Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1834-05-08
BY S. C.. SHERMAN.

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: tence-'the nature and cause Of the accu-
I sation"--set out in the manner required in
, he constitution, before even the humblest
l Individual, for the smallest crime. can be
exposed to condemnation? Such a speci-
: iicalioa was due to The accused. that he
might direct his defence to the real points
OF attack; to the people, that they might
: clearly understand in what particulars their
, institutions had been violated; and to the
. truth and certainty of dur public annals
: As the record now Stands, whilst the reso-
luton plainly charges upon the president
l at least one act Of usurbation in "the late
t IcXconfige proceedings - relation to the
= public revenue" and is ss'1rdi4sed that those
senators who believed that one such act,
and only one, had been committed, could
T assent to it; its language is yet broad e.
nough 10 include several such acts; aud so
1t may have been regarded by some of those
who voted for it. But though the accuse.
non is thus comprehensive in the censures
Ilt implies, there is no such certainty Of
lme, place, or circumstance, as to exhibit
the particular conclusion Of fact or law
which induced any one senator to vote for
1t And it may well have happened, that
whilst one senator believed that some par.
ilcular act embraced in The resolution, was
an arbitrary and unconstitutional assump.
ION OF power, others of the majority NAV
have deemed that very act both constitu
tional and expedient, or if not expedient,
yet still within the pale of the constitution.
And thus majority Of the senators NAV
nave been enabled to concur, in a vague
and underlined accusation, tina: the presi-
dent, In the course of ''the late Executive
proceedings IN relation to the public reve-
nue." had violated the constitution and
laws; whilst, if a separate vote had been
taken in respect TO each particular act. ip-
cluded within the general terms, the accu-
sers OF the president might, on any such
vote, have been found IN the minority.
still further to eXemplify this feature of
the proceeding, 1t is important to be re-
marked, that the resolution, as originally
offered to The senate, specified, with ade-
quate precision certain acts ofthe president
which it denounced as a violation of the
constitution and laws; and that it was not
until the very close ofthe debate, and when
IPerhaps II was apprehendcd that majority
might not sustain the specific accusation
contained in it, that HE resolution was so
modified as to assume lis present form A
more striking illustration Of the sounJrasa
and necessity of the rules which forb;d
vague and indefinite generates and 70
quIre a reasonable certainty in ali judicial
allegations; and a more qiarinp instance
Of the violation of those rnies has saido,,,
been exhibited.
In this view of the resolution. # must
certainly be regarded, not as n y;ndicat;on
Of any particular provision Of the law or
he Constitution, but simply as an official
rebuke or condemnatory sentence. too oen-
eral End ndefnate to be easily repelled.
but vet sufficiently precise to bring into dis
credit the conduct and motives of the ex-
ecuiive But whatever it may have been
intended to accomplish, ii is obvious that
the vague, general, and abstract form of the
resolution, is in perfect keeping with those
other departures from first principles and
settled improvements in jurisprudence, so
properly the boast of free countries in mod
ern times. And it is not too much TO saw.
of the whole of these proceedings, that if
they shall be approved and sustained by an
Intelligent people, then will that great con-
test with arbitrary power, which has estab-
lished in statutes, in bills Of rights, in sa-
cred charters, and in constitutions of Cow
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