THE GREAT IMPEACHMENT.
The gulf between President Johnson and Congress gradually widened
after the reconstruction bill was passed over his veto, although
his friends announced that while he opposed the act and had resisted
its passage, it was the law of the land, and he would fairly execute
it. He appointed Generals Sheridan, Sickles, and Pope to carry
out its provisions, and he was regarded as an obstinate man
patriotically performing an unpleasant duty. Then he began to
doubt, and Attorney-General Stanbery, aided by Judge Jere Black,
declared that the Reconstruction Act was not legal, and that the
military commanders at the South were merely policemen. Congress
met in midsummer and made the act more stringent in its provisions.
The President's advisers then counseled him to change those who
were executing the provisions of the act at the South. Stanton
was removed from the War Department and Grant appointed in his
place, Sheridan was replaced by Hancock, and Sickles and Pope were
relieved from duty. When the Senate met, it overruled the deposition
of Mr. Stanton, and General Grant gracefully retired that the "War
Secretary" might assume the duties of his office. This made
President Johnson very angry. He had wanted to use General Grant
as a cat's-paw for keeping Stanton out of the War Department, and
had hoped at the same time to injure Grant in the estimation of
the people. He raised a question of veracity with the General
commanding, but Congress and the people speedily decided between
the soldier, whose reputation for veracity was untarnished, and
the President, who had broken his promises and had betrayed his
friends.
Sir Frederick Bruce, the British Minister to the United States,
died suddenly at a hotel in Boston, on the 19th of September, 1867.
He had been attacked with diphtheria at Narragansett Pier, and had
gone to Boston for medical advice, but he arrived too late. He
recognized Senator Sumner, who hastened to his bedside, but was
unable to speak to him. Sir Frederick was the younger brother of
Lord Elgin. He was born in 1814, was educated at Christ's Church
College, Oxford, and subsequently was called to the bar at Lincoln's
Inn. Educated for the diplomatic service, he began his career in
Lord Ashburton's suite, when he came to Washington in 1842, on his
special mission regarding the north-eastern boundary question. At
this time Rufus Choate said of him that he was "the Corinthian part
of the British Legation." He was then employed in the diplomatic
service until he was appointed in 1865 to succeed Lord Lyons as
British Minister in Washington, and was presented to President
Johnson immediately after the funeral of President Lincoln. While
in China his official relations with the Hon. Anson Burlingame
ripened into personal intimacy, and on the visit of the latter home
there were reciprocated between these gentlemen the most cordial
expressions of respect and friendship. He lived in excellent style
in Washington, was very hospitable to his acquaintances and friends,
whom he frequently entertained at his well-spread table, and was
noted for that love of horses which has almost become a passion
with Englishmen. To the public in general the deceased wore that
stiff and formal appearance which characterizes the class of his
countrymen to which he belonged, but in private life he is said to
have been very social, conversational, and entertaining.
Mrs. Lincoln created an excitement in the autumn of 1867 by offering
for sale, in a small up-stairs room on Broadway, in New York, what
purported to be her wardrobe while she was at the White House.
Ladies who inspected it said that the object of this exhibition
could not have been to realize money from the sale of the collection.
With the exception of some lace and camel's-hair shawls, and a few
diamond rings, there was nothing which any lady could wear, or
which would not have been a disgrace to a second-hand clothes shop;
the dresses--those that had been made up and worn--were crushed,
old-fashioned, and trimmed without taste. The skirts were too
short for any but a very short person, and of the commonest muslins,
grenadines, and bareges; all were made extremely low in the neck,
and could not be available for any purpose. There were some brocaded
silk skirts in large, heavy patterns, which had been made but not
worn, but these were unaccompanied by any waists, while the price
put upon them and the other articles was exorbitant. The opinion
was that the exhibition was intended to stimulate Congress to make
Mrs. Lincoln a large appropriation. Those Republicans who had
subscribed to the fund of one hundred thousand dollars paid to Mrs.
Lincoln after the death of her lamented husband were very angry.
The general opinion was that the exhibition was an advertising
dodge which some of Mrs. Lincoln's indiscreet friends had persuaded
her to adopt.
Thurlow Weed created a decided sensation by taking up the cudgels
in defense of his party, and published a letter stating that the
Republicans, through Congress, "would have made proper arrangements
for the maintenance of Mrs. Lincoln had she so deported herself as
to inspire respect." He further intimated "that no President's
wife ever before accumulated such valuable effects, and that those
accumulations are suggestive of 'fat contracts and corrupt disposal
of patronage.'" He continued, that "eleven of Mr. Lincoln's new
linen shirts were sold" almost before the remains, which were
shrouded in the twelfth, had started "for the bourne from whence
no traveler returns." Not only was Mr. Weed censured in this
country, but in England. The London _Telegraph_ said: "To attack
Mrs. Lincoln is to insult the illustrious memory of Abraham Lincoln,
and to slander a gentle lady. Far and wide she has been known as
an admirable and charitable woman, an irreproachable wife, and a
devoted mother. She is entitled to more than 'respect' from the
American people. They owe her reverence for her very name's sake.
