Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1804-12-22
Congressional Register.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES..
Debate in Committee Of the Whole,
ON THE
IMPEACHMENT
JUDGE CA4SE.-I CoN1rNUEB.l
Zuesday, Decem6er 4, lao4.

49, hSu9S riOCScUSQ 20 consider IN e
report OIL the committee of the whole made
yesterday, on the articles CT impeachment
against Samuel Chase.
Mr.. Rodney had not been convinced of
Inc necessity or propriety of the amend
ments adopted yesterday in committee of
the whole. For his part he was inclined
10 oe''evc the articles Cor every material
purpose correct as they first stood. II
VIII he remembered that IN cases Of i'm
parchment by a legislative body we are
tied down 10 those forms and that tech
meal precision, which in courts OF Jaw are
SO essential. The maxim is that they
may express Themselves in The common
language of the country, in common par
lance, or t9quendxn1 us Yuiyus as it is stated
III the books. Therefore the words It,
the trial of person include every relative
To- the trial, ii is so LAID down by lord Hale,
and ~ is fl,lnwed in the opinion bv ell ;he
able writer's who have treated ON thi. sub
Ject to the present dav. All arrange
nents previous to the testimony, and ar.
Snmeni, are as much & part or the trial
as the arguments Of the counsel. So that
were sven technical phraseoloey required
on TINS occasion, the language of The arti-
cles comes up % itin his particular. He
hoped the house you'd refuse its concur
renee TO toe amendments ;1ported from
the committee Of Ike whole.
On the question for concurrirp with the
committee, it passed in the negative. ~
that article the first remains una!tered and
the like fate attended tie amendment bro
posed to article 9Th.
Mr.. Nicholson rneant to require thlt the
yeas and nsyebe tak<n upon each ertic
separately.
fir. Z. Criswoid would cAeerfully i,in
in the call rs he wished - record MIS- yn,e
against every part Of thia very extraordi-
nary proceeding.
The first article before the house.
MIR. Lucas 'SIshed 20 ask if it would be
st this time in c. der to propose an amend
ment to the 6rst article. n. asin5orfn
ed by the Speaker that such q motion was
in order. lie thereupon proceeded 10
move 10 strike ont what reis.ed 10 tho con.
duct Of judge Chase, in saying to the
disgrace OF the character OF the American
bench" He moved this amendment from
the impression that the improper conduit
OF one judge could not be : reas Gsicn up-
on the proper conduct Of another indge,
III he was one he Should net consider him
sell disgraced because his colleague had
acted improperly--if then one cannot be
dsSraced by another, much less can the
whole DC disgraced By The improper con-
duct of one, The word bench extends
to the whole courts OF The United States.
Fie did not like either 10 use q fgursiive
word Tor legal one, such as tho word
bench tor court he did not rely much upon
this, but he thought 30 serious a matter
az that Of impeachment ought 10 be eau
tIou'ly expressed. Should Judge Chase
De convicted on this Impeachment, he viii
he disSraced, but tia. disgrace will eDtire-
ly rest upon his own head. lie trusted
that IT his motion succeeded, thore would
still remain enough IN the Charge to make
him highly Fsprehcnsitle, If found guilty
Tor y - statsd thai his condust was i'm nls.
niiest violation Of law and Justice, and in
open contempt of the rights Of iuries.
Nr' Eiliot was pleased with the ing.nu-
~ OF the gentleman, but he hoped the
motion would not prevail, and observed
that II thry were to have discussion on
~'Sl1 'HStoilIdi HouF501 on every trODe
o. figure introduced in the report, thew
would not get through the business in an
ago. But The objection against the word
bench did not apply, tor he considered il
one of the most cha-le in the whole com.
position.
On the question the amenduent We,
not carried.
The question on agreeing 20 the frs, ar.
'icle was taken by ayes ard noes which
are as follow:
YEAS-Messrs. Aston, ir. Anderson.
Archer, Bard, Bedinger, Bishop. R,.cl.
ledge, Boyd, Boyle, Brown, Bryan, Butler.
9. w. Campsell, Casey, Claiborne, Cia,t.
!. Clay, NJ. Clay, Conrad Crowninsh.eld.
CUTS, Dewson, Earle, Early, Liner E,p,es.
| tindley, GILLESPIE, Goodwin, Gray, Groep.
Hasbrouck, Heister, Holland, Holmes.
Jackson, Jones, Kennedy, KNIGHT. I.srneb
Leib, Lucas, MCoFd, NiCr-ery, Ne.is..
her, N. K. More, =. Moore. Morrow
Mote, Nelson, New, Newton, Nicholson, o.
lin, Psiwei, Patterson. J. Randolph, T.. ~
Randolph, i Hea, OF Pen. !. Ehea. o Ten
R'ker, Rodney, Root Summons. 5 .adford
Seayer, Sloan, Smile, Southland. Stamford