The Montana post., 1868-05-16
RROM WARRINGTON.
The impeachment Trial the Centre Of Attrae.
tion-It Dsags It's Slow tssgth'- Evidence
closed-Arsuments Of counsei-A Tennessee
Judge out OF Place." How Does Andy Feei7''
A Visit to the President.


Closed-Arguments Of counsel-A Tennessee
Judge out OF Place :" How Does Andy Feei7''
A Visit to the President.
EDITOR PosT: Persons visiting this
city at the present time are no longer
attracted by the ordinary allurements
il contains. At the side of the great
trial all other charms pale. The Patent
Office. with its Thousands of curiosities,
brain perplexing and wonder provoking
models its numerous relics of Wash
ington. Franklin Including the first
press of the latter and others /: its costly
and wonderful presents to our foreign
ambassadors. which are required by law
to be sent there; the Agricultural Bu-
reau. with it's many imitation fruits and
flowers: the Smithsonian Institute.
with its vast collection of birds, animals,
fish. insects, geological and mineralogi-
cal specimens: it's busts, statuary, paint
ings, idols and what not /; relics, foreign
and domestic, ancient and modern. Gel
estial and terrestrial. sacred and profane;
Fords Theatre, the building where the
patriot Lincoln fell, converted into an
anatomical museum in which are dis
and gun shot wounds, brought out by
the late war: Arlington lights, the
former residence of Robert Z. Lee. now
the burial place of thousands of our he
roic dead the Washington Monument,
the public buildings and Mount Vernon.
all of which would afford many months
of study and pleasure to the amateur,
are classed as secondary to the great
impeachment trial.
For one. we are glad to see the begin
ming of the end. The impeachment
proceedings, as might be expected. arc
comparatively dull and monotonons.
The people have read and re.read nearly
all the evidence adduced, and have long
since prepared their verdict. and the
trial is therefore mere formality. The
fact that Gideon Welles and Postmaster
General Randall were summoned To ap-
pear as witnesses caused the interest to
arise for awhile but ceased as soon as it
was.found that they could give no more
evidence thar that which had :iready
been adduced. and that there was no
prospect of Ben. Butler drawing them,
out and quartering them as he did poor
old Gen Thomas.
Their testimony closed the evidence
on the part of the respondent and the
summing up of the case was commenced
by Gov. Boutwell,. who ably sustained
his exalted position. Judge Nelson, of
Tennessee. followed on behalf of the
President. We are really sorry that we
cannot. cOnsonant with the truth. speak
favorably of his effort. II would have
been better for the respondent if it had
not been delivered. The Lntelligencer,
the Presidents organ, did not publish it
at all. In Tennessee it would have
crowned him with glory in Washing
ton. before the Senate of the L. s., sit
ting as high Court of Impeachment,
it was sadly deficient aud out of place.
He began by endeavoring to picture his
client as hero-a second Stephen or u
King of Denmark, with
ga combination and form indeed
Upon which the gods did seem to set their
seals,
To give the world assurance of NAM
frequently asking who is Andrew john
SON." until the usual gravity of the
Senators was shaken-while those in
the galleries occasionally laughed out
right, causing the Chief Justice to come
down repeatedly with his gavel. One
man near us when this question was re-
peated, said as tor him ''he would give
It up" while another seriously declared
that lit was not an appropriate time or
place to ask conundrums IL occupied
very nearly two days in delivery
abounded III meretritoas logic, rhodo-
martado and doggerel quotations, with
an occasional anecdote. which provoked
some laughter from the spectators-not
so much from the humor they contained
as the ridiculous figure lac cut in that
place telling an anecdote scarcely fit for
backwoods meeting in Tennessee. or a
pothouse assemblage at Five Points.
1t was in strong contrast with the able,
concise ami unanswerable argument of
Gov. Boutwell,; and yet this man, no one
doubts. is the Presidents own selection.
Every one is familiar with the fact that
Judge Nelson made the emancipation
proclamation q pretence to go over to
the enemy, and that he has viliified and
slandeTed his client far more than any
of the honorable managers have had
occasion to !; vet in his harrangue. Qor
We cannot dignity it SO much as to call
it an argument, he said that he could
not, in justice 10 his client. pass unno-
ticed the many invectiye epithets hurled
from the other side and even had the
audacity TO question the legality OF the
court 10 Try the. 4 reslueUt III CONSEQUENCE
of the fact :" that some twenty Senators
who We're Justly entitled, in his opinion,
TO seats upon that floor Were not there;
and then went on To say that if il had
not been for the almost unanimous de-
cision rendered by the Senate in oppoei-
ton to the resolution from Garret Davis.
embodying this idea, he would proceed
to argue it, The Sublime arrogance
and presumption manifested here by
him alone made him lolerab!e 20 the
Court. who listened ID him throughout
as patiently as they possibly could.
When he told his little squirrel story,
his co-counsel hung their heads in NOR
tifcation, while Ben. Buffers face turned
crimson with laughter. for the ,iirst
time since the trial commenced. Forney
said of his effort that i, was not one Of
those that would oc preserved in dusty
libraries while another declared it
very exhausting-as Il exhausted every
body who heard 1t: while still another
Ga western MANI declared that he would
rather hold a horse for nothing than
hear that fellow speak"
Yesterday Sir. Groesbock, on the part
of the defense, spoke some four hours.
and the ability with which he argued
profound constitutional and legal gues
lions astonished his most sanguine
friends. In this eiInrt-;he first and
only time he has endeavored 10 speak
throughout the trial-he has stamped