#L1B1URY OF CONGRESS. # # ^/y.. t iWo — " # UNITED STATKS UF AMERICA. | LECTURE DELIVERKD AT THE BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC, / BY BENJ. F. BUTLER, OF MASSACHUSETTS, A'orembei' 2/^th, /86G. /V 1 The Usurpations, Wrongs and Abuses of Executive Power, and the ^ Constitutional Remedy therefor. ♦ » ♦ « ♦ Gen. Butler said : Fair Ladies, Gentlemen of Brooklyn : KEPCBHOS ALWAYS HAVE BEEN FAILURES. All experiments of Governmetit, republi- can in form, have hitherto been failures. — Whether conducted by the polished intellec- tual Athenian ; the rugged, austere Spartan; the warlike, enterprising, but luxurious Ro- man of ancient days; or in the present cen- tury by the mercurial but pliilosophical Frenchman, worshipping the Goddess of IJeason and theorizing a Utopia ; or by the crisp-haired semi-barbarous Haytien just emerging from the darkness of ages into the light of civilization, — each and all have been merged in despotism or ended in anarchy tempered with autocracy. True, the free Swifzer still sways his snow-crowned Alps by elected rulers, but his Government holds its power not iri its strength but in its insignificance, and rather serves as an illustration than a contraveniion of this great truth. HISTORY TEACHES THE SAME FATE FOR AME31Ci. History in all ages has repealed herself, when the conditions under which she exhib- its the aflaiis of man are the same, as well in acts as situation. Startling as is ihi? fact to the Ainerican patriot when reasoning a priori upon the future of his country, the enemies of free institutions, denying the ca- pacity of men for self-government, liave nev- er failed to press it upon him, whenever the safely, stability or dural)ility of different forms of government are the topic of discus- sion or prophecy. Sad indeed would be the forebodings of the American staiesman for the future of his country — nay, of the verv existence of liber- ty itself in the world — if he could find no vital distinctions by which to lake our last and so far best experiment of free frovern- mcnt from the inexorable uesiiny to which it seems fated in the light of philosophy teach- ing through example. It would also seern to be his highest duty, takinc warning from the story of the past, so to shape the course and current of govern- menial action as to avoid the vortex in wliich all other free governments have been drawn and foundered. ALL HAVE FAILED FROM THE SAME CAL'SE. The '' beginning of their end" has been as uniform as their destruction has been uni- versal. The same harbinger has heralded the downfall of each, at once the precursor and cause of death — USURPATIuN OF EXECUTIVE POWER, AND THE NEGLECT OF THiPFOPLE TO RESIST THE EARLIER ENClvOACHMENTS UPON TUEIB KIOUTS AND LIbERTIfcS. How to meet these dangers to our Repub- lic, will not unprotitably employ an even- ing's thought. THE STRENGTH OF OUR GOVEUNMFNT IN WAR. Those who advocate the capacity of the few to govern, and the necessity of the many to be governed ; the superiority of a monarchical over an elective representative government, havs never ceased to tell us that " Our Democracy " had not that firm- ness of purpose or ad he si on, su file i en t to ena- ble us to carry on a long or devasiaiing war. We have answered that, by raising larger armies in less lime than atiy other nation of which there is even a fabled record. We have successfully carried on a war. more terrible, more extensile, more bloody in its details, and more important in its great re- sults, than any war ever waged. And this loo a civil war, which all history shows to he more fymg to the btability of a government than foreign invasion or foreign aggression. OUR ABILITY TO BORROW MONEY AND PAY IT. Again : we are told, that a government based solely on the will of the people could never enjoy the confidence of wealth and capital so as lo borrow large amounts of mo(iey on extended loan. To this asain we answer: America has borrowed tnore money, bv hundreds of millions, and in less tiiup, and at a better rale of investment, than did ever all the Empires. KinfT(loins and Prin- ciOciliiies of Europe put tofjeiher. Aye, and far greater and nobler, when the exigency lias past, we becan paying what we borrow- ed, principal and interest, which they never did. OCR GOVERNMENT THE 8TR0NGKST FOR TAXATION. Again, it has been said that the crownins test of the inefficiency of a representative government would come vvhen the people were called upon to vole to tax themselves to pay a largely accumulated Nationsl debt. Thai democracv wasbul another name for repudiation. We reply, that at this hour we are the worst or best taxed people on the face of the globe. To redeem our National faith we cheerfully pav to the Government of our free choice, from our substance, double and treble whaidil the Hebrew both for his govern- ment and reliirion. and double and treble all thai any tyrant, by whatever name, has ever wrung by oppres^ion from the grasp of a cru^hed people. And even now are ringing in our cars ihe thunder tones of the joyous shouts of millKms of intelligent free««en over the asloundinii majorities of ballots voting to engraft upon the very frame-work of our Government our National Debt, so that Na- tional Credit may never be impaired though ii may lake ihe last dollar and the last loaf 10 redeem it. THE PATRIOTISM OF OIR CITIZEN SOlDIEnS — NO DANOKR FROM THEM. Another and greater danger to our free in- slitulions was cliimed when the war ended. Our victorious armies, greater than the fa- bled hosts of Xerxfs, flushed with success, their soldiers, combined tocfttherand endear- ed to each oiher by the hardships of the bi- vouac niid ihe perils of baitle, enticed by the romance, the excitemint and the allurements of r'amp ami Held, — their officers in love with a profe«sion, at on'i^e chivaliic and commaod- ini». wherein laurels were to be woti, di.