Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-05-05
IMPEACHMENT.
The Speech of.Mr. Evar is.

The speech of Mr. Evarts, as far as it was
delivered on Tuesday, did not touch any of
the legal or constitutional questions involved
in theimpeachmentit itself. 1t was splendid
plea for justice to the President. 1t was an
attempt to impress upon the minds of Sena-
tors the solemn nature of an oath, the high
character of the Presidential Office, the dignity
that should attach to the tribunal itself, and
the fact thai the Constitution must be obeyed
whether the laws are or not. IF he treated
every question involved in the case with the
same ability that marked his discussion of
these points, his speech must be PRONOUNCED
superior even to that of Judge Curtis. We
give an extract which will convey good
idea of his style and matter
CHOW, what does the Constitution do for
us? A few little words; that is all. Truth,
justice, oath, duty And what does the
whole scope of our moral nature, and what
support we may hope from higher aid extend
to in any of our affairs of life than this?
Truth, justice, oath, duty, control the fate,
life, liberty, character and property Of every
citizen, Truth, justice, oath, duty, are the
ideas which the Constitution has forced upon
your souls to day, You receive them or you
neglect them. Whichever way you turn you
cannot be the sameAnen afterwards that YOU
wero.. Accept them, embrace, obey, and you
are nObler and stronger and better. Spurn
and reject them, and you are worse and baser
and weaker and wickeder than before. 1t is
thus that free government must be always
held to the power of duty, to the maintenance
of its authority, and to the prevalence of its
own strength, for its perpetual existence.
They are little words but they have great
power. Truth is to the moral world what
gravitaton is to the material world. 1t is
the principle OH which it is, established and
coheres. The adaptation of truth to the af-
fairs of man is in human life what the mechan-
ism of the heavens is to the principle which
gustains the forces Of the globe. Duty is ac-
ceptance of obedience to those ideas and
this, once gained, secures the operation that
was intended When, then, you have been
submissive to that oath, that faith among
men which, as Burke says, holds the moral
elements of the world together, and that faith
in God which binds the world to His throne,
it subdues you to the service of truth and JUS
tice. The purity Of the family and the sane
tty of Justice have ever been cared for, and
will ever be cared for, by the ever living
guardian of human rights and interests, who
does not neglect what is essential to the pre-
servaton Of the human race and its advance.
The Furies, in old mythology, had charge of
the sanctity of an. oath. The imaginations
of TIE prophets Of the world have 3anctifed
the solemnity of an oath, and have peopled
the places of punishment with oath.breakers.
All the fortunes and torrents of history
are applied to public. servants who, in betray-
al of sworn trusts, have diso5eyed this high,
this necessitous obligation, without WHICH the
the whole fabric Of society falls into pieces.
"Now, do not know why or how it is that
we are so constituted but so it is. The
moral world has its laws as we'll as the ma
terial world. Why a point Of steel, lifted
over a temple or house, should draw the
thunderbolt and speed it safely into the
ground, l know'not. How, in our moral con-
stitution, an oath, lifted to Heaven, can draw
from the great swollen cloud of passion, and
of interest. and Of hate, its charge, know
not 3; but SO it is. And be sure, that loud and
long as those honorable. Managers may talk.
although they speak in the voice of all the
people Of the United States, with their bold
persuasions that you shall not obey judicial
oath, | can bring against it but single
sentence and single voice but that sentence
is a commandment, and that voice speaks with
awe: Thou shalt not take the name of the
Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not
hold him gultless that taketh his name in
vain The moth may consume the ermine
of that Supreme Court whose robes you wear
rust may corrude, senators, the centre of your
power; nay. Messrs. Managers, time even
shall deyour the people whose presence, beat
ing against the doors of their senate-house,
you so much love to taunt aud menace but
as to the word which | have spoken, Heaven
and earth may pass away, but no jot or title
of it will fail"
On Wednesday, during the delivery of his
remarkable speech, Mr.. Evarts, to the great
delight of his hearers, thus cxcoriated Mr..
"Now, it has usually been supposed that
on an actual trial, involving serious conse-
quences, forensic discussion was the true
method of dealing with the subject; and we
LAWYERS appearing for the President being,
as Mr.. Manager Butler has been polite enough
to say, attorneys whose practice in. the law
has sharpened but not enlarged their intellect
have confined ourselves to this method of
forensic discussion. But we have learned
here that there is another methodSof forensic
controvar sy, which may be called the method
of conclusion. Now, [ understand the method
of conclusion to be to make demonstration
in the vicinity of the object ofattack, whereas
the method of discussion is to penetrate the
position and, if successful, capture it. The
Chinese method of warfare is the method of
conclusion, and consists Of agreat braying of
trumpets, sounding of gongs, and shots and
shrieks in the neighborhood of the opposing
force. When all this rolls away, and the air
is freer, the effect is to be watched for. But
it has been reserved to US, in our modern war
fare, as illustrated here in the rebellion, to
present a more singular and notable instance
of the method of warfare by conclusion than
ever has been known before. A fort, i'm
pregnable by the methods of discussion Chat
is, penetrating and capturing IT'D has been,