The Standard of Wednesday indulges at some length in the
ex- pression of its satisfaction at our mistaken calculation as to the result of the impeachment of the President. The article is evidently a belated one, which should have appeared, when it was evidently written, the week before, as it refers to our false prognostications of May 23 as having appeared " in last week's issue," whereas in last week's issue, we admitted, and, indeed, proclaimed, our own blunder before the Standard had done so. A false calcula- tion of political events does not appear to us any legiti- mate ground for either humiliation or even awkward reserve. We refer to the article chiefly, however, to correct a misunderstanding. The Standard appears to suppose that we approved of the process of treating representatives as delegates,— and putting pressure upon them to make them vote contrary to their consciences,—nay, that we even approved of it in the recent case, when the Senate was sitting not as a representative body, but as a court of justice. This is entirely contrary to principles we have repeatedly and earnestly maintained. In the article referred to we were simply calculating the chances,—in which this popular pressure was certainly an important element,—not approving the method. Last week we expressed our strong repro- bation of the persecution of Messrs. Fessenden, Henderson, and Co. Indeed, we sincerely despise not merely judges, but ordi- nary representatives who allow their constituents to turn them into mere delegates, and to dictate their votes on points of prin- ciple. Still, that this will be generally attempted, and that it will often succeed, is of course to be assumed, as a matter of experience.
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