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•ERROR CEASES TO BE DANGEROUS WHEN REASON IS LEFT FREE TO COMBAT IT.”—Jeferton.
VOLUME XIX.
ATLANTA, DA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4,1867.
NUMBER 49.
Iflerhlp JntfUiflfttfrr.
atlantaTgeoegia.
Wednesday, December 4, (867.
{From Iht Washington City National InUJJigtnctr.]
THE IMPEACHMENT CASE,
Reports front lb* Judiciary Commit
The Klaortty end HiJurUy Reports-—
Me pa rate View of Heeera. IHirekall end
Kid ridge.
TUK MINORITY RETORT.
Representatives James F. Wilson and Frede
rick E. Wood bridge banded in a report, dissent
ing from the conclusion* arrived at by a majority
of the committee.
They say: On the 3d day of June, 1867, it
•was declared, by a solemn vote in the committee,
that, from the testimony then before them, it did
not apiiear that the President of the United
States was guilty of such high crimes and mis
demeanors as called lor an exercise of the im
peaching power of Ibis IIousc. The vote stood
—yeas, 0; nays, A Op the 21st instant this ac
tion of the committee was reversed, and a vote
of five to four declared in favor of recommend
ing to the House an impeachment of the Presi
dent Forty-eight hours have not yet elapsed
bince we were informed of the character of the
report which represents this changed attitude of
the committee. The recentness oi this event
com|>cls a general treatment ot some features ot
the case as it is preseuted by the majority, which
otherwise would have been treated ot more in
detail.
The report of the majority resolves all pre
sumptions against the President, closes the door
against all doubts, affirms facts as established by
the testimony, in support ot which there is not a
particle of evidence betore us which would be
received by any court in the laud. We disseut
from all this, and lroni the teui|>er and spirit of
the report. The cool and unbiased judgment of
the future, when the excitements in the midst of
which we live shall have passed away, will not
lail to discover that the political bitterness of the
present times has, in no inconsiderable degree,
given tone to the document which wc decline to
approve.
Dissenting, as we do, from the report oi the
committee, both as to the law of the case and the
conclusions drawn iroin the tacts developed by
the testimony, a due regard for the body which
iiuiiosed on us the higli aud trunscendantly im
portant duty involved in an investigation of the
charges preferred against the President impels us
to present at length our views ot the subject
which has been committed to us by a most solemn
vole of the House of Representatives. In ap
proaching this duty we feel that the spirit of the
partisan should he laid aside, and that the inter
ests of the Republic, as they are measured by its
Constitution aud laws, alone should guide us,
and we most deeply regret that, in this regard,
we cannot approve ot the report of our col
leagues, who constitute a majority of the com
mittee. While we would not charge them with
a design to act the part of partisans in this grave
proceeding, wo nevertheless feel pained by the
loue, temper, aud spirit of their report. But re
grets will not answer the demands of the pres
ent grave and commanding occasion, and we
therefore respond to them by presenting to the
House the results of a careful, deliberate, and,
as we hope, a conscientious investigation ot the
case before us.
Messrs. Wilson anil Wood bridge then proceed
to discuss the constitutional question with re
gard to impeachment, etc.,showing, by reterence
to legal authorities, that an impeachment cannot
lie supported by any act winch falls short of an
indictable crime or misdemeanor. English pre
cedents are referred to at length, and copious ex
tracts are made from the testimony ot the com
mittee, in order to retute the reasoning and con
clusion or the majority. They conclude as fol
lows:
A great deal of the matter contained in tha
volume of testimony reported to the House is ot
no value whatever. Much ot it is mere heresay,
opinions of witnesses, aud no little amount of it
utterly irrevelent to the case. Comparatively a
small amount ot it could be used on a trial of
this case before the Senate. All ot the testimony
i elating to the failure to try, and admission to
bail of, Jetteroon Davis; the assassination of
President Lincoln; the diary ot J. Wilkes Booth;
his place of burial; the pract ce of pardon bro
kerage; the si lodged correspondence of the Pres
ident with Jefferson Davis; may be interesting
to a reader, but is not of the slightest importance
so far as a determination of this case is concern
ed. Still, much of this irrevelant matter has
been interwoven into the report of the majority
and lias served to heighten its color and to deep-
to deepen its tone. Strike out the stage effect of
this irrelevelant matter, and the prominence giv
en to the Tudors, the Smarts, and Micheal Burns,
and much of the play will disappear. Settle
down upon the real evidence iu the case, that
which will establish, in view of the attending
circumstauces, a substantial crime, by making
plain the elements which constitute it, and the
case, in many respects, dwarfs into a political
contest
In approaching a conclusion, we do not tail to
recognize the stand points from which this case
can lie viewed—the legal and the political. View
ing it from the former, the case upon the law
ami the testimony tails. Viewing it from the
letter, the case is u buccees. The President has
disappointed the hopes and expectations of those
who placed him in power. He has betrayed
tlu-ir confidence, and joined hands with their en
emies. He has proved fitlse to the express and
implied conditions which underlie his elevation
to power, and, in our view of the case, deserves
the censure and condemnation of every well-dis*
i>osed citizen ot the Republic. While we acquit
him ot impeachable crimes, we pronounce him
guilty of many wrongs. His contest with Con
gress baa delayed reconstruction, and inflicted
vast iqjury upon the people of the rebel States.
He has beau blind to the necessities ot the times,
and to the demands of a progressive civilization.
He remains enveloped in the darkness of the past,
aud seems not to have detected the dawning
brightness ot the future. Incapable of apprecia
ting the grand changes which the past six years
have wrought he seeks to measure the events
which surround him by the narrow rules which
adjusted public affairs before the rebellion, and
it* legitimate consequences destroyed them and
established others. Judging him politicallv, we
must condemn him. But the day of political
impeachment would be a sad one for the coun
try. Political unfitness and incapacity must be
tried at the ballot box, not in the high court oi
impeachment. A contrary rule might leave to
Congress but little time for other business than
the trial ot impeachments. But we are not now
dealing with political offences. Crimes and mis-
dt-atueanors are now demanding oar attention.
Do these, within the meaning of the Constitution,
appear » Rest the case upon political offences,
and we are prepared to pronounce against the
President, for such offences are numerous and
grave. If Mexican experience is desired,
w e need have no difficulty, for there al
most every election is productive ot a revolution.
It the people of this Republic desire such a result
we have uot yet been able to discover it; nor
would we favor it if its presence were manifest
While we condemn and censure the political con
duct of the President, and judge him unwise in
the use of his discretionary powers, and appeal
to thepeople of the Republic to sustain us, we
still affirm that the conclusion at which we have
arrived is correct.
