The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1868-03-27
4uluital.
IMPEACHMENT T
SPEECH OF Hon. r. p. BUCkLAND
OF OHIO,
In THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,,

SPEECH OF Hon. r. p. BUCKLAND
OF OHIO,
In THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,,
February "a, 1868,
Oa the Resolution reported by the Commit
tee on Reconstruction for the Impeach-
ment of the President.
Mr.. BUcKLAND. Mr.. Speaker, the
question before the House has been SO
ably discussed by others, that | should
not have felt myself called upon to say
one word upon the subject but for the
fact that when the resolution impeach-
ing the President, reported by the ma
jority of the Judiciary Committee, was
before the House, l was constrained,
from sense of duty to the public in
terests, to vote against it. l shall not,
on the present occasion, stop to give
all the reasons which brought my mind
to that conclusion. was just as well
satisfied then as | am now that Andrew
johnson deserved impeachment, but
our friends in the Judiciary Committee
and in the House were divided in opin-
ion, not only as to the expediency of
impeachment under the then existing
circumstances, but also as to the suffi-
cheney of the facts proven to sustain an
impeachment by the testimony taken
and reported by the committee. That
Andrew Johnson was in conspiracy
with the enemies of the Government to
defeat the Legislation Of Congress for
the restoration of the rebellious States,
and finally to place the Government in
the power and control of those who but
recently were in arms for its destruc-
ton, l entertained no doubt.
Many years ago conspiracy was in
itiated by John c. Calhoun, having for
its object the subsection of the Govern
ment to the control of the slave aristoc-
racy of the South, or the dismember-
ment of the Union and the formation
Of a confederacy founded on human
slavery. That conspiracy eliminated
in rebellion, and would have ended
with the infamous assassination of
Abraham Lincoln, but for the perfdy
of Andrew johnson. If Andrew John
son had been true to the patriotic peo-
die who, in the midst of terrible war,
intrusted him with the second Office in
the Republic, the constitutional amend
ment known aslthe fourteenth article,
establishing equality of civil rights and
assuring justice and protection to every
American citizen, would have been
gladly accepted and adopted by the
people of the States lately in rebellion,
and to-day the Union would have been
restored, and the nation on the high
road to prosperity and grandeur.
Andrew johnson is responsible for
the present unfortunate condition of
the southern people, and they will soon
find that he has been their worst enc
my. Under his influence the conspira-
cy, which had been crushed by the pa
triotism of the people and the valor of
our armies, revived. At what particu-
lar period he became a party to that
conspiracy it is impossible to determine
from any evidence yet brought to
light, butt was certainly not long after,
if not before, the assassination of Mr..
Lincoln. 1t is doubtful whether the
truth as to that question will ever be
known to the public. His conversation
with Judge Matthews, at Cincinnati,
in February, 1895, shows that he at
that time contemplated treachery to
the loyal people who elected him, if
nothing worse. During several months
after Andrew Johnson assumed the