The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1875-12-09
IheImnencI,,nent lnsca.
WESTON. December 1, 1877:
Editors Of the Register

Treasurer and that the question nov
goes to the Serate for final trial.
The Senate sitting as a court, Will 10
/ governed by the laws and rules OF /
court upon all questions that may artist
upon the trial, and no hear-say evidence
tsuch Us the House committee relied
upon will be received: nor will thai
court determine the innocence or guilt o.
the parties, upon what each individua
member may consider improprieties 0l
censurable acts, but must contlne them
selves TO the law and the facts. AS to
the propriety or improperly to the acts
of these parties, it is IL question to be
determined by Il court composed 81 the
sovereign voters OF the State, when they
are called upon to elect their otlcerS'
Have these parties violated any law that
will subject them TO criminal prosccu'
ton? If they have not, the authorities
here cited are sufficient to convince
any candid mind that TINS I'M
neachmcnt cannot be successfully
maintained before the Senate ana II
il cannot be, the House oil DeIcSatcs
b,yc done "A very foolish ana unwlse
thing in running the tax payers OF the
State to the heavy expense necessary TO
j.. incurred in this trial Wilson of
In,.o who was chairman Of the Com
mittce of the House of Representatives
Csnd afterwards one of the managers to
prosecute Johnsom) to investigate the
charges preferred against Andrew John
son. IN his report defines what is an i'm
pcachablc otiense which report was
adopted by the House of Representatives,
thereby making it the opinion OF the
House rs to what constitutes an impeach-
able oflensc. He says: "The power OF
impeachment Is with the House of Rep
resentatiycs, but only for impeachabIe
otienses; they are to proceed against an
oirnnsc. but not To create an otiense and
make any criminal and impeachablc nj
their will and pleasure. What Is an
ofiensc. is "a question to be decided by the
Constitution and the law, and not by II
singlc branch of the Legislature and
when the oilensc thus described by I o
Constitution or the law has been constl-
tutcd. then and not till then has the
House power to impcach the offender. 3
\ evil officer may be Impeachcd for
q HIGH crime. What is II crime? II rs
s,,ch II r;oiaiioa u same I0cU h""ma tar
as ,cjU ro,der tie cfrHder iiab'c to he
prosecuted and punished. Grimes and
mi,drncunors, in their general sense, are
svnomouS, both being such violation OF
law as expose the person committing
them liable to be prosecuted and pun
shcd.
President Buchanan was member
of the House of Representatives, and
Chairman of :hc Managers in the i'm
pcuchmcnt trial of Judg: Peck, and
and here is what he says of an lmpcach-
able otlense: "A federal judge holds
his Office during good behavior. Official
misbehavior, therefore, in Judge Is a
forfeiture of his office, but when we say
this we have advanced only II small dis
lance Another question meets Us;
what is misbchavior in office? In an
swcr to this question, and without pre-
tending to furnish u definition, freely
admit we are bound to prove that the re-
.pondcnt has violated the constitution or
some known law of the land. Tins, |
think. was the prlnciple fairly to be de-
guccd from all the arguments on the
trial OF Judge Chase aud the votes of
the Senate.
Hon. Hcvcrdv johnson, who i, one of
the abcst lawyers IN the United States
yns n member OF the Senate upon the
iupcachmcnt Of Andrew johnson, and
acting under the sanctity OF an oath, rs
one of the JUDGES thus defines an i'm
pcachuhic offence.
"Tnat the terms. crimes and mlS'!"
mnauors in the Constitution of the
nitcd States mean legal crimes and
misdcmcauors If there could be any
doubt upon thi. suhicctl is further Oh
vious from the pruyis on in the 3d section
of the Ist article OF the Constitution,
that Notwithstanding the judgment on
Impeachment, the party Is liable to i'll
dictment, trial, judgment and punish
mcnt according to law This proves
that an officer can only be lmpeached
for acts. for which he is liable to crimi-
nal prosecution. Whatever acts, there
fore. that cannot be crimirally prose.
cuted under the law, cannot be- grounds
ot impeachment Nor is this Doctrine
peculiar to the United States. 1t was
held in the case of the impeachment OF
Lord Melville as far back as 1906, and
has never since been iudicialy contro-
vcrtcl in England"
The charges in that case were alleged
i.Droyer riMdr0~M diid use of the pub
lie funds entrusted TO him as Treasurer
ofthc Navy. by the managers it was
conceded that these were crimes and mis-
demcanorS, and denied by his Lordships
counsel. The impeachment eventually
turned upon this question. The opinion
OF the Judges was requested by the
House of Lords, and their answer was
that they were not crimes or mlsdemca-
nors, and his LeSdship on vote in the
aggre gate upon all the articles of 1850
was acquitted by majority OF S2l."
Senator Davis. of Kentucky, AS one Of
the Judges Of the johnson impeachment
trial. saws: "Besides treason and bribery,
which arc impeachablc by the Constltu-
ton, TO make any other act an impeach-
able oNcnsc, it must not only bccdetincd
mn ! I'tldTtl W t' III OiNAH'i 'ht i''''N
be stamped rs It high crime and mlsdea-
mcanor by an act Of Congress The
words high crimes and misdcmcanors do
no, define and create any ollenSe, but en-
press generally and vaguely criminal ma
turc. and of themselves could not be made
to sustain nm indictment or proceed
incs Tor any otlcnsc whatever; but
a law must define an ohcnse and aiiix
one of those terms to 1t, to make 1t
constitutional ground Of impeachment.
And this is not all; the otiensc in its ma
ture must have the type of hclnous NOR
al delnqucncies or grave political VIC
iousness tomake an officer committing IT
amcnab.c to SO wcighty and unfrcqent
responsibility rs impeachment.
The House of Representatives in the
eases cited, the judges and House Of
Lords OF England, james Buchanan,
Senators Johnson and Davis, all concur
in the opinion that an officer can only be
impcached for violation Of such laws as
will subject him to criminal prosec'-
ton. If the Auditor and Treasurer
49,, -; ,Io+, "a No lpw that will subject