We therefore declare that the case betore us.
presented bv the testimony and measured by the
law. does not declare sucli high crimes and mis
demeanors, within the meaning of the Constitu
tion, as require “the interposition of the consti
tutional |lower of this House,” and recommend
the adoption of the following resolution:
tu solved, That the Committee on the Judiciary
be discharged from the further consideration oi
U.e proposed impeachment of the President of
t tie L nited Stales, and that the subject be laid on
tiie table,
James F. Wilson,
Frederick E. Woodbridoe
V itws or MESSRS MARSHALL AND ELDRIDUE.
Tno undersigned, agreeing with our associ
ates of the minority oi the coaftnittee in their
view s nt the law, and in the conclusions that the
cvidcnie before the committee presents no
u»e iu* the impeachment of the President,
might, il they had slopped there, been content
siinplv to have joined m the report which
the lutve submitted; but ns they, as wed ss the
majority, have fell, it their duty to go iurlher,
uiii.i i. xpiL-ss itieir ccosurc .aud condemnation of
u.e i'icsident, wefecl thui ii is due io ourselves,
and to the pcaiimn we occupy, to present, as
briefly a* possible, a few additional remarks for
the consideration of the House end of the coun-
u y. Having determined that the evidence doss
j uot show that the President has been guilty of
any act or crime for which, under our Constitu
tion and laws, he can or ought to be impeached,
this conclusion, as it seems to us, is the determ
ination of the whole question submitted by the
House to the committee.
It is the commission by the President ot an
impeachable offence only'that can subject him
to our official jurisdiction, or justify us as a com
mittee of the House of Representatives, or even
the House itself, as such, in challenging bis offi
cial acta. As the re|K>rt of the majority does not
charge the President with any act recognized by
any statute or law of the land as a crime,or mis j
demeanor, we can but regard the charges pre-
ferred as a political or partisan demonstration,
tended and intended to bring him into odium
aud contempt among the people, as an unjusti
fiable attempt to excite their suspicions “S/uir-
yerc voces in vulgutn ambiguas.” We utterly de
ny the right ot the committee, or any member
thereof, as such, to do this. As citizens, as pol
iticians, we may criticise, find fault with, and
condemn the entire administration of the Presi
dent ; but as a committee of this House { consid
ering the charges referred to it—as members of
Congress acting officially—we have no such
right, power or jurisdiction.
The Executive is one of the co-ordinate de
partments of t) Is Government, iuvested with
certain defined constitutional powers and pre-
rogratives, over which the legislative has no
control, und with the constitutional exercise of
which the legislative department has no right to
interfere. The original source of all Executive
and le • islative power is the same—the people ;
the warrant and measure of these powers the
same —the Constitution. In his constitutional
and legidative sphere iu the exercise and con
duct of his department, the President is as free
to act and as independent as the Congress, while
acting wilhiu the bounds prescribed lor it by tiie
Constitution. lie is no more accountable or re
sponsible to Congress than Congress is to him.
Congress has no more authority to censure and
condemn him than he has to censure and con
demn Congress. His discretion, exercised with
in I lie Iwiunds ot the Constitution, is no more
subject to tiie animadversion or reproof of Con
gress I liau are the constitutional and discretion
ary acts ot Congress to his. Neither Congress
or the President has any powers or authority
not derived troin and found in tiie Const tntiou.
The only question with reference to which the
committee were authorized to inquire was wheth
er the eharges against the President were true,
and constituted an offence or offences subjecting
him to impeachment. Certainly, it this is not
tiie only question referred to the committee, it is
the only one which the committee as such lias
investigated. The political propriety of the acts
of the President lias not for one moment engag
ed the attention of the committee.
We most certainly, having no other motive or
interest than to serve our country and do our
duty in tiie matter referred to us, have never
once, in tiie taking of testimony or the exami
nation ot witnesses, supposed that any question
other than the impeachment was properly before
us. The impeachment of the President, the
chief officer ot this great Republic, the bare in
quiry, with a view to ascertain whether he had
committed any offense for which lie ought or
might he put upon trial before the most august
tribunal ot the world, impressed us, from the be
ginning, with most solemn awe. We endeavor
ed, in the investigation, to exclude from our
minds every question of mere politics, and, as
lar as possible, to lie uninfluenced by party bias.
We were admonished that, in some sense, the
nation, the people, in tiie person ot their execu
tive liead, were on trial betore ibe world, and
that personal animosity and party politics should
be inflexibly and scrupulously forgotten and ig
nored. For any cause to have shrunk from a
full and careful investigation of the great ques
tion of impeachment was cowardice; to have
pursued it in the spirit yt party—to have degra
ded it into a mere investigation of political pol
ity with reference to partisan success, would have
been neanness, and would have disgraced tiie
nation itself by scandalizing the caiion’s consti
tutional head. We repeat, therefore, that the
investigation of the committee was, so far as we
took part in it, with the sole view to ascertain
whether the President, under the charge pre
ferred against him, was guilty of an impeachable
offense. Not only so, but with the belief that it
was tiie only question we were authorized or ex
pected to inquire into. Not a witness was called
or examined with any view to proving a case lor
merely censuring or condemning tiie political
action ot the President. No suggestion was
made, or intimation given, by the majority ot the
committee till the resolution ot censure was of-
ferred that there was any purpose of considering
as a committee auy but the question of impeach
ment. Nor was there then, as we understand it,
any purpose oi reporting such resolution to the
House for its official action. We think, there-
lore, that we are warranted iD saying, tliat al
though much testimony, irrelevant, illegal, aud
experimental, was taken, much that had no
bearing upon the question of impeachment, and
much mote that was not testimony in any case
or lor any purpose, that none was taken with
any view except the impeachment. Hence we
insist that it the committee had the tight and
jurisdiction (which we deny) to inquire into the
political and discretionary acts of the President,
with a view to his condemnation, that it has not
in any legitimate and proper tnanuer investigated
or attempted to consider that subject.
We do not impugn ttie personal motives of
any member ot the committee who differs with
us. Our intercourse upon tiie committee has
been pleasant, and the courtesy with which we
have been treated uniform and uninterrupted.
Wc entertain none but the most kindly per
sonal feelings towards every member; but can
dor, and a sense of duty, compel us to declare
that we can find no warrant or excuse tor this
traveling outside or beyond the suhject with
which the committee were charged to censure
and condemn the President, except in the pre
judice and zeal of over heated partyism.
