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![handle is hein.presidentsimp/spjvlpy0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT.
SPEECH
OF
HON. JOHN V. L. PRUYN,
OF NEW YORK,
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 24, 1868,
On the resolittion reported from the Committee on Reconstruction to impeach the Presi-
dent of the Untited States of high crimes and misdemeanors in ofice.
Mr. PRUYN. Before I proceed to the gen-
eral views which I wish to present I ask the
House to consider the circumstances under
which this very important subject comes be-
fore it.
On the 27th of January last certain papers
and documents in regard to the affairs of the
southern States were referred to the Committee
on the Reconstruction of those States. On the
21st of this month (Friday last) a letter from
Mr. Stanton, communicating his removal from
office as Secretary of War, was referred to the
same committee. On the next day, after a
meeting by the committee of one hour only,
and that during the sitting of the House, and
without leave, as we have been informed by
my colleague, [Mr. BnooKs, a member of the
committee,] tile chairman [Mr. STEVENS, Of
Pennsylvania] presented the report now be-
fore us. It sets forth the removal of' Mr. Stan-
ton by the President without any notice of the
documents referred to the committee in Janu-
-try last, and concludes as follows:
Upon the evidence coliected by the committee,
which is herewith presented, and in virtue of the
powers with which they have been invested by the
I-ouse. they are of the opinion thtAndrew Johnson,
President of the United Staces, be impeached of high
crimes and misdemeanors.
And thereupon the committee recommended
to the House the adoption of the resolution of
impeachment which they presented.
That is all there is of this report; and I
venture to say that no deliberative assembly
in the world was ever called upon to act on a
matter of such grave, such vast importance,
on so brief a notice, and on so meager a state-
ment. It seems there was no testimony taken,
no inquiry made, no explanation sought for,
no notice given to the President of the refer-
ence to the committee, or even of the time and
place of its brief; irregular session. No des-
potism could have worked more rapidly, nor
could the restraints of constitutional govern-
inent have been more effectually thrown aside ;
and this course was followed up in the House.
The chairman of the committee, in presenting
the report, speaking evidently fbr the political
majority otf the House, said :
Itis not my intention, in the first instance, todis-
cuss this question; and if there be no desire on the
other side to discuss it we are willing that the ques-
tion should be taken upon the knowledge which the
House already has.
And he stated further-and this I understand
not only from what the chairman said, but from
the remarks of several gentlemen who advo-
cate impeachment, is the gravamen of the
charge against the President-to wit, that-
The fact of removing a man from office while the
Senate was in session without the consent of the
Senate, if there were nothing else, is of itself, and
always has been considered, a high crime and mis-
demeanor, and was never before practiced.
This brings up in its whole length and breadth,
without regard to the tenure-or-office act, the
question of the constitutional power of the
Executive to remove from office; and I hope
to show that in the assertion thus made by the
gentleman from Pennsylvania he is entirely
mistaken. In the incidental discussion which
occurred on Saturday last between the gentle-
man from Illinois [Mr. INGERSOLL] and myself,
and in that, also, which took place this morn-
ing, this proposition was again put forward,
and on both occasions I promptly controverted
it. And as it forms the very groundwork on
which the superstructure of impeachment has
been raised, 1 had expected it would have been
fairly met, but in this I have been disappointed.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.presidentsimp/spjvlpy0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)