The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-03-04
& THE CIRCULATION OF THE "DIS-
PATCH" Is LARGER THAN THE COM
BINED CIRCULATION ,OF ALL THE
OTHER DAILY NEWSPAPERS OF THIS
CITY. . S &"

i
of impeachment had been gone through
with in that body, but which the House
refused to receive, or even allow to be
Iprinted: ..s... -,,.,.s-, ~
| The undersigned, members of the For
| tieth Congress of the United States, repre-
senting directly, or in principle, more than
one-half Of the whole people of the Uni
ted States, do hereby, in the name Of law
and order, and in behalf of those they
represent, most soleranly protest against the
tyranny and injustice practiced by the ma
jority of the House in violating the sacred
right of free debate and unconstrained de-
Liberation upon the greatest questions ever
brought before an American Congress. .
| The rules Of the House, made for the
4 protection Of minorities, and "by strict
4 adherence to which the weaker party can
only be protected from those irregulari-
| ties and ABUSES which the wantonness of
power is but too often apt to suggest to
large and successful majorities," have
been, during this entire Congress, in viola
tion Of their true spirit and intent, wan
tonly and unprecedentedly suspended and
| set aside, not upon particular apd press
ing matter, but'upon all pending subjects
of legislation, so that, by the reckless and
arbitrary suspension Of the rules, and the
wanton abuse, of the previous, question, the
rights of the minority have been utterly
disregarded, the House of Representatives
has ceased to be deliberative body, and
the minority have been compelled to vote
upon the most important questions without
any proper or reasonable time for debate
or consideration. To such an extent has
this dangerous and oppressive practice OBJ
tained, that measures affecting vitally the
| whole country and the direct interests Of
cur constituents, tending, as we believe,
to the subversionr of our republican form
of government, in their very nature de-
manding Of the peoples representatives
the most careful examination and scrutiny,
have been hurried through the forms of
Legislation without being printed, without
one word of debate, or one moments con-
sideration without, indeed, the opportu-
nifty Of the undersigned to protest, except
in violation Of the then operating rule en-
forced by the majority as the "order of
1 the House,"
These alarming abuses of power might
not seem to demand this formal protest if
we were not forced to the belief that de-
termination exists with the majority to re-
volutionize this Government by destroying
the other coordinate branches and vesting
all the power of the Government in Con-
gress. In the steps taking to depose the
President of the United States we are ad-
mopished that there is no end to their op-
pressive measures to cripple the power and
silence the voice Of the minority.
/ lett 1roc nrphaI fbro, oh ba
House under the operation of the previous
] question, referring the matter to the Com
mittee on Reconstruction the committee,
in hot haste, sitting when the House was
in session, in violation of one of its express
rules, considered and by strict party vote
adopted and presented it again to the
House for its action. And then was ex-
hibited one of the most extraordinary
spectacles ever witnessed in deliberative
parliamentary body. Members were al
lowed, some thirty, some twenty, some ten,
some five, some one minute only, to discuss
the most momentous questions ever pre-
sented in Congress. Many could not get
even one minute, under the arbitrary rule Of
the majority. And more than half of those
even Of the party voting to enforce the
previous question who desired to be
heard were permitted speeches only in
the Globe, after the question upon the re-
solution was decided, and which were
never delivered in the House. No COM
ment can demonstrate more completely
than the facts themselves the viciousness
and illegality Of such proceedings. But
this wanton and excessive use of the
power of the majority does not stop here.
i IL <Lo tvs
the further proceedings to remove the
President, and in anticipation of its ac-
tion, undsr the operation Of the previous
question, without debate, in violation of
an express rule, new, special, and most ex-
1 traordinary rules for the conduct of this
proceeding, changing, without previous
notice, the standing rules Of the House,
were adopted to further limit debate and
more completely to place the minority in
the power and at the mercy of the ma
jority. -s;. ~ s,,,--
Thus, while the majority of Congress are
warning upon the other coordinate depart
ments-the executive and judicial
ldeayoring to suhjugate and bring them
i both under the will and control of Con-
gress, the minority of the House of Repre-
sentatives are steadily and surely being
stripped of all power, and their constitu-
ents deprived of all proper representative
voice in the councils of the Republic. .5
| We do, therefore, most solemnly protest
against the indecorous and undignifed
haste with which the majority of the
House inaugurated, presented, and rushed
through, by strict party vote, in plain
and palpable violation of one of the stand
ing rules of the House, q resolution de-
manding the impeachment Of the Chief
1 Magistrate of the people for alleged high
crimes and misdemeanors in office, when
the gravity of the charge and the charac-
ter Of the high officer against which the
! attack was directed, and the unforeseen
/ and tremendous consequences which might
result therefrom to the peace and pros
| perity of the people called for the calmest
land wisest judgment, the most unpreJu-
diced and impartial deliberation, ION the
4 part of those who had the proceedings in
charge. ..ss..,Vgl. g4.sr..
/ 'WeSdo also most sole,nnly protest against
4 this thrice.repeated attempt to degrade
| and break down one of the great co0rdi-
nate branches Of the Government through
the spirit of party hatred and vengeance
| against the person who, by the Constitu-
ton. ia in the .rightfui and conscientious
discharge of its functions, thus consuming
/ the precious time which ought to be faith.
fnily. devoted to earnest efforts to relieve
the pressing wants of the people, o resto.
! ration of q torn. and devastated couhtFy to
union and good order, and TO lgntenine
the burden Of. q taxation which is pressing