The President needs and can ask no defense
from us upon party grounds, or upon any other
than tiiose which spring trom official obligation
aud duty. He was not the President ot our
choice, and was not elected by our votes ; nor is
it necessary that we should agree with him, or
justify or approve all he has done. Neither do
we teel called upon to review all the great mass
of testimony takeu by the committee to show
that his censure and condemnation are not war
ranted by it, though taken as it lias been, and
unchallenged as it was in that regard. We do
not, however, believe the unbiased, the unpreju
diced mind will be able in the testimony to dis
cover any just or reasonable cause for condemn
ing or impugning the motives by which he was
actuated. Indeed, differing with him in opinion,
as we have, as to the policy and propriety of
many things he has done, and many more that
ne has lett undone, we teel compelled to declare
that the proofs betore us will not warrant a
charge that lie was In any instance controlled by
motives other than those pure and patriotic.
His greatest offence, we apprehend, will lie
found to be, that he has not been able or willing
to follow tiiose who elected him to his office iu
their mob assaults uporf and departure from the
constitutional Government of the fathers of the
Republic ; aud that standing where most of his
party professed to stand when they elevated him
to his present exalted position, he has dared to
differ with the majority of Congress upon great
ind vital questions. He lias believed in the con
tinuing and binding obligation of the Constitu
tion, that the suppression of the rebellion against
ihe Union was the preservation of the Union
and the States comprising it, and that when the
rebellion was put down, the States were all and
equally entitled to representation in tiie Con
gress ot the United States. Planting himselt
firmly and immovably upon this position, he has
incurred the fierce and malignant hatred and
opposition to all those who claim, by virtue of
the alleged conquest of the territory, and the
subjugation of the people ot the lately rebellious
States, the power and right to dictate to them
the constitution and laws they shall live under,
and the liberties they shall be "permitted to enjoy.
In this difference between Congress and the
President, and the desire of each for the adoption
by the country of their respective views, is, we
suspect, to be found not ouly the cause for the
movement to impeach the President, but of his
censure and condemnation. Out of it has grown
the embittered feelings and violent hatreds of
the Presic e it by his former triends.
The majority of Congress and ot the com
mittee have entertained and been prepared to
declare at all times, in Congress and out ol ir,
even more strongly than is expressed in their
report, this same censure and condemnation.—
This opinion was not formed upon any testimony
i.i-mi before the committee, or upon any tacts
elicited by its investigations. It was a political
opinion, growing out ox a difference of views
upon political questions. It was the opinion
with which the majority ot the committee en
tered upon the investigation. It was that which
inspfrea and stimulated all its inquiries and
examinations. But notwithstanding these pre
existing opinions and prejudices, the minority of
the committee have been compelled to find,
alter the fullest considerations ami the most pro
tracted deliberation, that the President had com
mitted no offence for which, under our laws, he
can or ought to be impeached, and hence none,
as we insist, subjecting him to the official juris
diction of the committee or the House. The
censure and condemnation of the President,
either by the majority or minority, is without
our junsdictiou, not justified by the facts, un
becoming one department of the Government
towards the other, calulated to bring reproach
upon the committee, the House, and the nation.
We cannot ignore the fact, that time has been
spent and testimony taken by the committee in
endeavoring to ascertain if the President, in his
official capacity, lias spoken censoriously or con
demnatory of Congress, with a view to his im
peachment therefor. Cun it be more becoming
iu a committee of this House, or in the Honse
itself, to go bevond its jurisdiction and censure
aud condemn the President, than for him to cen
sure and condemn Congress ? Is not the impro
priety ot the one as apparent as the other? If
one is impi ac liable, is not the other wrong
What would be thought of the 8upreme Court,
it alter having been compelled, in a case pro
perly pending liefore it, to decide an act of tfon-
gress.uncorreututional, it should, because it did
not agree to the propriety or policy ot the enact
ment, declare its severe censure aDtl condemna
tion or the Congress tor having passed it? Who
would hcsiitate to pronounce this an unjustfiable
and even unwarrantable interterenee with the
rights and duties ol Congress by the Supreme
Court, calculated to disturb the harmony of our
governmental system, and to bring into unhappy,
if not laial collision the coordinate departments ?
Like this attempt to reprove or censure the Pres
ident lor acts or wrongs not amounting to of
fenses—subjecting him to the legal jurisdiction
oi the House ot Representatives—such an act
would, it seems to us, be sheer impudence—an
act on the partof the court justly meriting oblo
quy and reproach.
Such iutertc-rence l>y one department of the
Government with the other, without authority
of law, must, and will most assuredly break off
that comity which should at all times characterize
their relations and intercourse. The end cannot
but be foreseen—the antagonism will ultimately
produce enmity aud open hostility and aggres
sions, whLh must result in the destruction of one
or more departments, and, as a consequence, de
stroy our system ol government altogether.
With all due respect to the majority of the
committee, we cannot regard the charges made
against the President as a serious attempt to pro
cure his impeachment. Without dwelling upon
their utter tailure to point to the commission of
a single act that is recognized by the laws of our
country as a high crime or misdemeanor, the in
consistency ot the majority cannot fail to chal
lenge the attention of the country. Acts lor
which Mr. Lincoln was clamorously applauded
are deemed high crimes in Mr. Johnson. For
every act so gravely condemned the President
had the sanction and approval of his Cabinet,
aud yet while he is arraigned before the world
as a criminal ot the deepest dye, they are not
on ly not impeached, but are recognized as special
favorites of the party for impeachment. The
latter have even gone so far as to unite in the
passage of an extraordinary and unprecedentad
law to prevent the President from removing
these officers from the places which they hold.
Mr. Stanton, the late Secretary of War, gave his
emphatic approval of the acts for which the
President >s arraigned, and yet the ex-Secretary
is a tavorite and popular martyr, and the whole
country is vexed with clamors for his restoration
to power and place. Tne President is held
criminally responsible for the acts of subordinates
of which he did not even have the slightest
notice or knowledge, and yet those bringing him
to trial enact a statute depriving him ot all con
trol over these same subordinates, and they are
deemed worthy of tha especial protection ot
Congress. The President has used every means
within his power to bring the great State prisoner,
Jefferson Davis, to a speedy trial; and yet he
has been denounced throughout the land tor
procrastinating and preventing the trial, while
the judges and prosecutingofficers having entire
control ot the matter have been deemed worthy
ot the most honeyed plaudits.
Were ever inconsistencies more glaring and
inexplicable than these-? And can we possibly
be mistaken when we assert, that however hon
est limy be the majority of the committee, the
verdict of the country "and ot posterity will be
that the crime ot the President consists, not in
violations of, but in refusals to violate the law;
in being unable to keep pace with the “party of
progress” in their rapidly advancing movements,
or to step “outside of and above" the Constitu
tion in the administration of the Government;
in preferring the Constitution of his country to
the dictation of an unscrupulous caliel; in brave
ly daring to meet the maledictions ot those who
have aimed at the accomplishment of a most
wicked and dangerous revolution, rather tbaD
encounter the reproaches ot his own conscience
und the curses ot posterity through all time.
