New-York tribune., 1868-03-06
"----- rather boar tIiOAfIHs VI hhlt,
Than fly 10 others that We know not Of

The motion to impeach NJ. Madison was q
blank failure, only redeemed from ridicule by
the personal dignity of the mover. Gen. Jack
son WAS too strong in his party, and, per-
hans il will now be admitted by all, IN his
principles, TO fear for n moment this form
of opposition. There was talk OF I'M
peaching Mr.. Tyler; bus it was gen
orally felt by everybody that in time OF
public peace and of tolerable prosperity, such
n game would hardly be worth the candle. The
fact that this method Of dealing with an un-
manageable President has labored under n sort
of conservative disrepute, only makes the ac-
ton of the House of Representatives, at this
time the more impressive. There is no reason
TO believe that if we establish precedent. 1T
will be one to which Congress will ever be in
clned to resort "for light and transient causes"
The value of the present process, apart
from the judicial investigation Of many misde-
meanors which it implies, is that it will make
future Presidents more careful of the means by
which they may seek their ends; and If it does
this, We shall really be IN less danger OF inn
peachments in the time to come than we have
constantly been in the past, so Tar at least as
their necessity is concerned. For, IN the first
place, so far from degrading the Office by this
measure, it is easy to see that we do actually
raise its standard of qualification. lmpeach-
ment now means that tomorrow, and in all the
coming years of the Republic, We want and we
mean to have whatever may be his political Opin-
IONS truth, decency, sObrety, and respect for the
laws observable in the tenant of the White
House, and scrupulously observed 10y him, what
ever may be the confusion and difficulty of
10. H. ol,, tI,n tbaf ator
the responsibility-this is the lesson which the
events of to-day are teaching US. II is not for
the interest of any party that the President,
elected by its votes, and for whose righteous
conduct it is, in measure, responsible, should
cover il with disgrace and make it familiar
with disaster. It has vested interest in the
| good behavior of the man who has been made
| eminent by its suffrages; and it must be very
strong party, indeed, if it can afford to dis
| pense at once with gratitude for its favors and
| fidelity to its principles.
| These considerations are neither unimpOrtant
nor untimely, when we consider that we are
upon the eve Of new Presidential election
| We can sec now how much may turn upon
this quadrennal expression of the popular will
"You and l." wrote Alexander Hamilton tc
| his friend Gen. Lewis, "may not live to see
"the day, but most assuredly it will come
"when every vital interest of the State will be
Emerged in the question of who shall be the
"next Presidentqn Time has justified the
apprehensions of this remarkable man; but
surely the republic which has been brought tC
the verge of ruin by the imbecile senilty OF
one President, and by the unintelligent audacity
of another. will learn from the present unfor
tunate position of the incumbent and the seri
GUS inconvenience which his faulty has occa'
stoned, to select his successor with an appro'
pirate degree of discretion. We want frmnesc
but not obstinacy; self respect but not self
conceit; reasonable desire for public approval
but not an uncomfortable appetite for reelec-
ton. The difficulty with Mr. Andrew johnson
has been total lack of all discriminative ideas
concerning the different functions of differ
ent branches of the government. He
has entirely overestimated the author