Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-04-25
IMPEACHMENT.
WASHINGTON, April "a

Grimes, that the hour for the meeting of
the Senate shall be IL O'Clock. The order
waa adopted-2l against l3. q
MIR. EDMUNDS offered an order to
admit official reporters to report speeches
Oh the final deliberations of the Senate.
Objected to by MIR. SUMNER and went
over under rule. ,a.Is- ..lrie.3
z Mr.. NELSON resumed his speech, and
concluded his argument of yesterdayiin
support of the proposition that no Off :ers
are impeachable, except those which wei o.
deemed guilty of crimes and misdemean-
ors by the common law at time the Consti-
tuition was fr1med. If'r
Referring to that portion of. Mr.. Bout
wells speech which illustrates the Pres i
dents alleged peryerse nature, by his
treatment of a gentleman who was to have
been one of his council, Mr.. Nelson mad e
statement that Judge Black withdrew
from the case simply because the President
refused to send vessels to seize Alta Vela, al
refusal made on the ground of public duty,
against the solicitation of friends and the
implied threats OF enemies. Quoting the
expressions of Boutwell, that the advice
given to the President by the Cabinet was
shat of serts to re- their lord, or
counsel offered in fear of losing
their places, he reminded the managers
that they had put in evidence a message
which showed that their friend Stanton had
offered the advice thus characterized, and
that he now might cry, 'saye me from my
friends" if they made him out the servile
serf Abiding briefly to the high COM
mendation of the President, written by
Stanton in 1865, and to the strangeness of
the fact that the President is only now i'm
peached for offenses against the detunct
39th Congress, Mr.. Nelson proceeded to
con ider articles of impeachment separ-
ately. He held, in the first place, that there
was distinction made by both common
and statute law between a crime and
an attempt to commit a crime and
as the Civil Tenure bill relates only
to actual removals from office, and
the President had made none, the charges
made in most of the articles fail. But
aside from this objection which, though
technical, should still be claimed to have
weight, he would maintain three PROPOSE
tions, namely: that the tenure of office
law is void. If it is not, Mr.. S5anton's case
is not covered by it, and that even if it is
legal and applicable, the President is not
guilty of crime, because he acted from lau-
dable motives. s
He quoted at great length from debates
on the formation of the Constitution, and
on the passage of the act of 1879, from
numerous legal authorities, to show that
the question of the Presidents power of
removal was definitely settled by the action
of Congress at that time, and claimed,
therefore, he had grounds tor honestly
forming the opinion on which he acted
From the constitutional requirement that
the Attorney General is to furnish the
President with opinions in writing,
and the fact that such opinions are
collected and bound byauthority of Congress
Mr.. Nelson argued they have quasi au-
thoritative character for the Presidents
action. He then cited a large number of
opinions in writing by various Attorney
Generals, since the formation of the form
alton of the Government, in which they
place the same construction on the law of
1889, and express the same views regard
ing the power of removal as President
johnson.
He referred, also, to the opinions of Mr..
Jefferson, to the action President Jackson,
and to that IF the Senate, in eXpunging its
resolution of censure on him, and then re-
the authorities and precedents
for Mr.. Johnson's course and policy in
sisted that the presumption OF honest in
tent was clearly made out. He next con-
sidered the position that Congress has, by
implication, a superior power TO the execu-
tive, and maintained that no greater powers
were granted in that way TO the legislative
than to the Executive branch of the Gov
ernment. ~ 81"
At this point the Senate took recess of
fifteen minutes. sssa - a4l.s sHn7I er.rH
On Resembling, Mr.. Nelson continued
his citation of authorities in support of the
Presidents views on the question of his
power of removal, and proceeded to argue
that the President had the same power to
construe the acts of Congress as Congress
itself, again supporting his views by nu-
merous quotations.
All the preceding arguments, he held, /
proved the tenure OF office law uDconstitu-
tional and void. At considerable length,
Mr.. Nelson then elaborated the proposition
that no charge can be maintained which
does not allege criminal intent, which he
said was not done, except in the fifth arti-
Gle. In the course of his remarks he spoke
of the friendly embrace of Mr.. STAN
ton and General Thomas, and the
equal division of spoonful of liquor
between them as the most remarkable eX-
hibition of force on record [great laugh
teri; and while eulogizing the honesty and
simplicity of Gen. Thomas, explained his
language to Mr.. Burleigh and others as
caused not only by the pride of office, bur
by the enlivening effects of the good liquor
then consumed on the appearance of the
supplemental bottle.
He proceeded to give humorous and
satirical account of the arrest and subse-
quent discharge of Gen. Thomas, ,ridiculing
the idea that any one believed he desi gned
to use force. Passing to the consideration
of the second and third articles, he adopted
statements Ill Gu0 TeSlucnGS duSWOE ds
sufficient reply to them. With regard to
the fourth article, which charges conspira-
cy to obtain possession of the War Office by
intimidation and threats, he claimed it was
not covered by the act of 81, which it claim
ed was violated. The fifth article, alleging
intended employment of force, he held was
not supported by the testimony. The
sixth. in which violation of the tenure
of Office law is also alleged, he considered
ha dicposab of nv the arOI,mpnt of the
constitutionality of that law. The seventh
article was passed over with the denial
that the Presidents oath OF Office was vio-
lated by the offense charged. The eighth
article he met by the argument that the
alleged endeavor to obtain possession OF
moneys in the war department, even if
made was not in violation of
civil tenure law. as stated. With reference
to the 9th article, he held that the Presi-
dent was in the line of his duty when con-
ferriug with General Emery about the
disposition of forces, and that no evidence
whatever had been adduced to prove his
purpose in that interview was evil. Con-
sidering the 10th article, he claimed it was
based on the principles which underlie the
sedition law, which, ever since its passage,
had stunk in the nostrils of the American
people,
He held the President had followed the eX-
ample of certain members of Congress in
disregarding the amenities OF expression,
and was excusable for using strong Ian
guage in reply to the abuse which had
been heaped upon him. Mr.. Nelson insist
ed that the preservation OF the right of
freedom of speech was indispensable to
maintain our liberties. After brief con-
sideration of the 1lth article, which he
said was sufficiently answered by his
remarks concerning the preceding
articles, he referred to the charge of
Mr.. Boutwell,, that the President wished to
control the elections in Southern States,
and asked how that could be possible with
the officers designated by Congress in COM
mand and exercising control over all that
region. In conclusion he reminded
the Senate that trouble and con-
fiscation had usually followed the