It the subject were not too grave and serious
a one f.»r mirth, some iff the grounds ol impeach
ment presented by the majority would fcertainly
be sufficiently amusing. The President is gravely
arraigned for arraying himselt against the loyal
people of the country in vetoing, the miscalled
reconstruction aetsot Congress, when (without
dwelling upon the constitutional right and duty
of the President in the premises) Congress itselt
has, lor these same acts, just received the most
withering and indignant condemnation and re
buke of the entire people from Maine to Califor
nia. The impe icliars, forgetting that they have
been themselves impeached, and that the verdict
of the tribunal ot last resort, has already been
rendered against tliuin, still persist in trifling
with (be peace, safety, and prosperity of the
country by precipitating upon it this dangerous
question at a time so critical as this. It is wicked
inns to trifle with the most vital interests Oi the
nation, and to disregard the voiced a great peo
ple, when spoken, as in ibis case, so emphatically
iu favor ot the preservation of our constitutional
form ot Government, and the rights and liberties
established by our Revolutionary lathers. We
will not attempt to add anything to the abie,
and, as we a believe, unanswerable argument just
presented by the chairman ot our committee up
on the law ot impeachment. Had uot experi
ence taught us the wonderful diversity ot human
judgments and conclusions, we should find it
iilieuU to believe that there- could, upon the
questions submitted to us, possibly he two opin
ions among candid and intelligent men.
Blind bigotry and unbridled partisan rage, it
is true, can see Clime iu the most meritorious
actions, aud men governed by these unhallowed
passions do not hi sit ate to drag to the stake or
the tortures ot the inquisition all who will uot
conform to their wretched t ree Is and miserable
dogmas. They substitute their own crude and
often crazy theories tor truth and justice, and
under pain ot severest penalties demand of all
men to bow down and worship the idol they
have erected. That theirown judgment may be
fallible, or that other men differing trom them
may be equally wise and honest with themselves,
never occurs to their iniuds; and they will, with
out hesitation, question ihe justice evan of the
Almighty if the ways of Providence -do not con
form to their own crude theories. This class ot
men has constituted a considerable portion ot
mankind iu all ages, and in Done have they been
more numerous than in our own.
They have turnished the bigots and persecu
tors at all times, and their pathway through the
long line ot history, from its eaiiiest dawn to
the present time, has been marked with carnage
aud desolation. With such men no argument,
based upon the Constitution and established
laws, can have any solidity. They live and
breathe in a purer aud higher atmosphere “ out
side ot the Constitution,’' and above the laws.—
They are too pure and immaculate to be fettered
by the restraints of constitutions or written laws.
They are a law unto themselves, and both
men and gods must conform to their views and
theories, or receive their bitterest maledictions.—
But our people will never submit to have their
Chief Magistrate arraigned for trial for offenses
unknown to the laws, and which exist only in
the excited brains of his political enurniw It
would be a precedent disastrous in its conse
quences, and subversive of our political institu
tions.
We cannot doubt that the evidence herewith
this day submitted will be received with one
universal burst of indignation by the American
people. If they retain any just pride in their
country and its institutions, they will blush to
find that the chief officer of their Government
has for ten months been subjected to the scru
tiny ot a secret s«ar chamber inquisition, un
paralleled in its character in the annals ot civili-
zstiion. A drag net has been put out to catch
ever}* malicious whisper throughout the land,
and all tha vile vermin who had gossip or slan
der to retail, hearsay or otherwise, have been
permitted to place it upon reconf for the delecta
tion of mankind. Spies have been sent all over j Government which has been brought home to
the land to find something that might blacken ! its present administration, whether discerning it-
the name and character of the Chief Magistrate j self in special infractions of the statutes or in the
ot our country. Unwhipped knaves have given profligate use of the high powers confered by
information or fabulous letters and documents,
that, like the ignis fatus, eternally eluded the
grasp of their pursuers, and the chase ever re
sulted only ia-aiding in the depletion of the pub
lic Treasury. That most notorious character,
General L. C. Baker, “chief of the detective
force,” even bad the effrontery to insult the
American people by placing his spies within the
very walls of the Executive Mansion; the pri
vacy ot the President’s home, his private life and
habits and most secret thoughts have not been
deemed sacred or exempt from invasion; the
members of his household have been examined,
and the chief persecutor has not hesitated to
dive into the loathsome dungeons and consort
with convicted felons lor the purpose of accom
plishing the object of arraigning the President
on a charge of infamons crimes.
When we consider all these facts, and that the
investigation has been a secret ex parte one, that
it has been so persistent and untiring, and carried
on ala time ot most unparalleled party excitement ;
when the masses of the dominant party were
lashed into a wild frenzy, a£3 led to believe that
the President was guilty ot treason; when thou
sands all over tiie land redly thought that it
would be a righteous act to get him out of the
way by means, fair or foul, and wheu he has
been hunted down by partisan malice as no man
was ever hunted and hounded down before, it is
really wonderful that so little has been elicited
that tends in the slightest degree to tarnish the
fair fame ot the President The American peo
ple ought to congratulate themselves for the sake
of the reputation of their country, that the fail
ure has been so emphatic and so complete. In
what we have said of the character of evidence
taken betore us, and the means used to procure
it, we must not be understood as reflecting upon
the action of the committee or any member
thereof. Such an interpretation of our remarks
would do great injustice to us and to them.—
Whether such latitude should have been given
in the examination ot witnesses we will not now
inquire. In au investigation before a committee
it would be difficult, and, perhaps, impossible to
confine the evidence to sucli as would be deemed
admissable before a court ot justice. Indeed, it
may be questioned whether it would be proper
so to restrict it; and it is, perhaps, better even
for the President that those who were managing
the prosecution from the ontside were permitted
to present anything that they might call or con
aider evidence, as the world can thus the better
comprehend how utterly destitute of foundatiou
is all this clamor that ha9 been raised against
him
The first witness examined was General Lafa
yette C. Baker, late chief of the detective police,
and, although examined on oath time and again,
and on various occasions, it is doubtfril whether
he has in any one thing told the truth, even by
accident. In every important statement be is
contradicted by witnesses of unquestioned credi
bility, and there can be no doubt that to his
many previous outrages, entitling him to an un
enviable immortality, he has added that of wil
ful and deliberate perjury, and we are glad to
know that no one member of-the committee
deems any statement made by him as worthy of
the slightest credit. What a blush ot shame will
tinge the check ot the American student in future
ages when he reads that this miserable wretch
for years held as it were in the hollow ol his
hand the liberties of the Amerieanpeople. That,
clothed with power by a reckless administration,
and with his hordes of unprincipled tools and
spies, penetrating the land everywhere, with un
counted thousands of the people’s money placed
iu his hands fur his vile purposes, that creature
not only had the power to arrest without crime
or writ, and imprison without limit, any citizen
of the Republic, but tbathe actually did so arrest
thousands all over the land, and filled the prisons
all over the country with.-the victims ot his
malice, or that of his master. This whole system,
such au outrage upon the Constitution and every
principle of free government, so anti-American
and snti-repnblican, has, with its originators and
supporters, already, thank God, been daiuued to
eternal infamy ; and it is pleasant to reflect,that
not only the system, but its unscrupulous agent,
will go down to posterity loaded with infamy,
and followed by the curses of millions.