-linc- tion, and lii^h positions attained, both, and i-arh .ipurnio;^ the lame irts of peace, unwil- ling to rclurn to the monotony of every d«y life, under the lead of some bold bad man, but brilliant and unscrupulous soldier, would, like the Roman legions, seize upon the Gov- ernmenl, make their General supreme, and govern by the sword. On the contrary, these armies have melted nway "like the snow-flake soft lalling on the sod," — the sol- dier merginor In the civilian, all the better citizen because he had been a good soldier, bringing home the discipline of the army, as instruction lo obedience of the law, honored by the people for his deeds of valor or en- durance in the field, and so far from being dreaded as dangerous to the liberties of the people, leaned upon as the right arm of sup- port in peace, of those free iristituiions which he had preserved in war. OlR COUNTRY PlRtR AND BETTEH FOR THE -nAR. Thus all these perils so fatal either in de- tainer in the aggregate to so manv republics, have not only been passed in safely, but the Country has surmounted them with accumu- lated power ami grandeur, purged 'rom slav- ery, the last vestige of sin and wrong in her Constitution, with liberty and eijuality of right to all men, for h'T motto, and her es- cutcheon briyht, spotless, stainless and pure as the glittering shield of Richard the Lion- hearted when he dashed it in the face of the hosts of the Saracen. TUB SAFE GUARDS OF LIBERTY: RELIGION AND INTELLIGENCE. What element*, then, has this our Repub- lic, which others had not that she laughs to scorn hnzanls which were fatal to ihem ? — The Scliodl House and the Church, Educatio7i and Christianity, 'never before ^ive?i to a whole people under a liepuUic. NO COMMON SCHOOLS IN THE SOUTH. To a ukole people, tJid I .say ? Ah ! would it hat! been so. Therein lies the difficulty. '■ It was a grievous fiiult and {grievously have we an- swered it." Over nearly one h>lf ofour territory heretofore 8wa>int.' quiie that proportion of po- litical i)Owers, there has never been estaljlishetl any system of edi.catioii free am) common to all, in which the people ccpuld be instructed in their duly to their ft-Hownien and their counlr/. and ;he larfjer pari ot whose inhabitanis were unable even lo read the IJook of Life. Far more mis- erabln anU wretched besiilo, to almost a majority of the people, the truths of the gospel were liidilen or pervi-rled, and inarriafjc, the most holy of the sacraments of the church, ibe very fonndatjon af society, even as a civil contract, was denied. IGNORANCE THE SOURCE OF TIIKASON. Is it a marvel then that el-ven Suites, with people thus besot'ed by i^jnorance, «iih govern- n^ents republican in form, cursed with an insti tution which, demoralizing tha people of the Grecian and U.man ilepublies, hastened their downfall ; bound to the parent governiru'nt by moral and political obligations only, should break away from all ties of loyally and patriot- ism which hold men to country and government, to tTv the experiment of despotism and end in anarchy. What else could have been expected, reading their horoscope by the light of historical exam- ple, hut rebellion, treason, war, intensified by murderous atrocities of starvation of the pris- oner and helpless, culminating in the wicked ao'iss^ination of the purest and best pitriot, Lincoln. Oiignt we not to be thankful to (he Almighty Di,-poser of ever.ts that there was enough of in telligence, virtue, Cuurasje and Chz-istiaii faith in the North to redeem the country as fro n the gulf of perdition, to the brink of which, igno- rance, sin and slavery had brought it ? HOW C.iN THE SOUTH BE BEST REORANIZED ? Now that organized resistance to the laws has ceased in thai terntorj' which the sword and the sword alone, has conquere(f — how shall the people thereof, with safety to themselves and to the whide country, be brought to enjoy the bles,«ings of free institutions insuring equality of rights and justice to all 1 That problem so vast, so momentous, so vital, can only be solved by the wisdom of experience learning from the events of ihe past. POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY WILL NOT DO IT. Political expedients adjusting balances of power: Conventions framing constitoiions ol gcvernment ; Presidents inventing policies oli reconstiuction ; Congress passing acts o( ao danijerous encroachments ol Executive power. Noihinff can be more f.ilal to liberty than the lisilr>ss carelessness which pass?s over nnheedf.'il the first steps of usiirpaiion. All History leaches that no despot has ever seized upon VrOTS. No change of Government has ever yet taKen place, no ereat ctisis has ever yet oc- curred in the afi'airj of a Nation, until the peoi'le have been lulled into neglifjence by hearing the frequent discussion of its likeli- hood. We are apt to shut our eyes and ears 10 any supposition of danger to come fn m woiils. We are inclined to sav " that is only lalli, wait till some Act is done, and then it will he time to move," but words may be and sometimes are things, "l.ving, burning things, that set a world on fire." IF TALK OF 8ECPS5ION HAD BEEN PUNISHED, THE WAR HAD NEVER OCCURRED. As a most notable instance of the power of words, look at the inception of the rebel- lion through which we have jusl passed. — For a quarter of a century the Nation took no notice of the talk of disunion and seces- sion which was heard in Coiij^ress and on the " slump," until in the South a genera- tion was taught it by word, and the word suddenly burst forth into terrible, awful war. Does anvbody doubt that if Jnclcson had lianired Calhoun in 1S32, for talking nullifi- cation and secession which was eml)ryo trea- son, that the cannon of South Carolina against Fort Sumter would ever have been heard with all their fearful ami deadly con- .'^equetices ? Nay, more ; if United States officers, Senators and Kepre-'enlaiives had been irnpfarhed and di?qiialified from of- fice in 1832, for advocating secession on the "stump," as was done in 18G2 liy Con- gress, then our sons and brothers, now dead HI battle or starved in prison, had been alive and happy, and a pcacrful solution of the r|ue:!tion of slavery hud been found. THE OEEAT CRIME OF SUGGESTING THAT A DICTATOB IS POSSIBLE IN THIS COUNTRY. Whoever, then, shall suffgesl the possibil- ity that the form of our Government may be changed, and that a "King" or a "Dictator" may seize the liberties of the people, com- mits a great crime and misdemeanor against free government. It is an insult to the intel- ligence and virtue of the people to suppose that thing possible. The Roman law is said not to have contained any penalty against a child killing his parent, because by makinf? a provision against so horrid a crime the law would suppose parricide possible. So there is no express enactment in our Constitution, and laws to punish the declaration that any man by the use of the patronage of the gov- ernment and the Army and Navy of the peo- ple may take away their liberties, and make himself either King or Dictator, but the crime of und- rmining the confidence and af- fection of the people to iheir institutions is not therefore less, and all the greater when it emanates from high official position. The hope, wish or ihoueht of the possibility, pub- licly expiessed by any officer of ihe Govern- ment, Civil