Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1836-04-14

Wetake the I0j0WiHR cXtfdCS uon 'ho
Washington correspondence Of The Balti
more Patriot--they will give the reader
some idea Of The manner in which .Mr
Leigh handled The 'expunging' doctrine,
in the Senate, on Monday and Tuesday
of last week:
Mr.. L. remarked, that the proposition
before The Senate, was to put the will to
expunge, for the deed of expunging. and
not to DO tue deed itself and he argued
that if it were not competent for The SEN
ate to do the act itself, it certainly was
wrong for them to express their will to do
il, having 10 right. And lie said that ha
wing proved that il was not within the
competency Of the Senate actually 10 ex
punge, it was certainly unnecessary for
him TO prove that it was improper for The
Senate TO express the will to do so.
In1order 10 show the absurdity of this
idea, MIR. Leigh supposed that the Senate
Of 1887 5 should wish to expunge the ex
FUNCTION Of that Of 1856, and that oil
1889 40 should wish to expunge the ex.
FUNCTION Of that expunction and asked
how it should be accomplished. The pa
per would not admit OF it. Ii could not
be done, either by " drawing black lines"
around or writing words over it. This
part of the exposition was admirable, and
amounted to what the logicians call a
perfect "reduelio nd absWdunl."
Every man is under a moral obligation.
remarked Mr. Leigh, to speak the truth
Every man, especially when under an
oath to do so, should tell the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth
In doing what is proposed by the resolu
tion now before the Senate. we sould be
guilty, to say tke'least, of equivocation.-
We say that we expunge, and excuse our.
selves for doing what we have no right to
do by saying that we do not expunge.-
lie then quoted from Pascal the +" Father
of the Jesuits,n and showed that to be the
very doctrine laid down 10 one of his let
tiers.
III be competent, argued Mr.. Leigh,
TO annihhate, legally speaking, this act OF
the Senate, in March 1884. it is equally
SO TO expupge any legislative, executive,
or judicial proceedings -the obligation to
keep them being precisely the same. This
being so, if bill, public or private, were
10 pass Congress, and at subsequent
session the journal recording lis pss,- sc
were expunged and so destroyed, WI
becomes of the bill, the law, aud the rights
it involves? And so, in other cases. ja
dicial aud executive. Of great importance,
Involving the rights s the liberties OF citi
zens. llayi0g given several cases in point
blr Leigh remarked, so. much for ex
punging without eXpgnglng for this ALE
CATION Of a right TO destroy withou, destroy
lng--this ingenious metaphor going to es
tab!ish right TO violate an official OATH.
He next came upon The famous prece.
dent OF 1906 Benton's "nlain pillar" as
on his own authority, it has come to be
called-showcd the great difference in the
case; explained that Of 1906 as being
a mere alteration by The Senate ofminutes
before the Journal was made up, and show
ed that that which was expunged was not
The sentiment Of The Senate that cXpunged
il, and that the journal was amended to
make il conform TO the sentiment Of that
Senate.
He then instanced the case Of The ar.
rest of Swartwout, Boiman, and Alexan.
der, as being accessory 10 the Burr con
spiracy in 1907. The two first were
doubtless in that plot, whatever il was,
yet there was no shadow Of proof that
Alexander was. and yet he was restrained
Of his liberty by Jefferson, although he
had no pretence to justify it. Mr. L. then
remarked that among the papers Of JEFF
ferson, just published by his grand son.
there was letter, in which he had said
that the proprIety of violating the right of
habeas corpus depended on circ ,es,
q" And here is a precedent Shall | ad
NIT as binding upon me? If all the great
est men that ever lived, the IIampdens,
the Jetfersous, the ienrys, the Washing
tons, all, had signed the letter. would
silli denounce the monstrous doctrine it
contains. No one should thus letter me
from the maintenance OF my rights as an
American citizen. by the force of" prece
dent" Ia this whole passage he was very
earnest and eloquent He went on TO ex
anime the uses that had been made Of The
precedent he had quoted, and instanced
the suspension Of the writ of habeas corpus
by Gen. Jaukson, and the arrest of the
judge that issued it, as being (housh per.
baps matter of seemingly imperious ne
cessIty) complete carrying out of the
principle involved in that precedent. He
also showed that it was repeated at Pen
sacola by the same officer. He then asked
If the election Of General jackson 10 the
Presidency established these cases as pre-
cedents hereafter ever TO be followed p
He did not believe it.
lie next quoted remark Of Swift, who
had said that there was no other way TO
preserve the liberties and institutions of a
State, but never TO make single breach
through which millions of abuses may az
forwards come in, as flood, TO its des-
tructioa. This, he said, was tue language
of wisdom, 1t came from the lips of
Tory, but one from whom every Wing
might derive knowledge -from monar
chisf, to whom republicans might not
scorn TO look for instruction from a sage
whose lessons even democrats might in
prove from. He considered that the es