The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-08-03
IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW JOHNSON

lMfEhChmCFi We hNOhEW JO1hNoON'
In a notice of Andrew johnson, which
appeared in our columns, yesterday morn
ing, it was stated ''For his hostility to
" the reconstruction policy of congress he
" was impeached by that body, tried and
" acquitted" A great deal of truth and
great deal of error is contained in these
few words, but VIC are not quite prepared
to have our knowledge of American poll
tics judged by this statement. We know
that there were ndividuals-James Il.
Henderson, republican United States sena-
tor from Missouri, who voted for acquittal,
for instance-who held that the impeach
ment of a president should be regarded
solely as q political proceeding, instituted
to remove ruler for political offenses, and
nhnuld not be confined within the narrow
limit Of q mere judicial proceeding gov
erned by nero technical rules-that there
could be no greater crime committed by a
ruler in q republican government than
those of obstinately and persistently resist
ing the will of the people expressed by a
majority of more than two-thirds of their
representatives, especially by persisting in
such course after the questions were set
tied by return of these representatives as
in the election of 1866. He, as well as
others, repeatedly gave expression to SINH
impeachment trial, and after his vote for
acquittal, he rendered his own position en-
phatic by saying: 'Had the managers pre-
sented articles grouping together his po-
" litical offenses there would not have
" been found two republican senators vot-
I" ing not guilty-the managers made the
" mistake of presenting mere technical
case under the narrow rules Of technical
law"
Without stopping to consider this view
of impeachment, any further than to say
that we regard it as very .insdious doc
trine and one which, if adopted and acted
upon, would be fraught with the greatest
danger to the very existence of the country,
we may say that we believe that the i'm
foundation in some such idea, but that,
happily, the politicians of the day, as rep
resented by the manager, on the part OF
house of representatives, had not the revo-
lutionary boldness to act upon it "His
I" hostility to the reconstruction policy of
" congress" caused his impeachment, not
by that body" but by the house of repre-
sentatives and his trial was before the
senate presided over by the chief justice of
the United States. Although his hostility
to the reconstruction policy of congress
thereon either in spirit or form. The pre-
text for impeachment was of the ilimsiest
kind and had he had been adjudged guilty
and removed from office it would have
been foul disgrace to the country.
The articles of impeachment were eleven
in number, the first nine of which set cut
in different forms the removal of Edwin
NJ. Stanton from the office of secretary of
war, and the appointment of Lorenzo
Thomas as secretary dd interim, contrary
to the provisions of san act regulating the
tenure of certain civil Offices" The
tenth article contained three specifications,
bristling with extracts from the "swlnging
around the circle" speeches, and were
charged to have been made ''amid the
cries, jeers AMI laughter of the multi.
"tude' then assembled" "designng and
intending 10 set aside the rightful power
&c and authority Of congress-" while in the
eleventh and final article, the tenure of
Office law and Secretary Stanton are re-
turned to, and he is charged with attempt
ing to prevent the execution of the law
and to compass the removal of Stanton by
publicly declaring and affirming" in a
public speech at Washington, that ''the
thirty-ninth congress of the United States
was not O congress of the United States
authorized by the constitution y
"but was a congress of only part of the
states" Such, in substance, were the
charges upon which Andrew johnson es-
capped conviction and removal from office
only by single vote. Those were exciting
and cratic days, and Andrew Johnson was
an excitable and erratic man, but we appre-
bend that the judgment of the future will
be that in this matter of impeachment he
is less ridiculous figure than either the
senate or house of representatives.