or Military, that he could become the tyrant of the people, under whatever name, is a heinous ofTence, for which the Constitution has provided a sure and conserv- ative remedy. THE WARNING OF WASHINGTON AGAINST USUR- PATION. I Again, our frame of government divides its poivers among several departments, care- i fully adjusting the balance, so that neither I can usuip any that behings to the other with- |out the utmost danger to the whole. This I peril of usurpation was foreseen by our ) patriot fathers, and Washington makes it the : subject of a solemn warning in his farewell ' address. Hear liira : " It is important, likewise, that the habits " of thinking, in a free Country, should in- " spire caution in those intrusted with its ad- " ministration, to confine themselves within " their respective constitutional spheres, " avoiding, in the exercise of the powers of " one Department, to encroach upon another. •'The spirit of encroachment tends to consol- I" idaie the powers of ail'the Departments in I" one, and thus to create, whatever the form (" of government, a rtul despotism." . 7 " But lei there be no changfe by usurpa- *' tion ; for thouojh this, in one instance may *' be the inslrunnent of good, it is the custoin- "ary weapon by which Iree Governments are ♦' destroyed." IMPEACHMENT ESTABLISHED AS A EEMED"! FOU USUKl'ATION AND JUSISEIIAYIOR IN OFFICE. Our patriot heroes founding a government, of itself born of a Revolution springing from ihe oppressions of a King and an irresponsi- ble Ministry, availing themselves of every safeguard of British freedom, declared in Magna Charta, added thereto frequency of election of the Chief Executive and ihe Leg- islative Branch of (he State ; but mindful that the Roman Consuls, although annually elected even, contrived to usurp power until they became dictators, contemning the max- im that a king could do no wronir, and im- pressed with the fact from sad experience, that princes and mmislers of State were not angels of Grace, carefully provided for usurpa- tion of power and all misbehavior in offit e, the great, constitittional, conservative remedy of impeachment a?id removal. IMPEACHMENT DlKECTED AGAINST MISCONDUCT OF OFFICERS. That this remedy was principally directed against ottteial misbehavior, and not against the personal crimes of the officer, is seen from the fact that the penalty upon impeach- ment was only removal from, and disqualifi- cation for office. They left the appointment and removal of all other officers, except judg- es, with the consent of the Senate, at the dis- cretion of the President, for such cause as he might deem sufficient. And they left his removal to the discretion of the House of Representatives of the people, for such cause as they should judge sufficient, with the like advice and consent of the Senate. Judgjes being the only officers not Legislative who are not removable at the will of the President and Senate, either with or without cause, there has been no occasion to impeach any officer, save judges ; so that impeachment has been comparatively rare. Indeed, there has been but four cases, two successful and two unsuccessful impeachments. JUDGE PICKERING CONVICTED OP DRUNKENNESS. The first was of Judge Pickering of New Hampshire in 1803, for drunkenness, the low- est form of offence, but a high misdemeanor from the official position of the accused. His defence was that he did not n:et drunk as Judge but as a mun, but the Senate decided that when tfie man was intoxicated, the Judge was drunk, and removed him from of- fice. His being but a fault of the head and not of the heart, the Senate did not give judgment to disqualify him from holding of- fice thereafter. JULGE CHASE IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A SPEECH AGAINST UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. In lS04,Judge Samuel Chase,of Maryland, was impeached for arbitrary and illegal con- duct on the bench, and for making an in- flammatory political harangue, " with intentto excite the fears and resentment of the Grand Jury, and good people of Maryland, against their State government and Constitution, a conduct highly censurable in any, but pecu- liarly indecent and unbecoming in a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States." Upon examining the evidence, it appears thai Judge Chase, at the conclusion of his charge, made a speech, to the Grand Jury, against the universal white suffrage law of Maryland, contending that it was not expe- dient to let men vole who did not own prop- ertv. The Judge's observations are singularly temperate as compared with the speeches we have been lately accustomed to hear from high official sources, and yet nineteen (19) Senators, Democratic Senators, found him guilty, while fifteen (15) Senators, Federal- ists, voted not guilty. This was a larger vote against him than was given upon either of the other seven articles of impeachment. A POLITICAL SPEECH IS AN IMPEACHABLE OFFENCE. This, then, establishes the rule that in the judgment of the majority of the House and Senate of that day, some of them (he very men that helped frame the Constitution, a political harangue by a great officer might be cause of impeachment and removal. In- deed, the contrary was not contended by the counsel for Judge Chase ; they only insisted that his speech was not obnoxious, but in this they were overruled by a majoiity of that august Court. In 1531, Judge Peck of Missouri was im- peached for the arbitrary and illegal impris- onment of one Lawless, a lawyer, but the impeachment failed for want of proof. 8 JVOOB HUMPHREYS IMPEACHED FOB ADVOCATING THE BKiUT OF RECESSION. The last and most interestirifj case of im- peachment at the present jtiiiciure was that (if Judtje Humphreys of Tennessee upon tlie complaint of Andrew Johnson, in June, 1SG2. One of the cliarges against Humphreys, of which he was unanimously found guilty by I'le Senate, ivas, that at Nashville, on the >^9th day of December, 1S60, at a public meeiing, he " did then and there publicly de- clare that it was the right of the people of said Slate by the ordinance of secession to absolve iheniselves from allegiance to the Gov^rnnieot of the United Slates, the Con- sii'uiion and laws ihereol." Among the articles of impeachment against Humphreys was a charge that as confederate Judge after tlie secession of Tennessee, he had decreed the confiscation of ihe properly of Andrew Johnson. Upon this charge he was acquit- ted. This case is exceedingly instructive. It determines that a speech may be an im- peachable ofTence. Every Senator, 3S in number, Democrats included, voted