The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-04-03
TIE IMaE ACHMENT.
Answer ocrhe President.
TF,iu,x, navS ExteE. non of Time Asked for
Iy tie Presitszsnt and Refused.
Reported for tie Baltimore Sum-

rReported for tie Baltimore Sum-
WAsIaNGToN, March %.
Alp. NJ. to-dSE the President pro
tenn. of the Sena.S vacated the chair
and the Chief Justice entered and took
! his seat.
The Chief Justjae raped the court
to order and dire%ed the sergeant-at-
arms to make proclamation.
! The Sergeant.at- Arms.-Hear ye!
hear We! hear ye! All persons are
commanded to keep silence while the
Senate of the United States is sitting
| on the trial of Andrew johnson, Presi-
dent of the United States.
| The managers sofimpeachment/ were
announced, and following them the
House ofRepresentatives
| The Presidents counsel entered and
! took their seats.
Mr.. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, was
sworn in as a member of the court.
Mr.. Davis made a motion as follows: {:
"The constitution having invested
| the Senate with the power to try cases
| of Impeachment, and ten States mann
| ing them being unrepresented, and
each State being entitled to two Sena-
tors. therefore the question is whether
| the Senate, as at present constituted,
has he power to try the articles of i'm
parchment preferred against Mr.. john
SON."
The motion was rejected by vote of
40 to 2-the lat er being Mr.. Davis and
Mr.. McCreery.
The Chair notified the counsel for
the President that the court was ready
tOreceiVe the answer of the President.
Mr.. Stanbery rose and said, in ac-
cordance with the order of the Senate
the counsel for the President had de-
voted every hour that they could to the
preparation Of the answer, depriving
themselves even of needfal rest for that
purpose.
Curtis.
/ THE PRESIDENTS ANSWER.
The following is, in substance, the
answer of the President to the article
of fimpeachment exhibited against him
by the House of Representatives For
answer to the first article he says that
Edwin NJ. Stanton was appointed Sec
retary for the Department of War on
the 10Th day of January, \. ID. 1862, by
Abraham Lincoln, then President OF
the United States, during the first term
of his Presidency, and was commission
ed according to the constitution and
laws of the United States to hold the
said office during the pleasure of the
President: that the law Of 1888, passed
by the first Congress Of the United
States, creating the Office of Secretary
of War, provides that he should per-
form his duties according to the second
section of the second article of the con-
stitution, in such manner as the PreSi-
dent shall, from time to time, order
and instruct, acting, according to uni
form practice, as one of the Presidents
advisers acting also for the President
in matters pertaining to the Depart
ment, subordinate 10 the constitution
and laws for the conduct of the Secre-
tary of War Further, that when by
the death of Mr.. Lincoln, April Is,
1860, the respondent became President,
Mr.. Stanton was holding office under
the appointment above mentioned,
ana not having been removed from
office by the respondent, Mr.. Stanton
continued on at the pleasure of the
President, and at no time received any
other appointment except as befare
stated. Further, that on and prior to
the 9Th OfAgust, 1867, the respondent,
President of the United States, respOn
sible for Ir. StantOn'S official acts, be-
came satisfied that he could not allow
the said Stanton to continue to hold
the office of Secretary of the Depart
ment of War without hazard of the
public interests; that the relations be-
tween the said Stanton and the Presi-
dent no longer permitted the PreSi-
dent to resort to him for advice, or to
be, in the Judgment of the President,
safely responsible iOr his conduct OF
the affairs Of the Department Of War,
as by law required, in accordance with
the orders and instructions of the Pres
ident, that the respondent then con-
sidered and determined that the said
Stanton ought no longer to hold the
office, and quotes the note to the secre-
tary, dated August 9TH, 1867, request
ing him 10 resign, also the answer of
Mr.. Stanton refusing to do so, "for
public considerations of a high charac-
ter; :" that the respondent, having re-
gard for his responsibility, then held
that it was impossible, consistent with
public interests, to allow Mr.. Stanton
to continue to hold the office, and
forthwith set about to decide what
acts were necessary to cause him TO
surrender the office.
The respondent believes 1t to have
been practically settled by the first
Congress, and acted on in many cases
by each Congress and President from
the first, that the power at any and all
times of removing from Office all eAe-
cutive officers for cause is to be judged
of by the President alone. This re-
SpOndent had, in pursuanceOf the con-
stitutiOn, required the opinion of each
principal officers of the executive de-
partment upon this question of cOnsti
tutiOnai executive power and duty,
and had been advised by each of them,
including the said Stanton, Secretary
for the Department of War, that under
the constitution of the United States
this power WAS lodged by the Constitu-
tiOn in the President Of the United
States and that consequently it could
be lawfully exercised by him, and the
Congress could not deprive him there
Of; and this respondent, in his capa-
city of President of the United States,
and because in that capacity he was
both enabled and bound to use his best
judgment upon this question, did in
good faith and with all honest desire to
arrive at the truth, come to the cOnclu-
sion and opinion, and did make the
same known to the honorable the Sen
ate of the United States by message
on the 2d day of March, 1867. That
the respondent was then aware of the
provisions Of the tenure-of-office law,
passed March ed, 1867, by a constitu-
tiOnal majority of Congress as follows:
THAT any person holding any civil
office to which he has been appointed