The New York herald., 1868-03-23
The impeachment Trial-Expiratien ef the
Defendants Ten Day. Gracc.b N

| uayS BraCc aloWeu MN Dy the Senate IN
which to make up his answer against the
House indictment have expired, and with the
resumption Of his case to-day his plan of opera
tions will doubtless be disclosed. His coun-
sci, in answer to the summons of the con-
script fathers Of the Senate to appear before
them, asked in his behalf forty days for their
defensive preparations; but being granted only
ten, it is supposed that Mr.. Stanbery will
move this morning for an extension Of time,
on the plea that justice to their client, the
magnitude and importance of the subject, the
delicate points of law and the momentous
full deliberation. Mr.. johnson from day to
day since the last meeting of the Court of I'm
peachment has been holding frequent and pro-
tracted consultations with his counsel, and it
seems to be generally understood, as one re-
suit of these conferences, that more time will
be their first move, and that they have, in
short, resolved upon the Fabian policy of ex-
hausting the enemy by long marches, frequent
surprises, embarrassing tricks of strategy and
exhausting delays.
Mr.. Benjamin F. Butler, in reply to the forty
| days application from Mr.. Stanbery, very
broadly and emphatically suggested, for the
| information of the defendant, that his personal
convenience and desires have nothing to do
with his case, that the object of the House of
Representatives in this impeachment is brief
and not protracted trial, that the charges
| against the defendant are such that they need
| no laborious researches to get at the facts
and the law available in his justification
and that his speedy removal is of such
overwhelming Importance to the country
that the Senate cannot afford to stand
! upon trifes nor waste precious time on dila-
| tory motions or legal technicalities. Whatever
may be the answer of Mr.. Johnson to the
House Indictment, it is said that the prose-
cutting Board of House Managers will only ask
two days to meet the propositions and argu-
ment of defendants counsel, and that on
Wednesday, therefore, Messrs. Bingham,
Boutwell,, Butler and their colleagues will be
ready to proceed regularly with the trial. In
some of the political circles at Washington it is
surmised that the Senate, on an appeal from
his attorneys, will grant to the accused at least
a ten days extension, but we are rather in
clined to suspect that, under the remonstrances
of the House Managers, any such proposition
will be voted down. The rules of the Senate
for this trial were framed mainly to reach the
object of final judgment with the least delay
consistent with the legal demands of fairness
to the accused. Thus we have already seen
that the usual expedients in courts Of justice
to gain time for the prisoner will not be allowed
in this case, and that the overruling idea is to
be that the country suffers while Andrew
johnson remains in Office.
It has been darkly limited from certain quar-
ters that Mr.. Johnsons legal advisers have not
been holding these protracted deliberations
with him at the White House on mere questions
Of delay; but that they have hit upon line of
procedure which will astonish even Butler,
| thoroughly trained as he is in the strategy and
tactics of the law. 1t has been rumored In
this connection that Buffers appendage to the
impeachment article which makes 'high
misdemeanor" of Johnson's swinging around
the circle" in that famous pilgrimage of 1866 to
the grave of Douglas and back by way of st.
Louis may possibly be withdrawn. The reason
suggested is that General Grant, who with
Admiral Farragut accompanied the Presi-
dent on this experiment Of squaring the circle,
in being called as witness in behalf Of the
accused may reduce this charge of Butler to
harmless nullity, or that Grant may bottle
himself up in his testimony as effectually as
once upon time he bottled up Butler. In
the simple fact that General Grant not only
accompanied Mr.. johnson and was present at
all his stump speeches en- route from Washing
ton to Chicago, and thus by his presence from
point to point placed himself in the position
of an endorser of the President, there is or
ought to be enough with the more thoughtful
| impeachers to keep the General out of this
court as witness Of the 'Pigrim's Pro-
gress.
| All conjectures, however, as to what the
| Presidents counsel may ask or submit or as
to what the prosecution may do at the re-
assembling of the High Court Of Impeachment
to-day, may be dismissed, inasmuch as the facts
after the lapse of few hours WIN be before us.
Whatever may be Mr. Johnson's line of de-
fence, or whatever may be the weight of law,
precedents, evidence and reasonable presump-
tions in his favor, there appears to be but one
opinion as to the final result, and that Is that
he viii be condemned upon the charges pre-
ferred and removed from Office. This is the
test of party fidelity in the Senate and every
republican in the Senate has been made to
feel it. There may be absolution for him who
opposes universal negro suffrage and for him
who has his peculiar notions on the redemption
Of the national debt, but there will be no abso-
luton for the republican Senator who espouses
the cause Of Andrew Johnson. sold Thad
Stevens" has said so, and all the radical organs
Of the country and all the republican State con-