that a political speech by a United Stales officer in a public meeting before the war, advocating secession, was ahiiih crime and misdemean- or- But Judge Humphreys only advanced publicly the right of secession which had been advocated in the South for thirty years by Calhoun and his disciples. How much would have been saved to ihe country if the first utierer of it had been impeached ! What a lesson is taught us that ihe first utterances of olTicials dangerous to liberiy and law should be promptly punished, however high trie offender may be. Let jusiice be done though the Heavens fall ! ANDBEW JOHKSON COMPLAINANT IS ESToPPED TO DENY THE POWEE OF CONGRESS TO IMPEACH HIM Again : Andrew Johnson was a complain- ant in this case, so that he is concluded by it 10 deny, 1st. That an improper public ^^peech of a high official m impeachable. — Second. That a House of Representatives fro n which eleven Stales are e.xcluded is not a Constitutional House, with the power of impeachment, and that a Senate from which twerily-iwo mombfrs are excluded are not II C-in^titutional Court to try and determine iin impeachment. Humphreys, when summoned before the Senate, refused to appear, and was tried and convicted in his absence. So thai Andrew Johnson, ihe complainant, and every Demo- cratic Senator of that day and a majoriiv of the Republican Senators of the present Sen- ate are concluded by their vo es and acts un- der their solemn oaths, upon every disputed question that would possibly arise upon an impeachment of the President of the United Slates, save one which we will directly dis- cuss. Let us repeat, the President, House and Senate have solemnly committed them- selves to the proposition, that a House from which the Representatives of eleven States are excluded, is a Constiiulional House for the purpose of an impeachment of a high of- ficer of the United States. A SENATE -WITH ELEVEN STATES OUT A LEGAL COITRT. 2nd. That the Senate from which the members of eleven Slates are excluded and some of them expelled, is a legal High Court of Impeachment to try any such officer, al- ihouiih it may be certain that if the excluded members were present the offiender would be acquitted, because nobody believes that Ben- jamin, Slidell and Davis would have found their brother secessionist Humphieys guilty if ihey had been present, and the iwenly-lwo voles of the revolting Senators, more than one-third, would have acquitted him. ADVOCATING AN UNLAWFUL ACT A HIGH CRIME, WORTHY OF IMPEACHMENT. 3rd. That the advocacy by a high officer of the United Stales of an unlawful proposi- tion in a political speech is sufficient ground of impeachment. Therefore that mere words are sufficient without any overt net. TUB ACCUSED MAY BE HEARD IN HIS ABSENCE. 4ih. That if the accused neglects or refus- es to appear before the Senate when sum- moned, he may be tried, convicted and de- posed from office, in his absence. The only remaining question, not settled by this precedent is, whether the Senate, when sitting as a high (!5ourt of Impeach- ment, can bring the oflTender before it and suspend, or remove him from office during the trial ? ALL THE POWERS OP IMPEACHMENT DERIVED FROM ENGLISH LAW. When the Consiilulion was framed the le- 2ul terms used in it were wholly taken from Enijlish law, and its provision? were assim- ilated to the Consliliiiional his^tory of the mother cniintry When therefore our fath- ers provided in the Constituiion for " trial by iuiy." tiiey left it to the Eiiiilij^h coinmon law to defiiie what a jiiry was and how the tri\l should be conducted, I^o when the Constiiiiiion speaks of " a suit at Law or j Equity," it leaves the definiiion and course of proccedingr to the Engiisli laws. So when a felony is mentioned, we must go to this law to ascertain what a lelony is, and these il- lustrations may be multiplied almost i'ldefi- riitely. So when the " sojp power of Im- peachment" is given in the House of Repre- sentatives we Idoli to the cusioa\s and law of Parliament to asceitain what that power is and the manner in which it may be exercis- ed. So when the Constitution gave to the Senate " the sole power lo try all iinpeaeh- nients," we are remitted to the precedents of the House of Peers to ascertain how that power shall be exeicised. It will ul-o be ob- served that whenever the framers of the Constitution intend to limit lliat power of the House or Senate in impeachment, or lo vary the manner of its exercise, they do it by ex- press words. For example : when the Sen- ate is sitting as a Court of Impeachment, it is provided that " they must be upon oath or affirmation," althongh the Peers voted upon honor only. It being well known that the House of Lords had frequently condemned to pay a fine, as in the ca^e of Lord Chancellor Ba- con, or imprisoninent or death, those impeach- ed before thpm, our Constituiion restricts the judgment of the Senate to removal and dis- qualification from office only. All other incidents of the impeachment, the trial, the power of the Senate to bring the accused before it, to require him to an- swer, to summon witnesses and punish for contsmpt, and the forms of its judgment are left to be gathered from the customs of Par- liament. And it Will be seen that in the iiri- peachment and trial of Judges Pickering and Chase, in 1S03 and 1804, the same men who framed the Constitution sitting in the House and Senate, conducted tho.^e cases strictly according to the English precedents in all points not changed by the express words of the Constitution. WHEN AN OFFICER 18 IMPEACHKD HK MAY BE 6U»- PENOkD AND llEMOVKI) FK( M OFFICE. Now, it was familiar History that the Com- mons of Entilul;on it is declared that " The Pre-Mdent, Vice President and all oth- er Civil officers may be removed from office upon impeachment for, and conviction of, Treason, Biibery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors." If the officer could only be removed or suspended from the exercise of his office up- on conviction, that beino against the custom of Parliament, it would have been expressly so enact3d in the Constitution, but the exact contrary are the words of th'j Corjsiituiion, the officer being removable " upon impeach- ment for and conviction of high crimes and misdemeanors." And the higher the officer, the more need that he shall- be removed from office lest he shall by influence corrupt both witnesses and Judolve the Parliament to put an end to the prosecution ; but afterward it was le- solved and finally determined in the case of Warren Hastings, that the impeachment did not die with the Parliament. We thus have carefully