The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1876-02-23
The impeachment of GOV. Aaes
.-.T'he NOmentous Question.

crisis. NOT 10 I'LL p0"N
and dislodge Gov. Ames from the
position in which he has fortified
himself, 10 assaiI and trample upon
the rights of the State, is to throw away
the victory which was won by the people
after hard struggle against the cohorts
of Radicalism last fall. 1t is to confirm,
in the possession of the routed party, two
of the most important departments of the
State government, the Executive and the
Judiciary, and TO arm the public enemy
with weapons to continue the war upon
the liberties of the people.
That Ames has been guilty of fragrant
violations of the Constitution, by which
he has forfeited his right to the office,
(Which, in truth, he has never held by
lawful tenure) does not admit of doubt,
else the whole array of Democratic
Committees, from the State Executive
Committee to the local Beat Committees,
the spokesman and standard-bearers of
the Democratic Conservative party,
their presses and orators, have borne false
witness against Gov. Ames.
1t did not require long and tedious
labors by Investigating Committees, nor
clouds of witnesses under oath to prove
what all intelligent men and what all fair
minded men are compelled to admit
that Ames has ruthlessly trampled down
the Constitution in its vital and essential
parts. These facts were known as well to
the voters of Mississippi before the cleo
ton, as they will be known when the testl-
monv, on which the able Committee OF
the House have recommended his I'M
parchment, shall have been spread before
the eyes of the world, as it should be,
whether Ames is permitted to remain In
office, licensed to persist in his aw-defy-
ing course or not. Ames has not hid
his misdeeds under bushel he has
been courageous enough to perpetrate
them openly and defantly before the
ewes of all men, and especially before
the people of Mississippi, for whom he
has evinced no other spirit but intense
hatred and supreme contempt. Thu:
feeling has been evinced during his whole
career in Mississippi-by all his public
acts, whether as heartless tyrant hunt
ing her people down with Federal
soldiery as military commander whether
as Senator in Congress, by grace of his
own certificate Of election, uttering libels
against the State and voting for the
most extreme measures for their perse
cution-or whether as Governor "in
citing" Gin the language of the State Elk
ecutive Committed disturbance so tina
there might be an imaginary insurrec
ton oOhich he might quench IN blood" or in
sulting the Legislature, a coordinate de
partment Of the government, with a mes
sage arraigning it in effect as an If
responsible conclave-a mob--the mere
: creature of a campaign oflawlessness and
bloodshed.
1t must be borne in mind that official
misconduct to be improbable is not nee
essarily indictable, else there would be
little, if any, occasion for the constitu-
tional remedy of punishment by impeach
ment. Among all the examples OF re
moval of unfit persons from office by i'm
parchment, in this country, we can call
to mind no cases of removal for such in
famous crimes as are punished in the or
binary legal tribunals. Impeachment is
designed for different class of offences.
Not so much for arson-nor robbery
nor murder-nor other indictable offences
of that ilk, but for usurpations disregard
of law-reckless indifference to solemn
trusts-neglect of public duties-viola-
tons of the Constitution. The case was
forcibly put by John Randolph in the
trial Of Judge Chase, in the earlier stages
of the Government. He said:
1t has been contended that an offense to
be impeachable must be indictabe. F0Y
| 2cIdt then, 1 pray you, lCdS ii that this pr0Ui-
sion Of Impeachment found its aCdy into the
! Constitution? If the Constitution
did not contemplate distinction between
an improbable and an indictable offense
whence this cumbrous and expensive pro-
cess, which has cost us so much labor and
| so much anxiety to the nation? Whence
this idle parade -thiS wanton waste of time
and treasure-when the ready intervention
of court and jury alone was wanting to
| rectifv the evil? Canals Of Congress
1S04-'5, page 642.)
On the trial of Judge Peck, James
Buchanan, (afterwards President of the
United States), and one of the most
learned and conscientious statesmen that
ever lived, said: