The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-02-26
rns points ON Mr.. Jonnson's side.

n the House Of Representatives on Mon.
dsv Judge Woodward, Of Pennsy lYania,
srcued that the resolution OF fmpeach;
uent wasa mistake, and that any impeach-
ment of the Presiden. on the idea that
Secretary Stanton was within the protec-
ton Of the tenure.ofoffice bill was what
Fouche, the chief of the old French pc.
lice. would have called worse than .
crime--a blunder. Whatever executive
mower the Federal Government possessed
was vested in the President, who vas made
the sole trustee of the people in that re.
gard. In the matter Of appointments to
Office and the treaty making function, q
check was imposed upon the President !;
but even in those instances the power ex.
ercised was the Presidents. The concur
renee of the Senate was only regulation
for the exercise ofthe power. TWAS amere
advisory discretion, not an executive power.
The Senate possessed not an iota Of ex-
ecutive power. The separateness and CON-
pleteness Of this executive power in the
hands of the President was doctrine
essential to the harmony Of the system OF
government, and to the responsibility OF
the President to the people. II Congress
nodded with it, Congress became tres
passer, and its act an impertinent nullity,
and the President was not to be impeached
for disregarding it. He quoted extracts
from the debate, in the First Congress,
upon the executive departments, and ar
gued that that debate settled this question
absolutely, and demonstrated the utter un-
constitutionality the act of March Q, 1867.
lie also argued that by the very terms Of
that act itself Mr.. Stanton did not come
within its scope, and quoted Senator Sher-
man and Messrs. Spalding and Bingham as
taking the same view of the law when it
was under consideration.
Mr.. johnson was man of the Republi-
can party's own choosing, and he verify
believed that the President was trying to
restore the Union, to pacifcate the coun-
try, and to administer his high office with
g faithful regard to the obligations Of the
Constitution and the best interests Of the
people. He seemed to him to be q true
friend to the whole of his country, q faith
fnl public officer, and entitled to Cabinet
advisers who were his friends, and not bis
enemies. Congress had far better sustain
such man in his constitutional rights, and
address itself to the relief of the suffering
country, than to waste its time and the
peoples money in impeaching a faithful
public servant On charges that are both
false snd foolish. At the risk of denun-
citation, he (Mr. WOODWARD denied the
right of the House to impeach anybody,
and the right of the Senate to try any i'm
parchment. The House was not composed,
as the Constitution required, Of members
"chosen by the people of the several
States"; nor was the Senate composed of
"two senator's from each State"
In conclusion, he said Mr.. Speaker, so
sure am that the American people will
respect this objection that if I were the
Presidents counsellor / would advise him,
if you prefer articles of impeachment, to
demnr both to your jurisdiction and that of
the Senate, and to issue proclamation
giving you and all the world notice that
whilst he held himself Improbable for
misdemeanors in Office before the constitu-
tional tribunal, be never would subject
the office he holds in trust for the people
10 the irregular, unconstitutional, frag-
mentary bodies who propose to strip him
Of it. Such q proclamation, with the
army and navy in hand to sustain it, would
meet g popular response that would make
an end Of impeachment and impeachers.