After this survey it is easy for me to declare how I shall vote. My
duty is to vote, Guilty on all the Articles. If consistent with the
rules of the Senate, I should vote, “Guilty of all, and infinitely
more.”
Not doubting that Mr. Stanton was protected by the Tenure-of-Office
Act, and that he was believed to be so by the President, it is clear
to me that the charges in the first and second Articles are sustained.
These two go together. I have said already, in the course of this
Opinion, that the appointment of Adjutant-General Thomas as Secretary
of War _ad interim_ was without authority of law, and under the
circumstances a violation of the National Constitution. Accordingly the
third Article is sustained.
Then come what are called the Conspiracy Articles. Here also I am
clear. Plainly there was an agreement between the President and
Adjutant-General Thomas to obtain possession of the War Department,
and prevent Mr. Stanton from continuing in office, and this embraced
control of the mails and property belonging to the Department, all
of which was contrary to the Tenure-of-Office Act. Intimidation and
threats were certainly used by one of the conspirators, and in the case
of conspiracy the acts of one are the acts of all. The evidence that
force was intended is considerable, and all this must be interpreted by
the general character of the offender, his menacing speeches, and the
long series of transgressions preceding the conspiracy. I cannot doubt
that the conspiracy was to obtain possession of the War Department,
peaceably, if possible, forcibly, if necessary. As such it was
violation of law, demanding the judgment of the Senate. This disposes
of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh Articles.
The eighth Article charges that Adjutant-General Thomas was appointed
to obtain the control of moneys appropriated for the military service
and the Department of War. All this would be incident to the control of
the War Department. Controlling the latter, he would be able to wield
the former. The evidence applicable to the one is also applicable to
the other.
The ninth Article opens a different question. This charges a wicked
purpose to corrupt General Emory and draw him from his military
duty. Not much passed between the President and the General; but it
was enough to show the President playing the part of Iago. There
was hypocritical profession of regard for the Constitution, while
betraying it. Here again his past character explains his purpose beyond
reasonable doubt.
Then come the scandalous speeches, proved as set forth in the Articles,
so that even the Senator from West Virginia [Mr. VAN WINKLE] must admit
that evidence and pleading concur. Here is no question of form. To
my mind this is one of the strongest Articles. On this alone, without
anything else, I should deem it my duty to vote for expulsion from
office. A young lieutenant, at the bottom of the ladder, if guilty of
such things, would be cashiered promptly. A President, at the top of
the ladder, with less excuse from the inexperience of early life, and
with greater responsibility from the elevation he had reached, should
be cashiered promptly also; and this is the object of impeachment.
No person capable of such speeches should be allowed to govern this
country. It is absurd to tolerate the idea. Besides being degraded, the
country cannot be safe in such hands. The speeches are a revelation of
himself, not materially different from well-known incidents; but they
serve to exhibit him in his true character. They show him unfit for
official trust. They were the utterances of a drunken man; and yet it
does not appear that he was drunk. Now it is according to precedents of
our history that a person disqualified by drunkenness shall be removed
from office. This was the case of Pickering in 1804. But a sober man,
whose conduct suggests drunkenness, is as bad at least as if he were
drunk. Is he not worse? If without the explanation of drunkenness he
makes such harangues, I cannot doubt that his unfitness for office
becomes more evident, inasmuch as his deplorable condition is natural,
and not abnormal. The drunken man has lucid intervals; but where is the
assurance of a lucid interval for this perpetual offender? Derangement
is with him the normal condition.
It is astonishing to find that these infamous utterances, where
ribaldry vies with blasphemy, have received a coat of varnish from
the Senator from Maine [Mr. FESSENDEN], who pleads that they were not
“official,” nor did they “violate the Constitution, or any provision
of the Statute or Common Law, either in letter or spirit.” In presence
of such apologies for revolting indecencies it is hard to preserve
proper calmness. Were they not uttered? This is enough. The drunkenness
of Andrew Johnson, when he took his oath as Vice-President, was not
“official”; but who will say that it was not an impeachable offence?
And who will say that these expectorations differ in vileness from that
drunkenness? If they did not violate the National Constitution, or any
provision of law, common or statute, as is apologetically alleged, I
cannot doubt that they violated the spirit of all laws. And then we are
further reminded by the apologist of that “freedom of speech” which is
a constitutional right; and thus, in the name of a great right, we are
to license utterances that shock the moral sense, and are a scandal to
human nature. Spirit of John Milton! who pleaded so grandly for this
great liberty, but would not allow it to be confounded with license,
speak now to save this Republic from the shame of surrender to an
insufferable pretension!
The eleventh Article is the most comprehensive. In some respects it is
an _omnium gatherum_. In one mass is the substance of other Articles,
and something else beside. Here is an allegation of a speech by the
President in which he denied that Congress was a Congress, and then,
in pursuance of this denial, attempted to prevent the execution of
the Tenure-of-Office Act, also of an important clause in the Army
Appropriation Act, and also of the Reconstruction Act. Evidence
followed, sustaining completely the compound allegation. The speech
was made as set forth. The attempt to prevent the execution of the
Tenure-of-Office Act who can question? The attempt to corrupt General
Emory is in evidence. The whole history of the country shows how
earnest the President has been to arrest the Reconstruction Act, and
generally the Congressional scheme of Reconstruction. The removal of
Mr. Stanton was to be relieved of an impediment. I accept this Article
in gross and in detail. It has been proved in all its parts.