It sometimes happens that the administration
of the most dangerous usurpation is placed in
the hands of men so respectable for character
and talent as to disarm suspicion, and conciliate
even those whose liberties are endangered. We
have reason to be thankful to an ever kind and
merciful Providence that this worst feature of
the worst of despotisms, when the attempt was
made in au unhappy war to transplant it to our
tree American soil, was placed for its administra
tion in the hands of a class ot men so destitute
of manhood and character as to arouse the un
dying scorn and indignation of the entire people.
And as these infamous outrages were not sanc
tioned by any precedent iu our own country, it
is hoped and believed that they will never
throughout all time he deemed worthy ot imita
tion. It is not our purpose now 11 attempt an
analysis or discussion of the evidence taken be
fore us, or to poiut out the gross absurdities and
inconsistencies of a very large portion of it. It
will be read and considered by tiie American
people, and we cannot doubt what their verdict
will be when those, who have been attempting
to load with disgrace and infamy the Chief Mag
istrate of our country shall staud pilloried in the
undying scorn and indignation of a great people.
He, after passing through his fiery ordeal, we
have no hesitation iu predicting, will have and
retain all over the land, eveu to a greater extent
than heretofore, the respect and confidence of
his conntry men. 9. S. ’Marshall,
Cbas. A. Eldridge.
THE MAJORITY REPORT.
The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom
was referred the resolution ot the 7iii March last,
authorizing them to inquire into the official con
duct of Andrew Johnson, Vice President of the
United States, discharging the present duties ot
ihe office of President of tiie United Slates, and
to report to this House whether, in their opinion,
the said Andrew Johnson, while in said office,
has been guilty of acts which were designed or
calculated to overthrow or corrupt the Govern
ment of the Unite<l States, or auy department,
or officer thereof; and whether the said Andrew
Johnson has been guilty of auy act, or has con
spired with others to do acts which, iu the con
templation of the Constitution, are high crimes
and misdemeanors, requiring the interiH.aitfon ot
the constitutional power ot ibis House, respect
fully report:
That in the performance of the important
task assigned them, they have spared no pains
to make thsir investigation as complete as pos
sible, not only by the exploration ol the public
archives, but in following every indication that
seemed to promise additional light upon the
great subject of inquiry, and they submit here
with the result of that portion of their labor in
the voluminous exhibit which accompanies this
report. In order, however, to direct the atten
tion of the House in such portions of the some
what heterogeneous mass of testimony which
they have been compelled to present without
the order or arrangement that might have facili
tated its examination, as are regarded by them
as most material to the issue, they will' now
proceed to state as briefly as possible the leading
facts which they snppose the inquiry to hare
developed beyond dispute, along with their own
conclusions therefrom, and the reasons by which
they have been influenced in reaching "them.—
In so doing they most be allowed the indulgence
which a comprehensive scrutiny, running over a
two years’ administration ot the affairs ot a great
government, through au unexampled crisis ot
the State, and involving the very highest matters
that can engage the attention ot a tree people,
would seem to necessitate, and must at all events
excuse.
The charges made, and to which the investi
gations of the committee have been especially
directed, are usurpation of power and violation
of law in the corrupt abuse of the appointing,
pardoning, and veto power; in the corrupt in
terference in elections, and generally in the
commission of acts amounting to high crimes
and misdemeanors under the Constitution ; and
upon this recital it was charged with the more
general duty of inquiring into the official con
duct of the President of the United States, and
of reporting * whether be bad been guilty ot
anv set* which ware designed or calculated to
overthrow, subvert or corrupt the Government
of the United States, or which, in contemplation
of the Constitution, would constitute a Ligh
crime or misdemeanor requiring the interposi
tion of the constitutional |n»wer ot the House.”
It will be observed that the great salient point
»»t standing out in the foreground
and challenging the attention of the country, is
usurpation of power, which involves, of course, a
violation of law; and hare it may be remarked
that perhaps very great abase, very flagrant de
parture from the well-settled principles of the
the Constitution on the President, or revealing
itself more manifestly in the systematic attempt
to seize upon its sovereignty, and disparage and
supersede the great council to which that sover
eignty has beeu entrusted, in reference to the
one great purpose of reconstructing the shatter
ed government of the rebel States, in accordance
with liis own wishes, in the interest of the great
criminals who carried them into the rebellion,
and in such a way as to deprive thepeople of the
loyal States of all chances ot idemnity tor the
past or security lor the future by pardoning their
offences, restoring their lands, and bringing them
back—tlieir hearts unrepentant, and their hands
yet red with the blood of our people—into a
condition where they coukl once more embar
rass and defy, if not absolutely rule, the Govern
ment which they had vainly endeavored to des
troy.
It is around this poiut as an auxiliary to that
great centre idea, that all the special acts of mal
administration we have witnessed will be found
to gravitate and revolve; and ii is to this point,
therefore, as the great master-key which unlocks
and interprets all of them, that the attention of
the House will be first directed.
It is a fact of history that the obstinate and
protracted struggle between the executive and
legislative departments,arising out of the claim
of more than kingly power on the one hand, and
as strongly maintained by the operation of the
just rights of the sovereignty lodged with it by
the people on the other, which has convulsed
this nation for the last two years, and presented
a spectacle that has no example here, and none
in England since the era of the Stuarts, began
with the advent of the present chief magistrate
The catastropliy that lighted him to his place,
while it smote the heart of the nation with grief
ami horror, was the last expiring armed ef
fort >t the insurrection. The capital of the rebel
Government had fallen, its chiefs were fugitives,
its flag was in the dust; the strife of arms had
ceased, the hosts that had been gathered for the
overthrow of this nation had either melted away
in defeat and disaster, or passed under the con
quering hand of the Republic. The extraordi
nary mission of the Executive was fulfilled.—
Although as the Commander-in-Chief, he might
possibly treat with a belligerent in arms, the
cessation of the war, in the overthrow of the re
bellion, aud the unconditional surrender of the
armies had determined that power. To hold the
conquered territory within our military grasp
until the sovereign power of the nation, resting
in the representatives of the same, which had
girt the sword upon the thigh of the Executive
and placed the resources ot the country in men
and money at his command, should be ready to
declare its will in relation to the rebels it had
conquered, was all that remained for him to do.