examined the con- stitutional remedy for usurpation and official misconduct. We have seen that it is aptly fitted to be, and ought to be applied at the nearest approach of danger or wrong: without wailing till they have ripened into outrage and disaster. IS ANDHEAV JOHNSON GUILTY OF IMPEACHABLE OFFENCES ? The only inquiry that remains to us i? whether common fame or current history charges any officer of the government with declarations or acts dangerous to the perma- nency of our insiituiions and the liberties of the people, so that thoy are satisfied ihat for the "general welfare of the United States'' this remedy ought to be applied, as well as to meet the beginnings of wrong in high places as to punish the ofTender as a warning to all others daring thus to sin. Because if the judgment and conscience of the loyal people of the country are net satisfied of the guilt accused and the rishteousness of his punish- ishment, he becomes not a criminal but a martyr, whatever may be the offii'ial verdict againsl him. And indeed in thi^, as in all other governmental action, the represenia- lives of the people should onlv echo their thought and do their behest. What, then, is the judgment of the peo- ple upon the official conduct of the " Vice- President of the United States discharg- ing ilie powers and duties devolved upon him by the death " by assassination of the President, such being the exact conslituiional definition of his present office ? In this inquiry let us proceed upon the "evidence" by which he might be im- ;")e?iched : well-grounded common fame. As one of the people, then, I charge that Andrew Johnson has cfirnmitled high crimes md misdemeanors in office, in many partic- ulars, but which may be grouped under these general charges : DRUNKENNESS IN OrFlCE. 1st, Therefore I charge Andrew John.inn, as well while Vn-e President, as while dis- charging the powers atid duties of Pre.>ident of the Uniied Slates, with dei^rading atid debising, even while tiiking the oath of office, the station and diyniiy of the office of Vice Piesident, and that of President, by indecently exhibiiinjj and exposing himself upon official and public occasions in a state of drunkennesi!, by the voluntary use of in- toxicating liquors, lo the great scandal and disgrace of the whole people of the United Slates and the government thereof. EVIDENCE OF THE CH4.RGE OF DKUNKENNESS. As to the specification and evidence of the first charge of public drunkenn(ss, if com- mon uncontradicted fame speaks truly, and that it does in this instance, the blush at shame which mantles the cheek of everv true American wlien the orcurrence is men- tioned, is the highest guaranty — then every Senator who witnessed the disgraceful stam- mering tongue of the Vice President as he mumbled his oath of office, and slobberv^d the Holy Book with a drunken kiss, will be at once the witness and judge, and to other like public and disgraceful exhibitions al- most every depot and station master between Washington and St. Louis can give evi- dence. Indeed, it were Christian, kindly charity to believe, thai the speeches made on those occasions had that exi'use, because then they would be errors of the head, wherein an " enemy had been pul to steal away the brain," and might be reformed ; but a heart that could send forth sich utterances, spe- cially that made by Andrew Johnson at Ni- figara, wherein he said he was glad that by the Consiiiuiion he was made President, can never be made belter savs by the omnipotence of Divine Grace. That I may do Mr. J.ihnson no wrong, I will give his words as reported on that occa- sion : " The victory was obiained and I was " made Vice President of ihe United Slates. " Can't you see the frradation comes along " regularly ? And then by the Constitution "of the country I was made President. / " <7W glad (if it."" Is Andrew Johnson guilty or not guilty 12 of ihis charge and specification ? llow say you, fellow citizens, was he drunk or sober ? INDECENT, INFLAMMATOUY ANO DAN0ER0O8 HAKANOCES, 'JimI. I ctiarje Andrew Johnson, Vice Pfesuleni, discharging the powers and duties of the Presiileni of the United Stales, and swirn faithfully to execute the same, with officiiilly and publicly making declarations and iiifla'iimalory harani^ues, indecent and unbecoinino and in derogation of his high ofTii-e, daniieroiis to the permanency of our rejiublifan form of {roveriiment, and with intent and design to eX'-iie the ridicule, fear, hatred and contempt of the people auainsi the leiiislative and judicial departments thereof. BVIDENCE OF DSOKaCEFCL A> D DANGEROUS BPIiECHES. Tiip second charge of making indecent and iiifl uniiialnry harangues, degradinu the po- sition as 'he Executive head of the mo>t civ- iliz-'d and intellectual nation in ih? world, has manv specifications, and is sustained bv much evidence. The obnoxious declarations of Mr. Johnson are all of them public speech- es made either to committers or from the rostrum, in def'^nce of his policy, or attacks upon individuals or other branches of the Qoverninent. They may be divided into two classes, the indecent and the danjier- oii- and inflammatory. Can there be any- thing more indecent and decrading to the office of Presiil"iit of the United Slates than the ?xhibition made by Andrew John- s'tn oil the 22nd of February last in that speech, fnr which there is, unfnriunately for the honor of the country, not the apology that ho was drunk. His cliaracierizition of the editor of a leading jnunial, who certain- ly up to that time had dealt with him in c •urieoiis language, as a '• dead duck." The tone, the manner, the occasion, are all crim- inally beneath the dicniiv of the office he oc- cupies. A'^ain, on that most un.ippv funer- al journev, his vimperative denunciations by name of some of ihe best and purest of the land ; calling a Senator, a Representative, and a gifted orator, each and all of them true and tried pniiints b.'ynnd doubt or cavil of any sound mind, "traitors," and thrvatening them with death, to rai^e a vul^^ar laugh. — His threats at St. Louis to " kick out" of of- fice whoever should oppose his policy ; his vulvar atiack, at the saiiie place, upm a law which he himself had sijined, appealing to prejudice aav you have quit the dignitv of your oflice once, — you shall never again resume it? Are the decent, respeclal)le and intelligent people of the country always to have their cheeks burn with shame whenever such conduct of their Chief is discussed, because the remedy has never been applied or an example made ? Is the hiqiiest ollice in the land, the Presidency, to which it is our proudest