Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1808-01-06

pie CH0lCe Has OeCoine iHelf desGIlenf
can it enter the imsgi nation of ,.a,oa. 20
msn,shat The sanctuary Of their lepl,l,s'
mustrsmain polluted with his pr seuc. y
>,il q court Of common law with 40 n,, wv ).
snail can ascertain, whether his or ine ~
committed on the right or oq,,:h ~
back of a river Nv neither asSkss.
ofdifTerence can be found be,,oo
words of The char &c and the word, ~ J,
the proof - whether the witnesses of l.
gull, should or should not be heard b. : =
jury-and whether he was punishable /.
cause present at an overt act. or iu.arp n.
10 public justice, because he only eon,f,.'
and prepared it. Is it conceivable ha !.
traitor to that country, which has load,aa
him with savors, .gail'y 20 the common :,
derstanding Of all mat4kiod, should BE- srr
fered to return urlues!ioned to ,has pc c Il
honor and confidence, where 10 ,he zrpns
of his good fsme, he had been placed i,
the estsem .of his coun,rymep, and in d.
fance of their wishes, 10 mpekery Of ,b..
fears, surrounded by public iadigoain
utinadmissible to It's bolr, pursue lhe IN,
poses OF ,reason ia the heart Of The ua,iaol
councils? Must the assembled rulers 4
lii lsad listen with caimDess aud irds,,.
re, session after session, to the vcice ts
notorious infamy, until the sluggard Str,
of municipal justice can oversake his epo,,
mities? Must they ,amely see The l,s,
add fortunes of millions, thu safety Of D.,
sent and future ages, depending upon H
cote, recorded with theirs, merely secau,,
the abused bepigni.y Of general maxim,
may have RENTED to him the forfeiture 4
his life:
Suchin very supposable cases would be The
unavoidable consequences of a principle which
should offer the crutches of judicial tribunals
as-an apology for Gripping the Consressina
power ef expulsion. Far di aerent in the Cpl
Mon of your committee is the spirit Of our
constitution. They believe that the very pur
pose for which this power was given, was TO
preserve the legislature from the first aD
proaches of infection. T haiti was made d.scs.
tlonary oecausa iteould net exist underth
procrasGnatioh Of general rules That its pro.
cess must be summary because it would be
rendered migratory by delay.
Passing from the constitutional view ofths.I
subject, 20 that which is afforded by the al.
thority of precedent: your committee find
that since the establishment of our prsstE
Material legislature there has been but one
example eof expulsion from tso sende-la
tha5 case, the member implicated was called
upon Ill the first instance, to answer whethe!
he was thc~author Of a letter, the COPY Of
which only was .preduc ed, and the writing o.
which was the, cause of his expulsion He
was afterwards requested to declare whether
he was the nuthor of the letter ITSELF and
declining IN both cases to answer, the fact Of
his having written it was established by com.
parison OF his hand writing, and by the be. I
allef OF persons who had seen him write, upon
inspection ct the letter. mall these points
the committee perceive the admission Of
species OF evidence, which in courts of CHI /
ninai Jurisdiction would be excluded-aaa
IN the resolution Of expulsion the Senate de. !
c!ared the person incuipated gully g hS' 4
nHsdemeanor, although no presentment ORR !
dlctncnt had been found against him, and 10 :
prosecution at law was eyercommenced upon
the case.
This epent-occurred in July 1877. About
fifteen moilt4ls before that time, Oh appNa
ton from the legislature of Kentnck}, re- +
-qnesting an investigation by the Senate, Of Z
charge against one Of the members from thai .
stare OF perjury, which had been made in GER !
tain newspaper publications, but for whlch no :
prosecution had been commenced, he SenaS
dstl adopt by a majority of s votes to 5, nS
report of a committee, purporting that the Sc, Z
nate had no julisd: ction to try the charge, add
that the memorial ofthe Kentucky Legislature
should be dismissed There were indeed YER,
sufficient reasons Of different kind assigned d
In the same report, Cor not pursuing the !" &
veslgation IN that particular case any fur!He' +
ap6 VoOr cor>s,,ittna hal ~, the red II