Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1868-05-22
MANLY AND PATRIOTIC SPEECH
OF SENATOR FESSENDEN
OF MAINE.
HIS Dignifcd Protest against the
whole impeachment Proceedings.
wAsu1NcroN n q Nav

WASHINGTON, y. c., May IA.
The following is n brief abstract of
Fessenden's speech in the secret ses-
sion of the Senate:
Mr.. Fessenden reviewed the whole
case, article by article. He opposed
the construction put by the Managers
upon the first article, which charges
the President with attempting to
evade the tenure-of-oflice act, as lead
ing to a life-tenure of office arguing
that the power of removal belonged
to the Executive, and contending
that having been appointed by Pres
dent Lincoln, Mr.. Stanton did not
come within the scope of law i'm
question, and that the President had
clear right to remove him, and con-
sequently can not be held guilty
under the first article. Even, how
ever, if | were not satisfied of the
construction given herein of the act
of March 2, 1867, should still hest
tate to convict the President of high
misdemeanor for what was done by
him on the Dist of February. The
least that could be said of the appli-
cation of the first section Of that act
to the case of Mr.. Stanton, is, that
If in fact, Mr.. Stanton comes with
in it, the act done by the President
does not remove him, and he is still
Secretary of War. TWAS at most an
attempt on the part of the President
which he might well believe he had
right to make. The evidence ut
terly fails to show any design on the
part of the Presidentto effect his pur-
pose by force or violence. 1t was but
the simple issuance of n written or
der, which failed of its intended
effect. To depose constitutional
Chief Magistrate of great nation,
elected by the people, ON grounds 50
slight, would, in my Judgment, be an
abuse of the power conferred upon the
Senate which could not be justified to
the country or the world. To con-
strue such an act as high crime or
misdemeanor, in the meaning of the
Constitution, would, when the pas
siOns of the hour had time to cool, be
looked upon with wonder, if notde-
rision; worse than this, il would in
tlict a wound upon the very structure
of our GOvcrnmentw which time would
fail to cure, and which might event
ually destroy il. .HH
Mr.. Fesscndcn next argued against
the second article, showing that a
vacancy having been legally made the
President had II legal right TO make
temporary appointments, even with
out the consent of the Senate. If,
consequently, Stanton docs not come
within the first section of the Civil
Tenure Act, legal vacancy existed,
and the material part of the ac-
cusation in the second article il gone.
The first two articles failingthe third,
fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eigth
must fail with them. Article nine
l., In my Judgement dlsapproved by
the evidence in regard to the speeches
of the President. tI
Mr. FCsscndon held that the Presi-
dent could not he convicted for an as
sertion of even an unconstitutional
doctrine, If he has not made any at-
tempt To give practical effect To that
doctrine ly action on It,
lie then proceeded 10 discuss some
OF tho points made in the arguments,
saying thore was n great diversity of
opinion relative 10 the nature of what
constitutes crimes and misdemeanors,
ana the power of Impeachment as
conferred by demonstration is i'm very
general terms considering the cases OF
impeachment, and il vaguely proyi-
died for by law. -
lie thinks the case of impeaching
the elective Chief Magistrate of u