Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-10-18

6y himself Or IF By AGENT OR ATTORNEY
naming Tie person appearing, and The caoaci-
IN an achic5b he appears. 1.-The does not appear,
eithe,. personaLlq OR BY AGENT OR ATTORNEY,
the same shall be recorded. /"
| It is clear, from this weighty and author
itative precedent, that General Butler is
wholly wrong in his law. instead of the
President being taken into custody and
imprisoned, it depends on his voluntary
choice whether he will appear before the
court at all. If he appears, he is just as
free to appear by attorney as in person. .
| Judge Story, in his commentaries on the
Constitution, describes at length the for
malities observed in trials for Impeachment.
We cite the following passage as corrobor-
ating the differences we have drawn from
the rule of the court in Judge Chase's case ::
I" If he" the person lmpeachedl does not
appear, IN person or By attorney, has default
/ as recorded AND THE SENATE MAY PROCEED Elk
PARTE TO THE TRIAL OF THE IMPEACHMENT. If
he does appear In person or by attorney,
his appearance is recorded. +"
There have been, in all, four cases of i'm
parchment since the beginning of our gov
ernment, namely, that of William Blount,
1899 John Pickering, 1903; Samuel Chase,
1905, and JAS. H. Peck, 1881. The law
governing such trials, as stated by Judge
Story, is founded on the prece dents fur
nished by these four cases. The argument
of General Butler, in support Of the posi-
ton of Wendell Phillips, that the President
must necessarily be suspended from Office
during the trial, falls to the ground in the
face of this uniform usage. But, even if
the exploded assumption Of Butler were
correct, the taking of the President into
temporary custody would not operate as q
suspension from office. II he should be to-
%Al l,14
we suppose nobody is absurd enough to
say that he would cease to be President du-
ring his illness, and that the President of
the Senate would be indicted into the ex-
ecutive chair. The government would,
i'll that case, be administered by the
heads OF departments, and papers re-
quiring the Presidents name would
remain unsigned until his recovery.
That his office could not be filed by an
other person during his transient disability
may be shown by conclusive analogy
Suppose Chief Justice Chase should be i'm
peached, would his office be vacant during
his trial ? If so, the President could send
to the Senate o nomination to fill the va
cancy. The idea of his doing so is utterly
preposterOus. The Office can only be vaca-
ted after a conviction, and in consequence
of sentence To make the Office vacant
is the only penalty which the Constitution
allows against an officer impeached and it
is absurd to suppose that punishment can
date from the accusation instead Of from the
Judgment
If we were to hazard conjecture as to
the course Of the President, in case he
should be impeached, it would be that he
would object to the competency OF the
court and refuse to appear. If, when the !
law gives man the benefit of twelve jury !
men, an iniquitous court should attempt to !
try him before seven, he would refuse to |
plead. The Constitution gives an impeach-
ed officer the right to be tried by seventy |
two Senators, and requires two-thirds OF |
the number to convict. If the Radicals at !
tempt to try the President by ffty-two, lie |
has a right to deny tic jurisdiction of
court of impeachment SO composed.