The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-09-10

Inc statement OF Mr. M0rtOn Iuat III
and his party were educated to new
doctrines by the war, and that the.
learned rapidly, is true, in point of fact
and it can vouch very respectabl
precedent. 1t is like in spirit, but NOR
modest in language, than the boast o
Mr.. D'Israeli, in Parliament, last sum
mer, that he had educated his party in
to the acceptance of doctrines repug
nant to their most cherished convic
tion. But this process of education
unluckily for the precedent, threw th'
Premier and his party at once into
hopeless minority. Such may, possibly
be the case here.
When the impeachment failed, th'
committee of the House appointed t.
conduct it was not discharged, but con
tinued to sit, under the guidance o
General Butler, who had been from tht
first its actual, though not its nomina
head. The continuance Of the investi
CATION was founded on nothing, ane
tended to nothing, except party spite
and party calumny. Oae point in hl'
report deserves nstice-not because II
was his report, but because it was
adopted by the committee, and pub
lshed by order of the House.
The fourth amendatory article of the
Constitution provides that "the right
of the people to be secure in their per
sons, houses, papers and effects against
unreasonable searches and seizures shall
not be violated, and no warrants shall
issue but on probable cause, supported
by oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched and
the persons or things to be seiZed.'
Nownote the construction of this clause
of the Constitution by General Butler
speaking in the name of committee oi
Congress, if indeed it occurred to him
or them that we had a Constitution
The impeachment has ended in o fail.
ure. There was no question pending
before the House, on which that body
had right to call and examine wit
nesses under compulsory process, but
General Butler supposed" that the
Senators who voted for acquittal
were bribed, and on this
and none other, he in the
name of the committee and with the
of the House, proceeded to
investigate the matter of his supposi-
tion. He says in his report, which was
agreed to by the committee and pub
lished by the House (p. ~: Learning
that many telegraphic messages relat.
ing to impeachment had been sent and
received by the parties supposed to be
implicated in the fraudulent practices,
your committee issued subpoena duces
tectum in the usual form to the managers
of the several telegraphic companies in
this city and Baltimore to produce tele-
graphic dispatches during certain
period; and then directed the witnesses,
officers Of the telegraph companies, to
collect such kilograms as were supposed
would throw light on the investigation.
"This exercise of an ordinary power
to every justice of the peace of
the country who has a cause pending
before him, was the only seizure of tel
egrams made by your committee, which
has been the subject of much severity
and useless vituperation."
Mr.. Butler and his committee assume
that if somebody is supposed to be i'm
plicated in fraudulent practices, the
papers of everybody may be seized and
searched. To give that power to the
House of Representatives, no pending
suit, according to him ur them, is neces-
sary; no affidavit, no probable cause
against anybody or anything; it is
enough that somebody is supposed"
to be implicated in some fraudulent
practice, and the power of committee
of the House is complete, to seize and
search the papers of everybody
aye, and to seize and imprison in the
vaults of the Capitol any person
who refuses to explain his own private
business transactions to the committee.
The appeal to the Constitution, which
forbids unreasonable searches and seiZ-
urcs, and provides that "no warrants
shall issue but upon probable cause,
by oath or affirmation" is
as "senseless and useless
clamor." A private person, Colonel
Woolley, whose dispatches bad been
seized by the committee, was summon
ed before them, and denied, under oath,
that they related to the matter about
which the committee had assumed to
inquire, but refused to testify as to his
own private business, whereupon they
imprisoned him-frst in a wholesome
room, then, by order of the House, trans
ferred him to a dungeon in the vaults
of the Capitol.
There seems to have been no motive
on the part of the House for this act OF
arbitrary individual oppression but to
show their power over the Constitution
aud their contempt of its guarantees
Or, perhaps, their object was merely to
snstain General Butler, whom they had
adopted as their leader, and to indorse
his acts. AS to him, he was so morally
constituted that he could not even
transmit the truth when he had it be.
fore him on paper. 1t changed its very
nature under his eye while he read, OF
under his hand while he transcribed it
and the coarseness of his perceptions
disqualified him from forming any just
opinion en- any matter involving Con
stitution or law, or the proprieties o.
official or professional action. Hence
case as he presents it is nevel
the actual case, and the Constitution
after passing through his rank meRta
digestion, is no more the Constitution
as it is written than the guano of Alta
Vela is like the fish that was swallowed
by the sea bird.
The Constitution declares that "n,
bill of attainder or er post tdctO law shall
be passed." whereupon, as if the him
were taken from the clause, the las
Congress, at their last session, passed al
er post facto law attaining class o
our citizens and depriving them OF citi
zenship-au unworthy class, it's tru
-men who had violated their oath t.
support the Constitution, and with i
their oath to render military service
These men were probably "acting out
side the Constitution"-perhaps the
had been taught by the war7-stii
they deserved punishment, and wer
amenable to it under the Articles o
War. 1t was, therefore, of mere choice
not necessity, that this double injunc
tion of the Constitution was violate
But this abuse of power was not sui
fered to remain barren act-it Wa
made to bear fruit. One of these at
tainted men happened to be one of til
three judges of election for Congress i
one of the townships in the Muskingur
District, which gave large majorit
- &ba narnoraf;o candidate IT,