The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1868-04-09
The Impeachment a Failure.

The Impeachment a Failure.
BENJAMIN Frankhn's idea Of i'm
parchment was an honest one. Know
ing to what extent the tendency to
clamor against authority might 60, and
that the accusations of political 0ppo-
hents arc groundless as a rule, he mr.
ged in the convention hat framed the
constitution an argument in favor Of
impeachment drawn from that knowl.
edge.-Others favored impeachment as
a means of asserting the supremacy of
the law-as a means of Furnishing tho
abuse of powor-punishing ambitious
assumptions. In the gen eral view i'm
parchment was always a punishment.
Franklin favored it as o means Of ex-
ploiing uniounded charges against the
ExecutIve-as the true way in which
the President might put before the ma
ton the exposition Of the motives that
governed him in cases where his acts
had been misunderstood or mlsrepro-
sented-as the means of proving his
honesty. Franklin urged impeach-
ment that the President might have
"tbe opportunity Of vindicating his
character" and that there might be q
national inquest for obs honorable
acquittal where he should be unjustly
accused"
The impeachment trial wonderfully
sustains prosaic Old Ben's Wow of this
great national process. There is no
punishment in the case of all, 1t ~ all
vindication For months the PresI-
dent has been held up by bitter poli.i-
cal opponents as the most atrocious
criminal: and 1T has been vehemently
declared the the safety of the Govern
ment depended upon his removal. So
persistent, so positive, 80 e%xtravagant
have been tho declarations against HIM
ofthe radical party, that had there
never been an impeachment trial it
would never been possible to quite eff.
faco from the mind of tho people all
that has been said; the impression
would have gone down TO posterity
that in view ofsuch denunciation there
must really have been grave acts Of
official misconduct in the Presidents
career. But impeachment has brought
the accusers into court; it has given
them the chance to pose their charges
formally and produce evidence. They
have now nearly concluded their la
bors; and with what result 2 One
more obvious than all others-:he VIM
dictaion of tho President. They have
dono their utmost and find themselves
utterly unable to show any reason why
he should be displaced, why he has not
haon a Dnod onI co;thf, aarvopt octbo
people. impeachment has absolutely
no case at all. Its allegations were
pititul enough, and it cannot even
prove those. All the evidence of guilt
it has PRODUCED to this hour reacts
against it and proves the contrary to
what it desires. Buffers effort to
prove q conspiracy has made 1t as clear
as sunlight that there was no conspl-
racy, and that wonderful i~mpeacher
was himself ashamed of tho evidence
he had brought and tried to cover his
shame with n laugh.
But exactly IN proportion as tho
radicals find themselves unable to car
ry impCach meut by evidence and tho
forms Of justice, SC they become. more
energetic in their attempts To carry it
by bullyingand outrage. Old Stevens
threat against any Senator wh) would
"dare" to vote against impeachment
seemed at the timo it was made TO
AWAKEN the Senate to some sentiment
Of the position in which 1t was thereby
put before the country. There was
some appearance that the repulsion of
that old virago's domineering might
stimulate the court to an honest dis
charge of it's duty, and we may hope
that the last effort 10 influence q err
dict on matters beyond the record
may have a similar result, We have
it said that General Grant finds it not
inconsistent with his duty as q soldier
to nnounee 1t as his opinion tina. the
only hope for the peace of tho country
IS success of the pending impeachment
trial. Thus it is held there Is emo
room for doubt as TO the duty of the
Senate. OF course the allegations in
regard to Graut is an invention. He
never said such a thing and never used
words that could be fairly construed to
such a shape But we see here the
whole Radical plea and plan. The
Radical cry to the Senate is, if you
cannot onvIct the President on the
evidence, convict HIM anyhow; con.
vict him because General Grant thinke
you ought to. General Grant opinions
are Of more account than the evidence
therefore when you know what he
thinks there car be mo room for doubt
as to your duty ."-New York Herald.
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In Paris it was recently shown thai