New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-03-04

Grand Jury, or what you please. It is
merely to pronounce an opinion, not to
render iudgment-not to render Judgment
upon which execution is to follow. There
fore, that this is court of Judgment, no
reasonable man could hesitate for mo-
ment to concede; and court, the very
highest in the land, because its object is
| impeachment. What does Blackstone,
| in his Commentaries say? What does
Story, what does Woddeston, in
| his Lectures on Criminal Law, say
What does every standard work that
has been written upon this subject say?
| That the only reason why impeachment
has been resorted to from its origin down
| to the present time is that it was supposed
| that the high officer who would be
arraigned would have so much power and
| influence that it was dangerous to trust the
adjudication of his case to the ordinary
petit juries of the land; and therefore, this
peculiar tribunal, was selected because it
| was supposed that the representatives of
| the nation or the State at large, would not
| be deferred by the power, the influence or
| the wealth OF the officer who was charged
with high crimes and misdemeanors,
from inquiry into his conduct, and
that this, the Coordinate branch
of the Government would not be
deferred from rendering Judgment against
him if he was guilty. Why, therefore,
say that you are not court, and to be
governed by the ordinary rules? | chal-
! lenge the managers now, or upon the final
argument of the case, to produce single
writer of any established authority, to
show that in the proceedings before this
| Court-whether it be criminal or civil do
not now discuss-but it is for the purpose
of administering the law Of the land il is
for the purpose of Furnishing offences
it is for the purpose Of executing
the law. not to make
law for yourselves, and after
you have made it then to condemn the
party by your judge-made law. Do they
not undertake to say that we have violated
some law? Here, in their articles of i'm
parchment they say George Nj. Wick
| life, Auditor of Public Accounts, unmind-
| full of his duties and in violation of the
law. has done so and so. They undertake
! to point out the law which we have vio-
lated. Are they to be the judges Of what
| is or is not the law. or what Is or is not
good Or bad evidence? Who will under
! take to dictate morals to me. Either
there is law or there is no law. If
there is no law, then every nah is to be gov
erned by his own convictions of propriety;
| every man by his own sense of right and
wrong, and if he violates that sense of
right or wrong, be is responsible to his
! own conscience but to nobody else. Until
public opinion is enacted into a law,
which shall be the guide of the citizen
| he is at iberty-except that liberty is pro-
| hibited by almighty law-to act as be
! pleases, and when you sit here for the pur-
| pose of disregarding all law, your con-
| duct is guided by no rule except your own
| opinion. You undertake, then, to judge
me, not by the law of the land. not by any
! known rule which [ have violated, but by
your notion OF right and wrong. propriety
| and improperly. Don't you see the alb
surdity of it? You may think it is very
wrong to take money for the performance
of an official duty. I say it is common
thing to accept presents. In England it
was common thing until the law was
enacted, and l may take presents for the
| performance of my duty, which may not
at all affect the performance of ny duty.
You may give me 500 as a Judge,
and ! may decide the case as
Judge just as if [ had not re-
ceiyed it, There would be no moral
wrong in that it would be an Improperly
1t would subject me to the suspicion that
I was influenced by it, but then | may not
have been SO. Until law is enacted pro-
hibiting it, and removing the temptation
from me- saying, "You shall not receive
| it." it is no crime. II you step aside from
the law in this, where will you stop? You
may have been brought up in one school
of nj I
! in another. What il wrong in Louisiana
may not be wrong in New York. What is
wrong in New York may not be and is not
wrong ia Utah. Until polygamy is pro-
hibited by the government of the United
States in that territory, it is legitimate
there. 1t may not be in consonance with
your notions of propriety, because You are
| a Christian; but | am Mormon, and |
choose to indulge my fancy in that direc-
| ton. Will you say that you would
arraign a Mormon here because he
happened to be in office, upon the ground
that he was violating your views of Chris
tianity and propriety. You will see the
consequence of deviating from the known
and established law governing the State.
| Now, this being a court governed, as | uu-
| derstand, by the laws OF the land; and God
| knows, from the numerous articles OF i'm
parchment against my unfortunate client,
| they seem to have thrown around him all
| the meshes of the law, as they now exist,
for the purpose of entrapping him in
some one, and bringing your minds to the
conclusion which the papers of the State
seem to have the design to produce upon
your minds by these articles, demanding
his blood-that he is guilty.
Now, then, fit be court governed by
any rules of propriety, what is the first
principle of justice? Recolect that the
| constitution of the State says that all
courts shall be open, and every man
shall have his witness face to face, and
he shall be informed of the charge made
against him. What is the object of in
forming him of the charges 1t is first
that he may be prepared for his defense.
You are bound to state what he has done,
when he has done it, against whom he has
done it, at what time he has done it, and
to allege these circumstances creating the
guilty intent, if it bea criminal offense, in
order that be may BIZ put upon his
guard; not only that, but you must
allege them for the purpose that if once
the man has been tried, you can not try
him over again. These are the two maiu
objects; so that a judgment rendered in
his case, would prevent future legisla-
ture from undertaking to make the same
charges over again, and to try and convict
him after he has been acquitted by you
| Now then, the Chief Justice, from his high
position in office, exercising for the time
| being, in fact, the judicial power, SO far as