Chapter 91

THE HIGH COURT OF IMPEACHMENT.(THE ARTIST MADE A JOURNEY TO WASHINGTON ON PURPOSE TO MAKE THE DRAWING—IT IS RELIABLE.)

The Senate having adopted rules for the trial, reported by its committee, proceeded on Thursday, March 5th, to organize as a Court of Impeachment, Chief Justice Chase presiding. On Saturday, March 7th, the summons requiring the President to appear and answer the Articles of Impeachment was served on him, with a copy of the articles. On Friday, March 13th, the President appeared by his counsel before the Senate and requested forty days’ time in which to prepare and serve his answers to the articles. His counsel, as first named, consisted of Messrs. Evarts, Stanbery, Curtis, Nelson, and Black. Subsequently, Mr. Black withdrew, and Mr. Groesbeck was added to the number. The Senate did not comply with the President’s request, but designated Monday, March 23d, as the day for the presentation of his answers to the charges, and they were read before the Senate on that day. On the following day the Managers of the House presented their replication to the President’s answers, and it was read before the Senate. On Monday, March 30th, the great trial began, Mr. Butler making the opening speech on behalf of the Managers. The latter at once introduced their testimony, which consumed six days, until Saturday, April 4th. On Thursday, April 9th, the President’s counsel began his defense, Mr. Curtis delivering the opening speech. Nine days were consumed by them in presenting their testimony, until Saturday, April 18th. Two days later, April 20th, additional testimony was offered by both sides. On Wednesday, April 22d, Mr. Boutwell of the Managers began to sum up the case in a protracted speech. Messrs. Stevens and Bingham likewise spoke for the prosecution, and Messrs. Nelson, Groesbeck, Evarts, and Stanbery for the President. Mr. Bingham’s speech, the closing speech of the trial, was concluded on Wednesday, May 6th. On Thursday, May 7th, the Senate, as the Court of Impeachment, sat in secret session six hours, during which it was decided to take the final vote on Tuesday, May 12th. May 11th, the Court deliberated on impeachment in secret session, and on the 12th of May, Senator Howard being unable to take his seat, the final vote was postponed until Saturday, May 16th.

Meantime, painful rumors had been current of the defection of some of those Republican Senators who had at first appeared to be earnest and zealous for the President’s impeachment. These rumors gained strength throughout the week, and when the vote was taken on Saturday, May 16th, on the Eleventh Article, which it was thought best to have voted upon first, the vote stood thirty-five for conviction to nineteen for acquittal, and as the Constitution requires a two-thirdsvote for conviction, Mr. Johnson was technically acquitted on this article.

The Votes for Conviction were:—Anthony, Cameron, Cattell, Chandler, Cole, Conkling, Conness, Corbett, Cragin, Drake, Edmunds, Ferry, Frelinghuysen, Harlan, Howard, Howe, Morgan, Morrill, (Me.) Morrill, (Vt.) Morton, Nye, Patterson, (N. H.) Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, Yates—35.

For Acquittal:—Bayard, Buckalew, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Fowler, Grimes, Henderson, Hendricks, Johnson, McCreery, Norton, Patterson, (Tenn.) Ross, Saulsbury, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Vickers—19.

Messrs. Fessenden, Fowler, Grimes, Henderson, Ross, Trumbull, and Van Winkle, all hitherto regarded as stanch Republicans, voted with the Democrats, and by their votes prevented the conviction of the President of the high crimes and misdemeanors of which he was accused. Other Senators, the peers of any of these in legal attainment and judicial ability, were fully convinced that the Managers had made out their case conclusively, and some of these also have admitted their belief in his guilt, but professed to find objections to the phraseology of the Articles of Impeachment. That the course of these seven Senators disappointed their friends, and gave encouragement to the enemies of reconstruction, can not be gainsaid. That it caused painful surmisings in regard to their motives, is equally true.

In the case of almost any other man, an escape from conviction and deposition from his high station by the lack of one vote to make up two-thirds, and this not without strong suspicion of the purchase of that vote on his part, would be a lesson sufficiently severe to secure the most decorous behavior for the remainder of his term, if for no other reason than that he might avert the judgment still hanging over him by a slender hair; but as we have already shown, there is no reason from Mr. Johnson’s past conduct, to expect anything more than an aggravation of his previous offences, and a determination to vent upon the nation all the malignity of his bitter and vindictive nature.

But to proceed with the record. After the vote on the Eleventh Article, further action was postponed till the 26th of May. On that day the second and third articles were voted upon, with precisely the same result as before, and as it was evident that a conviction could not be secured, the record of technical acquittal on the second, third and eleventh articles was entered, and the High Court of Impeachment adjournedsine die. On the same day, Mr. Stanton sent his relinquishment of the office of Secretary of War to the President, feeling that as Impeachment had failed, it was best for him to withdraw.

A few days later, General J. M. Schofield, who had previously been nominated, was confirmed by the Senate as Secretary of War, the Senate declaring that it was in the place of Edwin M. Stanton, unlawfully removed.

