Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-08-04

"reminiscences of the Impeaeh-
mcDt Trial.

It's True Inwnrdness-HOw the Presi.
dent Bore Himself under FiFe-A
Check for $4,000 DecIined-The
Part the Ladies TOOk-HOW Poor
SauEsbury was Kept on His Pins. q.
s'DIack" in the st. Louis GlObe-DemOcrat
Since the commencement Of the I'm
parchment tria! a gentleman in New
York had sent him check for ten
thousand dollars to help him out of his
troubles, but be had returned it imme-
diately; for, said he, "Of course If a man
gives me ten thousand dollars, it's be-
cause be thinks 1 have something worth
more than ten thousand dollars to give
him; and although l suppose l make
a great many very foolish appoint
u1ents, ] don't want to have II said
that make any corrupt ones.
There has been a great deal of talk
about the use of money as a means to
secure the acquittal of Johnson. With
out making any valuable addition to
the fund of information on this sub
iect, l will state what think know
TO be a fact, that Mr.. johnson not
only never consented to the use Of
money, but often said IN my hearing
that if he could be acquitted
for five dollars he would not pay
that sum, nor let anybody else pay
it for him. l am borne out IN this asser-
ton by the weil-known fact that he al
lowed Jere Black to withdraw from
his defense rather than give his official
sanction to a corrupt land trade in
which Black was interested. He told
Black that he would rather be con-
victed ten times over than 70
purchase not only defense, but
even acquittal, at such
price. Black evidently believed he had
johnson in his power, and it looked
like bad piece of business for such
man to withdraw from case on tue
eve of trial; but johnson was not the
kind of a man to be intimidated, and
besides he did not look upon convic-
ton as an unmixed evil to him. I'm
doubtedly money was used IN a variety
of ways 10 defeat the scheme of con
vIction; aud, what is more, there wa5
good deal more money ready to be used
IN case of necessity. There were votes
cast for conviction that could have
been D rsuaded IN the other direction,
in case Of an emergency. The great
consideration with the anI-Im-
Deachers was to make sure of nineteen
votes-I believe there were 81 men
IN the Senate then-and they were
cautious enough to get few "alter.
nates," as they do In conventions. The
assertion may be received with mere
dulity, and yet l make it from we'll
grounded knowledge, that johnson. got
some of his most efficient help from
the society ladies of Westinghouse
the resident Rebels or Democrats Of
the capital, but the wives and daugh-
ters Of some Of the most ardent I'M
peachers IN Congress. There was a
womanly sympathy for johnson from
the beginning of his troubles. He vas
not a "lady's man" by any means, but
there was something about himself and
his quiet and transformations family
which served to win the women; and
many Of them helped him by furnish
ing information to his friends, and IN
a variety of ways quite creditable to
the ingenuity OF the sex. / thought of
this not long since while reading Mr..
DeForrest's novel, playing the Mis-
chief The heroine is a rather low
type of Becky Sharp, who goes TO
Washington to worry a bogus claim
through Congress. If the author had
known a few Of the secrets Of the i'm
parchment, he might have written a
work of much more romance and much
better tone.
There were other dark ways and vain
tricks connected with both sides of the
impeachment struggle, which would
take volume, instead of an article, to
relate. I cannot, however, refrain
from telling one of them. MIR. Willard
Salisbury was a Democratic Senator
from Delaware, with good intentions,
but a very decided weakness for tOddy.
He would stay sober for months some
times, but the mere smell of liquor
would start him on a spree that might
last for weeks. He had been quite
steady for a long time, and had prom
ised to abstain entirely from liquor
while the impeachment trial lasted.
One evening a young man called at his
room and desired an interview, which
was granted. He represented himself
as the agent of a wine and liqnor i'm
porting house IN New York, who had
come to Washington to have the tariff
amended with respect to these articles, |
and he would ike to interest the Sen !
ator IN his cause. He concluded |
his remarks by saying that he |
had brought souse samples Of VINE |
and brandy witt him and asking |
the Senator's permission to send a few |
bottles to his room. Salisbury i'm.
mediatcly saw in this proposition a
plot to get him drunk, so that he |
might be either absent from the Sen /
ate when the vote on impeachment was
taken, or that, going to the Senate IN /
a state Of intoxicatio0, he might be
expelled, as had often been threatened /
in his case. Indeed, a resolution for
his expulsion had once been offered
and was then ON the calendar Of the
Senate. 1t looked then, on a close cal
culagiOn, as If one vote subtractcd from
the Democratic side would secure
JOhnson's conviction. Salisbury or
dered the bogus wine merchant ont of
his room in short order, and imme-
diately acquainted several Of his friends
with the details Of the plot. 1t reach
cd Johnson's ears very soon. ''They
can't beat me any other way" said the
President, "and they are trying to get
the jury drunk" It was Immediately
resolved by Johnson's friends to keep
a close. watch on Salisbury, and this
precaution was soon rendered necessary.
Salisbury, whether as the result of a
conspiracy, or in obedience to his
own sweet will, got furiOusly drunk on
the day rendered memorable IN the his
tory of the trial by the anti-impeach-
ment speeches Of Fessenden, Trum-
bull, and other Republicans. 1t was a
secret session Of the Senate, but tsoon
got noised abroad that Salisbury was
trying to get the floor to make drunk
en- speech. Half an hour later he would
probably have been expelled. But he
was persuaded to leave the Senate, and
he was accompanied to his room, where
he was put to bed. The vote was ex-
pected the next day, and as it was i'm
portant to have Salisbury present,
consultation was held as to the best
and quickest means of SOLDERING him
of Comaho6v e1lc,0nstpd a bio fripht |