New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-02-27
THE ACT or THE PEOPLE.


tbe Presidential bonnet, and which is destined
hereafter to sing only in the smallest way. is,
that Congress, which really represents every
body in the Government, and is actually the
rOr popuH embodied, is nothing more than an
ornamental institution, while the real head,
front, and tail of the whole political power OF
the country is concentrated in one obstinate
gentleman who by accident is residing III the
White House Almost all our trouble has
arisen from Mr.. Johnson's absurd notion OF his
own personal importance. With five thousand
reasons for being humble, and for keeping
shady, he has been both arrogant and Obtru-
sive; and he alone is to blame if he is
now reminded of his own insignifcance
in the readest and the toughest way known
to the Constitution. While he is mOurnfully
discovering that Congress Is power IN the
land, those who are alarmed by the novel
aspect of affairs will remember, we hope. that
Congress after all is only another name for
the People of the Republic. We are only
sliding back to first principles. We are merely
discovering the force of that phrase with which
the National Constitution commences-"WE,
"THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES" This
owe" is and can be represented by nothing
true, that Mr.. johnson, in chattering with
newspaper correspondents, sometimes assumes
the royal "We;n but his ideas OF grammatical
and cOloQuial propriety have never been per
fectly accurate, and constitutionally he has
never been anything more than ~ and
seems likely soon to be reduced to 81" itself.
When he undertook to render Congress mean
and contemplate in the eyes of the peo-
pie, he made the slight mistake of for
getting the millions of voters, free and intelll-
gent, which Congress has at its back lie
appears to have thought that honorable gen
tlemen dropped into their seats by accident, as
he did into his; he seems to have bad some
muddled notion that Congress is merely for
tutous concourse Of human atoms; he has
forgotten that the quarrel was public upon one
side and private upon the other; and so he
has undertaken to bully over one hundred and
fifty men as he would bully an individual who
bappened to displease him. OF course, it only
makes the case stronger against his common
sense. when we consider that, in fact, this
large and powerful body is purely representa-
tive, that it embodies public opinion, and that
it will be sustained by the whole might, force,
power, and authority of tho entire loyal popu-
lation of the country.
The One Hundred and Twenty-six members
who voted for the resolution of impeachment
understood perfectly well what they were
doing, and comprehended fully the state of pub
lie opinion in their several districts; so that,
substantially, we may regard this vote as an
expression of tho popular will, and of the
popular belief that there is probable cause to
think the President guilty-tO use the phrase
which Justices of the Peace employ when they
send offenders TO the Grand Jury. The timor-
GUS may shake their heads, and talk about
anarchy, but the truth is that there was moth
ing left to save us from the most fIightful
anarchy except this very impeachment. In
deed, We have been in a condition closely Dor
dering upon the anarchical for more than a
year, and every day chaos was becoming more
and more likely. Nobody had much relish for
impeachment; there never was a great measure
more reluctantly resolved upon and, if in
Congress there is now almost unanimity upon
the question, the President, and the President
only, is responsible for the change. He would
have it so. He insisted upon crisis, not the
less vehemently because it was sure to over
whelm him. He wanted to be ruined, and I'M
mistakably ruined he is.
We advise all who are troubled in their
minds by these extraordinary proceedings to
remember
I. That they are perfectly legal, as anybody
can see for himself by reading the Constitution
Of the United States, which is most wholesome
reading about this time;
2. That impeachment is strictly a popular
measure, initiated by the immediate Represent
atives of the People, and
8. That if every citizen does his duty and
remains confident in the peace of the Republic,
we shall see daylight of the very brightest
description, and that speedily.
rrrrcr or InpEACHMENT ON BUSINESS