Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1842-09-17

strictest observance of the rules of evil
dence, and of legal procedure, the Chief
Justice Of the United States, the highest ia.
dicial fuActionary of the land, is required
TO preside over its deliberations. In the
presence of each judiciatory, the voice of
faction is presumed to be silent, and the
sentence ofgult orinnocence is pronounced
under the most solemn sanctions of religion,
of honor, and of law. To such tribunal
does the Constitution authorize the House
of Representatives to carry up its accusa-
lions against any chief of the Executive
department whom it may believe to be gull
ty of high crimes and msdemeanors. Be-
fore that tribunal the accused is confronted
with his accusers, and may demand the
privilege, which the justice of the common
law secures to the humbest citizen, of
full, patient, and impartial inquiry into the
facts, upon the testimony of witnesses, rig
idly examined, and deposng in the face of
day. If such proceeding had been adop.
ted towards me, unjust as should certain
ly have regarded it, should, trust, have
met with a becoming consistency trial as
painful as it would have been undeserved.
would have manifested, by a profound
submission to the laws of my country, my
perfect faith in her Justice; and, relying on
the purity of my motives, and the rectitude
of my conduct, should have looked forward
with confidence to a triumphant refutation
IN the presence of that country, and by the
solemn judgment of such a tribunal, not
only of whatever charges might have been
formally preferred against me, but of all
the calumnies of which l have hitherto
been the unresisting victim. As it is, /
have peen accused without evidence, and
condemned without hearing. AS far as
such proceedings can accomplish it, am
deprived of public confidence in the ad-
aninistration Of the Government and denied
even the boast Of good name-a name
transmitted TO me from a patriot father,
priced as my proudest Inheritance, and
carefully preserved for those who are to
come after me, as the most precious of all
earthly possessions. 1 an, not only subjec-
ted to imputations affecting my character
as an individual. but am charged with often
ces against the country, so grave and so
heinous as to deserve public disgrace and
disfranchisement. am charged with vio-
lating pledges which l never gave; and be-
cause / execute what believe to be the
law, with usurping powers not conferred
by law and, above all, with using the pow
ers conferred upon the President by the
Constitution, from corrupt motives and for
nnwarrantable ends. And these charges
are made without any particle of evidence
to sustain them, and, as solemnly affirm,
without any foundation in truth.
Why is a proceeding of this sort adop-
ted at this time9 Is the occasion for it
found in the fact, that, having been elected
to the second Office under the Constitution
by the free and voluntary suffrages of the
people, have succeeded to the first, accor-
ding to the express provisions of the fun
damental law Of the same people? 1t is
true that the succession of the Vice Presi-
dent to the Chief Magstracy has never
occurred before, and that all prudent and
patriotic minds have looked on this new tri-
al of the wisdom and stability of our insti.
tutions with somewhat anxious concern.
/ have been made to feel too sensibly the
difficulties Of my unprecedented position,
not to know all that is intended to be con-
veyed in the reproach cast upon Presi
dent without party. But found myself
placed in this most responsible station, by
no usurpation or continuance of my own
was called to it, under Providence, by the
supreme law of the land, and the deliber.
ately declared will Of the people. 1t is by
these, the people, that have been clothed
with the high powers which they have seen
fit to confde to their Chief Executive, and
been charged with the solemn responsibility
under which those powers are to be exer-
cised. tits to them hold myself answer.
able, as moral agent, for free and con,
scientious discharge Of the duties which
they have imposed upon me. 1t is not as
an individual merely, that am now called
upon TO resist the encroachment of uncon-
stitutional power. represent the Execu
tive authority of the people of the United
States; and it is in their name, (whosc mere
agent and servant am, and whose will, de-
clared in their fundamental law, dare not
even were inclined to disobey,) that pro
test against every attempt to break down
the undoubted constitutional power of this
department, without solemn amendment
of that fundamental law.
am determined to uphold the Constitution in
this, as in other respects to the utmost OF my
ability. and in defiance Of all personal conse
quences. What may happen to an individual is
Of little importance; but the Constitution OF the
country; or any Of its great and clear principles
and provisions, is too sacred to be surrendered.
under any circumstances whatever, by those who
are charged with its protection aud defence
Least OF all should he be held guiltless, who
placed at the head OF one OF the great depart
ments, should shrink from the exercise OF its
unquestionable authority on the most important
occasions; and should consent, without a strug.
gle, TO eace all the barriers so carefully created