Year: 1868

oQl0uS, Wnen, at the same time, II Is
said upon good authority, he was CIV
ing, privately, assurances to traitors
THAT he was their friend. His first OBJ
ject was to deceive and distract the 10y
al people of the country, as a necessa-
ry means to enable him to accomplish


his purposes. Much of his success in
this respect is due to the unwillingness


of the people to believe that any man


could be so faithless and so lost to his


own fair fame as to betray confding


people who had already sacrificed thou


sands of millions of treasure aud hun
dreds of thousands of their patriotic
sons to save the life of the nation. His


constant effort has been to make use of
the confding spirit of a patriotic peo-
pie by constantly proclaiming his own


boundless patriotism and great love for
!; the Constitution, and charging the
representatives of the people with the
design of overthrowing the Constitu-
ton. In this he has but followed the
example of all men who have hereto
fore usurped, or attempted to usurp,
the rights of the people. Notwithstand-
ing his efforts TO cover up and conceal
his real designs, they have been plainly
visible in all his conduct since the
meeting of the Thirty-Ninth Congress.
Yet the facts which it would be neces-
sary to prove to sustain an impeach-
ment for his official misconduct, and
his connection with the conspiracy to
give the control of the Government to
its enemies, are so numerous and spread
over SO much time that impeachment
could not be accomplished without Sc
riously damaging all the greatest inter-
ests of the country depending upon the
Legislation of Congress. His trial would
have absorbed the time and atten-
ton of Congress, to the exclusion of
other business, for the next six months
at least.


Now, we have a plain, premeditated
violation of the Constitution and laws
of Congress, requiring but few if any
witnesses to establish the fact, the Pres
ident having himself furnished the ne
cessary proof Of his guilt in writing.
The time had come when it was neces-
sary for the success of the conspiracy
that he should have control of the ar
my. He had utterly failed in his at
tempt to inveigle or seduce General


Grant to the support Of bis plans. His
only remaining chance of success was
to secure a plant tool in the War De-
partment. General Lorenzo Thomas,
Adjutant General of the Army, who
was kept out of the Adjutant Generals
office during the war because he was
incompetent or could not be trusted or
for other reasons, was inst the man for
the occasion, and the President determ-
ined to attempt coup detat in hopes
to find that Congress had not the cour-
age to meet the issue. He labored un-
der the delusion that majority of the
Republicans in the House had hereto
fore opposed impeachment from fear of
his power, whereas they were acting,
in great measure, from the belief that
his power for mischief had been so
completely limited by the legislation of
Congress that it would be better to en-
dure him for another year than to spend
the larger part of that year in impeach-
ing him for his many abuses of power.
They believed that the President could
not defeat the reconstruction of the re-
bellious States on the Congressional
plan without resorting to direct viola
tions of the Constitution and laws, for
which he could be impeached without
trouble or delay. They knew that
General Grant and the army could not
be used to overthrow the Republic at
the instance of a recreant usurper. In
this they were not mistaken.


The President has violated the Con-
stitution and the laws of the United
States, and attempted to involve the
the General and other officers of the
army in his unlawful acts. He under
estimated the Integrity and patriotism
of these officers, and failed in his OBJ
lect- What are the powers and duties
of the President of the United States
which are necessary to be inquired into
in order to determine whether the Pre-
sident has been guilty of the ohense
charged, rendering him justly liable to
impeachment? The Constitution de-
fines his powers and duties, in regard
to removals and appointments as fol-
lows:


"He shall have power, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, to make |
treaties, provided twn-thirds of the Senators |
present concur and he shall nominate, and |
by and with the advice and consent of the |
Senate, shall aproint ambassadors, other !
public ministers and counsels, Judges of the |
Supreme Court and all other officers of the |
United States, whose appointing nts are not
herein otherwise provided, and which shall
be established by law butthe Congress may
by law vest the appointment of such inferior
officers as they may think proper in the
President alone, in the courts Of law, or in
the heads of departments.


"The Presi lent shall have power to fill
up all vacancies that may happen during
the recess of the Senate, by granting COM
missions which shall expire at the end of
their next session"


The Secretary of War is one of the
officers who can only be appointed by |
and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, except where a vacancy occurs
during the recess of the Senate. 1t is
true it has become the practice of the
President to exercise that power during |
the recess of the Senate, a practice in
my opinion not warranted by the Con-
stitutlon, and never ought to have
been allowed.


The powers and patronage of the
Executive office have been constantly |
increasing by usurpations and miscon-
structiOns of the Constitution, and un-
less these usurpations and misconstruc-
tions are checked, all the powers of the
government will soon be concentrated
in the President, and we shall have a
monarchy or despotism instead of a free
Republic. 1t is perfectly clear that
the Constitution gives the President no
power to remove the Secretary of War
during the session of the Senate, and
no other President ever dared TO at
tempt such an act of usurpatiou.


The motive which induced Andrew
johnson to make the attempt is plain.
He wanted a tool in the War Office
who would aid him in his determine
ton to transfer this government into
the hands of its enemies. He had
GOOD reason to believe that the Senate