The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-07-02

| Ie'once VI Vho hoPuIhcah party was staked
upon the issue, and that, Consequently evarv
senator belonging to that party, who sbonl3
| hesitate to convict, must necessarily he falls,
70 MS principles, controlled by base If not Grim
ihai influences, and deserter of his flag, Re-
| course was accordingly had to the most bower
| iul enginery of party. The air was filed with
| yins rumors, which found their way TO the
Puoilc ear through the appropriate channels
remuneration, vituperation, calumny, threats
vi peIsosal violence and Of lifelong infamy
were proiuseiy hurled at all who might dare
| TO dIsoDey the public sentiment. The most
| ulreIul consequences were predicted in ca so
impeachment should fail. Union men white
anu colored, were to be murdered or driven
| from thelr homes, and all the horrors of an
other revolution, bloOdier than the first were
| to be let loose upon our devoted land.
1t is not to be wondered at that appliances
like these should have excited the public
mind almost to frenzy. The men who resort
ed TO them were accustomed to the use of sucb
weapons, and knew well how to WELD them ~
Unscrupulous familiar with detraction he
lievers neither in public nor private virtue. or
u believers, considering both as out of place
in politics, they could not resist such an on
portunity, or fail to improve the occasion.
The excitement elsewhere however, was
'rining when compared with that which pre-
vailed at the capital. Here a change of adj
nlnistratlon had long been contemplated, and
was now counted on AS certanty That
l0oked-for change had its usual attendants
The coming in of new President could hard
iv have warmed into life a more numerous
brood of expectants, or stimulated more ex-
IenslSe s,, hopes of honors and profits. The city
was niied with men ready to lump into places
20 De made vacant, as they hoped and believed
tor their benefit. Gamblers thronoed the sa
looms, stalking more than they were able 10
pay upon convection or acquittal. As these
hopes rose or fell with the rumors of The bour
as impeachment stock went up or down upon
the political exchange among the crowd of
hungry expectants, so, for the time rose and
fell the character and reputation of those SEN
ators upon whose votes the result was sunnos-
ed to depend; while the telegraph was at
hand to carry over its wires, to the homes and
friends OF those senators, every calumny
which disappointed ambition cUnld imagine,
or cupldity and malignity could invent; and
whlle portion of the press, claiming for itself
character for decency, and even for Chris
tian virtue, stood ready to endorse and circu-
late the lie.
WHAT effect such a condition of things
might have had upon the conclusions of sena-
tors it is not easy to determine The result
has show that, in the estimation of that por-
tion OF the public which have ATTEMPTED TO
deineate, it was of little consequence what
he opinion of senators might be upon partc-
ular questions, so that conviction and removal
were secured. The immediate cause OF i'm
peachment, and the man article upon which
1t was founded, was the removal OF the Secre-
tary OF War. Two honorable and learned
Sc nators, not included in "the seven" an
otguilty upon this article, and it was not con-
sidered in them even an error in Judgment.
much less betrayal of party, so loug as they
We're able 10 vote for conviction upon the
eleventh. Other senators in their opinions de-
clared themselves unable to sustain the fourth
fifth sixth, seventh, ninth and TENTH No arti-
ces could be found which would secure fine
vote of thirty-tive senators except the second.
third and eleventh. And yet the political
orthodoxy of senators was saved by a vote for
conviction upon something. To all such the
full right OF independent Judgment was full.
Y conceded, while such as claimed and exer- .
clsed the same right upon all the articles
We're unsparingly denounced as traitors. and
proclaimed infamous in advance, by man
ager who had substantially declared in the
House that without the eleventh article the
whole were good for nothing.
You will readily perceive, gentlemen, that a
state of opinion and feeling throughout the
country, such as 1 have described, was not
favorable TO a calm and impartial Judgment.
