The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-01-11 00:00:00

I Froßr.

•
Article; exhibited be th.i of Representatives of the
State %, in the name of theme res and of all the
people of the United States, against Samuel Chase, one of
the klisociate Justices of the Suureine Court of the united
States, in maintenance and supoon •d their impeachment
against him, for high enema and mi-denteanors.
Aar. I. That, unmindful of the solemn duties of
his office, and contrary to the sacred obligation by
which he stood bound to discharge them " faithfully
and impartially, and without respell to persons,"
the said Samuel Chase, on the trial of John Fries,
charged sciih high treason, before the Circuit Court
of the United States, held for the distria of Penn-
sylvania, in the city of Philadelphia, during the
months of April and May, one thousand eight hun-
dred, whereat the said Samuel Chase presided, did,
in his judicial capacity, conduct himself in a man-
ner highly arbitrary, oppressive, and unjust, viz.
I. In delivering an opinion in writing, on the
question of law. on the construCtion of which the
defence of the accused materially depended, tending
to prej.iJice the minds of the Jury against the case
of the said John Fries, the Prisoner, before Counsel
had been heard in his defence.
2. In restricting the Counsel for the said Fries
from recurring to such English authorities as they
believed apposite, or from citing certain statutes of
the United States, which they deemed illustrative
of the positions upon which they intended to rest the
defence of their client.
3. Indebarring the Prisoner from his constitutional
privilege of addressing the Jury (through his Coun-
sel) on the law as well AS on the fain, which was to
determine his guilt, or innocence ; and at the same
time endeavouring to wrest from the Jury their in-
disputable tight to hear argument, and determine
upon the question of law as well as the question of
fad, involved in the verdiCt, which they are required
to give.
In consequence of which irregular conduit of the
said Samuel Chase, as dangerous to our liberties,
as it is novel to our laws and usages, the said John
Fries was deprived of the right, secured to him by
the Bth article amendatory of the constitution, and
was condemned to death without having been heard,
by Counsel, in his defence, to the disgrace of the

charader of the American Bench, in manifest vio-1
Atkin of law and justice, and in open contempt of
.he rights of juries, on which, ultimately, rest the
iberty and safety of the American people.
ART. IL That, prompted by a similar spirit of
persecirtion and injustice, at a circuit court of the
United States, held at Richmond, in the month of
May, one thousand eight hundred, for the distria of
Virginia, whereat the said Samuel Chase presided,
and before which a certain limes Thompson Cal-
lender w.is arraigned for a libel on John Adams, then
President of the United States, the said Samuel
Chase, wish intent to oppress, and procure the con-,
viaion of the said Callender, did over-rule the ob-
jeCtion of John Basset, one of tha Jury, who wished
to be excused from serving on the said trial, because
lie had made up his mind, as to the publication
from which the words, charged to be libellous, in
the indiament, were extraaed ; and the said Basset
was accordingly sworn, and did serve on the jury,
by whose verdia the Prisoner was subsequently con-
viCted.

Aar. 111. That, with intent to oppress and pro-
cute the cnnviElion of the Prisoner, theevidencezif

John Taylor a material witness on behalf of the
aforesaid Callender, was not permitted by the said
Samuel Chase to be given in, on pretence that the
said witness could not prove the truth of the whole
of one of the charges contained in the india-
ment, although the said charge embraced more
than one dad.
Aar. IV. That the condud of the said Samuel
Chase was marked. during 'he whole course of the
said trial, by manifest injustice, partiality, and in-
temperance, viz.
1. In compelling the Prisoner's Counsel to reduce
to writing, and submit to the inspedion of the Court,
for their admission, or rejeetion, all questions which
the said Counsel meant to propound to the above
named John Taylor, the witness.
2. In refusing to postpone the trial, although an
affidavit was regularly filed, stating the absence of
material witnesses on behalf of the accused ; and
although it was manifest, that, with the utmost dili-
gence, the attendance of such witnesses could not
have been procured, at that term.
S. In the use of unusual, rude. arid contemptu-
ous .x:wessions towards the Prisone-'s Counsel, and
in falsely insinuating that they wished to excite thl
public fears and indignation, and to prOdrice that in-
subordination to law, to which the conclud of the
judge did at the same time manifestly tend.
4. In repeated and vexatious interrliptions of the
said Counsel, on the part of the said Judge, which,
at length, induced thorn to abandon their cause and
their Client, who was thereupon conviacd and con-
demned to fine and imprisonment.
5. In an indecent solicitude, manifested by the
said Samuel Chase, for the conviaion of the ac-

