Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-06-02

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tion has stripped the Executive of the State
of Tennessee, Of all power. He is author
lied toset forth for the information of the
Legislature, the condition of the State, its
condition in relation to commerce, to manu-
fsctuFe, to agriculture and to education.
He can offer his Recommendations in refer
ence To these matters, bat there his power
| ends.
confess, Mr.. President and Senators,
tilat my thinking, my reading--as best |
have been able to think-have led me to
be jealous of the executive; and hence,
bearing always TO the executive recon-
mendations that high respect they are
entitled TO, have never held myself bound
in the. smallest degree. to conform my
actions to his Recommendations have
always had, and now especially have, a
high estimate of the valne and importance
| of the Legislature. Nv faith is in the
l legislative department of the government !;
for they are elected BY the virtuous, intel
ligent citizens of free State, ard therefore
my confidence is in the representatives of
a free people. For our institutions are
| planted on the foundations of an enlight-
ened, yirtuous and patriotic constituency.
There is our safety, the government resting
| upon the people. know this term has
been employed to fatter the people with.
| don't 50 employ ii. / don't rely upon
your Executive for the salvation of the
nation. Irely- upon a virtnous, enlight-
ened, vitalized and free people-the Amer
ican people, who will never fail when the
| emergency comes. Free thought, free
| speech, a free press, free common schools
these are the concomitants at least of
American liberty And these are not mere
Utopian dreams, but they have been
wrought out in this great American gov
| ernmenf y VILE ffg--a IS IL
will now give yon my views as TO the
spirit in which the laws should be inter
preted and administered. The lawyers
| accept as law whatever is laid down.in the
books. The profession, ordinarily, goes no
| further than this. They come in most part
to be slaves of authority, and if they only
| get to see what my Lord Eldon has thought
or what some other great legal 1uminary
has thought, they are fully satisfied. 1t
has been said of British lawyers that when
| they come to exercise the functions of
statesmen as members of Parliament that
they look at everything through micro
scope instead of a telescope There are
men that interpret law as a dead letter,
and there are others that interpret it as
living spirit. Now the letter Won know
kiIleth, but the spirit maketh alive. Let
me refer you 10 decision of Lord Mans
| fields. which will illustrate what mean
by treating law as a living spirit. Lord
Mansfield was something more than law
yer-he was man of liberal culture he
was a msn Of literary tastes; a poet even.
He was a large-minded, liberal-minded
interpreter of the law. The question came
before him in the Court of Kings Bench.
In barbarous times in England it was held
as principle in common law, that if
vessel was wrecked on the British coast
| it was forfeited to the owner of the land
ON which it rested. But there was in
England spirit of progress abroad, a
spirit of free thought under the influence
of commerce and civilization. There was
by the parliament a statute remedyine the
defect of the common law, 1t was in sub
stance, that, if vessel came ashore and if
cat or dog or any living thing came
with it, it should not be held 10 be wreck,
As late as the time of Lord Mansfield. the
latter part of the eighteenth century, such
a case came up for adjudication under that
eldiule. n NNAtdAG GhIl1tld0- baron. ON
whose domain the ship had 1rifled,
claimed it as his private property, mas
much as no cat, no dog, nor anything
else alive, could be discovered aboard
the wreck. How would Mr.. Ewing have
decided the case Why, that inasmuch as
there was no proof that a cat or dog came
ashore, therefore, the vessel must be held
to belong to the noble claimant But Lord
Mansfield did not SO interpret the law. He
said-and common sense confirms his view
he said the true Interpretation of the
law implied that if he could identify
his property, then he was entitled to
| il. The cat and the dog would merely
| serve to identify the property. That is
the meaning and the true reason of that
law. Now, sir, if we are to have dead
black letter law accepted on blind author
ity-if you are to take that law on your
neck, you had far better put the torch to
these books and burn them all up.
We are engaged in trying articles of
Impeachment against Thos. ~. Frazier,
Judge Of the Criminal Conrt of -
for a wrongful, willful, malicious use or
abuse of his duties as Judge. These. arti-
cles of Impeachment you have all read.
| They contain certain facts, and they con-
tain certain acts done by Judge Frazier.
They contain the allegation that these
facts were done by him with a GER
| tain intent In substance, they amount to
this, that the lower House had in its custody
for discipline and disobedience two of its
members-seditious members-rebelliou
members, or what is worse, members that
sympathized with rebellion. They were in
the lawful custody of the House; he knew
| il, and yet willfully and understandingly,
he issued the writ of habeds corpus The
House took proper steps to makea return
to that order. An instance of 50 much for
bearance cannot be found in the annals of
legislation. Notwithstanding, he Illegally
and wrongfuily issued his writ, the
sheriff with his posse commitatus
entered the capital under his instructions,
snatched these members from their custody,
proceeded to arrest the Sergeant-at-A Arms of
the House, and TO punish him for obeying
the orders of the House. This act of hos
tility TO the House, and this breach Of its
privileges, are characterized in the arti-
Giles as willful, corrupt, malicious and felo-
nious. Mr.. Ewing by a kind Judge
Frazier old Bailey sort of an argument
endeavors to give perverted sense to these
terms different from their legal siguifca-
ton. The terms used there are
such as are intended to character
ize the kind of disposition with which he
did the deed. Take these facts and say
does it constitute an improbable case.
Well, if it don't constitute such case,
should like to know what does. All Law,
all distinction of right and wrong NAV as
well be wiped out and obliterated.
The session of the Legislature af which
these men were arrested for their recusant
conduct and factions opposition to the Lee
gisIature and the government, was an ex-
traordinary session called by proclama-
ton of the Governor for specific purpose.
that purpose being the submitting to the
Legislature the amendment 20 the constitu-
tion, that by ratitying it the State might be
entitled to send It's delegates TO Congress
and enjoy all the benefits the Union can
confer. An attempt is made to prevent
the adoption of this amendment. Rnle
or ruin the old cry of the rebellion
was again heard. That virus, that taint of
secession, of State rights, of rebellion, of
treason, when once ii enters the mind il
can never be obliterated. ta
Mr.. Ewing closed in the following terms
do'not know that | can add ANYTHING
IN what have said The ouestion IL sinnnl,