In theinterimbetween the two votes on the question of Impeachment, the National Republican Union Convention was held at Chicago, and Ulysses S. Grant nominated for the Presidency by the unanimous vote of all the delegates, 650 in number, on the first ballot. Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, was nominated for Vice-President on the fifth ballot, receiving by the change of votes of State delegations, 522 out of 650 votes. The balloting previous to these changes which were incident to the conviction that he had the majority, was as follows:

The canvass for Mr. Colfax at the Convention was conducted on strictly temperance principles, Mr. Colfax having expressly requested his friend, Mr. Defrees, who conducted it, to permit no intoxicating liquor on the premises.

The platform on which the Convention have placed these candidates, whose names win all hearts, is worthy of the men. It is as follows:

The National Republican Party of the United States, assembled in National Convention in the City of Chicago, on the 21st day of May, 1868, make the following Declaration of Principles:

1. We congratulate the country on the assured success of the Reconstruction policy of Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in the majority of the States lately in rebellion, of Constitutions securing Equal Civil and Political Rights to all, and it is the duty of the Government to sustain those institutions, and to prevent the people of such States from being remitted to a state of anarchy.

II. The guaranty by Congress, of Equal Suffrage to all loyal men at the South, was demanded by every consideration of public safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and must be maintained; while the question of Suffrage in all the loyal States properly belongs to the people of those States.

III. We denounce all forms of Repudiation as a national crime; and the national honor requires the payment of the public indebtedness in the uttermost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad, not only according to the letter but the spirit of the laws under which it was contracted.

IV. It is due to the Labor of the Nation that taxation should be equalized, and reduced as rapidly as the national faith will permit.

V. The National debt, contracted, as it has been, for the preservation of the Union for all time to come, should be extended over a fair period for redemption; and it is the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of interest thereon whenever it can be honestly done.

VI. That the best policy to diminish our burden of debt is to so improve our credit that capitalists will seek to loan us money at lower rates of interest than we now pay, so long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threatened or suspected.

VII. The Government of the United States should be administered with the strictest economy; and the corruptions which have been so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew Johnson call loudly for radical reform.

VIII. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln, and regret the accession to the Presidency, of Andrew Johnson, who has acted treacherously to the people who elected him and the cause he was pledged to support; who has usurped high legislative and judicial functions; who has refused to execute the laws; who has used his high office to induce other officers to ignore and violate the laws; who has employed his executive powers to render insecure the property, the peace, liberty and life, of the citizen; whohas abused the pardoning power; who has denounced the National Legislature as unconstitutional; who has persistently and corruptly resisted, by every means in his power, every proper attempt at the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion; who has perverted the public patronage into an engine of wholesale corruption; and who has been justly impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and properly pronounced guilty thereof by the vote of thirty-five Senators.

IX. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers that, because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be resisted at every hazard by the United States, as a relic of feudal times not authorized by the laws of nations, and at war with our national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled to protection in all their rights of citizenship, as though they were native-born; and no citizen of the United States, native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words spoken in this country; and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the Government to interfere in his behalf.

X. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there were none entitled to more especial honor than the brave soldiers and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise, and imperilled their lives in the service of the country; the bounties and pensions provided by the laws for these brave defenders of the nation, are obligations never to be forgotten; the widows and orphans of the gallant dead are the wards of the people—a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation’s protecting care.

XI. Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development and resources and increase of power to this republic, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy.

XII. This Convention declares itself in sympathy with all oppressed peoples struggling for their rights.

Unanimously added, on motion of Gen. Schurz:

Resolved, That we highly commend the spirit of magnanimity and forbearance with which men who have served in the Rebellion, but who now frankly and honestly coöperate with us in restoring the peace of the country and reconstructing the Southern State governments upon the basis of Impartial Justice and Equal Rights, are received back into the communion of the loyal people; and we favor the removal of the disqualifications and restrictions imposed upon the late Rebels in the same measure as their spirit of loyalty will direct, and as may be consistent with the safety of the loyal people.

Resolved, That we recognize the great principles laid down in the immortal Declaration of Independence, as the true foundation of democratic government; and we hail with gladness every effort toward making these principles a living reality on every inch of American soil.

With such a platform, and such candidates, there should be, there can be, no question of the success of the RepublicanParty in the coming election. The only question should be, whether any States, except Kentucky and Maryland, can be allowed to the Democratic Party, and whether the candidate of that party, whoever he may be, may not need a certificate after the election, testifying to the fact of his candidacy.

With Reconstruction, Retrenchment, Reform, Equal Rights, Impartial Suffrage, and No Repudiation, for its cardinal principles, the great party of Freedom stands firm as the everlasting hills. It can afford to let traitors and renegades strut out their brief hour, for the eternal years of God belong to the party of Freedom and Right, and it may well say in the grand words of Whittier:

“God’s ways seem dark, but soon or lateThey touch the shining hills of day.The evil can not brook delay;The good can well afford to wait.Give ermined knaves their hour of crime;We have the future grand and great,The safe appeal of Truth to Time!”

“God’s ways seem dark, but soon or late

They touch the shining hills of day.

The evil can not brook delay;

The good can well afford to wait.

Give ermined knaves their hour of crime;

We have the future grand and great,

The safe appeal of Truth to Time!”

U. S. Grant

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