Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1804-08-21

! officer for crimes Committed in his priVat1
capacity may be placed upon ground sun
Ebroader. The connexion between all wee
lis so close, and the transition from one
3sspecies of it to another 50 easy, that a state
lis in danger -whenever bad men, OF what
ever description, get the direction OF pub
lie affairs. 1t matters not if such men be
for time politically honest. They viii
soon forget their duty to their country,
when they have forgot.ent their duty as
men and as citizens. When the barrier
that separates virtue from vice is oyerleap-
ed, we cannot circumscribe the range Of IN
iQuity. IF therefore public officer be mo-
rally depraved, and his conduct marked by
offences against the law, the state NAV ap-
prehend violation of interests from the
same hand, as soon as favorable opportu-
nifty offers. On that account it Is justiha-
bic in providing for its security by a mca-
sure of preventive justice. Wooddeson,
| in his second volume, page GOT, says, /" all
the kings subjects are impeachabe in par
lament" This seems not to limit this
mode of prosecution to public officers,
but to extend it generally to every man.
The same author SAYS g such kinds of
misdeeds however as peculiarly lnjure
I the commonweakh, by the abuse Of high
Offices Of trust, are the most proper, and
| have been the most usual grounds for this
prosecution" This amounts 10 full adj
mission that misdeeds, other than those re-
lating to a public trust, are punishable BY
impeachment, although indeed they form
not so usual a ground for it. In English
history, instances are frequent Of such pro-
secutions. a peer" says Wooddeson,
g may be so accused before his peers Of
| am crime" Sacheverel, minister of the
gospel holding 40 public station, was I'M
peached and punished for defending in a
sermon, unsound and dangerous political
doctrines. Ithas been maintained in our
| own country, by men of political rank, and
legal enliaence, that, under the constitute
on, and according to the spirit of our go
vernment, any man, whether in Office or
not, is impeachable and, that where no
i.ofice is held, the punishment will operate
to tlisqualify for,public trusts, those whose
conduct in relation to the state, affords
| proof of criminal views Such al opipi-
on receives some countenance from the
consideration that, if it be not a correct
one, an officer may offend, and then, by re-
signatioi., escape the dlshonor of dismiss
sal. as we'll as the sentence of future dis
| qualification. AS this doctrine did not,
however, receive the sanction Of the court
to which it was addressed, it is not here
insisted upon. 1t seems to have been had
in view by the trainers of the constitution
of Virginia. The governor of that state is
not impeachable while in Office: Afterthe
expiration of the term for which he was
elected, he. may be impeached, and his pu-
| nishment then extends to future disqualih-
cation. The nature and use Of irnpeach-
! ments, the practicein a country where the
law upon this subject has so many points
of resemblanceto our own, as well as the
motive and end of punishment in any case,
concur in pointing To the proprlety of re-
! moving an officer by Impeachment, for the
commission of private crimes.
9. Let us next see what are the prov,si~
ons of the constitutions upon this subject.
| Before any quotations are made from it, it
! may be well to observe, that the executive
branch was that part OF it, always regard,
| ed with the most jealousy. The powers
given to the President, were thought to
have been too ample. The qualified ight
| of appointment which he has, was, perhaps
more than any other part, an object ofcen-
sure. Such Interpretations Of the eonsti-
tuition therefore, as are calculated IN any
wise to weakenthe exercise Of this power
in the President will not be objected to. -
/ A recognition OF the doctrine contended
| for in this essay, is calculated to produce
such an effect. For, as the causes are null