Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-03-17
A RADICAL HOWL.
Startling DenuneiatiOns Of Republi-
can SenRtors-Chtef Justice Chase
AssaiIed-Fears OF the Failure Of Im-
parchment.


WASHINGTON, Mar. 9, 1s6S.-The periIs
which surround the republic have, never
been of graver character than they are
to-day. The President has been tardily
impeached on purely technical grounds,
which present opportunities for lengthy
and plausible defense, conducted, as that
defense is to be, by the ablest special plea
ders in America. The devices iaventsd to
curb and check the President will, | fear,
return TO plague the inventors. he can
now plead in his defense an invasion by
Congress of prerogatiVe which, whether
constitutional or not, has been sanctioned
by the law and custom Of the republic for
over half century. The opportunity to
assume this position should never have
been given him. The moment be was
proved 10 be dangerous 10 the extent that
he could not be trusted with the usual
powers of his office, the proper remedy was,
not TO pass laws of a doubtful and unusual
character, but to draw the weapon from the
constitutional armory, placed there for just
such an emergency, and with it to strike off
his head. This was again and again urged
in these columns; but a timid and half
awake Congress allowed the golden mo-
ments of opportunity to pass by, the indig-
nation of the people, raised to fever heat
in the fall Of 1866, to cool-and now q rude
buffet from the hand Of the despot they have
vainly tried TO fetter, rouses them to the
spasmodic cry of mpeachment-and thus
we confront the issues of to-day.
That the President is technically guilty
on the indictment framed, and that the law
violated is constitutional, though of an
unusual character, seems easily proven.
But that the skillful lawyers who conduct
the defense will be able TO raise clouds of
doubt around the whole subject is very
certain. This, however, is the least Of the
dangers which threaten to balk the pur-
pose of the loya! people determined that
Mr.. johnson shall no longer protect trea-
son and punish loyalty in the Presidential
chair.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
is his ally. Salmon p. Chase, mad with the
Presidential fever nddesperate in the con-
seiousness of bafiled plans, meanly jealous
of Wade, and, perhaps, cherishing the for
lorn hope of a Democratic nomination,
joins forces with the enemy and stands as
the Presidential ally. II has been known
for long time that the relations between
the Chief Justice and the President were
more cordial than was made necessary by
the mere official relations of the parties,
and, last Wednesday night, the rooms of
the Chief Justice, filled with the gay and
fashionable winter society of Washington,
were startled as by an electric shock when
the doors we're flung open, and the usher,
in lOud voice, announced "the President
of the United States and daughter" Few
who were present with me will soon forget
hesignifieant looks which passed from face
TO face through those brilliant and crowded
rooms, as the unusual event of the Presi-
dent of the United States attending an even
ing reception ofthe Chief Justice was fully
realized. His csrpiDg letter to the Senate
his refusal, at first to obey the mandate
to appear as its presiding oficer-and his
decisions of the following day, are but the
| unfolding of plot to obstruct and defeat,
as far as possible, the conviction of the
President. How far he may be able to
work harm depends, of course, on the firm
ness of the Senate but, in any event, he is
a serious obstacle with evil intentions only
limited by his courage, which latter, for
tunately is rot great. He seems deter
mined to maintain the consistency of a
| public career which may be summed up in
4 jirase wsgda Hs 5fsAad aRopportunity
TO aerye his pafty atfi5Flfe did not betray il.
The Senate itself is the next great dan
| ger. There is reason to believe that Sc
rious detection exists among the Republi-
cans on this question. Ross, Of Kansas,
and Sprague, of Rhode Island, (Chase's
| son-in-laW,) are already counted secure as
| e al Dav,t,lliooY,o -,
| to win over to prevent conviction. The
more than probable detection of Fessenden
would carry at least four more gentlemen
| who hang on his skirts. The folly Of Con.
gress in not providing for the suspension
of the President during trial will soon be
evident The boundless opportunity thi,
gives the culprit to corrupt his judges viii
not remain unimproved.
The most menacing danger of all, how
ever. is the probable decision by a majority
of the Supreme Court in the case of Nc
Cardle, that the reconstruction acts ar
unconstitutional. Congress has failed t
pass the law requiring a two-thirds vot
for decision (Trumbull stihed the bill il
the Senate,) and we are thus Fastening to
point where everything we have gained fo
loyalty and the negro is to be undone b,
judicial fiat.
The situation is alarming, and the peo
pie must be aroused, or all is lost. Their
should be voice from the North, deepan,
loud enough to make the Senate keep it
integrity, and awe the Supreme Court, witt
its equivocal Chief, into silence. Meeting
should be held everywhere, and the coun
try awakened TO its peril. Ny feeble pc
can do little. What | say here is in th
minds and mouths of all who know Wash
ington society or politics at all. Yet 20
| will hardly find it in the editorials or Col
respondence of a single Northern paper
The Especial dispatches" which so large
ly affect public opinion, are all carefull
moulded by crafty politicians here or vens
editors there, in the interests of som
candidate, never caring to speak the exaC
truth once; and 50 the good ship, with th
passengers all unwarned, drifts on an Ut
known and dangerous shore.
If the President comes out of that Ser
ate Chamber triumphant, and armed wit
the pronounced decision of the Suprem
Court on the unconstitutionality of recor
struclion, what law in the interest of fire.,
dom and loyalty will be thenceforth r.
garded? Prescription of loyal men, n
habilitation Of traitors, the trampling dow
of the negro in blood, and his own re-ele
ton by the combined diabolism of Il
country, North and South, TO all of whic
a demoralized Republican party could o
fer but weak resistance-this is the Fl
ture which presents itself as the inevitab
, sequence of events which are imminent.
The South would then indeed be vict
rious, and "dawdling" Congress woul
witness the sacrifice of a republic whiC
they had neither the virtne, nor the wi
dom, nor the courage to save.
IMPORTANT LAWSUIT-CONFED