New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-03-13
lowed, or can be followed by
punishment. The learned manager

lowed, or can be followed by
punishment The learned manager
says this is o court merely OF inquiry
for the purpose of ascertaining the WORTH
ness or unwortbiness of the officer, and to
remove him-that the removal Is a mere
civil matter, civil proceeding, and 1t Is
followed by no punishment.
| Now. then. let us see what the constitu-
tien of the State says may be the Judgment
of this tribunal, in case you shall find the
articles Of impeachment true:
Judgment in case Of impeachment shall
| extend only to removal from Office and
disqualification from holding any Office of
| honor. trust or profit in the State'-so that
your Judgment will be, in case the part y
is found guilty, that he shall be removed
from the Office of Auditor of Public Ac-
| counts; and if you choose, that he be
| disqualified from holding any office Of
honor, trust or profit in the State. Now,
the question is whether that is or is not a
punishment. If it is, then we have ascer-
tanned that the tribunal which is trying
this case Is criminal in its nature, to be
governed by rules of criminal law, and all
its forms and proceedings are to be con-
Quoted on the principle that we areadmin-
| isering justice in a criminal court. do
not ask you to believe me, when say that
it is punishment, but l will read to you
the decision of the Supreme Court of the
United States upon the subject, in which i'm
| peachment has been characterized by that
| court as proceeding criminal in it's nature,
| and in which disqualification for an office
has been declared TO be punishment; with
this high authority in my hand l will
| cease the discussion when l read it to you.
| care not, with this high authority in my
favor, for individual authorities who may
being guided by their political notions,
construe this court to be political court,
or civil court, or any other sort of court.
| Ii find that a punishment is 20 beinficted
b v this court and that it has been decreed
to be by the Supreme Court Of the United
States, punishment to render ajndgment
| to disqualify a person from holding an
| Office. l have ascertained, then. the char
acter of the tribunal, and upon that princi-
| pie will proceed to discuss the merits of
the case l read from Wallace, page 800.
| It is the celebrated case of Cummings
against the State of Missouri, where that
State undertook, by its constitution, to
| disaualify a number of individuals from
holding office or from voting. by the i'm
| position of a certain oath. Now, what
does the Supreme Court Of the United
| States say: "The disabilities created by
the constitution of Missouri must be re-
garded as penalties. They constitute pun
ishment. We do not agree with the coun-
sci for Missouri that to punish one is to
deprive him of life, liberty, or property"
land that to take from him anything less
than these is no punishment at ALL" The
very argument made by the learned man
ager, that it is no punishment,
that the Judgment in this case does not
deprive the accused of life. liberty or
properly, and to take from him anything
less than that is no punishment.
The learned counsel, says the Supreme
Court, does not use the terms life, liberty
and property as comprehending any right
known to the law. He does not include
under liberty freedom from outrage on the
feelings, as well as restraints on the person.
He does not include under property those
estates which one may acquire in profes.
sions. though they are often the source of
the highest emoluments and 'honors. The
deprivation of any rights, ciuI or political,
previously enjoyed, may be punishment,
the circumstances attending and the causes
of the deprivation determining this fact.
| Disqualification from office may be punish
n1ent, as in cases Of conUiction upon inlpeac7b-
flent.
There is the opinion of the Supreme
Court of the United States declaring
that disqualification for Office is punish
meDt, and instancing conviction in case
of impeachment. Is not this, then. pro-
ceeding to impose upon the defendant
punishment, not only by removing him
from Office, but by an utter Disqualified
ton throughout all time from holding
Office in this State? 1t is, therefore,
clearly punishment which is sought to
be inflicted upon him. Now what does
Blackstone call an impeachment I read
from Fourth Blackstone, page 25S: He
proceeds to discuss Courts of Criminal
Jurisdiction" That is the very title IN
der which he treats of impeachment
"The High Court of Parliament, which is
the Supreme Court of the Kingdom, not
only for the working, but also for the exc
cution of the laws by the trial of
great and enormous offenders,
| whether lords or commoners, in
the method of parliamentary impeach-
ments. But an impeachment before the
lords by the commons of Great Britain in
Parliament, is prosecution of the already
known and established law and has been
frequently put in practice, beng present
ne',t to the most high and Supreme Court of
criminal jurisdiction by the most solemn and
grand inquest Of the aDhole Kingdom"
In Thirteenth Annual. page 573, the
Supreme Court of this State held that,
"The terms conviction and offense imply
prosecution by information or indict-
ment." I refer to this for the purpose of
establishing that the same terms, used in
our State constitution, are y be construed
as meaningly implying prosecution for a
criminal offense; and further. that the
court in which the party is thus prosecu-
ted, is criminal court.
Again. Mr.. Woodsen, in his lectures on
the common law, another high authority,
in vol. 2, p. $685. says: "In the last lecture
two distinct modes of criminal prosecu-
ton were reserved for future inquiry.
namely, proceedings on imapeachnoents and
penal acts of parliament"
The accusation of the Commons is sub
stituted in place of an indictment. ID. p.
35S.
AS to the trial itself, it must of course
| vary in external ceremony, but differs not
in essentials from criminal prosecutions
before inferior courts. The same rules of
evidence. the same legal notions of crimes
and punishments provide for impeach-
ments are not framed to alter the law, but
to carry it into more efectual execution.
Id. p. 1854.
What more authority can the Senate
want as to the character of this tribunal
You are called upon to inhic. punish
ment; punishment is the characteristic of