Year: 1868

cleS OF impeachment against the chief ruler OF tn
nation, and they desire your judgment upon it
That he is welding powers which do not belong II
him that he is recreant to the best interests o
the nation that he is acting in manner detri
mental to the peace and safety of the country, ane
that he still purposes thus to act we do not believe
can admit of any doubt, or do we doubt our ability
to prove it; and we contend that the necessities
the occasion call for an immediate determination o.
this question.


Sir, who is the criminal? I beg pardon-the
respondent? He is the Chief Magistrate Of the
nation For the first time in the history of the
world has people brought its ruler to the bar Of
its highest court and, therefore, all precedents
which may be cited fail to have any proper bearing
on the disposition of the question. Heis the com
mander of your armies he controls, through his
subordinates, your treasury; he controls your ma
Wy; he controls all the elements of your power as
nation. He controls your foreign relations, and
may at any time if it so suits him, seriously com
plicate them, even while he is arraigned at youl
bar for high crimes and misdemeanors; and, mark
Inc, sir, the great question at issue now-the prn'
cipal charge upon which he is arraigned-is wheth
er he shall be able of his own will to control you
armies against your wishes and in defiance Of youl
laws-whether he shall control the great military
arm of the country to your ruin, and to the ruin
of the country. He will not now recognize the
Secretary of War, whom this body and whom
Congress has declared to be the legal Secretary Of
War, and while he has appointed Secretary, ad
interim, he dare not recognize him, and thus to-day
the whole machinery of the War Department is
stopped. Large numbers Of the gallant officers OF
your army whom you have confirmed, cannot re-
ceive their commissions because he will not issue
them through the proper channel. Yet with this
chaotic state Of affairs the wheels Of gov
crnment clogged-you are asked to give him forty
days in which to answer the charges which have
been laid against him. Forty daysl As long a
time as it took God to destroy the whole world ;
and then, after the forty days is granted the learn
ed and subtle counsel WILL by all the means in their
power, delay the course of justice as much longer
as they are able.


The pulse Of the nation beats in perturbation at
the course of this constitutional but anomalous
proceeding. When Congress stops, its pulse beat
feebly when Congress goes on, its pulse beats
freer Everything is at stand-still, the spring
business is parayzed, and no confidence can be felt
until this matter, which is engaging the attention
of Congress, is settled one way or the other Still
the anxious hutterings of the public pulse by bring
ing this respondent to justice, from which God
send him good deliverance if he so deserves it, at
the earliest possible moment Fix the trial at m
early day. and when he comes forward here, and
under his oath urges that be cannot properly pre-
pare for his defence without time is given him,
then, in God name, give him all the time he just
ly ought to have. But he mr. B. respectfully
submitted, don't, in advance, give him this time
before he comes here and proves that it is essential
God forbid that We should deprive him of single
right, or of single indulgence consistent with the
public safety. We ask that no more should be re-
quired on the part of the respondent than was re-
ouired of the managers We are perfectly willing
ourselves to be guided by the same rule


The great act for which the respondent is ar
raigned here was committed on tle 2lst Of Feb
ruary; the House of Representatives dealt with it
on the 22d on the 4th of March We as managers,
appeared here at your bar and presented the arti-
ces of impeachment Weare here, ready to pro-
ceed with the trial We are ready to emulate the
example of the righteous judge who, for the good
of his country, devoted twenty-five hours day to
the trial God giving us strength, we stand here
ready to give twenty-five out OF twenty-four hours
to this trial. until is brought to conclusion. lie
knows all about this matter-knows more than we
do now-and we ask that we be allowed to 60 on
with the trial.


Pardon one other simple suggestion. He hoped
that hereafter no man would say that the charges
upon which the articles of impeachment were
brought are frivolous, unsubstantiated and devoid
Of respectability. We have the highest authority
that they arc otherwise. Here we have the spec
tacle of learned counsel, eminent for their legal
acumen, coming in here and avering on their word
that the charges are so grave and important that
it will require at least forty days to answer them
So grave, so serious are they, that this able and
eminent counsel confess their inability to properly
reply to them in less than forty days.


If the minds of the Senate were now put to the
true pose, Justice must be satisfied by an immedi-
ate trial. The country wants quiet, the country
needs quiet, and it can only be secured by speedy
termination of this question If, after fair hear
ing of the charges, the respondent is adudged not
guilty and goes free be it So the country will then
have quiet if he is found guilty, let it so be- the
country will then have quiet. Let US deal with
this matter as one in which the life Of the nation
hangs in the scale. No such trial ever engaged
the attention of the world before.


Mr.. Nelson, as one of the counsel for the Presl-
dent of the United States, had, in coming here,
endeavored to divert his mind of any idea that he
was about to engage in political discussion, but
that he was to appear before tribunal of men,
who are sworn as Judges not as partisans. Hav-
ing thus come here, he was under the impression
that there was mnch force in some of the remarks
of the honorable manager MR. Butler) in reference
to this tribunal 1t should not be guided by the
iron and rigid rules of the law but should be dis
posed to allow the largest liberty, not only to the
counsel for the Defence but to the managers of the
House of Representatives; that it should not stand
upon forms of evidence or technical rules that pre-
vailed in other courts Instead of this, every one
would say that it was proper and right that much
more liberty should be allowed by the Senate of
! the nation.


What do we ask for and on behalf of the Presi-
dent of the United States? We ask simply time
for his defence, and in this matter and upon all
kindred questions, upon whose judgment must the
President rely except upon that OF his counsel,
who are best presumed to know when he is ready
to answer, or ready to proceed to trial? Now, we
have asserted here upon our professional honor, in
the presence of this Senate, in the presence of the