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The Impeachment
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»Impeachment, Trial, and Acquittal |
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THE PRESIDENTS TRIAL
The impeachment trial opened with great dignity and tranquillity. The
President, by his counsel, asked for forty days to prepare his answer; which request,
after due deliberation, was declined, and the 23d of March was appointed as the day upon
which he must answer. To this answer the Managers of the House make a replication, and the
Senate resolved that unless otherwise ordered, for cause shown, the trial should at once
proceed. There certainly can be no reason for such delay as the President requested. Mr.
Nelson, one of the Presidents counsel, urged that the great claim of judicial
proceedings upon public respect and confidence is that they hasten slowly. But Mr. Nelson
surely does not forget that the laws delay is one of the most ancient and
intolerable of grievances. The circumstances of this trial demand as much promptness as is
consistent with deliberate justice, and there is no variety of charges which fairly
compels postponement.The spectacle of the trial, in itself so simple, is imposing from
the considerations which attend it. That the official chief of one of the great nations
can be removed by legal process, absolutely and peremptorily from his position, is a truth
which seems to us a matter of course, because, until the rebellion, our traditions and our
training had not prepared us for any thing but the peaceful rule of law. But to other
nations so great a change would seem to be the necessary signal of vast civil commotions.
One great reason indeed for the calmness of the public mind is undoubtedly that the
President has no political party behind him. He is impeached and tried by the party that
elected him, and the Democratic Party merely attacks the Impeachment as it would any other
grave measure upon any grave public question which the Republican party might adopt. There
is no partisan sympathy for the President. The Democrats who denounce the Republicans are
very careful to say that they are no friends of the President; and many of them, indeed,
must feel that if a man who so disgraces the highest office in the land can be properly
and justly removed, it is not a misfortune.
If, however, the President had been
elected by the Democratic party, it is impossible to say whether the same tranquillity
would have prevailed. A party which, in half the country, conducted its campaign of 1860
by a threat of civil commotion if it were defeated, and in the other half tolerated the
threat without protest and palliated and half justified it; whose chief leaders actually
rose in rebellion because they were outvoted; a party whose orators are very fond of
speaking of "the physical force" upon their side, and whose fierce and constant
cry is of hostility to the poorest and most friendless class of the population is not a
party of which tranquil submission to the law is to be expected as of course. If the
perpetuity of a peaceful acquiescence in the constitutional methods of relief from
political difficulties were intrusted to the Democratic party, we should not feel quite as
sure of it as we do of the regular recurrence of seed-time and harvest.
It is fair to presume, however, under the
circumstances, that the removal of the President, should such be the judgment, will be
accomplished without trouble. If the Managers shall decide to press the article offered by
General Butler the trial must take a wide range, and must last for a long time. If,
however, they confine themselves to the immediate occasion of impeachment the proceedings
need not occupy many days. Mr. Thaddeus Stevens says, indeed, that that occasion is not
sufficient, but the country seldom agrees with Mr. Stevenss opinions however it
honors his indomitable persistence in the course he sincerely adopts. The trial of the
President will undoubtedly furnish another illustration of the practical value of our
political system.
Articles Related to the Impeachment, Trial, and
Acquittal:
To see a list of the related
articles go back to the intro
section. |
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