cused, unbecoming even a public prosecutor, but
highly disgraceful to the charaCer of a Judge, as it
was subversive of justice.
Aar. 5. And whereas it is provided by the aft
of Congress, passed on the 2-his day of September,
1789, intituled, An All to establish the Judicial
Courts of the United States,' that, for any crime
or offence against the United States, the offender
may be arrested, imprisoned, or bailed, agreeably
to the usual mode of process, in the state where such
offender may be found : And whereas it is pro-
vided by the laws of Virginia, thay upon present.
ment by any Grand Jure. of an offence not capital,
the Court shall order the Clerk to issue a summons
against the person or persons offending, to appear
and answer such presentment at the next Court ; yet
the said Samuel Chase did, at the Court aforesaid,
award a Conies against the body of the same Jame;
Thompson Callender, indiaesl for an offence not ca-
pital, whereupon the said Callender was arrested,
and committed to close custody, contrary to law in
that case made and provided.
Aar. VI. And whereas it is provided by the 24th
setclion of the aforesaid all, intituled, An AC to
establish the Judicial Courts of the United States,'
that the laws of the several gates, except where the
concitution, treaties, or statutes of the United
States shall otherwise require or provide, shall be
regarded as the rules of decision, in trials at com-
mon law, in the Courts of the United States, in
cases where they apply : And whereas, by the
laws of Virginia, it is provided, that in cases not
capital, the offender shall not be held to answer any
presentment of a Grand Jury, until the Court next
succeeding that during which such presentment shall
have been made—yet the said Samuel Chase, with
intent to oppress and procure the conviElion of the
said James Thompson Callender, did, at the Courts
aforesaid, rule and adjudge the said Callender to
trial, during the term at which he, the said Callen-
der, was presented and indiCed, contrary to law in
that case made and provided.
ART VII. That at a Circuit Court of the Unit-
ed States, for the distrilt of Delaware, held at New
Castle, in the month of June, 1800, whereat the said
Samuel Chase presided, the said Samuel Chase, dis-
regarding the duties of his office, did descend from
the dignity of a Judge, and stoop to the level of an
infoi :Tier, by refusing to discharge the Grand Jury,
although entreated by several of the Jury' so to do ;
and after the said Grand Jury had regularly declar-
ed, through their foreman, that they had found no
bills if indiltment, nor had any presentments to
make, by observing to the s C.:and Jury, that be,
the said Samuel Chase undo, st.od " that a highly
seditious temper had mainiested itself in the State
of Delaware, among a certain class of people, par-
ticularly in New Castle county, and more especially
in the town of Wilmington, where lived a most se-
ditious pi inter, unrestrained by any principle of vir-
tue, and regardless of social order—that the name
of this printer was”—but checking himself, as if
sensible of the indecorum which he was committing.
added " that it must be assuming too much to men-
tion the name of this person I but it becomes your
die y. Gentlemen, to enquire diligently into this mat-
ter, 01 words to that effeei—andthat with intention
to procure the prosecution of the printer in question,
the said Samuel Chase did, moreover, authorita-
tively enjoin on the Distil & Attorney of the United
States, the necessity of procuring a file of the Pa-
pers to which he alluded (and which were under-
stood to be those published under the title of
Mirror of do Times and General Advrrtiser)," and by
a stria examination of them, to find some passage
which might tarnish the ground work of a prosecu-
tion agaiust the Printer of the said Paper--thereby
degrading his high judicial fun lions, and tending
tti impair the public confidence in, and respell for,