New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-03-17
PROCEEDINGS OF THE aEN ATE
WHEN SITTING As A COZ ASI DE
IMPEACHMENT.
.raurnent of Manager Lowell.

THURSDAY, March 3, 1870.
Mr.. Manager Lowell: Mr.. Chief Justice
and Senator'S, come before you to-day,
not for the purpose OF making speech
either of eloquence or OF oratory; no! lof
the purpose of appealing to your feenngs
in this case or in any other; not Tor the
purpose OF speaking on the teclnlca!ltles
of the law: not for the purpose OF dong
this thing or that thing to influence your
Judgment, but | come before you, gentle
men. to-day, asking you to examine the
facts in the case, as they have been pre-
scented in the trial, and to compare these
facts with the law as we understand It,
and as | think every person who bas gwen
proper examination under stands IT, and
then give US your verdict.
We say that the respondent al the par,
arraigued before you as hl9h court OF
Impeachment, is guilty Of high crimes and
| misdemeanors. We say that that lndi-
yidnal in whom were reposed ne hlSA
duties of a high responsible othce III the
| State, who had the management OF the
! finances of the State, has so degraded the
position he holds that he is no Longer III
and worthy of that position. L come mere
! Senators, to-day under lnausplcious clr-
cumstances; | come before you young
man, inexperienced in the consldera-
tions of high legal principles, TOT,
although educated lawyer, my expe-
rience and practice has been Limited;
come before you to cope with the BEST
LAWYERS Of the land; l come to answer one
whom | consider the most skilled ana
erudite lawyer in the whole South; man
who has made before you an argument
such as conceive no other man III this eli >
could have made; but. come, as DAVID,
when he went forth to meet the giant
Goliath. of old, armed with truth and jas
tice. and feel that am able to cope VIII
the great giant whom l have this day &c
meet.
You have been told that the managers
and the House of Representatives,, and
am sorry that that expression iell from Tue
Inns of the honorable counsel-you nave
been told that the framing. OF THESE
articles show that we are bralniess; tha'
we did not have the sense OF common
men: that we knew not how TO Iran'
articles of impeachment; that we knew
not the ground upon which we were traV
cling. You have been told, Senators, tina
you Yourselves, if you convict this mar
: YOU convict yourselves that you arr
Sitting here as the first Senate unde
the new rsqen,e-the first Senate tina
acknowledges that the black man ha
rights CO extensive with the white man
aud that if you convict this man. .yo'
acknowledge that the new system Is
failure. and that we ought to go back t
the old system of slavery. An appeal ha
, been made to the colored Senators tina
they must stand by Wicklife or they VII
fall themselves; that the theory that the.
dyapce is false and groundless, unies
, they acqait this man who was elected o.
the same ticket with them. Senators
stand here to-day as man who supporte
= George NJ. Wickliffe; as NTH who SUP
norted the Governor and the RepublIca
ticket at that election, and [ am willing t
attack him if think he is guilty OF mlsde
:, meanors. I stand here to-day, and al
/ ready to arraign before the bar OF thl
Senate the Governor of the State, or an
other officer whom | supported, If L al
p, satisfied he is guilty of high crime
II and misdemeanors: and I do not deslr
any counsel to tell me that, because
acknowledge those principles. and no
arraign this man, therefore l acknow
edge those principles to be Wron:
!, Not at all. We claim that undt
the reconstruction acts, We WI
:. establish new rule in this country; an
we will have no man in high Office guilty {
misdemeanors, be he Of cur choosing or
y he not. That is the principle. That
we elect man, and we find that we hay
been deceived, we are the first men III
- should come up and remove him irol
), Office. ,,,,.,
d that this is a case between the GoVern'
and the Auditor; that this is person
quarrel as to who should be most popul'
in the State, the executive or the responi'
J, ent at the bar. / told you in my openll
d that the Governor has nothing =,
all to do with this question; we, Il
q House of Representatives, to-day, arrai i
= this respondent at the bar. It is not Il T.
l. Governor who does this, but we, u
!, House of Representatives, say that
!. believe that the Auditor OF Pubic a
. . counts is guilty of such deeds as shou
= remove him from Office. We do not con