The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1876-02-23

fathers 1dopted q Constitution under erhich q
fcial malfeaSaace, and aonfeaSoAcs and ~
some cases, HlisfedSdace may be the subject % Z
although not made crtBtina bg at
of CONGRESS, or so recognized by the com mo-
law of England or of any State OF the
Union. They adopted impeachment as
means Of reDl0uiTlg from office toh0Se ms
conduct ipaperiIs the public safety and renders
them ulft to occupy Official position
All this is supported by the elementary
writers. both English and American, on
parliamentary and common law; by the
English and American usage IN eases of I'M
parchment; by the opinions of the trainers
of the Constitution; by cotemporaneous
construction. all uncOntradcted by any
author, authority, case, or iurist, for more
than three-quarters of century after the
adoption of The Constitution.
Wooddson. whose lectures were read at
Oxford in 1777, declared that inspeacl,1ne'nS
extended to cases of aatich the ordinary courts
had no jurisdiction. He says: Ma istrates
and officers may abuse their dele
gated powers to the extensive detriment oil
the community, and at the same time IN
manner not properly cOgllizdble before the or
dina,u tribunals" And he proceeds TO say,
the remedy is by impeachment.
James Madison, whose hand was more
visible in the framing of the Constitution
than that of any of the other sages of the
grand old times in which he lived, said:
What will be the motives which the Pres
| ident can feel for the abuse of his power
| and the restraints that operate to prevent
! it? In the first place. he will be mpeacha-
| BILE by this House before the Senate for such
| an act of NAL administration; for contend
that the lcantOR removal Of merttortous oDlcerS,
would subject htn9 to impeachment and reDaoodt
| from has Darn high truSt. Annals of Con-
gress, 1904-'5 vol. i, page 5l7.
Chancellor Kent, the great expounder
of constitutional law said:
If the President Cor Governor) will use
the authority of his station to Utoldte the Con-
stituti0n or law of the land, the House OF
| Representatives can arrest him Ia his career
by reSortingtO the poaoer Of impeachment.
But here, if possible, is higher legal
authority than ALL 1t carries with it a
weight of judicial learning with which
none other is invested. 1t is Story.
We quote from his commentaries.
There are naang 0fenses purely p0liticd
achtch haze been held to be aoithin the reach 81
parliamentary in1pedcLments, not one of which
is in the slightest manner alluded to IN oul
statute books And, indeed, political Of
lenses are of so various and comple
character, so utterly incapable of being de-
fined or classtie /, that the task of positive
legislation would be impraetcable, if no
almost absurd, to attempt it. y The
only safe guide in such cases, most be the
common law, which is the guardian at once
of private rights and public liberties; anC
, however much it may fall in with the pc
litical theories OF certain statesmen and jul
rists to deny the existence of a common Inv
belonging to aud applicable to the nation
in ordinary cases, no one get has bee" 60t'
eaOudh to assert that the pO1oer Of 5mpedch
n1ent is limited to OtenseS postttUely defined Il
the Stdtute book OF the Union as tnpedchd6t
high crimes and misdemed"0rs (Sec. 1881
Nothing can be clearer The Govern
r or who habitually violates the Constitu
; ton; the Governor, who, sworn to execute
; the laws, is an meter Of riots and blood
shed who consigns the high office who's
: duties he pretends to perform into tn
hands of ignorance and venality, as Anne
= has constantly done; who diverts from
the public treasury into the pockets o
: partizan favorites moneys that belong t.
: the people, as Ames has done in approx
ing the Penitentiary contracts VIII
WdnIOnIy Insults CO-OIuIudlo uepdTl
ment of the State government, am
charges it with being an irresponsible
mob because it does not belong to his pc
litical organization and is an obstacle t
his personal advancement, who ibels tn
State whose affairs he claims to admins
; ter and seeks to disgrace it before the Ma
ton and the world by false and calum
NOUS imputations-is not fit for the plac
and the people with full knowledge o
his crimes, of the public dangers witt
which his longer continuance in Office vii
be attended, and perfect consciousness o
the uprightness of their motives have de
5 mandedhis impeachment and removal
and will be satisfied with nothing less
: Who can, say in view of all tn
) misfortunes this man has brought upol
them, and all the struggles they hav'
made to throw off the incubus, that the,
are not right? They are looking to tn
Il Legislature with an intensity of feelin
! which battles description.