New-York tribune., 1868-04-25

under the stigma in Tennessee OF being a
poetaster and has exhibited upon the trial
a knowledge of the English Classics which
would be more marvellous to Tennessee jury
than to the United States Senate. 1t is quite
possible that some of the Senator's already
knew that Mr.. Pope held vice to be q monster
of horrid mien, and were familiar with Shakes
peares alluson to the fretful porcupine's Quills,
and also with Byron's storm in the Alps and
with GoIdsmth's village parsOn But if he had
appIied TO Mr. johnson that tender and touch
ing strain,
"Afiletion sore
Long time he bore,
Physicians were In vain,'
or that lofty though mournful eulogy, come
to bury CGsar-Dot to praise him." he must
have created sensation among Senators from
which they would have found it hard to re-
cover. He made great progress. however, in
satisfying the Senate that the Tenure-of-O Office
law was unconstitutional; that the removal OF
Stanton, if it was not expressly directed by
that law, was in full accordance with it; that
Stanton never was removed; that his removal
was an act of patriotic duty; that though his
removal was a mistake, the President was led
into the bunder 10y the best of motives; that
the President has the constitutional power to
do as he pleases; that his error is the result OF
an honest difference of opinion between HIM
and Congress relative to matters i'll which the
President is wholly right; that the President
being n Democrat his lifelong antecedents
compel him TO do as he has done, and that his
Cabinet have led the tender innocent into
those differences of opinion" which, accord
ing to Mr.. Nelson, form the sole grounds of
impeachment. defense so elastic and flexible
as is presented by Mr.. Nelson's argumcnt-in
which plain black and white become blue
brown Or gray, ring-streaked or speckled at
will-coud only have originated in the mind
of the President himself. We are not sure,
however, but q certain degree of illogical
stupidity has been advantageous to the Presl-
dents counsel rather than otherwise. The
first essential for one who would befog others
is to thoroughly befog himself. Judge Curtis
could not easily do this. His mind was too
clear. Hence his argument arTayed the facts
of the case in manner that carried with 1t
an impression of the Presidents guilt almost as
irresistible as if he had been seeking his convc-
ton. But Mr.. Nelson labors under no disqualify-
ing perspcuity of mental vision. He is worth
Curtis or Evarts, or than any one the President
could have found, unless he had appeared and
addressed the Senate in person. His mazes OF
contradictions are happily bewilderlng; his rhe-
torical Opiates are effectively supplying. One
moment he assures us that johnson is not the
traitor he is charged with being. Anon We
are told that the acts with which he is charged
involve no moral or legal culpability; that Mr.
johnson stands firm in their Justification, and
dcfes criticism. Now they are mere attempts
to commit crime; then they are pardOnable
errors, resulting from defective education soon
they are patriotic endeavors, and anon they
elude our grasp and vanish into unsubstantlal
ether as mere differences of opinion" 1t was
singularly proper that Mr. Johnson's bosom
friend-hmself for a time Unonist, and then
a loyal subject of the Rebel Confederacy-
should be retained to apologize for one who,
like himself, has been just enough of patriot
to be desirable acquisition to the Rebels
going over to the enemy's camp like our Cop
perhead deserters during the war, bearing rs
trophies the arms and ammunition of the
Union, with which TO make war on its flag.
Mr.. Nelson can congratulate himself, however,
upon having identified his name in an humble
degree with one of the worlds great historic
scenes. The Senate of the United States is n
body whom no man could address without awe
on an occasion so important as that OF the first
judicial trial of nations Executive before the
of the people, for a simple dis
obedience of law. But, in this trial, the Senate,
imposing as it is for its experience, discretion,
and learning, is only the representative of the
great tribunal before which the President has
really been tried and already convicted. The
House of Representatives are only in repre-
sentative sense his accusers. He staE3, charged
by the loyal millions of the Northern people
with violating every trust they have re-
posed in him-by the four millions of
emancipated slaves with efforts to restore them
to bondage-by the defeated Rebels them
selves with having beguiled them into renewed
resistance and deeper subjugation. Millions of
voices, multitude whose complaint fills the
entire land like the murmur of the limitless
ocean, accuse Andrew johnson of having adj
ministered the functions of the Presidency in
way to convict him of hypocrisy and perfidy
in every profession and act by which he rose
to the Presidency. Mr.. Nelson has thought it
proper to style this great voice of the people, in
condemnation of the President, as popular
clamor. But the President himself, when seek
ing to conciliate its favor. styled it the criterion
of truth-the voice Of God. More impressive
than the Senate, more imposing than the Chief
Justice in his robes, more irresistible in its
logic than any arguments of counsel is the |
calm judicial voice of the American people in
denunciation of this upstart despot. IL we are
to have monarch, let him be at least less
ugly than Caliban, less cowardly than Falstaff, |
less treacherous than Andrew Johnson
|
Mr.. Whitworth, the inventor of the cele-