boast the humblest American boy may aspire, to be so degraded that to any well-bred boy it will not seem worth the aspirali'Ui; and yet to be neither remedy or pnnishmeni? No — so lonjr as the con- servatu'e remedy of impeachment exists, the American pe.iple will preserve the Presider;- tial office honurcd by Washington by punish- 18 ing this its degredation as the highest of all misdemeanors. We have seen that the great danger to liberty is to fanuliariza the people to the thodfrlit of ihe loss of it, so that the publi. mind \i prt^pared by demoralizaiion to subniii tothefact without shock. Sohislory teache- that whenever any ailempl has been made by a desp')t to destroy the Leoj-laiive or popular branch ot the Government, he ha^ always begun by decrying and making ii odiou-^. Therefore we find Andrew Johnson receiv- ing a Coinmiiiee of the Philadelphia Con- vention on ihe 18th of August, at ihe head of which was a Senator from Maryland, o' thnt same Congress, with the declaration thai " We have seen hanging on the verjie of the Government, as it were, a body calling it-ell and assuminiT to be the Conwress of the CJn- ited when it was in fact but a Congress of a part of the States ; and we have seen such a Congress pketknuing to be for the Union, when every single step it took was to perpet- uate dissolution and to make disruption per- manent." This was followed by denuncia- tions ot Congress, "as a bodv of disutiion- its " an " unconstitutional, ^omincf^ring and tyrannical Congress" and so on with every phrase of haired, contempt and ridicule that could be used as descriptive, accomDanied with sugirestions as to the Acts and Laws enacted by Congress; which if just and true would have convinced the people that the legi^l.itive branch of the Government was unworthy of their countenance or support, and the laws passed by it unconstitutional and void. Is it any defence to sav that these assertions were untrue, and so ridiculmslv untrue thai nobody believed them I'ld there- fore they did no mischief? Does not their falsity make the strongest element of the grcit crime of uttering them ? If the Chief E.xecutive can thus, without check, assail Congress (and it is needless to say that ii WIS never done before) will not the precedent avail some abler and more popular, but no more wicked man to successfully depose Con- gress, and make himself the Dictator, which Mr. Johnson thought it possible himself to be ? The intent and motive of these declara- tions areoTvious when taken in connection with other speeches made during tho sarre JMirney. It w:i< to alarm the peop'e hi^ to he cimduct of Congres-. to prevent moitilier- fiom beinif elected who would stand 0()|)0miI to Mr, Johnson. What else could be il i; ■ )lj-ct of such declarations as this: 'if \u\i do not stay Congress by your siiflrHL" s, you will have civil war — not a war between he North and the South, but an internecii.'e war." "I called upon your Congress that is rying to break up the government," and ~o over and over again in every form of t x- pression, Wiih what hope was this done? So that if a majoriiy of rebel sympath Z' is were chosen he might declare them in co'- j inction with the representatives of the South the Congress, to the exclusion of he loyal majoriiy ? What motive for this course, you may ask, could Mr, John^Oll have? He everywhere declared that he had filled all the offices under the constiiutio-i that man could fill. The outcroppinss nf lis mind peep from his mouth. " Why," i;o s lys. "with the Freedman's Bureau with agents and satraps in every town and school iistrict, with fifty million of dollars in n.y pocket, and the army at my back, I could (iroclaim myself Dictator." This was at Cincinnati ; but at Nia ara Mr. SewiinJ, subtle and wily, had foreshadow(»d the same proposition in these words: " The Pre>iilei t has struck the key note of the political ;ir- gument to-day. 'The Union must not, shall not be divided.' The question is I e- tween the President and the Congressman " Vlore boldly at Bitile Creek, Michigan, Mr. Seward says: "Those that want thirty--i>c States say so." [Voices respond — Ay! ny IJ •Do you want Andrei' Johnson Pre>idenc or King ?" Mr. Seward never says any- thing without a purpose. What was ihit purpose ? That the loval people of Michig m \ho heard it understood what he means was evident, for they refused to hear him any further, THE JUDICIARY ATTACKED. Nor is Congress the only branch of the G ivernment attacked by the Preside t. The Judiciary also was to be "made odious." Therefore, when the loyal people of Cle^c- and put the very pertinent question to M . Johnson — "Why do.i't you hang JeflDivis ? ' what true man was not shocked at the an- u .c^ver ? — "Have you not pot tlie Aftorney CJcMiornl? Who is youi{ Chikf Jistick aviio HAS lUFUSKD TO S^IT ON THK Tl.lAL?" ]f it is true tluU the C(i icf Jii>tice has refused to s:t on tlie trial of a criminal, however creat, when il was his duty i-o to do, he ouglit lo le iinpeflched ; and if the public chari;e of Mr, Joi.nson against the Judiciary is false, then it is malicious, and he oiiLht to be re- moved from an office which ^ives him posi- tion falsely to malign the Judiciaiy of the Uniied Mates by accusing its Chief Justice of dereliction of duly. bllALL, WE "WAIT TILL CONGRI.SS IS DEPOSED BEFORE WE IMPEACH HIM ? I have examined ihc specifications under this charg; with a irreater extent than I pro- pose to do the others because in the ap- piehension of some minds some overt pct must be committed before 'he President can be impeached. What! Shall we wait till he has actually deposed Conotess before we impeach him? That being done what body is to be his accuser or trier? Shall we loiter till a wicked " humble individual" has ac- tually ove. turned our Governi; ent, and "by his s;itr;ips and bacWd by the army" made himself Dictator, and then attempt impeach- ment? SHALL JOHNSON KE KING? No! fellow ciuzens, let us proceed to meet the beoinnings of mischief by the le- gal, conservative, radical and constitutional methofl of impeachment. Lei the people leach the incumbent of the olfioe of Presi- dent that he is not such stufT as Dictators are made of — and if we are to have a King, he will not be King Andrew the Indecent. For his blasphetnous exhibition.-', his debasement of his hii/h offii.'e, his revolutionary, inflama- tory and unbecoming attacks upon the Con- fjress of the people; his false accusations ai^ainst the Jiidieiary ; his insult to the vir- tue :ind intelligence of the D'^ople, in daring to breathe the thought that they would >ub- mii llieir liberties to any Dictator or tyrant, and lea-t of all to him ; of such hii»h crimes agairot the pi.op'e and misdemeanors nt the country. How say you, fellow cit zeiis, is Andrew Johnson guilty or not guil y ? USUKI'ATtOX OP LEGISLATIVE POWEK8. 