Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-05-31

undermining public liberty itself and utter
ly destroying it.
There are times when the law of neces>
sity has to be appealed to. do not deny
il. do not deny that times may come to
republic or to a kingdom in which an
appeal to the law of necessity is inevitable.
Snch time did come to this great national
republic. | subscribe, in a good degree,
10 the sentiment of our late lamented Presi.
dent-for, sir, / lament him as much as
any other man, and | did so the day he
died. say, SIR, subscribe, to a degree, to
the doctrine Of that lamented man, that
'the safety Of the republic is the supreme
law" When we were in the midst of war,
in civil war, war that had been antici-
pated by no mana war that it had never
entered into human conception was likely
to occur-When il had disloca,ed govern
ment, disrupted society and bred Con
fusion worse coniounded when such
war as this came upon IA, and when it be-
came necessary, in order 20 save the life of
the republic, TO resort to measures not
written down in the constitution and laws
when in order to preserve the body it had
become necessary TO amputate a limb I;
when force was necessary for repell-
ing force; then came the hour for dictat-
ing measures for which the exigency of
the hour was the only-at the same time
that it was the sufficient justification. But
this is an occasion that happens in the life
Of one man but once. 1t has happened in
the history of the world only at rare inter
walls But is that necessity which We are
compelled ia certain great erisises of the
national life TO recognize as our rule and
our law, is that to be introduced into every
trial hereafter, however trivial it may be?
trivial, mean, in contrast with those
great problems which come up for solu-
ton in such exigencies of the national life
as / have adverted to? | think not.
] am sure such a position will not
be maintained by the distinguished counsel
for the prosecution. Inter GTma leqeS silent.
But after the tumult of war is hushed, and
society reyerts to its normal condition, let
the laws resume their accustomed sway.
But were it to be understood that another
policy was to be adopted here, l should
at once abandon my advocacy in this case.
IL you say here is a State necessity that
this man should be made a sacrifice be-
cause, for maintaining the rights of
the citizen he violated those of the
Legislature, and proceed in this inves-
tigation with this stern predeter-
mined resolve, then, as / have said,
should respectfully decline any connection
with these proceedings. But if on the
contrary, as | apprehend will be found to
be the truth, we are to be governed as before
the war in times of peace, by the written
constitution and the laws that have been
enacted under it, | shall proceed more
cheerfully in investigating the merits of
this question now before the court. There
are parties who act on passion and not
judgment. Party madness seems sometimes
to seize on both sides of the question, and
everything but the accomplishment of an
object is discarded and Ignored. / do
not reflect on one party more than
another. | am a law-abiding man and
| had at one time thought that the law
was to be observed at every hazard; that the
Judges of the country were the sheet-an-
chors of the country. | had thought that
my friend who will answer me concurred
with me in this view. But if the functions
Of the Legislature are to be interpreted as
comforting prerogatiye absolute and I'M
questioned, wherein does this differ from
that monarchical despotism afid-lziHgly en-
croachment on popular rights, which our
British ancestors again and again resisted
and repealed Is this to be one of the de-
veiopments Of that progress which we have
heard SO much landed? Is it in the name
Of progress, backed by sophistries, that we
are to merge the government of this great
| country in Congress, or of the State of Ten
nessee in the Legislature? | repudiate such
progress, deny that we have advanced on
the principles of our fathers | adhere with
devotion TO the names of Jefferson, of
Washington, of Webster, of fancy, the
| great eXpOunder of the constitution and the
laws. But, sir, in all time, and in this time
| especially, when the mire and filth Of the
| desperate war has hardly been washed from
the hands of all, when the blood and car
mage are all fresh, at least in our recollec-
ton, parties perhaps, may assume malig>
nifty that will carry us beyond those bounds
that in times of peace parties may have
been allowed to approach.
One party in the attempt to accomplish
its purpose resorts to an illegal measure,
forgetting the exact position of the we'll
defined boundaries Of the law. Every man
| looks at his object from his own stand
point. He does not consider that in order
| to accomplish the object Of his desire he
/ gets on the boundry line, and before he is
| aware of it he has stepped across the line of
! law. Such | apprehend will be found to
I have been the result of the question Of
party in the State of Tennessee on the
| present occasion. | can conceive how either
| pathfinder the binding influence OF passion
| may have exceeded the rights granted TO
| them, the rights written down, by which
we are to be governed in the case now be-
| fore us--a case sir, not so extraordinary as
| gentlemen seem to apprehend-a case
| which more than once has had its counter
part both in the governments of various
States of this Union and in Congress itself.
1t is impossible for observant and reflect
ing men not to have seen and remarked
the tendency ofparty spirit to magnify alike
! the importance of the measures which il
layors, and the perils attendant upon those
which it opposes. The adoption of one
will be the country's salvation; of theoth-
er, its destruction. This has been accom-.
plished more than once in the history OF
that proceeding out of which the present
trial has arisen. The extreme meas
ures taken in order &c secure a quorum
might have been dispensed with, vet quo
rum be secured by simply waiting two
days. This actually occurred. Members
Unexpectedly came within that period
came voluntarily, and quorum was
obtained This might teach us a les
son in the present case which should
somewhat moderate the intensity Of
desire with which we may have sci
our hearts upon achieving a certain re-
suit.
Let US now approach the cause Hn6el
consideration Judge Frazier is charged
with high crimes and misdemeanors as 3
Judge There are two of these articles
and | shall have something 10 say in re
gard TO the form in which they are intro
duced before you. do not now call at
tention to the fact that in one article he Is
charged with misdemeanOr,' aud in the
other with "high crimes aud mis-
demeanors" He Is charged with
an attempt to do thing nc
known TO the law: he Is charged
with an attempt to break up the Legisla-
ture, the House of Representatives, with
doing il "williully, corruptly, maliciously
and ieloniously.p Bat he Is charged with
no felonious act lis impossible to justify
snd establish this accusation, without
specifying the acts themselves which wer,
corrupt aud ielonious. | know that the
words used are words of form, butthey have
a fixed and definite import, and the charg,
! ,ar only bp suaf lined hy shaving that acts