Importance is sought to be given to the passage by the Senate, before impeachment articles were found by the House of Representatives, of the following resolutions: "Resolved by the Senate of the United States, That under the Constitution and laws of the United States the President has no power to remove the Secretary of War and designate any other officer to perform the duties of that office _ad interim_" as if Senators, sitting as a court on the trial of the President for high crimes and misdemeanors, would feel bound or influenced in any degree by a resolution introduced and hastily passed before adjournment on the very day the orders to Stanton and Thomas were issued. Let him who would be governed by such considerations in passing on the guilt or innocence of the accused, and not by the law and the facts as they have been developed in the trial, shelter himself under such a resolution. I am sure no honest man could. He concluded with these words: Once set the example of impeaching a President for what, when the excitement of the hour shall have subsided, will be regarded as insufficient cause, and no future President will be safe who happens to differ with a majority of the House and two thirds of the Senate on any measure deemed by them important, particularly if of a political character. Blinded by partisan zeal, with such an example before them they will not scruple to remove out of the way any obstacle to the accomplishment of their purpose, and what then becomes of the checks and balances of the Constitution so carefully devised and so vital to its perpetuity? They are all gone. In view of the consequences likely to flow from this day's proceedings, should they result in conviction on what my judgment tells me are insufficient charges and proofs, I tremble for the future of my country. I cannot be an instrument to produce such a result, and at the hazard of the ties even of friendship and affection, till calmer times shall do justice to my motives, no alternative is left me but the inflexible discharge of duty. Gideon Welles, under date May 16, says: Willey, after being badgered and disciplined to decide against his judgment, at a late hour last night agreed to vote for the eleventh article, which was one reason for reversing the order and making it the first.... Bishop Simpson, a high priest of the Methodists and a sectarian politician of great shrewdness and ability, had brought his clerical and church influence to bear upon Willey through Harlan, the Methodist elder and organ in the Senate.[108]