The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-04-22
IMPEACHMENT GOSSIP.
FACTS, RUMoRs AND sPECULATIoNs OF
THE CORRESPONDENTS.
TONE OF THE REPUBLICAN PRESS.

President by the back door after dark. Fes'
sender throws out hints that he expects to be-
come unpopular for the vote he gives on i'm
parchment. Grimes says, every now and then
that Mr.. johnson is innocent. Nobody but
Yates and Chandler can be relied upon to vote
contrary to evidence and argument. Then
there is that $4,000 affair in which Cameron
and Forney are at loggerheads. Thad. Ste-
vens doesn't forget his grudge against the for
mer, and suggests that, while the Senate is in
vestigating Forney's accounts, it might as vel
ascertain whether Cameron has settled all his
bills incurred in his purchase of the senator
ship of the Pennsylvania Legislature. Butler.
too, if we may believe G Radical correspond
ent disguised the Senate by his wrathful
speech against adjournment, and exasperated
his jealous fellow managers by neglecting to
consult them on the matter.
BUr1ER's INsoLENCE- COMMENTS OF THE RADI-
CAL PRESS.
Half a dozen times last week Butler, in his
hoarse and coarse style, attempted to bully Mr..
Stsnbery, whose nature forbade him to offer
anything beyond the retort courteous. Since
then he has followed the same line of proce-
dure towards Reverdy johnson and MIR. Evarts,
in each case receiving sharp and well-merited
rebuke. Toward Chief Justice Chase, also,
Buffers insolence has frequently broken out
in manner that must have been all but intol-
cradle. Commenting upon this, the New York
| Times says:
| Is Butler strengthening his case by the dis
| plays Of himself he is making IN this trial
Do his colleagues really consider that his spirit
and manners are such as should characterize
the conduct Of the case? Are we to regard the
Senate as impressed with admiration OF his
management? We suppose the first two OF
these questions at least must be answered in
the affirmative. Butler himself has shown all
along that he intended to conduct the impeach-
ment trial after what is known as the "Oid Bal
lev" fashion, in which all the lowest and most
disreputable arts are resorted to IN oroer 70
procure conviction. The notoriety and sue
cess he formerly achieved IN this sort OF
practice doubtless led him to regard 1t as the
most effective agency a lawyer could
possibly use; and though one might have
supposed he would have apprehended the
difference between the Senate and the lower
criminal courts, as well as the difference be-
tween an impeachment trial and trial for bur-
glary, yet he could not overcome his nature or
former times. His colleagues, too, more than
one OF whom most frequently have telt morti-
fed, have looked on at his conduct OF AFFAIRS
with approval, or, at least, without protest, or,
at all events, without such remonstrance as
was necessary to produce q change we nave
been in hopes, on several occasions, that ne
would receive rebuke from the Senate. Inc
few impassioned remarks of Reverdy johnson
were enough as an individual expression Of
feeling; b 1T there ought, on bis next offence,
to be more emphatic expression by the Senate
of the way in which that honorable body regard
his disgraceful conduct.
The New York Nation (RadicaD administers
a severe snubbing to the pettifogging leader of
impeachment. 1t says:
We have nothing to say against the ability
of the managers, but we have much to say
against the use they have made OF their dis
cretion in committing the greater part OF the
conduct Of their cause to that one OF their
members who cares least for courtesy, for de-
colum, and for the dignity and fairness OF the
trial. The contrast in demeanor between those
who represent the President ana those VINO
represent the House has been already suffi-
ciently marked, and it is contrast on which
few people will look with anything but NORTH
cation after the trial is over. II there was to
be lack OF decency on either side, certainly it
ought to have appeared on the side OF the de-
fendant, the more particularly as the case
against him is largely made up Of charge OF
bad language and rowdy behavior.
''THE OTHER TRIAL AND JUDGMENT"
The following editorial from the New York
Times is significant:
The Senate tries johnson. The people try
the Senate.
every step that is taken, every movement that
is made, every decision that is rendered, every
vote that is given.
If justice is perverted, If an unfair advantage
is given to either side, il mean tricks and sub
terfuges are permitted-all are estimated as
they occur, and finally form the basis on
which the verdict is pronounced.
: This is a very different thing from party ter
rorism. Its effect is directly opposite to that
of party terrorism. The one seeks to carry
out its ends without regard to justice: Inc
other simply seeks the administration OF even
handed justice.
We have no doubt of the influence which
this power has exerted over the Senate. we
often hear of the moral force OF public sentl-
ment over the conduct of individuals IN So
ciety. Senators are subject to this moral force
precisely like other men-they are IN TACT even
more sensitive to it; and in proportion 10 lts
strength and closeness IS lts power over ,;c ene1
We have no doubt, for example, that pnbhc
opinion had a great deal to do with the Sen,
ate's final decision to admit the testimony OF
General Sherman the other day. When 1t was
excluded on Saturday, there was throughout
the country such deep sense OF the gross un-
fairness with which the defence had been
treated, that the Senate was forced to revise
it's conduct or stand condemned IN the eyes OF
Justice and decency. 1t soon became evident,
moreover, that if the exclusion we're attempt
ed for party purposes, the attempt had de-
feated its own end.
The people are competent to try the Senate
because they know the evidence on which 1t
acts. The testimony and the arguments are
presented to the two parties almost slmul-
taneously. And if, in the final Judgment, the
Senate deviates from the standard that Is
erected in the public conscience. 1t Will IN turn
be condemned by the tribunal which Ultimate
" pronounces the verdict upon all.
PUBLIC ISDECENcY.
We also find in the New York Times the
following caustic paragraph
Violations of common decency have ceased
10 be rare occurrences with politicians and par
tisans. But one Of the most fragrant instances
we have recently noticed is the action OF the
Republic, IN members of the Pennsylvania
Legislature, in getting up an application for
the appointment of Mr.. Stanton to be Secretary
of tb Treasury under the Presidency OF Alr.
Wade. We have heard Of getting up ratties for
.he clothes OF a man on trial for murder-2nd
this is the only parallel we can think OF to the
transaction of which we speak. Its assumes
good many things which anybody but Pennsyl-
vania politicians would hesitate about-the
to begin with +; and to make the performance
81; II ,S,oro raonlsiva thiS aDncation is sent to