Year: 1868

AuS anu DiHSildiu ds tdhitAB tiAO SttLAS
view of the law when it was under
consideration.


Mr.. Johnson was a man Of the Re-
publican party's own choosing, anC
he verify believed that the Presiden
was trying to restore the Union, t;
pacifcate the country, and administel
his high Office with a faithful regard
to the obligations of the Constitution
and the best interests of the people,
He seemed to him to be true frienC
to the whole of this country, a faithful
public officer, and entitled to Cabine
advisers who were his friends and no
his enemies. Congress had far better
sustain such man in his constitution
al rights, and address itself to the re
lief of the suffering country, than t.
waste its time and the peoples money
in the impeachment of faithful pub
lie servant on charges that are botf
false and foolish.


At the risk of denunciation ht
| CWO0dward) denied the right of tht
Senate to try an impeachment. The
House was not composed, as the Con
stitutiOn required, of members chosen


by the people of the several States
nor was the Senate composed Of Sena
tors from each State.


In conclusion, he said:


''Mr. Speaker, so sure am I that the
American people will respect this OBJ
lection, that if were the Presidents
counselor, would advise him, if you
prefer articles of impeachment, to
demur both to your Jurisdiction and
to that of the Senate, and to issue 8
proclamation that, while he held him.
self impeachable for misdemeanOr iT
Office before the constitutional tribun-
ais, he never would subject the Office
he holds in trust for the people, to the
unconstitutional, fragmentary bodies
who propose to strip him of it. SucF
a proclamation, with the army and
navy in hand to sustain,i it would meet
a popular response that would make
an end of impeachment and the i'm.
peachers."


Mr.. Wilson, of Iowa, chairman Ot
the Judiciary Committee, in support
OF The impeachment resolutions, said


Mr.. Speaker, the peace of the
coantry is again disturbed by the
President of the United States. He
denies to the nation that repose which
it so much needs. He will not obey
the law, and by it he must be judged.
1 do not approach the case under the
spur of hate or the heat of passion. It's
presence 1 deplore, but its demands ]
will respect and obey. AS a Repre-
sentative, it is my duty to see that the
laws of the Republic are not defied by
a criminal in Office, If within the
terms of the Constitution a remedy
may be found. The presence of the
criminal is palpabie fact. The rene
dy is plain and indisputable, and
from the performance of the duty
will not shrink. An impeachment
of the President of the United States
is made inevitable by his own delib-
crate, criminal conduct, as presented
to US by the case which now COM
mands our attention. We can not es-
cape this conclusion if we would, for
the President would hedge us about
with new acts of greater enormity, il
there be any logic in his course of pro
cedure, which would at last compel
us to take up the gauge that he how de-
family casts at our feet.


Heretofore his challenges have not
been, in my judgment, under form
of law, or stamped with the character
of real crimes and misdemeanOrs, and
therefore I have resisted a resort to
the extreme remedy which the Con
stitutiOn has placed in our hands.
Perhaps I have been more cautious
than most men would have been, but
no regrets come to me on this account,
for I believe 1 did my duty. The
considerations which urged upon my
mind and moulded my conduct in the
case with which the Committee on
the judiciary of this House was charg-
ed, are not to be found in the pres
ent case. The logic in the former case
is made plain, not to say perfect, by
its sequence in the present one. The
President was working to an enc, sus
pected by others, known to himself.
His then means were not known to
the law as crimes or misdemeanOrs,
either by the common law or by stat
ute, and we so pronounced. He mis-
took our judgment for cowardice, and
worked on until he has presented to
US, as a sequence, a high misdemean-
or known to the law and defined by
statute. five permit this to pass IN
challenged by that high power with
which the Constitution has clothed US,
no man can measure the future
troubles of this Republic.


For one, am not willing to wait
for an ascertainment of the unknown
quantities of future Presidential crimes
and misdemeanOrs. We have before
us the elements and the quantities as
certained, and am in favor of wiping
it from the executive blackboard by
an impeachment of the criminal who
placed it there. It's presence is a
source of regret to noe, and it must be
of modification to the people of this
Republic; but I will face it, and they
will meet it, by asserting the subOrdi-
nation of the President to the law of
the land. He is not maker of the
law, or a judge thereof; and it is
enough for him to know that the Con-
stitutiOn which he is sworn to pre-.
serve, protect and defend, says that
he shall take care that the laws shall
be faithfully executed. What laws?
Those which are passed in pursuance
of the terms of that Constitution
which he is sworn TO preserve, protect
and defend. And how are these laws
passed? By the two houses of Con-
gress, with the approval of the Presi-
dent; or in such case as he does not
approve, he shall return it, with his
objections, to that house in which it
has been originated, who shall enter
the objections at large on their jour
nal and proceed to reconsider it; and
if after such reconsideration, two
thirds of the house shall agree to pass
the bill, it shall be sent, together
with the objection, to the other house,
by which it shall likewise be cOnsid-