The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1868-05-20
From The London Times, April %.
Trnneachn1ent from an English
= 80 Point Of View. 49,

TSsl TSslIfIUGcAG1LA1OAAGSz4 - O4A c1A !~A$o LAS'AA
oint9 Of View.
he great state7trial Of the New World
rapidly pproaehing its close, and any
hour may now bring us intelligence OF the
sndg.nen prop ounced upon Andrew john
zaon tlfsa3 NJ eriean Senate: It : ls. q 2.
strange end Of mighty conflict SIN
) gular example of political bathos The
most gigantic, costly, eand.gsanguanary
q struggle ever known has sdwlndlsd into a
prosecution, of which we, in this country,
can only think that it need never have
:been instituted at all. Whether the
President Of the. Republic. did or did not
commit; the offences imputed toahim is a
question which it really seems hardly. ne
cessarY to- entertain, so plain does the
3 I: conclusion appear, according to English
Opinions, that these offences were not
such AS ahoaId: have put him upon his
Z trial .ssss5 go. ...ss; ~
The whole charge against President
johnson. amounts to little more than this
laSshe placed himself in opposition to
Congress. The Executive and the Legls-
: latuTe have been for some, time at t-vari-
ance, but thatis a;misfortune which might
S.occur at any time. The Constitution
S cave so noSe egsei5o Congress and powers to
]. The, Preslde en {, and it was always possible
that these authorities might differ in
: opinion No doubt such an antagonism
might be carried by a President to such
point, and be supported by such measures
as would Justify an impeachment, but it
saemsfmpo to regard in such a light
as this any of the proceedings ascribedsto
) ohnson. That he did not sympathize
with The views Of Congress is, of course,
m notorious, but in America opinions are
ss.ss7uresy;f free; thatsh spoke without much
respect of Congress@ihay be admitted but
I'm Emerica speech is very free, indeed.
2 We know Of nothing said by, the Presi-
dent on. this subject which might not have
been said of Parliament or Ministers here
withobt bt creating more than apassing re-
Tn ark, and certainly members Of Congress
have spoken rs hardly of Andrew john
son as ever: he spoke of them There was
"a political: fend between the parties, and
party feeling ran high but as things go
In Am erica. and indeed, in ali free coun-.
tries, it seems ont of all measure to make
aifgry words the groundsof solemn i'm
speachment. s.
Tlie legal aspect of the case4nay be a
5sf:sir: question for American lawyers to de-
ternline, but eyen6on this point there ap-
snears. at any rate, as much to be said tori
: tile President as should have saved him
: from this prosecution. a law was passed
4 By Congress. avow ed y in prejudice Of Mr..
s.loIinson's authority.to the effect that 1t
should dsnot be competent 1.-THE President
: to remove from Office certain Minis
tors Of State. This law was designed cN-
!. .bressiy to bride Mr.. Johnson, and pre-
vent him from dismissing any member OF
The Cabinet whose sympathies might be
rather with Congress than with the Presi-
dent: Mr.. Stanton, Minister of War, had
been appointed to his place by Mr. Lin
coin, and Mr.. Lincoln could at any time
baye removed him. Congress desired that
President Johnson-shouid not possess this
power ssrones of its allies, and therefore
passed the bill which rendered the tenure
of the Office in question Independent of
! the Presidents pleasure. This measure
was snotoriouslys directed against MIR.
81 Johnson personally. insomuch that evil
tience was offered during the trial, but re-
fused blythe Senate, to the effect that the
! whole Cabinet, including Dir. Stanton
bimselfS advised the Presidentto put his
seto upon it. It passed, however, ard
became law butethcre was obviously a
question whether the act could have such
3 3 retrospective operationsas to. affect the
tenure of an office conferred by a former
!. President under different conditions. Mr..
. johnson considered that it could not, and
s-lle proceeded at q later period to remove
Mrr-SstaDton upon the ground that the
Office sasshe held it. as tenable only dur
ing the Presidents pleasure: 1t seeems
to-us impossible toimaintain that this pro-
ceeding, whether actuallya breach of the
: law sor not, was such q breach as to require
or. Justify an Impeachment. There was
certainly sufficient doubt about the effect
of.sthe bill to give Mr. Johnsonssome ex-
cuse in thinking himself at liberty and
there are, moreover, other circumstances
telling strongly in his favor. It was
stated in his Defence that in the opinion
heformed upon this case hethad the con-
; currence and support of his constitutional
advisers and it is of@still greaterimpor-
S4anc, to, observe, what has been openly
alleged for him, and never contradicted,
that his sole offset in dealing as be. did
with Mr. Stanton was to obtain case
which might gossbefore tie Supreme
Court and there be decided according to
constitutional law. In the face of these
considerations it seems to us impossible
to regard the Presidents act in removing
the Minister of War as constituting such
o high crime and misdemeanor as would
$ call for his Indictment and trial before
the country.
The impeachment Of the Chief Magis-
trate of a nation is an act of extreme
gravity, to be justified only by oyerPow-