But the duties of the sovereigns were not yet at an
end. An extent ofteiritory of almost continental
dimensions, desolated by the war, but still
swarming with millions of people, was at our
feat awaiting the sentence it had deserved. The
local governments, swept away as they had been,
in the opinion of the President himself, by the
whirwiud ot the rebellion, were in ruins, white
communities were in anarchy, the courts outlaw
ed, the social tie dissolved, a system ot pretend
ed laws existing in deadly conflict with the laws
of the conqueror, a people subdued, but sullen
and full of hate and us hostile as ever to the pow
er that had overthrown them; a loyal element
asking lor protection, a new anomalous relation
without a parallel in history, about which
the wisest of statesmen will hesitate and differ,
superinduced fratricidal strife that had
ruptured the orignal ties aud placed its objects
iu the condition ot public enemies. A large army
to be disbanded, and such indulgence extended,
such punishment inflicted, and such securities
demanded for the future as tiie interests of peace
and justice might require. Never in the history
of this or any other State have questions more
numerous and vital, more delicate or difficult,
requiring graver deliberation or involving the
exercise ot higher governmental powers, pre
sented themselves for the consideration of a peo
ple, and never whs a Congress convoked in a
more serious crisis of a State. The. duties and
responsibilities ot the men who formed and or
ganized the Union ot these States and of those
who assembled here in 1861 to consult upon and
provide the means for suppressing tills great re
bellion were :ts nothing in the comparison, and
demanded cert only no higher sagacity and no
broader wisdom than the task ot bringing back
the dismembered States, and infusing these jarr
ing and discordant elements into one harmonious
whole. For this great work the supreme Execu
tive of the nation, even though he had been en
dowed by nature with the Very highest of organ
izing facult ies, was obviously unfitted by the very
nature of his office. If Mr. Lincoln had sur
vived, it is not to be doubted, iron; his habitual
deference to the public will, that although a citi
zen of a loyal State, enjoying the public confi
dence in the highest possible degree, he would
have felt it to he his duty to convoke tiie repre
sentatives of the people, to lay down his sword
iu their presence, and to refer it to their enlight
ened and patriotic judgment to decide what was
to he done with the territories and people that
had been brought under the authority ot the
Government by our arms. The bloody hand of
treason unfortunately hurried him away iu the
very hour of ihe nation’s triumph. But il there
were reasons which could have made this duty
an imperative one with him, how powerfully
were they reinforced by tbe double effect of the
tragedy that not only deprived the nation ot its
trusted head, but cast the reins of Government
upon a successor. The new President was him
selt in the (leubtlul and delicate position ol
a citizen of one of the revolting States, which
were to be summoned for judgment before tbe
bar ot the American people. It was, perhaps,
but natural that he should sympathise with the
communities, trom which he had mainly differed
only on prudential reasons, or, in other words, as
to the wisdom ot the revolt at that particular
juncture ol affairs. If other arguments bad not
sufficed to convince him of the necessity of re
ferring all these great questions to the only tribu
nal on earth that had the power to decide them,
ought to have lieen sufficient that he owed
alike his honors and liis accidental powers to the
generous confidence of the loyal States. He ex
pected, of course, that they would insist, as they
had a right to do, upon such conditions as would
secure to them, ii not indemnity for the past, at
least the amplest securities lor the future. In
stead, therefore, ot convoking the Congress of
the United States to deliberate upon the condi
tion of the country, he seems to have made up
his mind to undertake that mighty task himself,
to forestal the judgment and the wishes of thc-
loyal people, aud to neutralize the power io undo
his work by bringing in the rebel States them
selves to participate in the deliberations upon
any and all questions which might be left for set
tlement.
To etiect this object he issues his imperial pro
clamations, beginning with that of the 29th of
May, in virtue, as he says, of his double authori
ty as President ot the United Slates and Com
mander-in Chief of tbe armies, declaring the
governments of these States to have perished ;
creating, under the denomination of provisional
governors, civil officers unknown to the law; ap
pointing to these offices men who were notori
ous! v disqualified, by reason of their partieipa-
tiou'iu the rebellion, from holding any office un
der ibis Government, and yet allowed to hold the
same, and exercise the duties thereof, at salaries
fixed bv himself, and paid out ot the contingent
fund of one ot the departments, in clear viola
tion of the acts ot July 2d, 1862, and February
9th, 1863; declaring, moreover, at the same time
that the governments ot these States had been
destroyed, he assumes it to be his individual
right, as being himselt the State, rather the Uni
ted States, to execute the guarantee of the Con
stitution by providing them with new ones, and
accordingly directed his pretended governors to
call conventions of such of the people as it was
his pleasure to indicate, to make his constitutions
for them on such terms and with such provisions
as were agreeable to himself Unprovided, how
ever, of coarse, in the absence of Congress, with
the necessary resources to meet the expenses of
these organizations, he not only directs the pay
ment of a portion of them oat of the contingent
fnnd of the War Department, bat with a bold
ness unequalled even by Charles I., when he too
undertook to reign without a Parliament, pro
vides for a deficit by authorizing the seizure of
property and the appropriation of moneys be
longing to the Government, and directing bis
endeavors to levy taxes lor the same purpose
from the subject people.
[The further reeading of the report was dis
pensed with, excepting the conclusion, as fol
lows':
In accordance with the testimony herewith
submitted, and the view of the law herein preseat-
ed, the Committee are of opinion that
wv o -J A J
of high crimes and misdemeanors, requiring the I in the attempt to overthrow the Government of
interposition of the constitution*! powers of this the United States.
Johnson, President of the united States, is guilty
House:
In that upon the final surrender of the rebel
armies, aud the overthow of the rebel Govern
ment, the said Andred Johnson, President of
the United States, neglected to convene the Con
gress of the United States, that by its aid and
authority legal and constitutional measures might
have been adopted for the organization of loyal
and constitutional governments iu the States
then recently in rebellion.
In that in bis proclamation to the people of
North Carolina ot the 29th ot May, 1865, he as
sumed that he had authority to decide whether
the government ot North Carolina, and whether
any other government that might be set up
there in was republican in form, that in his office
of President it was his duty and within his pow
er to guartantce to said people a republican form
of government, contrary to the Constitution,
which provides that the United States shall guar
antee to every State iu the Union a republican
form of government; and contrary also to a de
liberate opinion of the Supreme Court, which
declared that Congress is vested exclusively with
the power to decide whether tbe government of
a State is republican or not.
