Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1868-03-13

A
Fresh from the perusal Of newspa
gers printed In all parts Of the iuya
states, we must declare that the gen
eral feeling Occasioned by the impeach
ment seems to be one of relief. It Il
useless to deny that for more than
year the country, without amorsel o
confidence In either the ability or th,
integrity of Mr.. johnson, has suffered
extremely from doubt and appreheu
sion; aud IL His Excellency's talent.
and ambition had heen equal, II thu
Major Generals had been less incor
ruptible, II the Executive had been N
lucky as Bonaparte on the eth of No
vember. 1850, the Capitol might havs
been empty this morning and its key In
q Lord Protectors pocket. when tht
timid are shaken by apr ehensluns o
danger to be met, let them refresh thell
souls by q consideration OF danger sur.
mounted! Now when 1t has been
shown how impossible it is for wick.
edly ambitious man to tamper with the
military power of the Republic, when
our Generals have smiled contemptu.
ousiy ut establishments and bribes
when the laws have been vindicated
and our liberties preserved, we can
calmly and inteiligently calculate the
probable upshot IL Mr.. johnson had
been an Oliver Cromwell. or Grant q
Col. Pride--if our congressman had
been towards and our soldiers mere
mercenaries. AS II IL, we have only
another beautiful illustration Of the
truth of the axiom: 1.-THE tools ttj
him who can use them.n A week
man, attempting to carve his way with
m vasylskA al ...sll 81. a.,A k,s.
fingers. We may thank our stars that
the very first personal attempt to grasp
at autocratic power, i'm our history, was
undertaken by one whose weakness
made an ignominious failure predesti-
nate. We have SO often sighed over
Mr.. JohnsOn's mediOcrity, so apparent
in all that he said and all that lie did,
that We do not easily accommodate our
selves to this new estimate of the value
OF his worthlessness; but now we be-
gin better To appreciate the ways of
Providence In permitting this first at
tack upon the public liberties to be
made, not by an eloquent, learned, po-
lite aud courageous aspirant, but by
Andy Johuson of Tennessee. The
body polite will try its .'prentice
hand" on him, and he will at least con.
fer upon the country the obligation OF
furnishing precedents for emergencies
which may De more justly alarming.
lt would not be difficult to draw q
picture of what might now be the atti-
tude of affairs If Mr.. Johnson had been
Gen. Jackson, without Gen. jackson q
virtue and common sense.
In such case we do not pretend to say
how nearly through he might, by dint
of will and military popularity, have
his coup Il etdt, but he cer-
tainiy would not have tumbled head
long at the very first into such an inn
prOmptu catastrophe. He would have
affrighted the country for at least twen-
ty-four hours. He would probably
have obtained possession of burglari-
Gus nature. He might even have raj
lied around his standard couple OF
regiments, and iDtrenched himself in
tire White House for n week or for u
fortnight. What. Johnson really did
do was@tO send rather week headed
General, solitary and alone, to storm
the War Office, and to scare a man like
Edwin NJ. stanton, backed by the Sem
ate and the House, into an uncondi-
tional and ignominious surrender.
Nothing SO serious was ever so silly
nothing SO silly ever CAME half so near
being serious.
Turning from what might have been
to what Is, We see that everything has
been. fortunately ordered. IL would
have been hard to make q cautious aud
peace loving people comprehend that
the President deserved Impeachment,
we will say for the New Orleans infa-
my, or for the corruptions of the Reve-
nue. service; but now his offense has
come in shape which all men can
crime Is naked. patent,
simple defiance of law-he left Con-
gress no alternative-he seemed tn
court one tinal and desperate struggle,
and, like OTHER unprincipied men be-
fore him, he has found ruin I'm the OPP
portunity. No wonder that all the re-
ports from Washington concur In the
that he has no friends left
for nobody cares to unite his fortunes,
however desperate, with those of one
VINO has played his last card, and sta ed
his last shilling, aud lost! Hardly one
OF those newspaper correspondents who
have been honored SD often by the
Presidents loquacious and indiscrimi-
nate Confidence seems disposed, pen In
hand, to come to his rescue. His wise
men run away. His trustjest counselor
seems to have gone into hiding. We
do not even hear Of any clever woman
who IL lending her soft aud balmy as
sistaL ce. The Democratic party should.
In honor. stand by the President. or, al
least, make little show of sympathy ;
but the leaders of that sweet organiza-
tion know by long experience the pre-
else value of man IN his position, and
as for honor. they long ago ceased even
to talk about it. All seems 20 be work
ing well, and we see no reason either
for fear or dependency, as there GER
tainly would have been had the House
Of Representatives been In the least
prompt and decisive In its action
Net6 York Tribune.
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