The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-03-11
WaHe's Case.

III is now aSSCEteu upon duluoiASs
is said to be good that WADE will resign ms
Office If Mr.. JOHNSON is Convicted anu
allow Mr.. Speaker CoLrAS to succeeu 70
the Presidency. We cannot credit this
story, however good the authority upon
which Il is founded. We wouldn't believe
WADE himself if he were to repeat it in
our hearing. But supposing such to be his
intention, ,ohesa will he resigns Whether he
resigns before or after the trial Is completed,
the Senate, which is in session as Senate
every day, must have a temporary pre-
siding officer, and this temporary presiding
officer, the moment he is elected, becomes
the next in the line Of the succession tt
the Presidency Of the United States
CoLFAx can hardly come in at any open
ing. The language of the Con stitution IL
regard to the presiding officer of the sena'e
is as follows: .,Ha
"The Senate shall choose their othe'
{" officers, and also president pro 'e"'-
"pore in the absence of the VIGIL ,ss'
&C. dent or when he shall exercise Tue o'D''
"of President of the United States
It will be perceived, from this iansuase,
....w,,r ;s nothing more than no m'gn'
have been if Mr.. LINCOLN haa lVea ''il Nv.
asa M. JOHNSON been temporarily absent
caoro Tho Senate. He is nothing ou'
nu-as;de,t nro ternpore" OF the Senate
holding the position at the VIII u 'ns
hodv and therefore liable to De super
coded any day by new elect'oh' n''
tonnre of office is not for his Official TERM
nor during good behavior, but during 'ne
pleasure of the Senate. Yet this man IS
the legal successor Of Mr.. JOHNSON should
the latter be deposed. And this man pro-
noses to trade off the highest office IN Tue
world to Speaker CoLFAx. What IS 10 Do
the consideration /? Evidently, if the story
be true, WADE is to have his price. Is IL
the mission to England for five years as
COMPENSATION for the surrender OF the RE-
sidential office for one year Or what
isitY :.
But WADE, we repeat, cannot ratlfy TINS
bargain without the connivance OF the
Senate. How is it possible that the Senate
can consent to be party to so netarlous
transaction Suppose WADE should re-
SIGN tomorrow. Then the Senate must at
once choose president pro tempore and
ipasmuch as the law provides that TINS
officer shall succeed to the Presidency,
we cannot for the life of US sec how MIR.
CoLrAx is to get into the office. There Is
no technically about the case that Will
favor his pretensions. No one can pre-
side over the Senate who is not chosen TO
do so by the body itself lin the absence OF
a Vice Presidency and any one so chosen,
for however short a time, becomes "pre-
sident pro tempore" of the Senate, and
as such entitled to succeed to the
Presidency under the law as it at
present stands. But upon what pretext
could the Senate postpone the election OF
"president pro tempore" to fill WADE's
place? To do so would be a full confess
sion before all the world that they had de-
termined to convict and to depose MIR.
JOHNSON, and that with this secret pur-
pose in their minds they were putting oil
the election in order that a particular IN
dividual might be placed in the Executive
Office. We have no confidence whatever
in the honesty or the impartiality OF the
Senate, but we give them credit for sense
enough to know that they must hide their
tracks for several months yet to come. Oh
the whole, it seems reasonable to concluoe
that WADE will not resign, or, II ne ooeS'
that Mr.. CoLFAx will hardly succeed MI
JOHNSON as President.
The Radicals calculate, of course, that
WADE will resign after ne mas oeeh inSo.
President of the United States anu oo,oio
the Senate has chosen a new presiding
officer. But, really, we cannot creo'' 'niS
unreasonable story. Mr.. JOHNSON may re-
s;un to prevent being deposed, but WADE
will barely resign to avoid being President.
Suppose, however, that he should-woulo
he retnrn to the Senate? Could he he
would have become President Of the
United States by operation of law and
his seat would have been vacated by
oneration of law. Surely 1t VIII not
he commended that he has the right
,o vote Mr.. JOHNSON out of office, then to
accept the office long enough to allow the
right of succession to pass through him to
CoLFAx, and then to resign and go back to
the Senate, and allow CoLFAx to be Presi-
dent. WADE is remarkably lucky fellow
if he has all these conflicting rights Gen.
tired in himself. His case affords fine
field for speculation. We may consider it
again. But at any rate he is not so great
a fool as to resign if once he gets to be
President.
THE SUPREME CoURT-HOw FAR ITS De-