Year: 1868

THE DEMAND FOR DELAY.


Washington correspondents agree IN statlng
that the Presidents counsel who are now pre-
pairing the Presidents answer to the Articles OF
Impeachment, will, upon filing it, make aiolhe,
demand for a delay, which will be asked anu
pressed with all the force counsel can cominano'
1t is well known that the denial oil the fresi-
dents former demand for forty days time 10
answer was strenuously resisted by the
Presidents counsel We are now informed
that further demands for delay constitute
his principal tactics. What is tins wonderful
virtue in Delay Oh which the President SO
tenaciously and despairingly rclicsf Is delay
necessary for any of the legitimate purposes OF
a trial, the investigation of the law, or the col
lection of the facts, or the summOning or examl-
nation of the witnesses? The law bearing on the
crimiaality of the Presidents conduct is already
familiar to his counsel. The facts involved in
the Articles of Impeachment are i'll their
nature indisputabe. Exactly what the Presl-
dent did in the attempted removal OF
Mr. Stanton, and what he said in
swinging around the circle, are known of all
men, The Presidents own version III either
case would convict him as certainly as any
version the impeachment Managers might give
of the same facts. Delay is not necessary to
their due ascertainment and adjudication. Ana
surely the counsel for the defense would not
admit that the practice in impeachment cases
is any more novel to them than to
the managers who will conduct the
prosecution, or that it is so obscure as to need
mo nths for its investigation, or that, If so OBJ
scure, it can be settled i'll any other way so
readily as by going on with the trial. III
neither the law nor the facts of the case nor
the difficulties of the practice in such cases re-
Qure delay, then the delay is sought for no
purpose which is germain to the question. In
deed, the demand may be said to cOncede a
conviction, and aims to secure an acquittal
only through extraneous inducements and
considerations. 1t is true that with
every delay the political necessity OF the
Presidents conviction becomes less, because
the shorter the remnant of his term the less
mischief he can commit, and the less impor-
tant whether it be filed by a good President
or bad one. IL is true that with every
delay to do justice the conscience of the public
as well as of the Court returns to its work less
vigorously. 1t is true that courts and prose-
cutors may tire out, wear out, and break
down. Hence in delay there are many adyan-
tages for the criminal, none for the law, the
court, or Justice Beside all these induce
ments to delay, Mr.. johnson knows that
in. his case there is one far more pow
erful Behind him stand at least SIX millions
out of the forty millions of the American peo-
ple-the seething, Kissing Rebel and Copper
head element of the North and South, reckless
of consequences, soured by defeat, indignant
at political equality, and ready for riot and
revolution. They care nothing for him person
ally. They feel that they could not trust him
with the leadership of their cause for an hour.
As a pretext, they might avail themselves of
him to incite the passions OF an ignorant
multitude. lie knows, too, that in the Re
publican party, as in all parties, there
are many who, while admitting in the
abstract that party which fears to do right
and to vindcate its principles and punish crime
must die for its cowardice, will yet hesitate and
wait until the fruits of good intentions are
lost by delay in executing them. He hopes,
therefore, to bring political influences to bear.
He hopes that by delay wearied pubic, q
distracted country, a trembling credit, business
deranged, and the fears of timid politicians, may
cooperate to produce a revulsiOn in his favor.
One point is certain. Whatever public senti-
ment will acquit Andrew Johnson will convict
and condemn Congress, the Republican party,
and the whole loyal twenty millions of
the people of the United States. Let
the Senate show the President and the
country that they are in earnest that
the business on which they have entered is
not one to be fought with the petty
.FSs 81 t1,,t lao
President seeks an acquittal, he must do SO
by showing that he has obeyed the laws OF
Congress. On no other ground can he escape.