affairs of the Gov
ernment.
When these facts are distinctly COM
pretended and eoolly weighed, 1T becomes
a question that may we'll "give us pause"
whether there is not a possibility that we
may be doing our adversaries' work, and
laboring industriously to give them Issues
more to their choice in the approaching
canvass than they would otherwise have.
1t may not be treason to suggest that.it
E'is at least worthwhile consider the words
of an able opponent of impeachment,
I Representative Woodward, of Pennsyl-
vania, who declared we were doing worse,
5according to Fouche'sepigram, than, COM
limiting crime-we were making blum
|.der. Have not too many admissions been
made of the general impolicy and i'm
practicability of the tcnure-ofof6ce law
as applied to the Cabinet, to make it an
easy or pleasant subject of debate in the
Presidential canvass.
There are some awkward results. TOO,
which may arise in the application of it.
1t must be remembered, that by the terms
of this act Cabinet officers are.to hold
their Offices s'for and during tho term of
the President by whom they may have
been appointed, and for one month there
after" The construction of this language
insisted upon by the Republican leaders
Of the House is, that it means that they
ARE to, hold till the end of the four years
for which the President was elected, and
That Mr. Lineoln's death would. not give
Mr.. johnson the privilege Of removing
Mr. Stanton or any other Cabinet officer
before the 4th of March. 1869.
! Let us reflect momont how this would
4 work if Mr.. johnson were removed and
Mr.. Wade installed in the Executive Man
ision Suppose Seward, Welles, StaDbery,
and the rest should chose to act upon Mr.
Stanton's principle, and decline to leave
the departments Of which they are the
heads, would not "bluff old Ben" find it
rather too empty an honor playing figure
head to an administration of which each
department was conducted as nearly as
possible upon Johnson's policy? IF We
repeal the law for the sake of getting rid
[of the Cabinet, we should confess that
our legislation was purely, partisan, and
! enacted for the sake of trapping Mr..
johnson, and not because we though it
good for the country. If we make the
i Senate agree to Mr.. Wades proposition
to remove the Cabinet because they are
not in harmony of sentiment with the
new President, we shall justify Johnson's
desire, and attempt to remope Stanton
for the same reason. Which horn of this
dilemma will be comfortable one to be
impaled upon in the pleasant days OF
next October? We venture upon the
opinion that it is much better TO reflect
rather carefully upon this now than To-.
take that leisure for repentance which
proverbially follows acting in haste. There
is, of course, class OF persons to whom
tits an all-suficient reason for any action
that it puts their own party Immediately
in power, aad such We, have no hope of
reaching by argument; but there are, for
tunately, very many more who have an
interest in retaining power in the hands
! of the Union men of the country after tho
!: present year, and to such we submit that
the political profit and loss account would
not look we'll if, on footing it up next
fall, the loss of the Presidency or the loss
cf q majority in Congress should be found
on the debit side, with nothing but the
far end of Jobnsun's time for Nh. Wade
to balance the books.
Those who reckon that the people will
be reused by Mr.. Johnson's late action to
the same pitch of earnestness and selfde-
votion which astonished the world in 1861,
are in danger of disappointment. The
country is not at stake in this issue, as it
was in that. The common sense of the
nation will see that it is only question