3rd. I charge AnJrew Johnson with wickedly, tyannically and unconstitution- ally as Chief Executive officer usurping the lasvfol ri'jhis and powers of the Congress of the United Slates. EVIDENCE OF USURPATION 0? POWER. Upon the third charge of usurping the powers of Congress, the specifications are many and the evidence open and notoiious. Time will pernait to glance only at one or two o( them. ALL CIVIL GOVERNMENT WAS DESTROYED. When the last rebel soldier had surren- d?red lo our victorious antiies and armed re- sistance had ceased, what was the exact state of things in the revolted States? An insur- rection hid ripened into a public territorial war, rfcojnized by the executive, legislative and Judicial Department*, between the Uni- ted States and iho forces of the revolted States. All the citizens, then, in tiioso States, had become by their own, and the acts of their communities, and the effect of of riomestic violence and war, armed public enemies; and in the iai guage of Andrew John>on's proclamation — "rebellion in its revolutionary procrress had deprived those States of all civil Government." THE REBELS HAD BECOJIE PAROLED PRISONERS OF WAR, WITH WHOM JOHNSON COULD NOT MAKE PEACE. Armed hostilities had ceased. Their people had beco ne disarmed public enemies, surrendered as paroled pri>oners of war. If we look at them as belligerents we bad cap- tured them and all their rights. If we look at them as rebellious subjects, they had for- feited their lives, their property and all their ri"'hts by treason and rebellion. Whichever way you take it, they had lost all, we had sained all, by capiure in war and from for- feiture by crime. By whom then was peace lo be concluded, hostiliiies ceasing ? By the President alone? Ceriainly not. A peace in a foreij^n war cannot be made by the President wiihoui two-lhiids of the Senate. Much less in a civil war, where the duties of rebellion'! citizens and the rights which ouaht to be restored to them inusl be settled by law. Who could enact any plan, policy, or method of leorganizing these compiered territories " deprived of all civil Govern- ment"? Congress alone. 15 HE USURPS THE POWER OF FORMING STATE CONSTITUTIONS. Andrew Johnson altempted it. He appointed rebels Governors for seven of ihein. By whairiglit^ He directed (hose Governors to " prescribe rnles and reynhuions for con- veninjT a convention " composed of dsieijares to be ch( sen by that portion of the people of said State who nre loyal to the United Slates and rto others for the porpose of alier- ing and ainendini:! the Constitution thereof." iSiricily and graniinaiically construed he thus ordered a convention to alter the Con- stitution of the United States; but we must not expect too much of a Head of the Nation who did not know that Jarnes the Second did not lose his head. Takingr ji however as meant, by what law, constitutional or other, was all this pretended to be done? I venture to say as a lawyer that no single provision of law or constitution can be found that will give color of justification to this unheard of proceediire. Looking- al Mr. J(jhnson's proclamation for reoriranizing North Carolina, I find his claim of power to do it in these wordy: — " Rebellio i has in , its revolutionary progress deprived the peo- ple of the State of North Carolina of all civil Government, and whereas it becomes neces- sary and prnper to carry out and enforce the obligations of the United States to the peo- ple of North Carolina in securing to them the enj lyment of a republican form of Gov- ernment," I, Andrew Johnson, do, etc. etc. CONGRESS 3IUST MAKE LAWS TO CARRY OUT ALu POWEKS. If one had time to be e.xact in criticism i' CO lid be said that there is no constitutional obligation to the people of North Carolina to secur-e them in the enjoyment of a republi- can form of Government. There is such obligation to the State. But granting the obligation — on whom does it rest? On the United States, — not on the President. Whose duty is it to provide for the carrying out and enforcing this obligation ? " Con- gress," says the first article of the Constitu- tion, " shall have power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into exe- cution all powers vested by this Con^litulion in the Government of the United States, or IN ANv Department or OFFICER there- of.' UE DID NOT GIVE THE STATE A REPUBLICAN GOVKR.MME^T. But did Andrew Johnson give tf> the people government republican in f.,rm ? \V'h;it is a republican government ? It is that under whif^h a majority of the people can take part in electing tlieir own rulers and enacting their own laws. Excluding the necroes, as the proclamation does — vvill anybody pre- tend that a majority of the white people even of North Carolina were loyal Jlay ii9, 1865, when the rebel soldiers had just got home ? HE HAS NO RIGHT TO SAY WHO SHALL OR SHALL NOT VOTE. By what right does the President by ex- ecutive order or proclamation say who shall or shall not vote in any part of the United States ? Napoleon, beside Andrew Johnson, is the only ruler in the present century who has dared do that — and he let everybody, black and white, vote. ALL HIS ACTION IS USURPATION. The whole action of the executive in this behalf was a most palpable and flagrant usurpation of the po^er of Congress; acts which even the Judges of the Southern States have declared unconstitutional, al- though done in their behalf. The wicked object and intent of this usurp- ation is seen in the fact that Andrew Johnson has ever since fought and denounced Con- gress for not permitting its consummation, although by its fruits undoing almost all that WIS done by the war in bringing the South to such a proper sp rit of subjutiation as to make a truly loyal man safe there in Lis home. HE HAS DISPOSED OF MILLIONS AGAINST LAW. Again, the Constitution says that Congress shall " make rules concerning captures on land and water," "to dispose of and make all needful rules and re^julations respecting the territortj or otlier property of the United States." Yet, disregardinii these constitu- tional provisions, Andrew Johnson, by exec- utive orders, has disposed of millions upon milions of property of the United States cap- tured in war, such as vessel--, steamboats, railroads, cotton, tobacco, and this, too, in defiance of laws of CoDgress which required 16 him to put such property into the Treasury rit' 'Up Uiiiteil States to aid in reducing our (Ki'rl'Urdenud taxation. IIK ILLEGALLY KKSTORES ROBERT LEE HIS I'KOI'EUTV. The tele wirness the return to Kobert E. Lse, ot the properly caplurpd at ArlinL!lon in ih it advance in Mav, 18G1, wherein the ual- li'it soldier and boyfriend of Linrohi — Ei,L>woHTH Was rnnrdored. Andrew John- M'u ciiuld with tlie same t grtat unpar- doned traitor of the rebelhon ! And he niay, t.io. by the same right, give bark the land oi Ailintiton, captured at the same time, the ti iw sacred repository of rairiy, many thou- sitdsofour noble dead, if you do dot slop him in his unconstitutional, mad career. Hut time admoni-hes nie that I can only gl in -e at but not argue these several charges. COKRUI'T USE OF THE APPOINTING POWER. 