Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-02-10
From the Raleigh Sentinel
IMPEACHMENT.
SIXTH DAY.
SENATE CHAMBER, Feb. =, 1871

| SENATE CHAMBER req. =, 1911.
The Court met at II O'Clock NJ, pursu
| ant to adjournment. Honorable Il. M.
Pearson, Chief Justice, in the chair.
| Proclamation was made IN due form by
the doorkeeper.
| The roll of Senators was called and a
quorum found to be present.
| Senator Lehman moved that the reading
! of tho Journal Of the proceedings OF yes
| terdey be dispensed with. Prevailed.
| MIR. Sparrow, Chairman of the Board Of
Managers. opened the case on the part Of
| the Managers, in substance as follows:
| Mr.. Chief Justice and Senators:
The partiality of the Board of Managers
has devolved upon me the responsibility Of
making to the Senate, convened as Court
of Impeachment, statement of the facts
and of the law as applicable to the facts
on which they rely III support of the
Articles of impeachment preferred by the
House of Representatives against the Gov
ernor of the State, and upon which they
expect to urge before this honorable body
his conviction.
The spectacle exhibited in this Senate
Chamber to day 10 without precedent in
the annals of our country. It is the ar
raignment of the chief executive officer of
State, by the people of State, through
the representatives Of the people at the
bar of the Senate, for crimes and INSIDE
meanors in office. It is an accusation pre-
ferred by the people of North Carolina
against the Governor of North Carolina,
for an alleged invasion of their rights as
secured to them by the Constitution and
laws of the land. and the subversion of
their liberties. It is charge preferred by
the people that he, who was exalted by
their suffrages to the highest Office within
their gift, to be terror to evil doors, has
hi colf nf q
who was sworn to support and maintain
the lew, has become himself a violator of
the law-that he whose sworn duty 1t was
to protect the innocent and punish the
guilty, has made instruments Of the wicked
and disorderly to punish the innocent and
unoffending. verifying in his person the
Scriptural maxim, "When the wicked are
in authority, the people mourn"
Those who may imagine that this i'm
parchment of the Governor is an attempt
of a successful political party, in the flush
of their triumph, to depose from nis high
Office one who has made himself politically
obnoxious to them, greatly under estimate
the case, and impute unworthy motives
where none exist. AS party measure it
would be fruitless of results, as the remov
al from Office of the present incumbent |
would place in the executive chair as his |
successor, one of his own party, the Lieu
to the people, It is q movement. Mr.. |
Chief Justice and Senators, which rises |
far above all party considerations. 1t IS
the uprising of an outraged and oppressed |
people, to vindicate the violated law.
Mr.. Chief Justice and Senators, the peo-
pie of North Carolina have always been |
distinguished for their obedience to lao and |
their love of liberty. If they possess any
peculiar traits of character pre-eminent |
Oh oil 9th fhn1 1,oo
been so in all their history, from the Goth |
day of May, ITS. of Mecklenburg mem
DRY, to the present time. The cause which
they seek to vindicate before this tribunal,
ls not theirs only, but the cause of all peo-
pie who seek to preserve the forms of con-
stitutional government, and civil liberty.
1t is the cause of all free people, and of all |
people struggling to be FREQ the world over
the cause of New York and Missouri as
we'll as of North Carolina. The question
is great questionable issues are momen-
tous issues. Are the principles of liberty
built up, established and perpetusted in
Great Britain-handed down to our fathers
adopted by them and cemented. with
their blood-are these great principles of
the English bill of rights Of 1859, incor-
porated by the trainers of our organic law
into that instrumental the great charter
and habeas corpus, to be preserved in this
involved in this proceeding Do we live
in the enjoyment of constitutional free
dom Have We preserved, unimpaired,
the liberties bequeathed to us by our Eng
lish and American ancestors, or have we
Rdoptsd higher law than these, the law
of tyrants and of temporary majorities
which override and subvert, at will the
powers of constitutional freedom
Mr.. Chief Justice, when those in whose
persons the rights of freemen and the law
of liberty have been violated. by their IN
lawful arrest and imprisonment, shall have
appealed to the Judiciary for relief in rain
when the people through their repre-
'en.atives shall have called upon the SEN
ate sitting as Court Of Impeachment for
redress liz rdi1a-then indeed will our lib
critics have departed; then will revolution
IN our form Of government have taken
place, fearful in its proportions and re-
alized by none OF us; then will the glorious
;empIe of liberty reared for us by our
athers, instead of being as we had too
II strong rock and founded On rock, have {
quilt Upon the sand-swept away like |
imilar fabrics of old, by the strong hand {
# power and the necessity" pleas of
grants. II
Mr.. Sparrow then defined, very forcibly, (
he character of, and what constitutes un-
Ter the laws upon the subject, impeacha- {
lie offences. Besides numerous other Ru- l
horities, he cited the bearings of the acts
# our own Assembly of 1863 and 80 upon
he subject of impeachments, the sixteenth
ection of which provides that 'every
fticer In this State shall be liable to i'm II
)eAcRmept for, 1st, Corruption or other I