If fifty thousand swords were to have leapt from their scabbards
to avenge the slightest insult offered to Marie Antoinette, a
million of American hearts and hands would be quick to relieve the
wants of the widow of the Emancipator; and if this deplorable tale
could be true, which we decline to believe, the American public
wants no stimulus from abroad to take such an incident at once from
the evil atmosphere of electioneering, and to deal with the
necessities of Abraham Lincoln's family in a manner befitting the
national dignity."
The impeachment of President Johnson was loudly demanded by Wade,
Butler, Thad. Stevens, and other ultra radicals when Congress met
in December, 1867. "Why," said Mr. Stevens, "I'll take that man's
record, his speeches, and his acts before any impartial jury you
can get together, and I'll make them pronounce him either a knave
or a fool, without the least trouble." He continued: "My own
impression is that we had better put it on the ground of insanity
or whisky or something of that kind. I don't want to hurt the
man's feelings by telling him that he is a rascal. I'd rather put
it mildly, and say he hasn't got off that inauguration drunk yet,
and just let him retire to get sobered."
President Johnson, with an equally unfortunate want of reticence,
denounced Congress, and finally again issued an order removing Mr.
Stanton and appointing Adjutant-General Thomas Secretary of War.
Senator Sumner at once telegraphed to Mr. Stanton, "Stick," and
many believed that a scene of violence would soon be witnessed at
the War Department.
What did occur, however, was simply ludicrous. General Thomas went
to Mr. Stanton's office, we are told by Adjutant-General Townsend,
and formally announced that he was Secretary of War, to which Mr.
Stanton replied, "You will attempt to act as Secretary of War at
your peril." General Thomas then went into General Shriver's room,
and Mr. Stanton soon followed him there. Resuming the colloquy,
Mr. Stanton said, in a laughing tone, to General Thomas: "So you
claim to be here as Secretary of War, and refuse to obey my orders,
do you?" General Thomas replied, seriously, "I do so claim. I
shall require the mails of the War Department to be delivered to
me, and shall transact all the business of the Department." Seeing
that the General looked as if he had had no rest the night before,
Mr. Stanton, playfully running his fingers up through the General's
hair, as he wearily leaned back in his chair, said: "Well, old
fellow, have you had any breakfast this morning?" "No," said
Thomas, good-naturedly. "Nor anything to drink?" "No." "Then
you are as badly off as I am, for I have had neither." Mr. Stanton
then sent out for some refreshments, and while the two were sharing
the refection they engaged in very pleasant conversation, in the
course of which, however, Mr. Stanton suddenly and with seeming
carelessness inquired when General Thomas was going to give him
the report of an inspection, which he had lately made, of the newly
completed national cemeteries. Mr. Stanton said if it was not soon
rendered it would be too late for the printers, and he was anxious
to have it go forth as a credible work of the Department. The
question had apparently no especial point, and General Thomas
evidently saw none, for he answered, pleasantly, that he would work
at the report that night and give it to the Secretary. "This struck
me," said General Townsend, "as a lawyer's _ruse_ to make Thomas
acknowledge Stanton's authority as Secretary of War, and that Thomas
was caught by it. I some time after asked Mr. Stanton if that was
his design. He made no reply, but looked at me with a mock expression
of surprise at my conceiving such a thing."
The Senate at once declared that the President had exceeded his
authority, and the House of Representatives passed a resolution--
126 yeas to 47 nays--that he be impeached for high crimes and
misdemeanors. The House agreed to the articles of impeachment
March 3d, 1868, and the Senate received them two days later. They
specified his removal of Secretary Stanton, his publicly expressed
contempt for the Thirty-ninth Congress, and his hindrances to the
execution of its measures, as acts calling for his impeachment.
The trial began in the Senate, sitting as a high court of impeachment,
on March 23d. The managers of the trial on the part of the accusation
were Thaddeus Stevens, B. F. Butler, John H. Bingham, George S.
Boutwell, J. F. Wilson, T. Williams, and John A. Logan, all members
of the House; for the President, appeared Attorney-General Henry
Stanbery, Benjamin R. Curtis, Jeremiah S. Black, William M. Evarts,
and Thomas A. R. Nelson.
