Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1868-04-08
Correspondence Of the Philadelphia P
Letter from Occasional"
WAsHINGroN, April

NASHlNGIoN, April 1, 1ooo'
Every citizen can read and comprehend
the merits of the great trial pending in the
Senate of the United States on tho articles
of impeachment presented by the House, as
these are elaborated and explained by Gen.
eral Butler. The whole structure of the
! prosecution-careful, conscientious, and log
| ical-is daily vindieated by the witnesses
examined on the part of the people, Some
months ago the Philadelphia Press printed
! lengthy digest Of the precedents and an.
/ thorities on impeachment, collected by Hon.
! William Lawrence, of Ohio, member Of
/ the Judiciary Committee of the House-ano
eXhaustless fountain of information, now
supplemented to General Buffers speech.
/ With these aids the legal and the popu-
| lar reader can track the trial through all
its stages to the end
After reading the ample dissertation of
General Butler upon the organization of
the Senate acting as court, your attention
will be arrested by the manner in which
ne proves his postulate that no claim of
Executive right over removals or appoint
ments seems to have been made either by
the Executive or by Congress, and that no
bill was ever vetoed on this account until
now" He shows that up to the time An
tenure law for the purpose of enabling him
to resort to force for the restoration of the
traitors by expelling Stanton from the War
Office, the ablest men of the past Of both |
political parties subscribed to the power of |
Congress to limit and control the President |
Of the United States in his removal from |
Office. He shows that the act Of February |
%, 1868, establishing the Office of Comp- |
troller of the Treasury, provides that the |
latter shall be appointed on the nominal |
ton Of the Secretary of the Treasury, by |
and with the advice and consent Of the |
Senate, and shall hold his Office for the term |
Of five years, unless sooner removed by the |
President, by and with the advice and con-
sent of the Senate, and that when this bill |
was passed no objection was raised by any
Democrat against the restriction of the |
power to remove, nor when it was substan-
TALLY repeated in the act Of the Sd of June, /
1864, with the addition that the Comptrol- |
Ter shall be removed "upon reasons 10 be
communicated to the Senate" During the
examination Of Mr.. Creepy, the appoints
ment clerk of the Treasury Department,
yesterday afternoon, the fatal fact was de-
veloped that ARdrelo johnson recognized the
tenure-ef-o6iee act By adapting the Old COM
missions 10 the Re10 lar, and that Re HeUer
dreamed Of resisting Il HHtl he found that It's
provisions retained Edgtn n iStdnton IN once.
Then only he sought for his authority in the
act Of 1895, 1chich provided, IN ease Of yacoa-
cy, Dhere the Secretary or aHy 0tktT officer IN
any of the departments cannot perform the
duties Of has Office, the President may ap-
point another person 10 perform the duties for
a period not erceed5ng Sir months. Yet even
if this statue had reached the case, (Which
it clearly does not,) 1t ,caS repealed IN cypress
terms By the act passed February %, 1853,
lChick repeats al acts inconsistent Herewith.
That act provides that the President, in
the case of the death, resignation, absence
from the seat Of Government, or sickness
Of the head of an executive department oil
the Government, or Of any officer Of either
Of the said departments whose appointment
is not in the head thereof, whereby they
cannot perform the duties of their respeC-
tive offices, it shall be lawful for the Presi-
dent OF the United States, in case he shall
think it necessary, to authorize any other
officer, in either of said departments, whose
is vested in the President at
his discretion, 10 perform the duties of tho
said respective offices until successor be
or until such absence or inability
shall cease.
1t now is evident that the provisions of !
this last law escaped the scrutiny Of the
Presidents counsel, and that when be de-
clared the tenure of-onice act, passed 7th
Of March, 1867, unconstitutional and con-
Guided TO resist il, he had not taken eogni-
zance Of the act Of 1868. This curious
is proved by the fact that
when Mr. Stanbery resigned, short time
since, as Attorney General, TO act as the
Presidents counsel before the Senate. the
President appointed Mr.. Browning. the
head Of another department, under this
very law, as his temporary successor. AdI
Interim Adjutant General Thomas did not
come within the purview Of this statue
be was simply an officer Of the army. and
not eligible. But this is only one Of tbei
1ilemmas INTO which Andrew johnson has
fallen. he has in hundred Of eommunica-
lions TO the Senate acknowledged and ac.
eepted Edwin NJ. Stanton as Secretary of
War, and in numbers Of other instances
recognized the tenure-of-ofice act. .
Such being the foundation Of the defence g
you viii readily discover, By reading Gen.
sral Buffers speech in the light Of the daily r
testimony how impossible It viii be 10 u
Justify Johnson's subsequent revolutionary ?
proceedings Even the shameless plea that :