New-York tribune., 1868-04-21
and his name will largely increase the attention
bestowed by the civilized world upon the pro-
ceedngs of the Diet.
THE QUESTION or INTENT.

| We defy any candid man, who Is at the same
time intelligent, to read the evidence now be-
fore the country and resist the conviction that
Andrew Johnson fully purposed and plotted to
oust Edwin NJ. Stanton from the War Depart
nent in defiance of the known will of the
Senate that he should remain. We cannot OBJ
| serve that this intent is even seriously ques-
| toned. Indeed, the eagerness of the Presi-
dents champions to obscure this issue. and
make the case turn entirely on the point of in
tent to use force in the premises, is virtual
confession of Judgment on the main point
The President and the Senate are coordinate
powers in the filling by appointment of most
offices under the Federal Government. They
had agreed in making Edwin NJ Stanton
Secretary of War. After a time, Mr.. johnson,
having turned against the party which elected
him, desired to get rid of Mr.. Stanton, who,
alone of the Cabinet, had not shared In his
superiOr's apOstasy. Traitors and renegades
always hate the true men they have deserted !;
they hate to meet or 10 see them. They IN
tenscy dislike to see Mordeca, the Jew, sitting
in the kings gate" 1t became passion,
frenzy, with johnson, to get Mr.. Stanton out OF
the War Office And the Secretary would most
gladly have been relieved from his uksome
post, but the great party by whose voice he
had been placed and so long sustained therein
earnestly said to him. " Hold on! no matter at
"what sacrifice of personal feeling. You must
"not surrender the War Department, involving
" the control of the Army, the Freedmens Bu-
"reau, and the execution of the Reconstruction
8" acts, to such a Rebel or COpperhead as john
son would choose to put in your place" so
Mr.. Stanton has held on, not for his own sake,
nor at his own suggestion, but because the
great party which JOhnsOns ingratitude and
treachery had swindled ont of six Departments
of the Administration, chose not to be swim
died ont of the seventh.
Mr.. johnson took care to keep within the
letter, even, of the Tenureof- Office act, in his
first removal of StantOn-that which he effected
in the recess of Congress. BY placing Gen.
Grant in the Office dd interim, he sought to
chloroform the public into the delusion that he
sought a change of men only. The Senate, on
reassembling, saw through the trick, and vir-
tualy ordered the restoration of Stanton.
Grant at once gave way, and Stanton resumed
the Office. Johnson was furious ut Grant for
giving up the post without his permission to
do so, and publicly charged the General with
duplicity and falsehood. Gen Grant, in reply,
charged Johnson with seeking to involve him
Grant in violation of the law. Here the
matter rested for time and the next
move was JohnsOn's appointment of Lorenzo
Thomas as Secretary dd interim, and the
simultaneous attempt of the latter to get pos
session Of the Office, ousting Stanton. while
both johnson and Thomas were perfectly aware
that the Senate was immOvably hostile 10 any
such change.
We have no shadow of doubt that johnson
and Thomas intended to get possession of the
Department any peaceaby if we can !;
"forcibly if we must" JOhnsOn's stigmatizing
of Stanton as coward who would make no re-
sistance, has no meaning if this be not so.
But this, though important, is by no means
| essential That johnson sought to wrest the
| War Office from the hands to which the Senate
had consented to intrust it, and hand 1t over
| TO some one for whom he well knew that such
! consent had not been and could not be OBJ
| tained, is the vital matter. That this was a
plain, fragrant violation of the Tenure-Of-
| Office act, is unquestionable; but it is no less
a violation of the express constitutional right
of the Senate to q concurrent voice in filling
| tlllB anu III bllllldI pldCcS' OOHhoOH uihHio-
| takably lawless intent is the intent to change
the head of the War Department i'll opposition
to the declared, recorded vote of the Senate.
And that offense, so far from being disproved,
is hardly denied.
Here is the fundamental question at issue
Is ours government of laws, or a govern
ment of personal wll?' Mr.. Johnson has
proceeded on theory of prerogatiye which
finds no warrant in the Federal Constitution,
nor in the republican theory of government.
He is a ruler after that Tudor or Stuart pat
| tern which the AnglO-Saxon mind has out
grown He has fanced himself cunning enough
to achieve bis end by strategy, and therein has
mserably failed. In spite of his desperate
device, Stanton is still in the War Office, and he
is a culprit at the bar of the Senate. He will
leave that bar branded attestaton that this
is a republic wherein the laws are supreme
and the chief magistrate is but their honored
first servant while he obeys and their victim
when he attempts TO subvert them.
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