The formulated charges were eleven in number, but only three were
voted upon, two of these concerning that one item of Secretary
Stanton's attempted removal and the other concerning the President's
expressed contempt of Congress. The latter charge was based on
language used by Mr. Johnson in a public speech in which Congress
was characterized as a Congress of only part of the States, and
not a constitutional Congress, with intent, as was charged, of
denying that its legislation was obligatory upon him, or that it
had any power to propose amendments to the Constitution.
The trial from its very inception to a great extent assumed a party
character, the Republican party having strongly condemned the action
and utterances complained of, while the Democratic party approved
and defended them. On the final issue, however, seven of the
Republican Senators refused to vote for conviction, and an acquittal
followed. A question of importance on the trial was, whether the
President _pro tem._ of the Senate, who in the event of a conviction
would become President, had a right to vote; but he claimed and
exercised the right. Many members, however, handled the entire
subject very delicately, feeling that the precedents were not very
safe and sure.
Chief Justice Chase presided with great dignity, but the Senators
retained their comfortable arm-chairs, instead of being ranged on
a judicial bench, and were often engaged in letter-writing during
the arguments. The managers occupied seats at a table on one side
of the area before the table of the presiding officer, and the
accused's counsel had a table on the other side. Seats were provided
for the Representatives in the rear of the Senators.
The most noticeable argument on either side was that of Mr. Evarts,
one of the counsel retained by the President's friends, who raised
a large sum of money by subscription to secure his acquittal. Mr.
Evarts was then fifty years of age, and his three days' speech was
an oration rather than an argument. Tall, slender, with a high,
round head, expressive eyes, and long, slender arms, he spoke
without any emotion, continually indulging in fearfully long
sentences.
Even his review of Mr. Manager Boutwell's astronomical proposition
of a "hole in the sky," though it provoked shouts of laughter, was
overdone. The subject was so good that he kept piling sentence
upon sentence on it, and his phrase, "the honorable and astronomical
manager," never failed to excite merriment. Boutwell bore it well,
though disturbed. Like other men of logical habit of mind, when
proposing to ornament his production with something imaginative,
he struck upon the extravagant, and, feeling that he was doing a
fantastic thing, gave rein to fancy.
An amusing feature of Mr. Evarts' argument was his illustration of
"the proprieties of speech, as shown by the official report of the
debates." He read from the _Congressional Globe_ that Senator
Sumner had called Andrew Johnson an "enemy of his country," and
had been called to order. Senator Anthony, in the chair, said that
it was usual and proper to call the President an enemy of his
country, and Senator Sherman scouted the idea that Senator Sumner
was out of order, saying that he had heard such language in the
Senate fifty times. Senators were a good deal amused at this
exhibition of their record. Then Mr. Evarts turned to the record
of the House as to the propriety of speech, and there was a general
stir and smile, as if to say, "Here's richness." The celebrated
passage between Bingham and Butler, about murdering Mrs. Surratt,
and Fort Fisher, and the bottle and spoons, was recited, and there
was almost universal merriment. Bingham smiled and squirmed,
looking, when his remarks about Butler were given, both puzzled
and pleased. Butler had fixed himself in an easy position, his
right elbow upon the manager's table, and his head leaning upon
his hand, and he was as still as a wooden image until Evarts was
through with the matter of decorum. Members of the House who were
present, seemed greatly edified, and Garfield and Colfax talked it
over, laughing heartily.
At last came the verdict. The votes on the two articles were taken
May 16th and 26th, standing, in each case, thirty-five guilty and
nineteen not guilty, which acquitted the President, as a two-thirds
vote is required to convict. Mr. Stanton at once resigned, and
General Schofield was made Secretary of War. The fact that had
Mr. Johnson been found guilty Mr. Wade would have been President
of the United States doubtless had great weight with several Senators
who voted "not guilty."
Within thirty minutes after the first vote was taken, which resulted
in acquittal, a Congressional Committee of Inquiry was instituted
by Republicans in regard to the conduct of the disagreeing members
of the Senate. Witnesses were summoned, and volumes of testimony
were taken and ingeniously exhausted in the vain endeavor to fix
a stain upon a single Senator, but the Committee had to give up
the matter in disgust, being quite unable to accomplish the ends
they so zealously pursued.
The remainder of Mr. Johnson's Presidential career was not especially
noteworthy. On the 25th of December, 1868, he issued a full pardon
to everybody who had taken part in the Rebellion.
[Facsimile]
J. S. Black
JEREMIAH SULLIVAN BLACK, born in The Glades, Somerset County, Pa.,
June 10th, 1810; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1831;
in 1851 was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and
became its Chief Justice; was Attorney-General under President
Buchanan, 1857-1861; resumed private practice at law; defended
President Johnson in the Impeachment trial; died near York, Pa.,
August 19th, 1883.