In addition to what he has already said by way of commending it to the careful perusal of his readers, he will add by way of preface, the following extracts from Barnes's 40th Congress, Vol. 1, showing the light in which that great effort was viewed by competent judges at the time; and also giving extracts from his great argument before the United States Senate on the articles of impeachment found against Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors, in vindication of the high encomiums bestowed by him on this distinguished statesman and advocate.
Extracts from "The Fortieth Congress of the United States."
By William H. Barnes:—1st Vol., 40th Congress.
Mr. Bingham served as Special Judge Advocate in the great trial of the conspirators, who were tried for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, etc. Immense labor devolved upon him during this difficult and protracted trial, and for eight weeks his arduous duties allowed him but brief intervals of rest. He occupied nine hours in the delivery of the closing arguments, in which he ably elucidated the law and the testimony in the case, and conclusively proved the guilt of the conspirators. Mr. Bingham's success in this great trial attracted general attention, and awakened a wide-spread curiosity to know his history. Soon after the close of the trial, a correspondent of the Philadelphia Press, having expressed the deep interest he had felt in arriving at a well founded conclusion as to "the guilt of the conspirators and the constitutionality of the court," wrote as follows:—
"Grant me space in your columns to give expression to my most unqualified admiration of the great arguments, on these two main points, presented to the court by the Special Judge Advocate, Gen. John A. Bingham. In the entire range of my reading, I have known of no productions that have so literally led me captive. For careful analysis, logical argumentation, profound and most extensive research; for overwhelming unravelment of complications that would have involved an ordinary mind only with inextricable bewilderment, and for a literal rending to tatters of all the metaphysical subtleties of the array of legal talent engaged on the other side, I know of no two productions in the English language superior to these. They are literally as the spear of Ithuriel, dissolving the hardest substances at their touch; as the thread of Dædalus, leading out of the labyrinths of error, no matter how thick and mazy. Not Locke or Bacon were more profound; not Daniel Webster was clearer and more penetrating; not Chillingworth was more logical. I feel sure that the author of these two unrivalled papers must possess a legal mind unrivalled in America, and must be, too, one of our rising statesmen. But who is John A. Bingham, who by his industry and learning displayed on this wonderful trial, has placed the country under such a heavy debt of obligation? He may be well known to others moving in a public sphere, like yourself, but to me, so absorbed in a different line of duty, he has appeared so suddenly, and yet with such vividness, that I long to know some, at least, of his antecedents."
Upon which the editor remarked:—
"The question of our esteemed correspondent is natural to one who has not, probably, watched the individual actors on the great stage of public affairs with the interest of the historical and political student. We are not surprised that the arguments of Mr. Bingham before the military commission should have filled him with delight. It was worthy of the great subject confided to that accomplished statesman by the Government, and of his own fame. When the assassins of Mr. Lincoln were sent for trial before the military court by President Johnson, the Government wisely left the whole management to Judge Holt and his eloquent associate, Mr. Bingham, and to the latter was committed the stupendous labor of sifting the mass of evidence, of replying to the corps of lawyers for the defence, of setting forth the guilt of the accused and of vindicating the policy and the duty of the executive in an exigency so novel and so full of tragic solemnity. The crime was so enormous, and the trial of those who committed it so important in all its issues, immediate, contingent and remote, as to awaken an excitement that embraced all nations. The murder itself was almost forgotten by those who wished to screen the murderers, and the most wicked theories were broached and sown broadcast by men, who, under cloak of reverence for what they called the law, toiled with herculean energy to weaken the arm of the Government, extended in time of war to save the servants of the people from being slaughtered by assassins in public places, and tracked even to their firesides by the agents and friends of slavery. These poisons of plausibility, blunting the sharpest horrors of any age, and sanctifying the most hellish offenses, required an antidote as swift to cure. Mr. Bingham's two great arguments, alluded to by our correspondent, have supplied the remedy. They are monuments of reflection, research, and argumentation; and they are presented in the language of a scholar and with the fervor of an orator. In the great volume of proof and counter-proof, rhetoric, and controversy that forever preserves the record of this great trial, the efforts of Mr. Bingham will ever remain to be first studied with an eager and admiring interest. That they came, after all that has and can be said against the Government, is rather an inducement to their more satisfactory and critical consideration. For from that study the American student and citizen must, more than ever, realize how irresistible is Truth when in conflict with Falsehood, and how poor and puerile are all the professional tricks of the lawyer when opposed to the moral power of the patriot."
In Congress Mr. Bingham has had a distinguished career, marked by important services to the country. In the XXXVIIth Congress he was earnest and successful in advocating many important measures to promote the vigorous prosecution of the war, which had just begun. Returning to Congress in 1865, after an absence of two years, he at once took a prominent position. Upon the formation of the joint committee on Reconstruction, December 14th, 1865, he was appointed one of the nine members on the part of the House. He was active in advocating the great measures of Reconstruction, which were proposed and passed in the XXXIXth and XLth Congresses. The House of Representatives having resolved that Andrew Johnson should be impeached for "high crimes and misdemeanors," Mr. Bingham was appointed on the committee to which was intrusted the important duty of drawing up the Articles of Impeachment. This work having been done to the satisfaction of the House, Mr. Bingham was elected chairman of the managers to conduct the impeachment of the President before the Senate.
On him devolved the duty of making the closing argument. His speech on this occasion ranks among the greatest forensic efforts of any age. He began the delivery of his argument on Monday, May 4th, and occupied the attention of the Senate, and a vast auditory on the floor and in the galleries, during three successive days. At the close of his argument, the immense audience in the galleries, wrought up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, gave vent to such an unanimous and continued outburst of applause as has never before been heard in the Capitol. Ladies and gentlemen, who could not have been induced deliberately to trespass on the decorum of the Senate, by whose courtesy they were admitted to the galleries, overcome by their feelings, joined in the utterance of applause, knowing that for so doing the Sergeant-at-arms would be required to expel them from the galleries. The history of the country records no similar tribute to the oratorial efforts of the ablest advocates or statesmen. From so long and so well-sustained an argument, it is impossible to select particular passages which would give an adequate idea of the whole. The following historical argument for the supremacy of the law will always be read with interest, whether as an extract, or in its original setting:—
"Is it not in vain, I ask you, Senators, that the people have thus vindicated by battle the supremacy of their own Constitution and laws, if, after all, their President is permitted to suspend their laws and dispense with the execution thereof at pleasure, and defy the power of the people to bring him to trial and judgment before the only tribunal authorized by the Constitution to try him? That is the issue that is presented before the Senate for decision by these articles of impeachment. By such acts of usurpation on the part of the ruler of a people, I need not say to the Senate, the peace of nations is broken, as it is only by obedience to law that the peace of nations is maintained, and their existence perpetuated. Law is the voice of God and the harmony of the world:—
"'It doth preserve the stars from wrong,
Through it the eternal heavens are fresh and strong.'