Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-02
Deposition Of the President Of the United
states--Usurpation Of Executive Power
by Revolutionary Power.


Happily for the country, the Radical
party drives furiously onward TO the in
evitable goal Of seli-destrn ction. Already
1t has gone in appeals TO higher law and
so'called necessity, in defiance Of the
established order Of our government, as
TO set aside the President Of the United
States, and turn over his powers to a rev
olutionary junta, or directory, Of which
Mr.. Stanton is the unscrupulous head.
In open aud conscious defiance Of the
fact that the President, under the Consti-
tuition, Is the supteme commander Of our
armies, il has been directed, as il by
General Grant, that no part OF the army
shall respect the Presidents order; and
Mr.. Stanton holds an executive depart
ment in defiance OF the Executive, while
| obedience to the Presidents command
in the discharge Of necessary duties is
become an offense and cause Of incar-
ceration in a Jail. And this is neither
more nor less than usurpation Of the
power that resides only in the President
under the supreme law, that the supreme
law intended should reside in the Presi-
dent, and of which only certain speci-
fed process not yet taken can deprive
him.
And how and why are these destruc-
tive and dangerous measures Of prece-
dent taken 2 In carrying on contest
| initiated TO secure the supremacy Of a
faction, Mr. Stanton is the centre and
seed of all the evil, as the tool of the
meaner purposes Of his party, He,
though hostile to the policy of the Exec
utive, was deputed to hold his place in
the Cabinet as q spy. Suspended by the
President, the Senate, exercising a doubt
full authority, restored him to his place,
and the President, taking higher ground,
removed him, and appointed his success
sor. But now the President is not only
| Ignored, but is to be impeached, they say.
impeachment, a great constitutional
process, is to be dragged in as the weapon
Of the faction. Impeachment is invoked,
not as purging process to purify power,
not as O means of asserting the preserv-
ative vitality of the law, but as a politi-
cal maneuver; for in this case
it is nothing else. 1t is merely the next
step against the President in the fight
over Stanton. No offense is charged
save one committed under the Tenure of
Office law against Mr.. Stanton, which
that law says shall be "a high crime"
II should be remembered at this moment
that Congress cannot make general prin-
ciples. The fact that the Tenure of
Office law declares a certain thing shall
be high crime does not make it high
crime The high crimes for which the
Constitution provides that the President
shall be impeached are to be ascertained
from the constitutional standpoint; and
for Congress to pass laws pretending to
define what the Constitution means is to
ridiculously mistake its place. Congress
might as we'll declare that to toss cop
per in the air shall be murder as to say
that to remove Secretary shall be
high crime.
But it is otherwise said that the Presi.
dent will be impeached for proceeding
in violation of law which commands
him to leave Stanton alone. 1t is de-
clared on all hands, and it is the fashion
to declare, that the President must obey
and execute every law that Congress
passes until the Supreme Court has de-
clared it unconstitutional; but a notable
point against this view is the position
lately taken by the Republican party
itself, that the Supreme Court has no
power to review law, as Republicans
declare, then there can be no necessity |
for the President to wait for the court to
exercise such power. Hereupon the ques
ton will arise whether or not the |
presumption is in truth always in |
favor of the law. Is there not in |
law.making certain point going beyond |
which the presumption is the other way |
And must not the President, from the
nature of his office, be for himself the
judge which way the presumption falls
This notion that the President must ac-
cept all laws, stands on the constitutional
requirement that he "shall see that the
laws are faithfully executed" This
would require him to find out what acts
are laws; and it is absolutely and un.
changeably true that an act not made in
conformity with the Constitution-with
the organic, original principles of the
Government-is not law, and never
becomes a law, and all proceedings that
may be taken under such an act are void
from the commencement No doubt is
entertained of this by the highest author
tiles.
There remain, therefore, the fact that
to remove Secretary is not and cannot
be made a high crime and the high prob
ability that the President has not done
wrong in obeying the organic law rather
than a certain act of Congress where
the two were in conflict. No one, in
view of our recent history, can suppose
that any other than the power Of party
passion moved the House in its action
Yesterday. But how is it with the Sem
atef 1t may not be so widely different;
and there is no great confidence in the
country that even that body will raise
itself above the political tumult and
Judge the great topic on its merits. But
beyond these loom the masses of the peo-
pie watching and waiting for the hour
when the ballot boxes shall open.
And the ultimate idea in impeachment
is Just this-that from the moment the
process really begins it will not be so
much Andrew johnson on his trial before
the high court as the high court on its
trial before the people. If the judge is
condemned when the criminal is set free,
not less does be record the sentence
against himself when he finds the inno-
cent guilty. Should Congress impeach
and remove the President in only vim
dictive and party spirit, shaking the
foundation of government without
erandly sufficient moral and legal reason
shown, it's verdict against him will be his
and its own death warrants
for the nation will finally end this case Al
the polls in q decision neither warped
nor guided By the Judgment and reason
ing Of this or that oracle, but determined ,
by the subtle political instinct Of an in
.il,u.rK nannla