The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-12-04
CHASE on IMPEACHMENT.

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/ As much has been mistakenly said Oh
| this matter, we willingly place before
/ our readers the following from War
| den's Life of Chase"
In letter to Hon. Gerritt Smith. dat
! ed April 18th, the Chief Justice said:
/ The trial of the President draws to.
ward its end. The evidence will doubt
less, be closed tomorrow; and it is not
improbable that the first speech on the
part of the managers will be made. II
the Senate adheres to its resolution to
allow only two arguments on each side,
/ do not see how the discussion can be
protracted beyond the week, unless the
Senate retire for consultation among
themselves.
ITO me the whole business seems
wrong, and if l had any opinion, under
the Constitution. | would not take part
in it. But the President is on trial, and
the Constitution is express that when the
President is tried the Chief Justice shall
preside.
Nothing is clearer to my mind than
that acts of Congress, not warranted by
the Constitution, are not laws. In case
law, believed by the President to be
unwarranted by the Constitution, is pass
ed, notwithstanding his veto, it seems to
me that If his duty to execute it precise
ly as if he held it to be constitutional,
except i'll the case where it directly at
tacks and iInpairs the Executive power
contided to him by that instrument. In
that case it appears to NE to be the clear
duty of the President to disregard the
law, so far at least as it may be necessa-
ry to bring the question of its eonstitu-
tionality before the judicial tribunals.
Until the late rebellion a broad dis
tlnction has always been taken between
the oath of office required of the Presi-
dent, and the oath required of other
officers. That of the President is pre-
seribed by the Constitution itself: 4 do
Solennly swear that | will faithfully ex-
ecute the Office of President of the Uni
ted States, and will, to the best of my
ability, Pfescroe, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States. That
OF other officers was prescribed by law
the first ever enacted under the Con-
stitution-and follows almost literally
its direction: L do solemnly swear that
l will support the Constitution of the
United States
for the first time into the oath to be ad-
ministered to other officers than the
President, the word defend in addition
to the word support
How can the President fulfil his oath
to preserve, protect and defend the Con
stitution, if he has no right to defend it
against an act of Congress, sincerely be-
lieyed by him to have been passed in vi
olation of it?
ITO me, therefore, 1t seems perfectly
clear that the President had a perfect
right, and, indeed, was under the high
est obligation, to remove Mr.. Stanton. if
he made the removal, not in wanton dis
regard of a constitutional law, but with
sincere belief that the tenure -of-offiee
act was unconstitutional, and for the
purpose of bringing the question before
the Supreme Court. Plainly it was the
proper and peaceful. mode of protecting
and defending the Constitution.
Il was greatly disappointed and pain
ed, therefore, when the Senate, yester-
day, excluded the evidence of members
of the Cabinet as to their consultations
and decisions Gin one of which Mr.. Stan
ton took concurring part, and the ad-
vice given to the Presidsnt in pursuance
there of. | could conceive of no evil
dence more proper TO be received, or
more appropriate to enlighten a court as
to the intent with which the act was
done; and accordingly ruled that it was
The vote, l fear, indicated purpose
which, if carried into effect, will not sat
isly the American people, unless they
are prepared to admit that Congress is
above the Constitution.
Have you looked at the questions,
whether, in the event of conviction, the
President pro teDlpOre of the Senate is
an Officer who, under the Constitution,
can act as President? and whether, if
such an officer, he must remain such
while acting as PresidentP My own mind
answers the last question in the affirma
tive, and inclines to the negative on the
first
JAMES TAYLOR is a very wealthy own
er and manager of coal mines in Perry
county. Ohio. He used to be a jOurn-
alist. Believing that Perry county was
the heart of the trans-Allegheny coal !
fields. he went on a pedestrian tour of |
inspection in that section, in |
tending to describe what he saw in let |
ters to a Chicago newspapers. After |
gathering all the accessible information, |
he stopped at Columbus, where he met |
the late Gov. Tod, to whom he des- |
cribed his trip. The Governor apprecia-
ted more fully than did Taylor the value
of the discovery. Don't publish it, " he !
said; ''but go down there and buy up or
contract for fifty thousand acres of the
most promising land you can find; will
back you" Taylor had made the tour on
on his own account, intending TO sell his |
letters to the newspaper that would pay |
him the most. So the information that |
he had acquired was legitimateIy his |