Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1869-09-15

and he entered on his duties on the 5th of
July. The whole country looked to him for
aid. The paper dollar was worth only thir-
ty-four cents. The sale of new loans had
been provided for, but they found compare
lively few purchasers. Germany, Holland,
and Switzerland were our only foreign mar
kets, and National ba nkruptcy seemed posi-
BILE. Mr.. Fessenden then found it his duty,
and a duty as imperative as it was arduous to
raise at once the sums necessary for carrying
on the war, and to enhance the value of the
securi ties afoat. What was needed to effect
this was victories. Who had faith in victo-
les to come d? The people. To them, then
would the Secretary appeal, TO them were Of
fered the seven-thirties. By Withholding
further issue of greenbacks the State banks
were induced to adopt the National system.
SO successful had been Mr.. Fessenden's poll
cy that on resigning his chair to return to the
Senate, in March 1865, gold had fallen to 80
premium. and on the llth of May it stood at
so.
In the Spring of 1868 the trial of Andrew
johnson occupied the attention of Congress,
of the country, of the world, and the words
and acts of those Spring months will form
in history some of the most important of its
pages. Mr. Fessenden in his capacity as
Senator was a judge. As the days passed,
now bringing tidings Of the close of evidence,
the tedious summing up and the delay of
preparing for the question, 1t became rumored
about that certain Republican Senators would
vote for the Presidents acquittal, and among
them was named Mr.. Fessenden. lie had,
it was true, voted for the passage of the
tenure of Office act over the Presidents veto,
his whole Congressional record had been
above reproach, and during his Secretaryship
his judgment had been severely tested. Still
the rumor proved correct, and Senator Fes-
senden's vote was given on the side of &C
quittal. For this he has given his reasons.
After going over the case at length, he says {:
In the case of an elective Chief Magistrate
of a great and powerful people, living under
q written Constitution. there is mech more
at stake in such q proceeding than the fate
of the individual. The office of president is
one of the coordinate branches of the Gov
eminent, having its defined powers, privi-
leges, and duties as essential to the very
framework OF the Government as any other,
and to be touched with as careful q hand.
Anything which conduces to weaken its hold
upon the respect of the people, to break
down the barriers which surround it, to
make it the mere sport of temporary major
ties, tends to the great injury of our Gov
eminent, and inflicts a wound upon cOnsti-
tutional liberty. 1t is evident, then, as it
seems to me, that the offense for which a
Chief Magistrate is removed from Office and
the power intrusted to him by the people
transferred to other hands, and especially
where the hands that receive it are to be the
same which take it from him, should be of
such a character as to commend itself at
once to the minds Of all right thinking men
as beyond all question an adequate cause.
Ii should be free from the faint Of party
leave no reasonable grounds of suspicious
upon the motives of those who infict the
penalty, and address itself TO the country
and the civilized world as a measure Justly
called for by the gravity of the crime and the
necessity fr its punishment.
To the suggestion that popular opinion
demands the conviction of the President on
these charges, | reply thai he is not now on
trial befor the people, but before the Senate
In the words Of Lord Eldon, upon the trial
OF the Queen, Il take no notice of what is
passing out Of doors because | am supposed
constitutionally not to be acquainted with
it And again, IL is the duty of those
on whom a Judicial task is imposed TO meet
reproach, aud not court popularity" The
people have not heard the evidence as we
have heard it. The responsibility is not
upon them, but upon Us. They have not
taken ar oath TO =" do impartial justice ac-
cording to the Constitution and the laws"
| have taken that oath. l cannot render
. NA4-LlElI uIDA AAEAA CtuN lCAl4lss uUT EAU
they transfer to themselves my punishment
if | violate my own. And | should cor slider
myself as undeserying the confidence Of that
just and INTEL gent people who imposed upon
me this great responsibility, and unworthy a
place among honorable men, If, for any fear
Of public reprobatIun, and for the sake of
securing popular favor, | should disregard
the conviction of my Judgment and my con-
science. ,
His vote was cast in accordance with these
opinions. and ne endured its effect. The
great mass of the Republican party felt con-
WINGED that the President ought 70 have been
convicted and in ;he first rush of popular
Indignation after the acquittal, the Republi-
can Senators by whose votes the President
escaped became intensely odious. More per-
haps than any Of the others, Mr.. Fessenden
escaped the charges Of personal corruption
which were rife. and few even of his bitter
est enemies ever attributed his vote to worse
motives than the dyspcptic tendency to be
dissatisfied, the chronic disposition, as they
call it, to quarrel with Mr.. Sumner, and a
perverse preference for always stemming the
popular current, right OF wrong. For the
time he was everywhere condemned, and it
seemed that the hold he had so long possessed
ON the affections Of the people of his own
State was finally broken. As the months
went by, and especially after his active efforts
in behalf of the election of Gen. Grant.
MIR. FesSenden began to regain his former
position and during the last session OF
| Congress little Of the intense bitterness
which followed the first announcemen of the
verdict was longer visible, either in the con
duct of his fellow-Senators, or in his general
treatment at the capital and in his own State.