New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-02-24
uoRlL CAUSES FOR IMPEACHMENT


NOR1L CAUSES FOR IMPEACHMENT
Although impeachment comes before the
House to-day, because the President has vio-
lated specific law Of CODgress-and there Is
little doubt that his trial will be confined to
one specific point, namely, bis refusal TO obey
the Tenure of Office law-yet there are moral
causes for impeachment which the country
will not fail TO consider. The decision of the
House to-day will form one of the most impor-
tant pages in American History, and genera
tions will discuss its wisdom.
The country cannot fail to see that Mr.. John
son is man who cannot be measured by the
ordinary moral tests. We do not honor a man
for being gentleman any more than we honor
lady for being yiTtuOus. Ii is the duty OF
every man and woman so TO live that their
lives may be pure and their names unspotted. IL
is the duty of every public man to leave name
| in history that future generations may regard AS
an example. 1t will be in the mind of every
Christian to-day that there are hundred rea-
sons for impeachment in the case of President
Johnson which will hold good in gen
cral esteem, if not in law. We all re-
member the scenes Of his Inauguration as
Vice President. He was elected to hlgh
Office. 1t was the triumph OF an idea
which was dear to the heart of every laboring
man. lie was the representative OF despised
class. He had labored with his hands at one OF
the most unpretending of empoyments. He had
no advantages of wealth, education, or social
culture. At time when most young men are
about TO leave college, full of the classics and
mathematics he was beginning to read. Sur
mounting these difficulties he had risen from
Mace TO place until he was the second officer OF
the country. Every laboring man felt ennobled
in the elevation, for il showed that IN free
America the highest stations were open TO the
humblest.
We do not repeat the history OF that shame
full day when Mr.. Johnson not only insulted
his audience, but the class from which he
sprung, and gave the enemies Of labor the OPP
portunity of saying: Look at your represent
"ativc won l1ingmau, your exalted plebian. your
Senatorial tailor. This is what comes of your
Democratic institutions A boOr is always
I" boor. The quality of governing exists only 10
" the blue veins of gentlemen like us, who come
" from the loins of kings. This is what Demo
"cracy brings YOU" We condoned that ohcnse.
But men buried it deep in their hearts, and
Americans, proud Of their country, and, above
all, proud of the name of an American gentle
man, blushcd when they remembered that
drunken Vice President had shaken his fist in the
faces of the ambassadors of foreign countries,
and tainted them with their noble birth. They
thought of il even more keenly when Mr.. john
son went swinging around the circle The
story of that dreadful journey has
never been fully told. The name
of dead statesman was degraded. We have
heard, in rudcr civilizations, of a people revel-
ing around a coffin, and boisterousy carousing
over the dead body of a departed friend.
But it remained for President of tie United
States to dig from the grave, as it were, the
body of the dead Douglas, and go junketiDg
with it through the country. There may have
been hope that the memory OF the great
leader would bring followers to his cause; but,
be that as it may, the dlshonor put upon his
memory, and upon the country, was humil-
ating. We saw the President bandying words
with a mob in Cleveland, defending riot and
murder in St. Louis, and making wild, inco-
herent speeches at every station. Men have
told us that they read accounts of this journey.
in foreign lands, with crimsoncd cheeks, and
fearful eyes, and hearts heavy with shame and
that they almost blushcd at the name of an
American citizen. Andrew Johnson is the first
Chief Magistrate of the country that ever dis
graced his Office by conduct unbec0ming
gentleman.
Men will not fail to remember these things
when the events of to-day are written in his
tory. There are moral reasons for the impeach-
ment of Andrew Johnson Children will ask
their parents what became of the man who
thus dsbonored his country, and the reply will
be- he was driven from his Office to ObScurity,
and was never afterward heard of beyond the
tap-rooms Of Greenville, where he lived to
green old age, making endless speeches about
the Constitution and the Radicals, and what
he would do when he was reelected President
Of the United States. We owe something to
the spirit Of Christianity, to the moral law
which every gentleman tries to obey and to
teach to his children. The impeachment OF
Andrew Johnson will not merely be commended
because he tried to cvade tho law, but because
he degraded his high Office, and brought
his country TO shame, and made it scan
dial among tho nations. Therefore, the
moral sense of the country demands TINS
impeachment. Congress should feel that
every gentleman, that every Christian mother
who has sons that she would see honored, that
every American who is proud of his country,
will stand by it in this solemn but unavoidable
duty. There are moral laws as well as civil
laws. While the tribunal of one is the present
and palpsblo machinery of justice, tho tribunal