Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1875-08-26
Andy Johnson's Impeach-
m0nt.
Some of the Inside History of That
Great Event.

o Some of the Inside History of That
o Great Event.
u u ''Mack" in the St. Louis Globe Democrat
The impeachment project
o which hadlanguished formonths
0 was suddenly revived in the
0 House of Representatives, il
March, 1868, on appointment of
0 General Thomas as Secretary
. of War, dd interim. 1t took
0 but few days to prepare and
0 present "artIcles," and there was
an appearance Of grim reality
D about the matter when the for
0 mal presentation was made al
' the bar of the Senate, a few days
later. I Immediately availed
D myself of Mr.. Johnson'S gen
; eral invitation to call on him at
anytime, always assured Of a
} hearing, or rather Of a talking,
for my role in his presence was
auditor, and not orator. If !
talked at oil, it was after the
manner Of a person who pours
a pint of water down a country
pump in order to get bucket
FIJI out Of it. My greeting on
the first evening after the 'aTti-
cles" had been presented was as
cordial as ever, and a shade
more profane. Mr.. johnson
was anxious to know, SO far as
| could tell him, what was the
general impression as TO the re-
suit. | told him the impeach-
ers thought that they had sure
thing on conviction, and that
men had already been promised
positions under Ben. Wade, as
the new President; but that he
still had Il big chance for &C
quittal in the personal hos Ill
ty Of Senators T, 5, enden,
Grimes and Trumbull toward
Wade. In fact it was not so
much the trial of Andrew john
son rs the election If Benjamin
f. Wade, and l thought there
were Republicans enough to
bolt to secure Wadc'S defeat. -
This may seem now like an ex-
trcmcIy unjud:cal view TO take
OF so grave a matter, but obscr-
vation in Washington makes a
man acquainted with strange l.
deas OF Statesmanahip. Tie JU-
Iiet we fall in love with through
the opcEa-gIass from the dress
circle is not always 50 adorable
when we go behind tie scenes,
and confront tie paints, ow-
ders and gew%aws which enter
so largely into the makeup; and
some Of our best statesmen at
Washington are liable to the
same criticism. AT any rate, as
between their prejudices and
their principles, they will incline
in favor OF the former. II the
succession to Andrew johnson
had devolved upon some man
entirely unmiXed with the per-
sonal wranglcs of the United
States Senate in 86S,comviction
would have been almost certain.
Mr.. johnson was at first unWill-
ing to believe this; he thought
everybody Republican Senator
hated him worse than he hated
any body else. But the sequel
showed his mistake. That night
Mr.. johnson spoke very free
ly about the pending trial.
/ gathered from his manner and
tone that so far from being a.
fraid Of conviction, he rather
courted the martyrdom of it.
He said that if they convicted
him, he would start out with Il
view to convicting them before
the people. In his most trOub-
lous hours he newer lost faith in
his own ability to show the peo-
pie that he was the sole defen-
der Of the Constitution; and l
have aways thought that moth
ing would have suited HIM bet
ter than to have walked out of |
the White House on a warrant |
of conviction, and entered up |
on another swing OF the circle
more elaborate than the first
On the occasion l refer to, | |
spent q long time with Mr.. John
son, and I got the material for
an excellent letter foreshadow- |
ing his line of defense, and an
ticipating much that was after !
ward made' public.
l called at the White House
very frequently between March |
and May that year. / had grad !
ually worked up a personal as
we'll as a journalistic interest
in the impeachment. 1t seems
to me TO have been impossible
to live in the atmosphere Of |
Washington just then and not
o;+har want an Ofica uDdpr tba /.