Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-03-06
THE cRIsIs AT WASHINGTON.


Washington, and each days news is eagerly
waited for by thousands. In the meantime
the newspapers are Glled with long editori-
ais advocating one side or the other The
Nation, one Of the ablest independent pa
pers discusses the subject so coolly, fairly
and impartially, that though somewhat
lengthy we lay its entire article before our
readers, that they may see how the subject
Of impeachment is viewed by able minds
that stand entirely lloof from the party pol
tiles of the country. 1t discusses the intrin-
sic merits of the question as follows:
Mr.. JOHNSON, after a series Of blunders,
to use a very mild word, such as few if any
statesmen have had to show, has at last com
mitted the crowning one After having
promised and failed to play the part of
Moses for the colored people, be has played
it for the impeaehers. They have been
trying for more than a year to get up case
against him, and, partly through their own
natural def ciencies, partly through the
oddty Of his conduct, which made it almost
impossible to- patch up his follies into a
decent resemblance to high crime ornis-
demeauor, but most of all owing to the
popular unwlllingness to have the country
disturbed and the public attention diverted
from reconstruction and the finances, they
were never able TO accomplish anything.
Mr. johnson, however, seems to have de-
termined that they should not be foiled, and
has at last, with truly wonderful fatuity,
furnished them with a good case against
him, and case which can probably be tried
in few days. He has the satisfaction of
knowing that he has now nobody to say a
word for him, and that there is not man
left in the country who does not think him
either fool or knave Those who have
never admitted his wickedness are at present
willing to have him impeaehed and deposed
as an incorrigible Ounce The scene that
one witnesses at Washington would be
wholly tragic if it were not for his appear
ance in it, but the satisfaction with which
he looks on his work takes a great deal Of
the seriousness out oft So, also, does the
exceeding solemuity of the language in which
some Of the more uproarious Of his enemies
are denouncing him. When one sees 'the
usurper in the White HOUSE" revealing his
mighty plans and expectations, his deep
laid schemes and hellish plots, to the cor
respondent of the New York HeraR with
all the artless candor of a Kentucky belle,
one cannot help feeling that the task of
'hufliDg him from the chair he has dis
graced is not such awful work after all
The precise reasons for now bringing the
"tyrant to justice is, that he has for the
first time committed distinct and palpable
breacho of the law, though we confess we do
not think his last offence by any means the
worst in a moral point of view 1t has
however, the great legal beauty of being
capable of proof in FIVE minutes, and of
needing no construction or piecework
1t is full and complete and simple The
question of the constitutionalty or OK
pediency OF the Tenure ofofice Act need
not come up in the trial of il at all Many
good Republicans deny both one and the
other; but Mr. johnson has so managed
matters that no differences of opinion on
these points 10 the ranks of the party will
be Of any use to him. Whether the law be
constitutional or not, or wise or not, there
Is a legal presumption of which every man
is bound to take notice, that it is consti-
tutional till the courts have decided other
wise. The necessity and value of this
presumption were fully discussed and affirm
ed by the Court Of Appeals in this State in
the police cases in 1857. Without it a
written constitution would breed anarchy,
because if eyerybody-and, above all, every
officer Of the Goyernment-couldt take upon
himselfto decide, as soon as a law was passed,
whether it accorded with the Constitution
or not, no law would ever be executed for
months or years after It's passage. If he
resists it, he must do so at his peril and the
doctrine which the New York Times seems
to hold, that its being afterwards declared
unconstitutional may have the effect of
retroactive Justification, has no foundation
either in precedent or reason. If every
court in the country next month pronounced
the Teuure-of-ofice Act unconstitutional,
it would not in the least improve Mr. John,
sons position What he is about to be tried
for is not only his disobedience to the law,
for Of this decision that the law was uu-
Observation-Disclosures, null and void-migh
absolve him, but his taking upon himself
the functions Of the judiciary, and deciding
for himself that it was unconstitutional, and
acting in his official capacity under his own
ruling. IF he may do this, all the other
officials, civil and military, may do it, and
the legislature might as well be dissolved,
for its acts would be all utilities. Nobody
would ever obey one which he had the least
motive for disobeying; in other words, all
that portion of the community which an act
Of Congress was intended todirect or restrain
would be exempted from its operation for
an indefinite period after its passage. If
this we're the effect ola written constitution,
20 nation would live under one for six
months and, to provide against this, the
presumption has been firmly established as
binding on everybody, that all acts are
constitutional till a court of competent
jurisdiction has, in a bona tide case, pro-
nounced them otherwise 1t may be said
that this presumption bears hard on officers,
because the Constitution furnishes them