New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-02-29
IMPAIRMENT OUAsHED.


cherished scheme to arraign Governor
KELLOGG to an issue. They sent COM
m;ttee to the bar of the Senate yesterday
tn accuse him, and the Senate, with COM
mendable promptness, organized itself
into a high court of impeachment, and
| passed solemn Judgment Of acquittal.
| Nobody can be surprised at this result
| and no reasonable person will be d,ssatls-
fed with it. The Governors accusers are
partisans. and found their motive for his ar
raiynment in party reasons. lie Is, as the
| REpuBrIcAN has shown, an obstacle IN the
way Of their g,asping the political control
Of The S;a!e, and as such they found it a
| necessity to remove him. The proceed
ipes of the House were entirely Of an
ex ra1ie aud irregular character.
Tie committee that WAS appointed to
examine the charges and find the articles
| of accusation, confined itself to merely
finding the articles. No testimony was
| taken. No witnesses were summoned.
| The accused vas not notified that pro-
| ceedings were instituted against him, as
the law requires; nor, so far as we know,
were any specifications to sustain the
main charge of s'high crimes and misde-
| meauors'' exhibited to the House itself.
Certainly none were exhibited to the Sen
ate. But he was informally accused at the
| bar of the Senate, in the name OF the
House, and there can be- no doubt
| the Jurisdiction Of the Senate attached
as fully as though the case Lad been
brought in the proper shape.
The order Of the Senate, which fully
| acuuits the Governor is in the nature OF
dismissal Of the proceedings for inform
ality, and, Of course, relieves him from
| the disability of suspension ordered by
the constitution in case of Impeachment.
1t may also be pleaded before the same
body as bar to any future attempt to I'M
| parchment at this session. Whatever view
| the impeachers may take Of the matter,
| the Senate, which is the sole judge, will
| undoubtedly be consistent with itself.
| Impeachment is, therefore, dead so far as
this Legislature is concerned. The enc
mics of the Governor and the Republican
party have thus staked the issue of long
| contest on single battle, and have lost.
They could not, of course, have hoped to
get verdict of conviction. They knew
| their cause was too weak and the Senate
too just to admit Of the possibility Of sue
cess in that way. All they hoped to accom-
plish was the suspension Of the Governor
during the remainder of his term of Office.
To prepare the public mind for this they
have persistently declared that the House
alone has the constitutional right to Or
der suspension as consequence of i'm
parchment. But this position is SO pal
pably untenable that they seem to have
abandoned it in part. and carried their
impeachment to the Senate. with a notice
that they would at some future day deign
to bring forward the proofs on which they
relied for conviction. Upon this showing
the court Of impeachment quashed the
indictment, and restored the Governor to
his official position, if indeed such irreg-
ular proceedings as have been conducted
against him could have affected his status
or touched his authority.
Now the impeachment business is dis
posed of, We are almost glad the Demo-
Gratis attempted it. They have held it
out as threat to the Governor and
hope to certain ambitious aspirants for
office long enough. Every public meas
ure which has been proposed by either
party during the present session has been
considered in some sort in connection
with Impeachment. If the Republicans
refused to surrender the Returning Board,
and thus give up their greatest safeguard
to free suffrage, the cry was: ''Impeach
the Goyernor!' In like manner, the va
rious little jobs which have been prepared
by corrupt lobbyists have been set astride
of this hobby, in the hope that it could
ride into the statute book through the
fears Of the Republicans Of disaster to
their Governor and disruption of their
party.
Two full days Of session yet remain to
look after the unfinished business of l. gis-
lation. We hope the time will be probably
employed by both houses. Now that Inc
impeachers find they can not ride rough
shod over the Senate and force their
party measures through without even al
inquiry, let US hope they will make some
show of consulting with that body. Per-
haps if they approach with spirit Of
fairness and kindness they may accom-
plish what it is very evident they can not
do by buster and threats of force. They
can not lose anything by trying, and may
even do little to redeem themselves for
what the people will be pretty sure to
consider an inexcusable loss Of time.
SPEECH OF GOVERNOR HTF1R1CXS.
We have read with atten, Un the adj
dress Of Governor Hendricks, delivered
before the Industrial Exposition Of our
city, and propose to consider its teachings
with reference to their application to the
social and industrial relief of Louisiana.