The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1876-01-26
THE CARDOZO CASE.
The following is from recent number

ucatiOn, for crimes alleged 10 nave Deen
committed while he was acting In the ca
pacity or Circuit clerk OF " arren county
and says:
Those alleged crimes may not have been
committed While holding his present Office
but it is not the less true, according to the
principles laid down in impeachment cases.
that they inca 9actate him for the place he
is now holding"
The following opinion, given by the Holly
Springs south, is, however, doubtless cor
rect
ECrimes. however great, committed by
CardoZo before his election to the State OF
flee he Is filling, give no cause for his im-
parchment. 1t Is only for crimes and mis-
demeanors committed while IN office t1aG an
incumbent is i'm peachable. That CardoZo
is defaulter for public moneys, could most
likely be reached by a writ quo a1orranto."
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 public officer
liable to impeachment and removal for
otfenses committed previous to his term
of service? The question does not admit
of 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, i'm parchment may, to some
extent be regarded as mode of trial de-
signed, inter ala, to punish crime, though
not entirely So, since a Judgment on an inn
pea,hment is no answer to an Indictment
in the Kings bench. here Impeachment is
ORiy deSi0hed to relnOre ulift persons from Of
ice; 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 Oflenses to which the power of i'm {
parchment has been and is ordinarily APP d
piled as a remedy, are of political charac- =
ter, what are aptly termed po- Ii
iitical otlenses, growing out OF personal O
or gross neglect, or usurDatiOns
or habitual disregard of the public interests, q
IN the discharge of duties of political of h
flee. These are so various in their charac- :
4. Ia ah inf Ioiv Al
utions, that it is almost impossible to pro- n
vide systematically for them by positive
aw. Ihey must be examined upon Uei1I broad p
md comprehensive principles Of public policy b
md duty. -
In the trial of George G. Barnard,
Justice of the Supreme Court of New
York, in 1872, eleven of the thirty
Ight articles that were exhibited against
I'M related to acts committed by him 10
urlng previous term of office. His M,
ounsel moved to strike them out for oh
nat reason, and the question was ably hr
rgued. The Court (the Senate) sitting tel
the case refused to sustain the ii,
lotion by vote of % to g. Trial of n1f
+. &. Barnard, vol, l, p 191. In the bn
'gument against the plea (for striking tb,
IT. Mr.. Van Colt said -
They have cited the opinion of the As
moiy OF this State upon the question
neither person could be imT cached foran
zone IN previous term of office, and the AN
anon OF the committee, and perhaps the -,
lie oil the House TO the effect that he conId 'h
I be SO impeached; l do not 90 back to and
Z .s case OF Fuller; think that the opinion off,
'Te Iast Assembly upon question of this oiii'
~ in; may perhaps be as weighty as the cha
mon oil any previous Assembly. and the n,
: assembly voted that Albert Cardozo ehe'
! 'Hipeachaole for acts done in his nrevi mer
Tern, Term o. otiiee; they voted that George a.
=, ''' n'iu was Improbable for acts done 'iei
uiS previous term of office. they voted Is !
II John I'll, McCunn was imneachob1a 80
; done In his previous term Of otIic. graz
the opinion OF the ASsemb lv in these
&c weil-eonsidered cases, the opinion in T
after the solemn argument Of the e% ahIatt Equ
hSci that Judges CarioZo and Rarnar5 tat;o
10 lurhiSA, and the deliberate iudern,a,'t 'N'i0
ne House upon the question: / p1t the sign
non ! OF the last assembly against thn dor -
h.ou oi any previous Assembly upon thai
Souo,o l pun the opinion ofathe pres from
vious Senate unon '', ne opinion OF any form
ate voted, In the case of Judue Pr;niia
-, oV , oe pursued for acts done in a IL
lous Term OF office, and that his election office
I h",ner term had not the purging and
riand ie &C., claimed fer it by my learn tioha
re ease Of f." J, the opinion of the Senate ished
ag him for acts done in previous I tare of O.
nee; | put that against the opinion Of
y pstr,ous senate, and ] undertake to H.
best authorities that this iu5gmen ton
md and o ong present year is the law of port
auus anu ou2nt to he
oling authority in reason And miA in asa az nomir
GAM the learned Manager said: terme
W., attach as much weight to the pop- N,
r NE as any other man; not an indis- olR
al atm reverence for it. for the people do Juiic
n ones, just as indivd u great many constit
powers e'r pn nyes. The people have GER Presid
n the sco under LEI til, the Constitution. and,
reverence - oi their authority, | bow xvi,
Mind rnee . 70 their decisions. Thev ~
p ,, me IN point of polifical ana az