Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-02-26
JOuNSoNS EMEuTE AGAINST CON-
GRESS.
From the Sacramento Union of Feb. al

WAYS failed in their attempts 10 cstao-
lish free government. America has
succeeded because her people have 1t
in an eminent degree. Since the oegih-
ming of the quarrel with an obstinate
Executive, u Congress has in a re-
markable manner reflected the charnc-
ter of the people. They have been pa
tient and forbeariug, under every presi-
Dental aggression, and have waived
their right to impeachment on several
occasions when its exercise might have
rid the country Of its greatest and most
dangerous domestic enemy, because they
believed it better 20 suffer the ills We
have than to rush to others that we
know not Of. They rested on the. hope
that, with all his official powers, the
President could not, during the remain
der Of his term OF Office, effect anything
OF permanent serious injury to the Re-
public. But the more patience and for
bearancc Congress cvinccd the holder
the Executive became in his contempt
of their laws and his schemes for their
subversion, till it has ut last become
clear that, il suffered to go on without
check, he is altogether likely to reduce
Congress to the mcrcSt farce and docile
creature of Executive will, The nrbi-
trary removal Of the Generals OF De-
partment in the Southern Territories in
process Of reconstruction, his frs; re-,
moyal of Stanton without good cause,
his coarse letter against Grant, because
he refused to become u party to circuin-
vent the Senate and the law, and his
more recent attempt to seduce Sher-
man into his seditious plans, were all
looked upon with suspicion aud dread
of ultimate consequences, but all passed
over by Congress without provoking n
combat. This course WAS probably
right and polite, on he high ground
that for~bearancc should be tried to the
point beyond which it ceases to
be u virtue, before anything Is
done in the name of the people
calculated to disturb the good order OF
Government, or, however remotely, to
endaugcr the peace of the country. But
that point Was passed On the 2lst IN
slant, when the President, in utter de-
fiauce of law and contempt of Congress,
issued an order for the removal OF the
Secretary of War the second time, n
after the Senate had, By u threc-fourths
vote, resolved that he should resume
the position from which the Executive
had arbitrarily displaced him. This
last act has had about the same effect
on Congress that the arrest and impris-
-. - E1sAN D.n, and THAR Pnl-
leagues by Charles |. had on the English
Parliament Of 1910. 1t completely re-
vcals the o~bstinacy, perfdy and AFRO.
can't pretcnsions OF the Executive, and
explains his inSensibility to any argu-
ment short of the sterneSt resistance.
Hitherto the Senate has been extremely
conservative, and opposed to articles oil
impeachment, while the majority part of
the House has been divided. Now the
Senate take the lead by the appoint
ment of n special committee, composed
of its most radical members, to wait on
the Secretary Of Wal with instructions
10 disobey the orders of the President
and hold on to his office. The majority
party in the House is said to he unani-
mously in favor of Stevens resolution
of Impeachment. The President has no
sympathy in his course unless 1t be from
the vile and sedi,ious mob which he and
his agents have bcckoucd to the national
Capital, Just as the Southern traitors
did in lS60-'Gl, to overawe, if possible,
the defenders of the law. Congress has
been repeatedly complimented during
the last two years for the Intellect which
adorus it. Intellect is indispensable
in q body Of such responsibilities; but
what is needed now more than intellect
ual adornments is backbone. We most
earnestly pray for q liberal di~spensation
of backbone to both houses till this
affair shall have been decided. 1t is a
tussle which mdy evoke physical forces,
but that ought not to alarm members
from their position, when y principle is
TO be settled that mus; operate rs the
rule of the nation for many ages to
come, resulting either in establishing
the permanent superiority OF the law to
the President or the President to the
law. Let us know at once whether this
Government is imperial or republican
in the sense that our fathers viewed 1t.
The President has several times,
through his chief law adviser and by ms
own acts, admitted the constitutionality
of the Tenure Of Office Act but insists
that By the terms Of the Act his Cabinet
officers are not included. The law re-
latipr to the Cabinet officers reads
wThe Secretaries Of State, Navy, War;
| etc, " shall hold their offices rcspec-
| lively for and during the term OF the
President BY whom they shall have been
appointed, and for one month thereafter,
| subject to removal by and with the nd-
| vice and consent of the Senate john
son claims that he did not appoint
| Stanton, whom he found in his Cabinet
holding under an appointment by Lin
coin, and that therefore he is not inelu-
| ded in the provisions Of the Tenure Act.
| This is the ycriest- special pleading.
| The fact is, the President did not n
cannot "nppoint" any Cabinet otheer.
| The appointing power is the PRESIDENT
and the Senate. No appointment is le-
cal without, not merely the " consent "
but also the advice" Of the Senate
and as Webster held, in his famous ar
rument in favor Of n Tenure law, in the
Senate in 1898, it is an anomaly in Gov
eminent that any other than the APP
pointing or creating power should have
the power of removing from office. In
this opinion Clay, Calhoun, Badger and
every distinguished Senator c%oncurred,
ave Benton alone, who in opposing tn