The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-11-24
shall Gov. Amc. Ne Impcached .

before the Senate on charge of " high
crimes and misdemeanors, under the
Constitution and laws of the State.
1t is the constitutional power of the
House to impeaeh when impeachment is
necessary, and of the Senate, sitting as
high court, to pronounce judgment.
The power of impeachment and trial has
been confded by the Constitution to. the
two Houses of the LegisIature, as shield
for the people against Executive asurpa-
ton, and when there are grounds for the
interposition of that body, there is no
consideration of expediency which should
be permitted to come between them and
the discharge of the solemn trust.
The people, in the name Of violated
Constitution, and the offended dignity,
peace, good order and laws of the COM
monwealth, have demanded it; and
there should be no evasion of the respon-
sibility, The legal grounds are too clear
to admit of a doubt.
The highest official crime a Chief
Magistrate can commit is an attempt to
corrupt the Judiciary and pollute the
fountains of Justice. Gov. Ames has been
guilty of this crime To the Governor
the appointment of judges, by the ad-
vice and consent of the Senate, has been
confided by the Constitution. It is noto-
rious that the present incumbent has
treated with contempt the prerogative of
the coordinate power in making such
appointments, and has arrogantly clothed
the persons of his choice with the ermine
without consulting that body.
The Constitution prescribes the mode
by which Judges are to be dismissed from
office, but he has set at defiance that in
strument and usurped the authority to
dismiss Judges who would not consent to
be the servile registers of his DEGREES.
The Constitution declares that each
department of the State government
shall execute its functions Independent
of the others; but he has sought to con-
troll the decisions of the judges of his
appointment and has Withdrawn appoint
ments which he had already made notori-
ously because the persons on whom they
were conferred would not pledge them
selves to conform to his wishes in the dis
charge of their great responsibilities to
their fellow-men, to their God and to
their country.
The Constitution prescribes that the
g military shall be in strict subordina-
ton to the civil power" He has under
taken to reverse this fundamental princi-
pie of free, republican government,
and to subordinate the civil to the mill
tary power, not only in the procurement
of laws designed to b ave that effect, but
in organizing armed bands and parading
them over the country to overawe, in tim
idate and browbeat the people, and to de-
ter them from the free and untrammeled
exercise of the elective franchise He has
gone farther, and in manner unauthOriz-
ed by the Constitutions of Mississippi and
the United States, and in derogation of
the rights. dignity and honor of the State
applied to the President for troops to in
terfere in elections, on the false assumption
that the people we're in a condition of
rebellion or instruction, and that the
laws could not otherwise be enforced.
Clothed with the sacred duty of seeing
that the laws are executed, and peace
and order preserved, he has melted riot
and murder to promote partisan and
personal ends, and in proof, We point to
his conduct in the affairs of Vicksburg
and Warren county.
The Constitution, Cart. 4, sec. $50 de-
clares that "no Senator nor Representa-
tive, during the term for which he was
elected, shall Re appointed to any Office
of profit under this State, which shall have
been created X y x during the time
such Senator or Representative was in of
fee, except to such offices as may be filled
by an election of the people," In wilful
and contempt of this provision,
Gov. Ames, after approving a law au-
thorizing him to appoint a number. of
Revenue Agents sat compensation not
exceeding fifty per cent. of whatever
sums" they might be the instrument of
appointed to the said ''office of
profit" members of the same body by
which the said Office was created.
With such an array of criminal acts |
by the head of the Executive
the least the House of Rep !
can do is to inquire into the
grave charges, and if there is ground for
them to be true, there will be
10 avoidance of the imperative duty of
lrraigning the accused official for trial,