trial. Under the rule of the
Senate as adopted, the rulings of the President were to stand unless a
Senator should ask for the judgment of the Senate.

Other instances occurred which do not possess historical value, but
were incidents unusual in judicial proceedings. When the Judiciary
Committee of the House was entering upon the investigation of the
conduct of President Johnson, General Butler expressed the opinion that
upon the adoption of articles of impeachment by the House the President
would be suspended in his office until the verdict of the Senate. As
this view was not accepted by the committee, I made these remarks in
my opening speech to the House after a review of the arguments for and
against the proposition:

"I cannot doubt the soundness of the opinion that the President, even
when impeached by the House, is entitled to his office until he has
been convicted by the Senate."

This view was accepted.

At the first meeting of the managers I was elected chairman by the
votes of Mr. Stevens, General Logan, and General Butler. Mr. Bingham
received the votes of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Williams. Upon the
announcement of the vote, Mr. Bingham made remarks indicating serious
disappointment and a purpose to retire from the Board of Managers. I
accepted the election, and acted as chairman at the meeting. At the
next meeting, and without consultation with my associates, I resigned
the place and nominated Mr. Bingham. The nomination was not objected
to, and Mr. Bingham took the chair without comment by himself, nor was
there any comment by any other person. The gentlemen who had given
me their votes and support criticized my conduct with considerable
freedom, and were by no means reconciled by the statement which I made
to them. Having reference to the nature of the contest and the
condition of public sentiment, I thought it important that the
managers should avoid any controversy before the public, especially as
to a matter of premiership in the conduct of the trial. It seemed to
be important that the entire force of the House of Representatives
should be directed to one object, the conviction of the accused.
Beyond this, Mr. Bingham and Mr. Wilson had been opposed to the
impeachment of Mr. Johnson when the attempt was first made in the
House of Representatives. I thought it important to combine the
strength that they represented in support of the proceeding in which
we were then engaged. If Mr. Stevens ha