The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-04-01
Correspondence Cincinnati Commerciall
% In Mode-The High
Court Of Impeachment
WAsnTNGToN, March %.


States Senate, where is about to be en-
acted scene which, for sublimity of
purpose and lofty grandeur, has not
| been equaled by any number OF circum-
stances that have transpired since men
were made to mourn.
The ladies are cut in full force, and
their snowy drapsry, mingling with the
more somber hue of Senatorial coat
tails, tends. to enliven scene that
might otherwise be oppressive in its
dignity.
But in casting the eye over this gay as
semblage, one misses the wonted pres
ence of my Lady Fitz Puddle, hastily
recalled to her domestic hearth by
measly opportunities threatening the
scion of the house.
| Yonder, however, is the amiable con-
fsOrt of Lord Poodle, lady known to
enter tain views of great public ques.
tioBs, and near her is the daughter of
ViscOunt Noodle, chatting merrily with
the Dowager Doodle, and that tall gem
tleman near them, with Il cigar in
his mouth, is Baron Doodle, but lately
returned from his celebrated tour to
Saratoga Springs. :
=
the time drags listlessly on, till the
hand of fate points to the hour of l,
when, through a side door, the great
Chief Justice steps briskly in and hastily
assumes the Vice Presidents chair,
without making single remark.
simultaneously, OF so nearly so as
not TO make any perceptible difference
in point of time, the front door opens,
and six men walk in, arm-in-arm, fol-
lowed by another, born upon wheel
borr.w, under the moro immediate in
fuence of robust African, whe dumps
Kim down i'll heap at the Managers
table; these six men, arm-ln-arm TO-
gether with the one in wheelbarrow,
make seven, aud constitute the out
ragged presence of nations majesty.
1t is a notable circumstance that the
most of the prosecutors of the President
are i'll their best clothes, a feature
which adds solemnity to the entire oc-
casion,
The chief of the Managers grasps the
hand of the Senator from Massachu-
seets, and, with tear in either eye, ST.
lently observes that it is q fue day.
Yes, noble dayi when the rights of the
people shall be vindicated against the
usurpation of power.
The Sergeant-ab-Arms makes procla-
nation to the effect that all persons
must keep quiet while this thing is 60
ing on IA
Another door, which makes the third,
opens and the House of Representatives
enters; that is, not actually the house
itself, for that would be impossible, rs
the size of the Senate chamber is not
sufficient to admit such an edifice, were
il disposed to come-but the members
(that is, the individual Representa-
tives, appear, also walking arm in arm,
with the Speaker at the head. -
Next come the counsel of the high ae1
cused, but whether they got in through
hole in the floor or trap door in the
ceiling, we were unable to discover.
However there they are.
That capacious forehead and its beet
! ling brow, with wart on its nose aud
| its hands in its pockets, is the
most accomplished advocate that adOrns
the legal profession in the United
States. The tall, lean one at his elbow,
engaged in the momentary paStime OF
catching flies, brings to the defense of
the President a skill and legal acumen,
a knowledge of precedent, aud famil-
iarity with judicial investigation, Iare-
ly united in single individual.
While the preliminary proceedings
are being further enacted let us take a
momentsry glance around the room,
where are assembled the men who are
engaged in making an epoch in history.
The gauut form lying back in its chair,
| in Americas familiar attitude OF heels
on its desk and its nose to the roof, Is
the Senator from Illinois, perhaps the
ablest lawyer Oh the Republican side.
Behind him that round face, with cher
ry blossoms on its cheeks aud demure
gold specs, as though he were cross
between camp meeting and whisky
toddy, is Michigander, the man who
invariably blunders whenever he at
tempts to do any thing.
Presently buzz is heard, the Sesa.
tor from the gallant and loyal State OF
Kentucky makes motion that the pres
ent assembly is mere mob, ten sister
States, &c, for no crime known TO the
Constitution, &c.
Whereat, the member from Michigan
displays himself 1t is somewhat re-
markable that body of men like those
composing the Senate of the United
States, and therefore supposed to be
men of great intelligence, wide expert
ence and profound knowledge of human
nature, should have so small acquaint-
ance with craftsmanship as to put for.
ward as a leading member one who has
not the abilities or wisdow Of Il second
rate newspaper correspondent
The motion, however, is put, but the
whole thing is such gay absurdity
that even Nokes, of Maine, leans over
to Stokes, of Maryland, and whispers
"big thing" and both indulge in an au-
dible smile.
The reading of the Presidents an-
swer is begun by a man who, nearer
than any other, perhaps, in the country,
approaches the position of the head OF
the profession in the United States; in
deed, 1t may be generally said of the
FIVE advisers who represent the Chief
! Magistrate, that any one would be the
head of the profession if the other four
were out Of the way.
While this gravest of State papers is
in progress, it is somewhat curious TO
note the demeanor of those who are the
chief actors of this greatest of drau'as
before the world and its inhabitants.
| Duripp the whole of the reading, the
principal Manager gazesn ut the wisest
of advocates as the sentences fall from
his lips, with an absorbing abstraction;
another passes little slips Of paper to
the head of the table, on which are
written the words Walker" and Hook
ev,n which are Immediately filed for fu
ture reference; the man in the wheel
barrow goes to sleep and Is taken out.
The most accomplished of the Presi-
dents counsel, man who stands at the
head of the profession in the United
States, now rises and proceeds to make
an ass of himself.
/ He begins in a low, musical voice,
and in an instant the galleries are hush
ed; his clear, ringing sentences cut
through the still air of the chamber,
and the address that followed was COM
plete in its create endeayors, and clas.
sic in its elegant and ready extemporiza-