The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1868-03-27

President to execute the laws, not t.
make them, or to dictate to Congress,
what laws it shall pass, or to assume tc
bimself the judicial function of deciding
upon the constitutionality of any Law
duly passed by the Legislative depart.
ment of the government.
Andrew johnson has not only failed
to execute the laws in good faith, but
has conspired with others to defeat
them. He would have succeeded to a
much greater extent in his nefarious
designs than he has but for the precau.
tionary laws passed by Congress tc
prevent him. No doubt he would long
ago have ordered General Grant away
from Washington, or placed him under
arrest, but for the provisions of the
second section of a law passed March 2,
1857, which l will read:
SIC. 2. A,ld be a further enacted That
the headquarters Of the General of the Army
OF the United States shall be at the city OF
Washington, and all orders and instructions
relating to military operations issued hy the
President or Secretary of War shall be issued
through the General of the Army, and in
case of his inability through the next in
rank. The General of the Army shall not
be Suspended, removed or relieved from COM
mand, or assigned to duty elsewhere than at
said headquarters, except at his own request
with out the previous approval of the Senate;
and any orders or instructions relating to
military operations issued contrary TO the re-
|quirements Of this section shall be null and
void; and any officer who shall issue orders
or instructions contrary to the provisions Of
this section shall be deemed guilty of a mis-
demeanOr in office; and any officer Of the
army who shall transmit, convey or obey any
orders or instructions SO issued contrary TO
the provisions of this section, knowing that
such orders were so issued, shall be liable 10
imprisonment for not less than two nor more
than twenty years, upon conviction thereof
in any court of competent jurisdiction.
The Presidents attempts to get
around or over this law have been not
only shameful but amusing. Finding
that General Grant stood between him
and the army, and could neither be
persuaded nor driven to lend himself
to the unlawful designs of the Presi-
dent, and wonld not allow the army 10
be used in violation of law, he attempt
ed to supercede General Grant in COM
mand at Washington by creating new
department with headquarters at Wash
ington, with the intention of placing
General Sherman in command, with a
nomination as brevet general, which he
supposed the Senate would not dare to
reject. But General Sherman was not
to be caught with such chaff. Failing
in this by the good sense of General
Sherman, he tries General George H.
Thomas with the same bait and with
like success. Having failed to entrap
the leading generals, and induce them
to take position antagonistic to Gen.
Grant, ne next hampers with officers
lower in commaed, to ascertain wheth-
er they could be induced to obey orders
directly from the President in disregerd
of the law. But he could find none so
forgetful Of duty or so void of patriot
ism as to lend themselves to his base
purposes. Yet some have feared and
others have threatened that the Presi-
dent will use the army to resist the ac-
ton of Congress if he should be i'm
peached and sentenced to removal
from Office upon conviction. All snch
talk is idle nonsense. Andrew John
son will be impeached by the House,
convicted by the Senate, and removed
from office without the firing of a gun
or the loss of man. The country will
then be rid of an incubus which has
retarded its prosperity, encouraged its
enemies, and discouraged its friends
during the last two years. The mo-
ment honest Ben Wade takes charge
of the helm of State, traitors will be
silent, patriots will rejoice, and conf
dence in the stability of our free insti-
tutions will be restored, and Andrew
will be remembered only to be
for his f4ithlessness. On the
4th of March, 1860, General U. S.
Grant will be inaugurated President of
the United States, and the great con-
spiracy of the shareholders and their
Democratic allies of the North against
the inalienable rights of man and to
human slavery will be
crushed forever.