Senators could not but see and feel that any
tSem s'hsr 10 than % ior conviction would expose
which however unjust is hard to be borne and
slow to be appeased. Nevertheless expeIience
has shown that there are occasions in the lire
OF most public men when to breast such a
storm becomes a simple act OF duty. There
may be cases in which party loses its claim
upon the representatives; when party officers
aud party advantages must be subordinated
to high considerations OF the public good; in
self. and cannot regulate either his opinions
or his action by the wishes of those who elec-
ted him TO office, being responsible, of course
to that popular Judgment which will scan
his motives, and eventually decide whether
he has acted as becomes an honest and up
right servant of the people,
1t seemed to me that this trial of the Pres
ident was from its very nature eminensly
one OF those occasions. The officer impeacbed
was the elected chief magistrate of the nation.
he was arraigned upon specific charges. Al
though the offences specified were political
the proceeding itself could not but regard as
OF judicial character. The constitution Of
the tribunal, the oath imposed upon its mem
bers, impressed me with the belief that in
coming to conclusion was bound to Law
aside, so far as possible, all prejudice against
the individual, and to try him solely upon the
law and the facts applicable TO the crimes
and misdemeanors charged in the articles
In this great and most important proceeding
the people themselves were the prosecutors
before tribunal OF their own selection. The
members were, to be sure, servants of the peo-
pie, responsible to them, but only as Judges
are, for an honest decision of the case sub
mitted. All the attempts to coerce a decision
by outside pressure, BY appeals to party obli-
cations or party necessity, by public meetings,
by threats and vituperatiOn, ,-were In my
opinion, as essentially wrong as if applied to
any case of private right before any court in
the land, ard were ia their nature subversive
alike of justice and of public and private NOR
ality.
Entertaining these views gentlemen, l was
of the opinion that, in coming to a conclusion
upon the articles of impeachment preferred by
the House of Representatives against the
President, 1 must base the question Of guilt or
innocence upon those articles, and those alone;
and further, that, acting IN judicial capacity,
it was my duty to decide according to my own
deliberate judgment upon the case presented;
that although the questions involved were in
general sense of POLITICAL they were in no
sense of party character; that party newspa-
pers and party meetings had no right to die
tate, and ought not to allow them to infu-
ence my decision; that l was bound to disre-
gard all external influences, and all attempts
to control my iudment by appeals of a party
nature, addressed either to my hopes or fears
In word, l considered the matter entirely
beyond and above party Jurisdiction.
The conclusion at which l arrived is we'll
known to you. My reasons are before the
country, and do not desire to repeat them.
All claim for them is that, in common JUS
t:ce they may be believed to be my true rea-
sons For them and for the vote gave offer
no excuse or apology, and ask no viudication;
nor do consider myself entitled to any es-
pecial credit for courage or conscientiousness
in the discharge OF what considered an i'm
perative duty. 1 could not, it is true, shut my
eyes the Iact that, by voting to acquit the
President, 1 should disappoint the hopes of
those who honestly desired his conviction, and
expose myself to severe animadversion from
great mass of that party for the success of
which had earnestly aud faithfully labored.
All this was exceedingly painful to contem-
plate, for a man in public lite does not will
lingly place himself in antagonism with his
political friends, or hazard the loss Of popular
favor. Nevertheless, it did seem to me that
considerations like these were not to be take N
into the account One thing the people had q
right to demand of me, before and above all
others. to wit: that, in discharging the great
trust they had committed to my hands, 1
should shrink from no responsibility which
that trust imposed, and allow no coward fears
OF personal Consequences to lead me
astray from the path of official duty; and 1
dattered, perhaps deluded,-nyself wIlh the
hope that the testimony OF a lite, including
more than fourteen years of consecutive pub
lie service, would protect me against the vile
calumnies of those who sought and affected to
to ind for a course of action by which could
gain nothing and might lose much, motives
criminal or mean. This hope was founded on
q belief in me intelligence and candor OF the
American people, who seldom fail eventually
to Justify those who serve them faithfully. L
am proud and happy to acknowledge that you,
gentlemen, have strengthened and confirmed
that confidence.
You do not, am sure, overrate the impor-
tance of preserving and supporting judicial IN
dependence and judicial integrity. Permit
me to say that legislative independence is of
equal value; not that independence which de-
fies the popular will, or disregards public
opinion, but that which prefers consciousness
OF integrity to popular applause. In our coun-
try the inducements to sacrifice the right to
the expedient, especially in party questions,
are sufficiently strong to preclude all reason
able apprehensions oi wiltul disregard of
constituencies. 1t is easy and pleasant to float
with the current II would not be always pleas