The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1876-01-26
THE CARDOZO CASE.
The following is from recent number

while he was acting III the ca
Dacity of Circuit Clerk Of Warren county,
and saws:
while holding his present once, i
but X is not thc less true. according 10 tIe 4
principles laid down il impeachment casf e.
hat they incapacitate him for tile place nc
Is E4ow holding" nj.
The following opinion, given by the holls
Springs South, is, however, doubtless cor
rect
Crimes. however great committed oy
Cardozo before his election 10 the STATE Oh
fee he is filing give 10 cause Ior his Iib-
peachment. II i only Ter crimes ana ms
demeanors committed while N office that an
incumbent is impeachaoie. mat Cardo-o
is defaulter for public money :, coald mo-.
likely be reached by writ OF q1o lcaFFdhso-
If Cardozo has been guilty of half the
crimes charged upon him by the Times
good Republican authority, while serv-
ing in the capacity of Superintendent OF
Public Instruction, there can be no occa-
sion to produce evidence of crimes com
mitted before his election, TO secure his
impeachment. Doubtless, Capt. Lake
will be glad to testify before the Com
mittee of Investigation what he has SO
repeatedly stated in his paper.
But to the point. Is a public officer
liable to impeachment and removal Tor
offenses committed previous to his term
Of service? The question does not admit
of a doubt. The remedy by impeach-
ment is not so much to punish offenders,
as to take care of the public welfare by
removing unfit persons from office.
The authorities are ample and over
whelming.
Hon. VIM. Lawrence, of Ohio, in his
argument filed by Manager Butler in the
trial of Andrew johnson, said
In England. Impeachment may, to some
extent be regarded as mode OF trial de-
signed. inter ala, TO punish crime, though
not entirely So, since Judgment on an I'M
pea, hment is no answer 10 an lndlclmeh1
in the Kings bench. Here impeachment IS
only designed to rena0Ue u1lt persons nom o.
ire. and the party convicted Is subject to
Indictment, trial and punishment, in the
proper courts.
Mr.. Story, in discussing what are the
functions to be performed in impeach-
ment, says:
The offenses to which the power of i'm
parchment has been and is ordinarily APP
DlieG as a remedy. are of political charac-
ter. what are aptly termed po-
litical otfenses, growing out OF personal
misconduct or gross neglect, or usurpations.
or habitual disregard ct the puolic Interests,
in the discharge OF duties OF pohtical or
flee. These are so various IN their charac-
ter. and so indefinable in their actual nvo-
lutions that it is almost impossible TO pro-
vide systematically tor them Dy po>ltlN g
law. Ihey mast be examined upon 0ery 6ro1d
and comprehensive principles OF public policy
and d3u1.
In the trial of George G. Barnard, a
Justice of the Supreme Court of New
York, in 1872, eleven of the thirty
eight articles that were exhibited against
him related to acts committed by him
during a previous term of office. His
counsel moved to strike them out for
that reason, and the question was ably
argued. The Court (the Senate) sitting
on the case refused to sustain the
motion by vote of % to 8. Trial of
G. G. Barnard, vol. 1, p. 1911 In the
argument against the plea (for striking
out) Mr.. Van Colt said
They have cited the opinion OF the As
sembv of this State upon the question
whether person could be inn cached for an
act done in previous term of office, and the
opinion of the committee. and perhaps the
vote of the House to the effect that he could
not be so impeached; | do not 90 back to
the case of Fuller; L think that the opinion
of the last Assembly upon question OF this
Tfrlff ~
opinion OF any previous Assembly, and the
last Assembly voted that Albert CardOZo
was impeachable for acts done in his prevl-
Gus term of office; they voted that George
q. Barnard was impeachdbie Tor acts done
in his previous term of office; they voted
that John II. McCunp was improbable for
arts done in his previous term OF office; L
n,lt the oI,inion of the Assem- bly, in these
three weil-considered cases, the opinion, In
the first instance, of the Judiciary commit
tee, after the solemn argument OF the aplest
counsel that Judges CardoZO and Barnard
could furnish, and the deliberate judgment
of the House upon the question: ! put the
opinion OF the last assembly against the
opinion of any previous Assembly upon lil1t
question: | put the opinion OF the pres
ent Senate against the opinion OF any
previous Senate upon that question. Ihls
Senate voted, in the case of Judge Prlndle
that he could be pursued for acts done IN
previous term of Office, and that his election
To another term nau not TIC I4tE = iH9 anu
cOndoning effect claimed for it by my learn
ed friend. | put tRe opinion of the Senate
in the case of Judge McCunn. the Senate
trying him for acts done in a previous term
OF office / put that against the opinion OF
any previous Senate, and l undertake TO
demonstrate upon the weightleSt precedents
and best authorities, that this Judgment of
the Senate for the present year is the law OF
the land aud ought to be recognized as
controlling authority in reason and in law.
Again, the learned Manager said:
Now. [ attach as much weight to the pop
ular vote as any other man; not an inds-
crimiuate reverence for it. tor the people do
a great many wise things and great many
foolish ones, Just as individuals do in the
course of their lives. The people have GER
tain powers under the Constitution. and
within the scope of their authority, L bow
with reverence to their decisions. They at
least bind me in point OF political and con-
law. But if a man who has taken
brides in office. If man who has perverted
the law, il a man who has committed per-
jury. is elected by the people to offices. is
the offenSe purged away =? If he is elected
in the month of November to serve the peo-
pie for Legislative term. and committed
a forgery in October, and Is indicted in De-
cember and convicted, but becomes the pop
ular representative for that term, my learn
ed friends nave argued that the people VINO
elected him are entitled to be represented,
and that you take away their representative
bat have the people any power by the pOpu
lar vote TO condone the offeuSe of perjury.
and OF forgery. and Ot bribery? Is it any
answer in i case where he was indicted in
October, that the accused was elected in
NOvember?- Is it any answer to any liabil- !
lty for any crime known to any law admin |
stercd in any court, that the criminal has |
been elected to some office by the people ? |
want authority for that.
And further:
Now. have to refer to two or three pre-
which think little more germane |
Than those which have been cited on the |
pther side, In 1701 Lord Chancellor SOM |
ers was impeached for putting the great seal /
% the PARTITION treaties between England /
and France for succession to the throne of /
Spain, and for partition of considerable /
part OF Spanish territory to France. He |
vas impeaehed for putting the great seal TO
he treaties. He had gone out of the office |