Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1859-01-06

| 8uoHOH uTS1, TcstEdlub upOu puUlIC VI
fcers, and secondly, the removal of such
as shall in any manner misdemean.-
4 Except, indeed, so far as it may be re.
Igarded as restraint upon those who
hold Office for fixed term, it is of value
only or chiefly as to Offices held for life
These are the judges of our Federal
courts, and they are answerable before
no other tribunal; they are subject to
no other check; our Constitution has
Iexacted no other security for their good
behavior. And even this is not imper-
ative to its full extent upon the Senate.
Political disability does not nccessarilY
ffoIiow upon conviction, since the Sen
ate may do no more than remove from
Office Impeachment. sir, is no engine
of oppression here. There is no danger
of its abuse. Indeed the difficulties
which attend upon its successful prose-
restraint. Tyranny is always simple in
its appliances, and will never resort to
such cumbrous machinery as impoach-
ment.
What, inquire next, are the ofcnceS
for which impeachment lies under our
CONSTITUTION? Gentlemen have argued
as though some great crime must be
charged, in order to justify it. Not SO;
treason, bribery, and high crimes, arc
indeed enumerated; but that is not all.
Misdemeanors, also, are Included
Whose shall mis,lcmean himself in any
civil Office, shall be liable to impeach-
mont. And this is especially so in the
case of the judges of our Federal courts.
They ''during good behavior" Misde-
meanor is misbehavior. 1t is so in lex
biography, and it is so in law. I read
from Blackstone.
In common usage, the word scrime'
is made to denote such offences as are
of deeper and more atrocious dye =
while smaller faults and omis ions of
less consequence, arc comprised under
the gentler name of 'misdemeanor'
only"
Whit then is judicial misbehayior or
misdemeanor? That, sir, depends Who'll
ly upon the standard which you shall
fix for judicial character and conduct
Mine, Confess, is the highest. would
have both as pure as the ''fann'd snow,
that's bolted by the northern blasts,
twice Ger" and as spotless as the er
mine which was once the emblem of Ju
dicial purity. The integrity of the judge
onght to be ahore susnieion in his great
Office. l would have him the sanctissi-
mus judex of the Romans; for to the lit
ixant in his court he stands in the place
of God. Save impeachment, he is sub
1ect to no responsibility except an en-
liShtcncd conscience and a reli gious
sense of duty. Theoretically. indeed, the
S,,At &c in try fn
extent, Of necessity an arbitrary power.
Even when hedged in by law there yet
remains the vast field of judicial dis
cretions;" and beyond all that lies the
boundless ocean of the Interpretation
Of laws the great business ofthe judge.
Sir, there are ten thousand ways in which
a corrupt, weak, or a pref udiced judge
"a judge hostile or friendly to the lit
igant, or what Is more common, to the
lawyer, may prevert justice poliute its
pure fountains, and do foul wrong in the
cause; aud yet none but he who has suf
fered know it. These are the false
weights which it SO easy, unperccived. to
throw into the scales of Justice. Add
now, to all this, that the judicial power
like the invisible and inpalpable air
which surrounds US, penetratcs every
where and effects every relation of life
that it extends even to life itself, to lib
erty, to property in all its infinite COM
plications; to marriage, divorce, paren
tage, master and servant, and finally |
pursues US even after death in the dis
tribution of estates; nay, that the very
monuments of the dead, the dull, cold
marble in which they sleep, are the sub
jects of its destroying or protecting
hand
There is no department Of its govern
ment, therefore, which is so liable to
abuse as the judiciary; but to the honor
of America and of human nature be it
said, there is none where so little abuse |
prevails. In seventy years this is the
first example of the impeachment of a
judge demanded because of alleged cor
ruption in office for ate gair. Arbi-
tary and dissolute judges have indeed
been impeachcd, though in but two or
three instances during that long period
yet none for corruption. But if frequent
it is nevertheless the most atrocious, and
in its consequences to the judiciary and
to the public the most dangerous crime
VIII ich judge can commit; for ''there is
no happiness, there is no liberty, there
is no enjoyment of life, unless a man
can say, when he rises in the morning,
I shall be subject to the decision of no
uni ust judge to-day"
hat, l inquire next, is ihe province
of the House of Representatives here
The Constitution defines it? You have
the sole power of impeachment. What
is it to impeach ? Certainly not to try
that is the sole right of the Senate To
impeach is simply to accuse. We do not
try, we have no right to try, the ques-
ton of the guilt or innocence of the ac-
cused. have not in this case made up
my mind definitely upon that point, be-
cause am not willing to usurp the pro-
vince or anticipate the Judgment of the
Senate.
We are not judges, we are not grand
jurors; we do not act under special oath
we are acting in our representative ca
Pacity. Our province is to aceuse-to
prosecute; and when your committee
shall appear at the bar of: the Senate. }