The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-04-10
Impeachment; a C0urt or Caucus
Law or PrediUhice.
IErnrn ahn Nnu Ynrt Hnrnld

From the New York Herald.
The hero Of Big Bethel held forth be-
fore the Senate on Monday for four
hours, rendering rigmar0le of his o.
piniOns. is opinions on this Occa-
sion were about on a par with his just
ly celebrated opinion that Fort Fisher
could not be taken--an opinion which
it will be remembered, he WAS enga-
ged in elaborateiy laying down be-
fore committee at Washington when
he was interrupted in his speaking by
the sound of the cannon firing saluies
to celebrate the capture OF that fort.
Nearly Une-quarter Of this rigmarOe is
taken up with the working out of But
ler'S great idea that the Court OF I'M
parchment is not 4 cOurt-that it is a
commission or an inquest, or caucus
or some other underlined sort of assem-
blage-anything or everything that
anybody may choose, but not Il court.
And what is the reason of all this spe
cial pleading on this ca /? 1t is that
the Radicals do not Want to try the
case in accordance with the established
rules of law. If the body trying i'm
peachment is Il court, its process,
must be what Blackstone says i'm
peachment is-''a prosecution of the al
ready known aud established law"
1t must proceed according to law, and,
more than all, must accept the law
from the presiding Judge. Hence ali
Buffers chop logic to prove that the
court is not court. He and his par
ty fear to try their case under the law.
and have no other hope but in pass
ion and prejudice.
I of manila I-nnIN in XrinNxr tha
great fact that there is no safety save
In the law. If Il man is not willing to
be governed by the law it is because
he is not willing to be governed at all;
it is because, not perceiving the I'M
mediate protection that the law would
guarantee for his own rights, he wish
es to throw down the barrier it SETS up
to guard the rights OF others from his
assault. Our personal liberties have
no limits set in theory, but we find
in practice that they stop where the
rights of others begin, and it is The
province of the law 10 defiue the line.
The law is the rule Of action winch
leaves the greatest freedom TO each
that is consistent with the safety 0l
all and WheL men wish deliberately
to act by some other rule, it Is THAI
their devotion to some idea or the in
tereStS of some person OF class lncdpac-
itateS them from surveying calmly the
II tlatiOnS of that class 20 the whole
So it has been with fanatics always.
So it is with the luuatic who finds him
self so at variance with the thoughts OF
those around him that he cannot gov
ern his conduct by their standards, but
holds the law to be ridiculous and non
Mo-, ~, tamil fn hH
governed by motives higher than the
view Of the law, and it is the evil to so
ciety that it sometimes listens TO
this dangerous heresy. Fanatics have
gone so tar in their objections to the
law that they have regarded ii as the
essence of ali injustice and its prOtec-
ton OF property as theft-the thief who
keeps himself being the only honest
man.
Butler and his fellow ZealOts have a
similar idea Of law, and spurn il rs a
rule on which to carry forward their
case. They would substitute their
opinions in its place. Hence their de-
finitiOn of impeachment Is, read fully,
somewhat different from what Batter
read it to the Senate. 1t should read
thus: 1--WE define an imteachable high
crime or mlSdeineanof 10 Dt one III us
nature or consequences subversive of
some principle of government that we
believe in-Iike nigger suff age-or
highly pFejudiciai ia the ppbljclnleresfi
as we understand il un'i this may con
sist of d violation 0t the Constitution
or law, or what We consider such 10y
an act committed, or omitted, or 'rith-
ont rj0loting q pOsitiae httr, by The
abuse of discretionary powers, or what
we, in the free exercise oi our Opinions
regard as such an abuse" This detin-
itiOn gives the sentiment OF the pros
ecution more clearly than Butler did.
and shows also how we'll the wise II en-
who made the constitution understood
what Inpeachment might Enally come
TO. Mr.. Gouvt rne IF Norris said to
the convention: "Much has been said