Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-04-06
Court of Impca chment adjourned
uutil Thursday.


{ On Saturday afternoon, the Court of I'm
parchment adjourned until Thursday.
This was done because the Managers of
Impeachment had produced about all their
evidence. aud because the Counsel for the
President wanted three working days to
prepare their evidence.
And what has been proven? On Mon
day, BUTLER opened with long and elab-
orately prepared speech, "full of sound
and fury, signifying nothing" Two things
have been proven, and only two, against
President JOHNSON. The first is, that he
undertook to get Secretary STANTON out OF
his Cabinet, and the other is, that while on
his tour known as "swinging round the
circle" when beset abused and in
suited by the partisans of this
shameless Republican part of Con-
gress, che gave expression to the opinion
that that body had not done what was re-
quired of it by the Constitution to cement
the bonds of Union and advance the pros
perity of the country. 1t was undertaken
to be proven that the President had au-
thorized the employment of force to get
Secretary STANTON out of his Cabinet; but
this proved abortive, and so did the
attempt to prove that he had violated the
Tenure OF Office bill. 1t was proven by the
prosecution that he had in al. respects
obeyed the reputed law, but it was claimed
that he had violated il in the attempt to re-
move Secretary Stanton, when it was
shown that the Tenure of Office bill had
no applicability to his case, he having
been appointed by President LINCOLN du-
ring his first term, and not by President
JOHNSON on the occasion of his accession
to the Presidency. 1t has not been proven,
nor was the attempt even made to prove,
that President JOHNSON had in any partic-
ular violated the Constitution; and in vain
do we look through the entire weeks
proceedings in Impeachment to find
a semblance of evidence that goes
| to show that the retention of Secre-
| tary STANTON in the War office was in any
way necessary to the welfare of the coun-
try. His functions were suspended from
August, 1857, to February, 1s6s--a period OF
about six months, and it does not appear
that throughout all that time the public
service suffered one iota nor was it pre-
tended that the public service suffered dur
ing that time. A great ado sometime ago
was made about riots, and mobs and blood
shed in the South; but this ado occurred
while STANTON was indisputed master in
the War Department, long before the Presi-
dent manifested any dissatisfaction with
him as member of his Cabinet.
Last year, for months, did a committee
of the House perambulate the country
gathering testimony with which to make
up against the President plausible cause
for Impeachment. The riots, mobs and
murders were looked into for this purpose;
but when it was all sifted, it turned out
more worthless than chaff even. There
was nothing in it. And the case as now
made up is most lame and impotent. 1t
shows no crime; it shows no breach of
the peace on the part of the President. 1t
shows that he pursued the ordinary course
to get rid OF an unsatisfactory subordinate,
and nothing more.
This is all that has been proven against
the President; and, evidently, it is all that
can be proven against him. In the eye of
the country; in the eye of posterity, when
posterity shall read the Impeachment trial
as spread out upon the pages of history,
President JOHNSON will stand acquit OF
an Impeachable offense, no matter if the
Senate of the United States, acting in the
capacity of High Court of Impeachment,
shall adjudge him guilty.