Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1868-05-07
MANAGER BINeaAM,s ARGUMENT.

tne1elegTaphic report OlDlr. bingham 5
remarks before the Impeachment Court,
on the 4th inst:
= need not say that among the American
people there is no sovereign except the
laws enacted by themselves, obligatory
alike upon each and all, official and nom
7 official, the obligations of which cease
only with their repeal or reversal i'm the
mode prescribed by the people themselves.
This, Senators, is the tradition1 of the Re-
public, and is understood from the Atlantic
to the Pacific shores by the five and thirty
millions Of people who dwell between
these shores and hold i'm their hands to-day
the greatest trust ever committed bY God
to any political society.
| protest that lii no mere partisan spirit,
in no spirit of resentment or prejudice, did
| come here with the articles of impcach-
ment on the part of the representatives OF
the people, upon the responsibilities and
under the obligations of no one BY or
der of the people and for the people, and
for the Constitution and the laws, L this
day appear. But yesterday the supremacy
of the Constitution and the laws was chal-
lenged by armed rebellion. To-day the
supremacy of the Constitution and the
laws is challenged by Executive usurpa-
the presence of the Senate of the United
States For five years millions of men
disputed the supremacy of American law
on American SOIL Happily for our COM
mon country, happily for our common hu-
manity, on the 9th day of April, 1865, the
armed battalions of treason and armed re-
sistance surrendered to the victorious le-
gions of the North. On that day, Scna-
tors, not without sacrifice, not without suf-
fering, not without martyrdom, the laws
were yindicated. On that day the word
went all over our sorrow stricken land and
to every nationality, that the Republic
the last refuge of constitutional liberty
the last sanctuary of freedom, was saved
forever, and saved by the sacrifice and
valor of its children. On the 14th day of
April, 1865, here in the capital, amidst
the joys and plaudts of the people for
their great deliverance-AbrahamL Lincoln
was slain by the assassins hand i'm the
Capital of the United States-slain, not for
his crimes, but for his virtues. and espe-
cially for his fidelity to duty-thc work be-
qucathed by God to man. Upon the death
of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson,
then Vice President of the United States,
by force of the Constitution became Pres
ident. Upon taking the prescribed oath
faithfully to execute the office of Prcsi-
dent, and preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States he be-
came President. The great people, with
bowed heads in presence of that great,
strange sadness which came upon them
forgot for moment the disgraccful part
that Andrew Johnson had played on this
tribune of the Senate on the 4th day of
March, 1868, and accepted his oath as sue
cessor of Abraham Lincoln as a confirma-
ton and assurance that he would take care
that the laws would be faithfully executed
Its, Senator's, with the people of the United
States an iintuitive judgment, the high
estfonylctlon OF the human intellect, that
the oath faithfully to execute the office of
President, and preserve, protect and de-
fend the Constitution, means, and must
forever mean, while the Constitution re.
mains, that the President himself shall
obey, and all the people themselves shall
obey, all such laws as Shall be enacted. un.
til they shall he repealed, or reversed by
the Supreme Court of the United States
within the limitation or restriction of the
Constitution itself For the purposes of
this argument, Senators, we may regard
this as the general judgment of the peo-
pie Of this government Surely-surely
1t is the pride of every American, that no
man is above the laws and that the Presi-
dent OF the United States himself is as
subject to the laws as the humblest peas
ant from the remotest frontier of our ever
increasing civilization. M t-a.
If the President had failed in his duty,
he was as amenable to the law as the hum
blcst man in the country. Washington
said that the Constitution of the United
States, until changed, was obligatory upon
the whole people without distinction. The
Constitution itself, which is alone the all
supreme law of the land, says that it is
above all other enactments. This PROPOSE
ton, though so plain and simple that the
wayiaring man, though fool, cannot err
therein, has been lost sight of by the Presi-
dents counsel. They have asserted that
the President may judicially construe the
Constitution of the United States to suit
his own purposes. 1t would be well if this
was carried into the brains of Senators, so
that when they come to deliberate on this
case they may not forget the position of
the would-be King, Andrew johnson. If
any such position as this shall be granted
by the Senate, in their decision, ii needs no
prophet of the living God to predict that
the Senators will prove themselves archi-
tects of their country's ruin.
He asked how the charge of violating a
supreme law was met by TIE counsel, who
for hire defend the treason Of the criminal
respondent. 1t was by the outrageous as
sertion that each branch of the Govern
ment had the right to Judge of the consti-
nationality OF laws, and obey them or not
mt pleasure. This was the defense
Mr.. Bingham held, simply, that the Sen
ate was the supreme judicial tribunal of
the United States, and that the Supreme
Court was the court of last resort for the
decision of constitutional questions He
held that it had no more to do with the
present question than the Court of ST. Pc |
tersburg, and that the Judgment of this
tribunal could not be affected by dec sions
of the Supreme Court, made before or after
the impeachment trial. He argued that
the original jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court did not extend to impeachments,
and that their references to its decisions
were irrelevent, and their arguments on
this point without colorado excuse. sr.r
He then considered the proposition adj
vanced by the counsel, that the heads of
departments were merely the registering
secretaries of the President, bound to do
his will. Reading from the decisions of
the Supreme Court in the case quoted by
Mr. Evarts, he claimed that it was therein
plainly laid down that such officers were
bound by the law and not by the Presi-
dents will. He also claimed that the
other position assumed by all of the Presi-
dents counsel that he could set in iudg-
mcnt on the validity of laws was over
thrown by the decision of the same tri- |
bunal thirty years ago, which decisions |
had never been questioned, and proceeded |
to read extracts from them. He further |
asserted that the ex-Attorney General vas |
wholly inexcusable in attempting to force |
into this trial as an authority the decision !
of the present presiding officer in the Mis-
sissippf case. and argued that it had no
relevancy whatever to the question in dis
pute. He claimed then that it was proved |
that we could not allow the least discretion |