In that he did thereafter reorganize and treat
a plan of government., set up iu North Carolina
under and in conformity to his own advice and
direction, as republican in form, and entirely
restored to its functions as a State, notwithstan
ding Congress is the branch of tiie Government
in which, by the Constitution, such power is ex
clusively vested ; and notwithstanding Congress
did refuse to recognize such government as a le
gitimate government, or as a government repub
lican in form.
In that, by a public proclamation and other
wise, he did, iu the year 1865, invite, solicit, and
convene in certain other States, then recently in
rebellion, conventions of persons, many of whom
were known traitors who had been organized in
an attempt to overthrow the Government of the
United States, and urged and directed such con
ventions to frame constitutions for such States.
In that he thereupon assumed to accept, ratify,
and confirm certain so-called constitutions framed
by such illegal and treasonable assemblies of per
sons, which constitutions were never submitted
to the people of the respective States, nor ratified
and confirmed by the United States, thus usurp
iug and exercisiug powers .vested by the Const!
tution in the Congress of tbe United States ex
clusively.
Iu that he pardoned large numbers of public
and notorious traitors, with the design ot re
ceiving their aid in such conventions, called by
his advice and direction, for- the purpose of or
ganizing and setting up such illegal governments
in the States then recently in rebellion, prior to
the annual meeting ot Congress, with the in
tent thus to constrain Congress to accept, ratify,
and confirm such illegal and unconstitutional
proceedings.
In that he did, within and for the States re
cently in rebellion, create and establish as a civil
office the office of provisional governor, so-called,
an office unknowm to the Constitution or laws of
the land.
In that he appointed to such office so created
in said States, respectively, men who were pub
lic and notorious traitors, he well kuowing that
they had beeu engaged in open, persistent, and
and formidable efforts for the overthrow of the
Government of the United States; and well
knowing, also, that these men could not enter
upon the unties ol said office without committing
the crime of perjury, iu manifest violation of the
laws ot the cotnffry.
In that he directed the Secretary of State to
promise payment of money to said persons so
illegally appointed as salary, or compensation
for services to be performed in said office so
illegally created, contrary to the provisions of
the law ol the United States, approved February
9,1863, entitled “An act making appropriation
for the support of the army tor the year ending
the 10th day ol June, 1861, and lor a deficiency
for the signal service for the year ending June
30, 1803 ”
In that lie directed the Secretary of War to
pay moneys to said persons for service performed
in said office so illegally created, which moneys
were so paid under liis direction, without au
thority ot law, contrary to law, and in violation
of the Constitution of the United States.
In that he deliberately dispensea with and
suspended the operation of a provision ot a law
of the United States passed on the 2d of July,
1862, entitled “An act to prescribe an oath ol
office, and tor other purposes”
in that he appointed to offices created by the
laws of the United States persons who, as was
well known to 1dm, had been engaged in the
rebellion, who were guilty of the crime of trea
son, and who could not, without committing the
crime of perjury, or otherwise violating crimi
nally the said act of July 2,1862, enter upon
the duties thereof.”
In that without authority of law, aud contrary
to law, he used aud applied property taken from
the enemy in time of war lor the payment of the
expenses and the support Of the said illegal and
unconstitutional governments so set up iu tbe
said States recently in rebellion, and for a like
purpose, anil in violation of the Constitution
and of his oath ot office, he authorized aud per
mitted a levy of taxes upon the people of said
States, thus usurping aud exercising a power
which, by the Constitution, is vested exclusively
in the Congress of the United States.
All of which acts was a usurpation of power
contrary to the laws aud Constitution ot the
United States, und in violation of his oath ol
office, as President ot the United Stales.
In that, said Andrew Johnson, President oi
the United States, has, iu messages to Congress,
and otherwise publicly deuied substantially the
right ot Congress to provide for the pacification,
government and restoratio'n ol said States to the
Union; and iu like manner lie asserted his ex
clusive right to provide governments therefor,
and to accept and proclaim the restoration ol
said States to the Union ; all of which is in der
ogation of the rightful authority of Congress,
and calculated to subvert the Government of the
United States.
It that, in accordance with said declaration
he has vetoed various bills passed l*y Congress for
the pacification and government ot the States re
cently in rebellion, and tlieir speedy restoration
to the Union, and upon the ground and for the
reason that the said States lmd been restored to
their places in the Union by his aforesaid ille
gal and unconstitutional proceedings, thus so
interposing and using a constitutional power ol
the office he held as to prevent the restoration ol
the Union npon a constitutional basis.
In that, he has exercised the power ot remov
als from and appointments to office for the pur
pose of maintaining effectually liis aforesaid
usurpation, and for the purpose of securing the
recognition by Congress of -the State govern
ments so illegally and unconstitutionally set up
in the States recently in rebellion; such re
movals and appointments having been attended
and followed with great injury to the public ser
vice, and with enormous losses to the public
revenue.
In that in the exercise of the pardoning pow
er, he issued an order for the restoration of one
hundred and ninety-three men belonging to
West Virginia, who upon the records of the
War Deprrtmeut, were marked as deserters
from the army in time of war; and this upon
the representation of private and interested per
sons, and without previous investigation by any
officer of the War Department, and for the sole
purpose of enabling such persons to vote in an
election then pending in said State, and with
the.expectation that jhey would so vote as to
support him in his aforesaid unconstitutional
proceedings, he then well know ing that the men
so restored, and by virtue of such restoration,
would be entitled to a large sum of money from
the Treasury of the United States. .
In that, by his message to the Honse of Rep
resentatives, on the 22d" day of June, 1866, and
by other public and private means, he has at
tempted to prevent the ratification ot an amend
ment to the Constitution of the United States
proposed to the several States by the two Houses
of Congress, agreeably to the Constitution of the
United States, although such proposed amend
ment provided, among other things, for the val
idity of the public debt ol the United States, and
rendered the payment of any claim for slaves
emancipated or of any debt incurred in aid of
insurrection or rebellion against the United States
impossible, either by the Government of the
United States or by any of the States recently in
rebellion, he well "knowing that the provisions
inserted under and by his dictation in the said
illegal constitutions lor said States were wholly
inadequate to protect the loyal people thereof, or
the people oi the United States, against tbe pay
ment of claims on account ot slaves emancipa
ted, and ol delfts inclined by mr-ii .Stales In aid
of rebellion, thus rendering it practicable and
easy lor those in authority in the aforesaid illegal
" unconstitutional government* uuu set np to
In that he has made official aud other public
declarations and statements calculated aud de
signed to injnre and impair the credit of the Uni
ted States, to encourage persons recently en
gaged in rebellion against its authority to obstruct
ana resist the reorganization of the rebel States,
so-called, upon a republican basis, and calcula
ted and designed also to deprive the Congress of
the United States of America the confidence of
the people, as well in its patriotism as in its con
stitutional right to exist and to act as the depart
ment of the Government which, under the Con
stitution, possesses exclusive legislative power;
and all this with the intent of rendering Con
gress incapable ot resisting either hiB said usur
pations of power or of providing and enforcing
measures necessary for the pacification and res
toration ot the Union.
