The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1873-03-05
The Case Of C0Ifax.

A very plain Issue is presented in
the case of Mr.. Colfax. tt is whether
a Vice. President Of the United States
under violent suspicion of perjury is
to he allowed, without trial, an honor.
able discharge from the public service
at the expiration of his term. In an
other form the same issue is whether
the dominant party in this country is
so nnpatriotic as to permit a defile-
menttof the national good name by re-
fnsing to try the man who pollntes it.
He Who aids and abets felony is in
the eye of the law as ,le,elict as the
frlon; and if the Republican party, as
represented by a majority in Congress,
refuses to 60 into Mr. Colfax's case that
party at once acknowledges aud par
takes of that wIetcled mans guilt.
Did the evil stop here it could be
borne. We might even console our
selves with the reflection that 80 vile
an organization would by the revela-
ton of its iniquity pave the way for
its expulsion from power, but the in
tolerable and unmitigated smart ia
that under orr political theory the
dominant party is for the time being
the Government of the United States.
If congress refuses to arraign Mr.. Col
fax the disgrace reflects back upon the
people of the United States. We are
the Government, and what besmears
that dishonors us.
For Mr.. Colfax we say, once more,
that we are sorry. His last, desper-
ate explanation clears up nothing.
The cloud over him is blacker than
ever, and, whereas once there was q
possibility Of some beam of light trad
iating its glo"my recesses, it is now
patent there is no silver lining to the
pail. Personally Mr. Colfax is so ire
deemably, inextricably, totally lost
that we feel twinge in referring to
him outside of his official capacity, and
in fact refer in this way to him only to
express Il regret for so conspicuously
terrible fall. A man of fair repute
among all men, and of exceptionally
high estimation among many, a pat
tern Republican statesman, the exem-
plar of political Sunday schools, the
pride of the loyal church, drops in an
instant from his Respondent eminence
and, as has been said in another mat
ter, changes from bri ght star to
lump of phosphorescent jelly. It is
not agreeable to contemplate such a
transformation as this, and as it does
not enter into the question we pass if
by. With Mr.. Colfax as man we
have nothing to do. In his individual
capacity he may be be left with other
telons to the stings of his own con-
science, the whips of popular opinion,
and the regular course of the law. But
as the Vice President there an earnest,
searching word to say. :
We protest against Congress affixing
40 horrible stigma on Interpolation
of this country as non-action in the
case of the Vice President would be.
Its jurisdiction is undoubted and COM
plee in each and every article. The
is constitutionally amenable
to impeachment, the offence charged
was committed by him when thus anne
nable, and the time of preparation was
this present session. AS to the power
of the one house to iudict and the other
to try. and punish there is not the
slightest flaw. In the whole range of
impeachment law there is not a single
obstructive technicality, no peg, how
ever slender, on which to hang a de-
fault. The probability of guilt is
equally present. 1t is said that there
is ouly oath against oath; Tut in the
crime of perjury such is always the
ease. The very groundwork AMI ba-
sis of the offence is that one man
swears one thing and other men swear
its opposite, and the weight of the tes-
timOny shows that the first man staked
his salvation on a lie. The falsity of
an oath can only be shown by other
oalhs, bacsed ifpossible by cumulative
circumstances. In the case of the Vice
President this highest torn of proof
|is present. There is not only Cakes
Ames' oath against his oath, but cir
cumstantial evidence enough to hang
IA man behind Cakes Ames. And moth
ing behind the Vice Presidents frantic
notwithstanding; that is, bnt
tile recollections of household men,
aced with the shameful overthrow of
it's chief. 1t is not every unhappy old
man who can look on his sons 0efec-
ton with the stern integrity of the