4lh. I charge Andrew Johnson with n ickjdlv and corruptly utitutiona! power of the President ol rioniinatini! to office and fillirifj vacancies in office during the racess of the Senate, and removing from office with intent and design ti) undermine, overthrow and evade the puwer of advising and consenting to appoint- ments to office vested in the Senate by the I onstituiion, and for the farther corrupt pur- pose of controling the freedom of the elec- tion by the people, of members of the House, in order to put the House of Representative? in the hands of men lately ifi rebellion against or evilly di.^posed toward the govern- ment. Tllli: EVIDE.NCE OF HIS ABUSE OF THE APPOINT- ING POWER. The fourth charge of improperly and wick- edly using the pou'er of appointment is so patent, so flagrant and so universal that a M ii|de statement of it is sufficient for con- Y e ion. I h'TC is no true lf)yal man \vlio«c jodo- merit is not i^^tructed upon this (dlence. 'Ihore have been more than two thousand two hundred Postmasters alone, since the firs' day of July last, removed from office in obelieiice to tl)u declaration of Andrew Johnson that he would " kick out" all tliose who did no' oppose Congress. What Con- gnss ? Why, the representatives of the peop'e ! Thus more than two thousand of the ^ervants of the people in a sing'e De- partr^eni have been removed from the ier- vce of the people I ecau-e they would not aid another accidental s-ei vant ol the people in opposini? and thwarting the constitutional acts of the Repre.-entaiives of the people. Cun it be preientied. short of insaniiy, that puch a use of the apnointini; power is proper and constim-ional, or that the Pre>ident who does it in plain opposition to the jieople ou^jht nr,i to he removed from his power to do more mischief ? ]5ut siill worse. The Cons'itu'ion restricts the power of " Appoinitnent " to the Senate, jjiving to the Presrit-nt the power of iVojniwa/iow only when the S-nate is in session, ieavini; with him to till vacar eies whith may happen during the recess by giving commissions which expire with the end of ihe next session of the Senate. Mr. Johnson has under this provision, in more than thirty instances, ;>ut men in otfice at the end of the session who had been refused ap- {)oir.tmeni by the Senate, aii(i some of them twice and thrice over. The vacancies happened during the session and not in vacation ; a- d by this means he de[)riveil ilie Senate uf al! control over appointments which the Constitution gives it. What was Ihe ohjpct of this usurpation ? To overthrow the loyal m»j"rily of the Senate, To enable the President to force upon it twenty members from rebel States. This prac'ice is attempted to be justified by the course o( General .Jackson in removing from office upon the cnminj; in of his ailininisir'ition. But the theory of Jack'on was this; that the Executive hoad of the Government having been changed by the vote of the people electin<» him- self, ihat therefore the people desired all exec- utive officers to t)e changed in order that the ex- ecutive branch of the (T0\ernment might be in harmony in all its psrls. There was good sense in this theory of removsl ; but it was not carried out by Jackson by usurping the constitutional powers of the Senate. In his case, .Vlr. Johnson has removed the cfficera who were put in by Lincoln at th** same time and u[)nn the same pialfoim of prinii[)les '.vith himself. Had he wailed as Jiukson did till the people hod spoken, he would have removed hut few (or 0[)posii g his policy : but it is notorious thai his removals were made to bend the people to bis will. 17 Fellow citizens, ia it not 'time that these re- movals from office without causp, and to pamper the ambition or gratify the passions of any one man, be stopped ? It will never be done if we let Mr. Johnson's precedent go unpunished. ABUSE OF PARDONING POWER. 5th. I charge Andrew Johnson with im- properly, wickedly and corruptly using and abusing the Constitutional power of pardons, for offences against the United States, and in order to bring traitors and rebels into pla- ces of honor, trust and profit under the Gov- ernment ot the United Slates, and to screen whole classes of criminals from ihe penalties of their crimes against the laws thereof. As to the fifth charge — the abuse of the power of pardons. While the fact is admitted that thousands of rebels have been pardoned for their crimes without investigation, and solely upon the recommendation of other rebels, yet it is said, as the Constitution gives the President the unlimited power to pardon, why may he not pardon as many as he pleases without doing any legal •wrong? The answer is obvious. There are many powers in Government right if properly used; criminal if used wrongfully or with a wrong motive. Let me illustrate. Almost every Governor of a State has the unlimited power of pardon. Suppose a Governor in mere wantonness should pardon and set free at once all the convicts in the Penitentiary. Would any man doubt that that would be a great crime for which he might be impeached ? Yet there is no statute law against it. Suppose be should par- don one murderer that he might revenge himself upon his enemy. Would any one doubt that such pardon was a crime because of the motive, al- though the Governor had the power to do it? Now what has been the motive of Andrew Jobn- 60a for bis indiscriminate pardons. It was to restore property to rebels which by the confisca- tion laws belonged to the United States, or to enable rebels to hold office and thus to concili- ate them to himself. No belter illustration of the design of this exercise of the pardoning power can be given than the pardon of John T. Monroe, that he might be Mayor of New Orleans. It bore its appropriate fruit — riot, bloodshed and murder. APPOINTING REBELS TO POWER AGAINST LAW. 6ih. 1 charge Andrew Johnson with i k f I