Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-03-17
THE FATALITY OF CRIME

bCtttyCHtci VI the lOlll iu5J,, lu an dILlCle
tracing the course of crime which has
characterized the Radical party since the
death of Lincoln, forcibly presents the
terrible steps which that faction will ino
evitably be driven to in order to perpetu-
ate its power and preserve itself from the
wrath of the people Like Macbeth, at
has so far stepped into blood, that to re-
turn were tedious as go on" Indeed, it
cannot retrace its action if the President
is prosecuted to conviction. 1t will then
have carried the vessel of State into the
inner circle of the maelstrom, whose
abyss is anarchy and civil war The ex-
ecutive and the Judiciary will be swal-
lowed in the usurpatiors of the legisla-
tive. An oligarchy will rule. The Pres.
ident for the ensuing term will be dic4
tated by Congress, and will be of the pill
ant stuff it desires for the execution of
its decress outside of the Constitution. "
The Supreme Judges will be displaced,
or the composition of the court SO altered
as to make it Star Chamber to give the
semblance of legality to tyranny; and
thus will perish the great experiment of
free government Says the able paper
from which we quote:
Why were not the Frustrated States i'm
Dlediately subjected to military government,
declared out of the protection of the or
ganic law, forbidden to send representa-
tiyes in Congress, and the position assumed.
as a basis of all public measures relating
to them, that Congress on that subject might
legislate outside of the Constitution? If
judgment by the supreme judiciary was
in prospect, which would expose and frus-
trate the resolutions disguised as law, why
not then have menaced the court with le-
gislative destruction, and its Judges by in
sulting investigation of private speech If
the President showed a disposition to ad-
here to the Constitution as expounded by
the courts, why not then have impeached
him?
The answer is sadly simple. These mon
strous usurpations would have SO certainly
reused the people with universal alarm
and indignation that the most unscrnpu-
lous partisans would not have dared to
touch them at the outset, though the ex-
traOrdinary commotion of the war had not
yet subsidized, and men were still much I'M
der the influence of revolutionary feeling,
excited by the struggle of arms. But not
that alone. The very men who have, step
by step, supported these infamous wrongs,
would have shrunk with awe and shame
from proposing the latter ones to each
other at any earlier day. But each bad
step necessitated a worse one. There is
said to be poison plant whose leafy blade
may be Withdrawn from the mouth with
ease if the stem end be held out but if it
be reversed, the effort to eject works it
fatally down the throat All poIiti
cal parties properly affirm the common
Constitution. This is their stem end. The
Radical leaders have reversed it in their
mouths. and every motion of their Jaws
but hurries them to self-destruction by the
very instrument of their power. They are
now arrived in their course of subversion
and treason face to face with the Supreme
Court of the United States. Here they
must recoil, as the serpents of Eastern
story get blind when they look upon the
"emerald's virgin blaze" They dare not
go back They dare not even halt. On
the other hand, the popular veneration for
| the national judiciary has been startled by
| the gross and revolutionary legislation
already projected for the intimidation Of
| the Judges, and heretofore exposed in these
columns. They must destroy the court,
but the peculiar sanctity Of the ermine re
pels their violent hands. The intense
hostility Of part Of the demagogues of
| the country, and the lukewarmness of
nearly all the rest toward President John
son, makes the people less intolerant of ac-
cusation against him than against Judge.
| The ISLANDERS, then, that must be the foun-
| dation must be cast upon him, in order to
a seizure of the executive power of the
| government, and through that, the judi
siary.
Thus, the impeachment ia u necessity.
| If President johnson be suffered to re-
main in Office the dreaded Judgment Of the
| Supreme Court will go into effect the Con-
stitution of the United States will be put
in force all over the States, and all legisla-
ton, whether of party caucuses, negro
conventions, or of Congress, which con-
hicts with its expounded provisions, must
be anuulled, chains must be broken, and
citizens must be set free.
They must remove President johnson
! from Office Well do some of the less cir
! cumspect of their speakers and writers dis
close without decency the deep and per-
vading sense of the party necessity: IN
less are destroy constitutional government IN this
country, are shall certainly Be outrOted by the
| Conservatives merit falI." Let every member
Of this strange and unparalleled combina-
| ton against civil liberty in a republic
dating the practical freedom of its institu-
| tions from the earliest settlements read in
| those words transcript less from his tongue
than from his heart. They must" remove
the President. Let them make the effort
Let them persevere IN the effort. Let them
record their everlasting dishonor over a
| whole summers farcical and false prosecu-
tion and noble candid defense but they
cannot remove the peoples Chief Magis-
tiate without cause As long as they allow
him trial The steps, then, are not even
yet all taken. A 'Udy must betouRd to con-
,7Cf lcithOut trial.
Bot suppose a successful removal of Pre-
sident johnson; what then? The anxious
husher OF his conscience listens TO the
bHghting aud decisive whisper: THAT is
the isst. After that, we shall no longer
umrp; we will turn Conservative in prsc-
tice, aud hasten to heal the wounds of the
country, and sooihe lacerating inportuni-
iy Of remorse." He hopes for time when
tttse descending steps will reach the bot
torl, where TO go either way is to 60 up
again. But may he so hope? Ia not the
fell and fatal necessity of greater and
darker crime still sugmenting principle,
a. a stream swells broader, deeper, and
stronger as il descends Will the seizure
OF the government be a consnmmation?
No. High-hsnded, audscious, subver-
sive as it would be, that act would be but
ar, iuitistion. To remove a President I'M
lawfully cannot be consummsted in this
country. When that is done, things of
unheard Of and enormous innovation must
follow. Will not the reasonable combina-
ton which wrought the work be tried BY
the people if they stand still, with what
ever good intentions Would they risk