New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-03-12

The crown tlfOuSn Jury OF WE'VE OF EoIo
| or less persons, to determine certain ques-
tons in regard to title to property. So
the proceedings now being had by the
Senate of the State of Louisiana may be
regarded as partaking of this nature AS
an inquiry by the House of Representa-
| tives, the representatives of the people
of the State, through the Senate, sitting
as court or jury, corresponding to the
Jury summoned by the officer of the crown
ali inquest in office on the part of the
House of Representatives through the
Senate, to determine whether George NJ
| Wicklife, Auditor Of Public Accounts,
has been guilty of such misdemeanors in
Office, such official misdeeds as render
him longer unfit and unworthy to dis
charge the high duties OF his office, and
whether or not this office should not re-
vert to the people, from whence it came.
| There are no titles to office III this coun-
try, they belong to the people. Some
what like lands i'll England, in former
times. when forfeited by the citizen they
reverted to the crown; and the person
who holds an Office in the State OF Loul-
siana, or in any other State IN
this Union, is simply exercising trust
which is repdsed in him by the people,
and this proceeding, in my judgment, is
nothing more nor less than an inquiry by
officers Of the State government namely {:
| To determine whether George NJ. Wick
life, Auditor of Public Accounts is longer
worthy to discharge the high trust which
has been reposed in him by the people OF
the State. This, believe Senators, to be
the character of the proceedings which
are now being held. That they are not
criminal in their nature is clear, for the fur
ther reason that you can not, as a jury or
judges in this case, impose upon the ac-
cused, if you find him guilty, the penalty
of the law. You are limited in your judg-
ment to simple removal from Office, and
this is no punishment, because it
is no infringement upon personal
rights or property. No man has a personal
right to this or any other Office within the
gift of the people. An Office is simply
trust under the constitution and laws, in
which certain duties are to be performed
in the name and behalfof the people. He,
| George NJ. Wickliffe, as citizen Of this
State, has no personal or vested right in
the office he holds. The people l in part
represent, are the parties interested, and if
| | fail to represent them here, If l should
succeed in misrepresenting them, believe
it is their right and their privilege to de-
mand that l should give way to some one
! who will more properly, more truthtully and
more fully reflect their wishes. An office
confers on no man, who may temporarily fill
it, any personal or property right, and his
removal in the interest Of the people from
Office is not and cannot be regarded in
| the light of a punishment. In SO t;.r as
this proceeding, which necessarily takes
| A. l,,1t oI 49, -
| the State OF Louisiana, the official action
of an officer of the State of Louisiana, it
partakes of political character, and if
this, not a political court; it is certainly
court of civil jurisdiction, performing
functions of political character, and the
proceedings now being held are conse-
quently political in their nature, in that
| they take cognisance of the official actions
Of public officer, and determines whether
he is longer worthy to discharge this Office
or not.
| I believe, then, Senators, that we have
established, first, who alone in this State
Of ours are liable to be impeached before
your honorable body. I believe l have es-
tablished the fact that those officers named
in article ninety-siX Of the constitution are
the only officers who can be removed by
Impeachment; | believe that have estab-
| lished the fact that this is the only mode,
whatever the crime, whatever the offenses,
whatever the degree of crime, be it great
or small, by which the officers named in
article ninety-six can be removed. believe
that l have further established the fact, that
this proceeding is not criminal, and not
| being criminal, must be civil but some
thing more than an ordinary civil trial,
| partaking, as it does, of the nature Of 6.
political proceeding or action. 1t is ne
cessarily political, because you sit here
representing the people in their political
capacity, and the House of Representa-
tives in their political capacity arraign an
officer in his political or official capacity
| before you for removal from Office, for
misdemeanors in Office. This We 90 in
the name Of the people-a great political
body-and we ask his removal in their
name because in our judgment, he has
been guilty of certain crimes and misde-
meanor, certain irregularities and extor-
tons, certain acts as Auditor Of Public
Accounts, which render him unworthy Ion
| ger to fulfill the high trust which they have
| reposed in him.
With these preliminary remarks, Sena-
! tors, will now briefly recapitulate the
CudIStS ttsStlAot 0SoISe VI. NiChiEiS,
Auditor of Public Accounts, and the testi-
mony we have presented to sustain those
| charges.
Our articles are, as you all know, twenty
eight in number, and, I will attempt to
group them SO as not to detain you longer
than necessary in forming q clear concep-
ton of the misdemeanors in Office for
which we have arranged the Auditor of
Public Accounts.
The first three articles are based upon
the failure of the Auditor to appear and
resist the issue Of the mandanus in
the Sixth District Court, and his sub
sequent action in issuing, teuice, a war;
rant upon the treasury of the State for
some Sl1, ZOO in favor of one Kaufman,
formerly the head of the Bureau of Immi-
grafton. l believe the counsel for the
respondent admit in their answer all the
facts charged in these first three articles,
but they aver, as an excuse for this action
of the Auditor, ''that although not legally
bound to appear in court as Auditor Of
Public Accounts, it was by ACCIDENT
and hope the Senators will bear in mind
clearly and distinctly the language of the
learned counsel for the respondent, that
Although not legally bound to. appear in
court, it was by accident, and not through
design or willful neglect that he did not APP
pear in said Sixth District Court, and
make answer to the said mandamus. and
present the same facts which proved sue
cessful in the month of July previously,
before the Fourth District Court"
Now, Mr.. Chief Justice and Senators, I
undertake to saw that if we rested Our case