Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-04-22
TENNESSEE WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 90 1868 NO. 49,

if he is turned out Of office he will owe
it to his reputation as an uncertain
quantity and a quarrelsome person. II
il we're believed that the President would
quit his foolery with Lorenzo Thomas
aud withdraw the appointment Of Thos.
Ewing, senior, as Secretary Of War, and
appoint General Banks or Governor Cox,
or some other competent and reliable
man to that position, | am as sure as
one can be without the proof that he
would be acquitted As the case
stands he has chance of acquit-
tai That the impeachment busi-
ness has been overdone here is the
opinion Of the judicious. That the evil
dence presented by the managers was the
reverse of strong and conclusive, all be-
side the impeachers themselves admit.
That the country is not enamored Of the
impeachment business, and not excited
bout it, is not only known here but felt
That the impeachment Of johnson will
prove a winning card for the Republi-
cans in the approaching Presidential
campaign, is not believed by those best
| able to calculate the influences and the
chances clfs tan
Mr.. Stanton is still fortified in the
War Department He has all the pro-
visions and necessaries there of con-
tinued existence. There are strong
guards about the building, and only one
door is kept open, and that is strongly
guarded by soldiers Every body says
this is most Internal farce--that there
is no sense in it at ALL 1t is very STAN
tonian, however. 1t is q continued
assertion of his importance. The as
sumption that he is in peril, aHd must be
on guard night aud day, gratifes his
vanity. A letter from him appears to-
day, in which he expresses a lenging to
retire to private life. This is his old
way of calling the attention of the
country to the actual (ss he sees it)
impossibility of getting along without
him. He pretended to want to resign
over three years ago, and Mr.. Lincoln
prevailed upon him to stay awhile. He
will leave the War Department, he says,
as soon as his successor is nominated and
confirmed. There is no doubt of that.
But no nomination johnson is likely to
make can be confirmed; and there is no
man for the War Department other than
Stanton himself. As for the nomination
of Thomas Ewing, sr., the probability is
that he cannot be confirmed on account
of his opinion that the laws of the pres
ent Congress are unconstitutional. That
certainly is a revolutionary opinion, and
Congress cannot be expected to consent
to the appointment Of any one holding
it to an important office.
The position of the Chief Justice has
its peculiarities. He certainly is not
recognized as among the impeachers;
and the extreme Radicals do not hesitate
to declare that he has gone over to the
Copperheads
This sort Of remark has, however, lost
its force to some extent, as Charles Sum.
ner has been called Copperhead
good many times within few days,
because be has not agreed with the ma
jority of his party as to the evidence
that should be admitted. The Chief
Justice occupies a position of elevated
neutrality on the political questions of
the day. | doubt whether be proposes
to become enthusiastic about the Chr
cago nominations. We may not have
the pleasure of seeing him at home
aext fall to vote. An incident of
some significance is the Endorsement
that Mr.. Chase gave General Cary of his
letter to Josiah Kirby. There is no
doubt that Mr.. Chase did tell Gen. Cary
that he considered that letter a manly
one (I believe he did not say frank and
manly J, and that he honored him for
writingit. He referred particularly to
that portion OF it in which the General
tells his constituents that if it cost him
every political friend he had in the world,
he would do according to his convictions.