Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-02-08


MACK, the correspondent at Washing
ton, of the Cincinnati Commercial, a
Radical paper, says that a few days ago,
Thad Stevens said to friend The
constitutional amendment was a good
thing to electioneer on, but it isn't worth
a d-n to reconstrueE with"
THE SUSPENSION OF THE PREsI-
DENT.
1t is a cherished scheme Of the Radi-
Gals To depose the President They
would impeach him, if they thought they
could convict him But they fear to
trust their frivolous partizan charges
even to a Radical Senate sitting as a
court, each member being under oath to
try impartialiy and according to the
rules Of evidence They are therefore
eontriving to have articles preferred by
the House Of Representatives, and then
propose to put him under arrest for trial.
and pending the decision suspend him
from Office, and place one Of their own
creatures in his stead.
In support Of this right to suspend du~
ring the trial, the Washington Chronicle
quotes from remark of Mr. Madison
made in the Virginia Convention that
ratified the constitution as follows
There is one security in this case to
which gentlemen may not have adj
Verted. IL the President be connected
in any suspicious manner with any person,
and if there be any grounds to believe he
will shelter him, the House of Representa-
tives can impeach him; they can remove
him lffound guilty; they can suspend him
when suspected, and the power will de-
volye on the Yice-President. Should he
be suspected also, he may likewise be sus-
pended until he be impeached and re-
moved, and the Legislature may make a
temporary appointment. This is great
security"
The constitution says thatthe President
shall be removed from Office con impeach-
ment and conviction" for certain ofenses
This settles the question, no matter what
Mr. Madison may have said anywhere or
at any time There is no ambiguity
about the language. Its meaning cannot
be perverted Conviction must preGede
removal
An able writer in allusion to this sub
iject says When this subject of inn
parchment of the supreme executive ma
gistrate was first brought forward in the
Federal Convention great doubts were
entertained by many Of the most impor-
tant statesmen of that body respecting
the expediency of making such a provi-
sion. These doubts, however, at length
gave way to the consideration that the
President was to be responsible magis-
trate and that his responsibility through
a reelection to the Office might not be
sufficient But the great difficulty was
experienced when it came to be deter
mined by what body the impeachment
should be tried and the Senate was
finally selected as a choice of evils, but
with the distinct admission on alllhands
that to vest such power over the Execu-
tive in either Of the legislative bodies is a
departure from the fundamental maxim
that the supreme departments Of consti-
tutional government ought to be indie
pendent of each other In order to pre-
vent the independence of the Executive
from being completely Frustrated at the
feet Of the Legislature, when a collision
should arise between them, it was pro-
yided that the removal Of the President
from Office should take place, not "a a
consequence Of his impeachment but as
consequence Of his conviction This
provision ran through every resolution
and every form of draft through which
the provisions Of the constitution were
passed No one thought of suggesting a
power ofsuspension ortemporary removal,
until the constitution, by the middle Of
September was before the convention for
its final revision On the 18th Of Sep
TENDER Mr. Rutledge and Mr. Gouyerneur
moved
That persons impeached be suspended
from their Offices until they be tried and
acquitted
Mr.. Madison-The President is made too
dependent already on the Legislature by
the power of one branch TO try him in con-
sequence Of an impeachment by the other.
This intermediate suspension will put him
in the power Of one branch only. They
can at any moment, in order TO make wav
for the functions Of another who win be
more favorable TO their views, vote tenn
porary removal Of the existing magistrate.
Mr. King concurred in the opposition
to the amendment
On the question to agree to it
Connecticut, South Carolina, Georgia
ayes 3; New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary
land, Virginia, North Carolina-noes s.
(Madison's Minutes Elliott, vol. 8 pages
54l-542.)
Every intelligent person can judge
therefore, on which side of this question
MIR Madisons authority is to be arrayed
by his countrymen Among all the in
consistent opinions that have been inn
puted TO him on constitutional questions,
we have seen Rome 50 monstrous as that
which would arise out Of a serious at
tempt to use this unofficial and unsanc-
toned passage in the alleged debates in
the Virginia Convention Mr. Madison
had expressly opposed the introduction
into the constitution Of any power Of sus-
pension during an impeachment under
his lead eight States had promptly voted
down such a proposition, and he himself
recorded, with his own hand, the subs
stance of the wise and impressive obser-
yations by which he had produced that
very near approach to unsnimity. He
could not have forgotten all this when he
spoke in the Virginia convention, and the
evidence Ia therefore decisive that he
never could have uttered the opinions
which he is represented as having de-
liyered in that body.
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Nevada legislature.