The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-01-10

anu Intercourse. Inc enQ cannot Dul
be fOreSeen the antagOnism will ulti-
mately produce enmity, open hostility
and aggression, which must result in
the destruction of one or more depart
mentS, and as consequence, destroy
our system of governmental
er, with all due respect to the majority
of the committee, we cannot regard the
charges made against the President as
serious attempt to procure his i'm
peachment, without dwelling upon
their utter failure to point to the COM
mission of single act that is recog-
niZed by the laws of our country as a
high crime or misdemeanor.
The inconsistency of the majority
cannot fail to challenge the attention Of
the country. Acts for which Mr.. Lin
coin, was unanimously applauded, are
deemed high crimes in Mr.. johnson.
For every act 50 gravely condemned
the President had the sanction and ap-
proval of his Cabinet, and yet while he
is arraigned before the world as a crimi-
nal OF the deepest dye, they are not on
ly not impeached, but are recognized
as especial favorites of the impeachers.
The latter have even gone so far as to
unite in the passage Ofan eXtraordina-
ry and unprecedented law to prevent
the President from removing these
officers from the places which they
hold.
Mr.. Stanton, the late Secretary of
War, gave his emphatic approval of
the acts for which the President is ar
raigned; and yet the eX-Secretary is
favorite and popular martyr, and the
whole country is veXed with clamOrs
for his restoration to power and place.
The President is held criminally res
pOnsible for the acts of subordinates of
which he did not even have the slight
est notice or knowledge; and yet those
bringing him to trial enact a statute
depriving him of all control over these
same subordinates, and they are deem
ed worthy of the especial protection Of
Congress.
The President has used every means
within his power to bring the great
State prisoner, Jefferson Davis, to
speedy trial, and yet he has been de-
nounced throughout the land for pro-
crastinatiOn and preventing the trial,
while judges and prosecuting officers,
having entire control of the matter,
have been deemed worthy of the most
tencies more glaring and inexplicable
than these, and can we possibly be mis-
taken when we assert that however
honest may be the majority of the COM
mittee, the verdict of the country and
posterity will be, that the crime of the
President consists not in violating but
in the refusal, to violate the law, in be-
ing unable to keep pace with the party
of progress in its rapid advancing
movements, or tOStep outside of and a
bove the Constitution in the admin
iStratiOn of the government; in prefer
ring the Constitution of his country to
the dictation of an INSCRIPTIONS par
tisan cabal in daring to meet the NAL
edictions Of those who have arrived
at the accomplishment of most wick
ed and dangerous revolution, rather
than to encounter the reprOaches of his
ity throughout time? If the subject
we're not too grave and serious one
for mirth, some of the grounds of i'm
peachment presented by the majority
would certainly be sufficiently anus
ing.
The President is gravely arraigned
for arraying himself against the loyal
people of the country, in VetOing the
miScalled reconstruction acts of Con-
gress, when without dwelling upon
the constitutional right and duty of
the President in the premises, Congress
itself has for the same acts, Just received
the most whitening and indignant con-
demnatiOn and rebuke of the entire
people from Maine to California.
The impeachers forgetting that they
hnnn thnn0S In0nn1nhnn
that the verdict of the tribunal of last
resort has already been rendered a.
gainst them, still persist in trifiing
of the country by precipitating upon it
this dangerous question, at a time so
critical as this. 1t is wicked thus to
trifie with the interests of nation,
and disregard the voice ofa great peO-
pie, when spoken, as in this case, so
emphatically in favor Of the pre-
servatiOn of our constitutional form
of government, and the rights and
liberties established by our ReVOlu-
tionary fathers.
We should not attempt to add any
thing to the able, and as we believe,
unanswerable argument just presented
by the Chairman of our committee,
upon the law of parchment, had not
experience taught us the wonderful di-
versity of human judgment and con-
clusions. We should find it difficult
to believe that there could, upon the
questions submitted to us, possibly be
two opinions among candid and intel
ligent men. Blind bigotry and unbri-
died partisan rage, it is true, can see
crime in the most meritoriOus actions,
and men governed by these unhalloWed
passions do not hesitate to drag to the
Stake and torture of the inquisition, all
who will not conform to their Wretched
creeds and miserable dOgmas.
They eysubstitute their own crude and Of
ten crazy theories for truth and justice,
and under pain Of the severest penal
ties demand of all men to bow down
and worship the idol they have erec-
ted. That their own judgment may
be fallible, or that other men, differing
from them, may be equally wise and
honest with themselves, does not occur
to their minds, and they will, without
hesitation, question thejustice even of
the Almighty, if the ways OF Provl-
dence do not conform to their own
crude theories.
This class of men, mas constituted a
considerable portion of mankind in all
ages, and in none have they been more
numerous than in our own. Ihey
have furnished the bigots and persecu-
tors of all time; and their pathway
through the line of history, from
its earliest dawn to the present time,
has been marked with carnage and deS-
oIation. With such men, no argument
based upon the Constitution and eStab-
Iicbad laws can have any effect. Ihey