And that in all this he has exercised the veto
power, the power of removal and appointment,
the pardoning power, and other constitutional
powers of his office for the purpose of delaying,
hindering, obstructing, and preventing the resto
ration ot the Union by constitutional means, and
for the further purpose ot alienating from the
Government and laws of the United States those
persona wbo had been engaged in the rebellion,
aud who, without aid, comfort, and encourage
ment thus by him given to them, would have re
sumed, in good faith, their allegiance to the Con
stitution ; aud all with the expectation ot con
ciliating them to himselt personally, that he
might thereby finally prevent the restoration of
the Union upon the basis of the laws passed by
Congress.
And, further, that the said Andrew Johnson,
President of the United States, transferred and
surrendered, and authorized and directed tbe
transfer and surrender ot railroad property, of
the value of many millions of dollars, to persons
who bad been engaged in the rebellion, or to
corporations owned wholly or in part by such
persons, he well knowing that in some instances
the railways had been constructed by the United
States; that in others,such railways anil railway
property had been captured from the enemy in
war, and afterwards repaired, at great cost, by
the United States, such transfer and surrender
being made without authority oi law, aud iu
violation of law:
In that he directed and authorized the sale of
large quantities of railway rolling stock and
other railway property, ot the value el many
millions oi dollars, the property of the United
States by purchase and construction, to corpora
tions ana parties then known to him to be un
able to pay their debts { then matured and due,
and this without exacting trom said corporations
and parties any securities whatever.
In that he directed and ordered subordinate
officers of tbe Government to postpone and de
lay the collection of moneys due and payable to
the United States on account of such sales, in
apparent conformity to an order previously made
by him, that the interest upon certain bonds is
sued or guaranteed by the State of Tennessee, in
aid of certain railways then due and unpaid for,
a period of tour years and more, should be first
paid out of the earnings of the roads in whose
behalf said bonds were so issued or guaranteed.
In that in conformity to such order and direc
tion, the collection of moneys payable and then
due to the United States was delayed and post
poned, and the interest on such bonds, of which
he himself was a large holder, was paid accord
ing to the terms of his own order, thus corrupt
ly using his office to defraud and wrong the peo
ple ot the United States, and for liis own per
sonal advantage.
In that he has not only restored to claimants
thereof large amounts of cotton and other aban
doned property that had been seized and taken
by the agents oi the Treasury in conformity to
law, but has paid and directed the payment ot
the actual proceeds of sales made thereof; and
this in violation of a law ot the United States,
which orders and requires the payment iuto the
Treasury of the United States of ail moneys re
ceived from such sales, and provides for "loyal
claimants a sufficient and easy remedy in the
Conrt of Claims, arid in manifest violation abn
ot the spirit and meaning of the Constitution,
wherein it is declared that no money shall be
drawn from the Treasury but in consequence oi
appropriation made by law.
And fhrther, in that the said Andrew Johnson,
President of the United States, authorized the
use of the army of the United States for the dis
persion of a peaceful and lawful assembly of cit
izens of Louisiana, and this by virtue of a dis
patch addressed to a person who was not an of
ficer of the army, but who was a pnblic and no
torious traitor, aud nil with the intent to deprive
the loyal people of Louisiana of every opportu-
nity to frame a State government republican in
form; and with the intent, further, to continue
in places of trust and emolument persons who
had been engaged in an attempt to overthrow
tbe Government of the United States, expect
ing thus to conciliate such persons to himself,
and secure his aforesaid unconstitutional designs.
Atl of which omissions oi duty, usurpations ot
rower, violations ol his oath ot office, of the
aws, and of the Constitution of the United
States, by the said Andrew Johnson, President
of the United Sta es, have retarded the pub
lic prosperity, lessened the public revenues,
disordered the business aud finances of the
country, encouraged insulmrdination in the
people of the States recently in rebel
lion, fostered sentiments ot hostility be
tween different classes of citizens, revived and
kept alive tbe spirit of the rebellion, humiliated
the nation, dishonored republican institutions,
obstructed the restoration of said States to tbe
Union, and delayed and postponed tbe peaceful
and fraternal reorganization of the Government
ot the United States.
The committee, therefore, report the accom
panying resolution and recommend its passage.
George S. Boutwell,
Francis Thomas,
TnoMAS Williams,
William Lawrence,
John C. Churchill.
Resolution providing for the impeachment of
the President ot the United States.
Resolved, That Andew Johnson, President of
the United States, be impeached of high crimes
and misdemeanors.
i»t and oppress the loyal people of eueh States,
for the benefit of those who have been engaged
Cepe’s Blew Jury System.
In the City Court, yesterday, we noticed, on
one panel oi the petit jury, five negro men—
three black and two copper colored. These
poor negroes were forced into their strange and
anomalous position by the order ot General Pope
requiring that all juries in the State should be
drawn indiscriminately from tbe registry lists.
The negroes on tbe jniy yesterday seemed to
be very much annoyed by the service they were
called on to perform. All of them, to judge
irom their appearance in the jniy box, would
have been delighted to get away. They mani
fested great uneasiness while the panel was being
sworn, and looked as though they were about
being put upon their trial for some heinous of
fense. We pity tbe poor negroes who are thus
wantonly and illegally imposed upon by tbe
kingly satarp wbo domineers over this State, and
trust tbe day is not far distant when we shall be
relieved from hia tyrannical and vindictive rule.
We belive that the presence ot these negroes
on the petit jury will cause all the cases on
the common law docket to be appealed without
a hearing on the common law side of the coart.
Parties and Attorneys show great opposition to
submitting their cases to the arbitrament of negro
juries, ana we predict that Pope’s order will
materially lessen the labor of. our coarts.—Au
gusta Chronicle dk Sentinel, 26 instant.
Hung.—Gentlemen who arrived by yester
day’s Macon train, inform us that the negro Bill
Smart the murderer of the lamented con
ductor, Jake Cozatt, was hung at Butler, on Fri
day atternoon, at five o’clock. He kept up a
bold front to the last. He spoke a few words to
the large number present. Alluding to the mur
der, he said he did what he believed any man in
tiie situation would have done. He never had
any idea ot being hung. He bad called himself
“ Smart ” because he thought he had too pinch
quickness to be caught iu his doings. Thus
ended the life of a notorious thief and murderer
—Columbus Sun.
China dates to the l7ih October, report tl.e
unlive seamen--es fit*playing great hostility to
ward foreigners. Both English and American
vessels H ben fired into, and trouble was
feared. There bad ban forty bank failures in
China within the year.
