The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-02-01

It was written some twelve years age
and we are now told by the counse
here representing bis interests, that
was done by gentleman by the nam
of Boyd; that 1t was done withou
the authority and without the consen
of John S. 'Burdett, and that he wa
not responsible for the expression
used. Ali not responsible for thi
letter so long quietly acquiesced in
and not until the charges here had beef
framed against him, thinking that yol
might be carried away by prejudice, dc
he turn to the people of the State, Ions
afterward, and say that this letter wa
written without consent and without
authority from himself He shows you 6
letter received from this man Boyd, who
saws he did it upon his own responsible
ity. l do not think it necessary for me
to enlarge upon the fact that this Mr.
BOYD left the county of Ohio upon 9
charge of horse stealing.
Something further is said with regard
to the anlmus of the prosecution that
likewise has been directed to myself. ]
never was in legislative body until
was elected to the House of Delegates in
1874; and l did not desire to represent
the people of Ohio county in that capac-
ity. However l was elected, and entered
upon my stewardship and took the oath
that would discharge my duty faith
fully and impsrtially, and whatever SER
vice l might be required to perform, that
that service should be performed in COM
pliance with what believed to be the
character of an honest man. .
When this investigating committee was
appointed, without any desire of mine, l
was appointed chairman of that commit
tee. Thrice | declined, and it was again
offered 10 me, and at last l accepted 1t,
and when l entered upon the discharge
of my duties as a member OF that com.
mittee l did it with not only no prejudice.
but my feelings in favor of the officers into
whose official condact we were directed to
examine. Especially after we had receiv-
ed those letters as addressed by the Audi
tor and Treasurer, one to myself and 10
the Speaker of the House of Dele
gates, inviting us into close examina-
ton of the affairs of the respective officers,
we believed that there could be no charge
that could be in the nature o! blemish
against either of the officers, and certain
ly none such as contemplated criminal
prosecution My mind and judgment
had to be forced by evidence before l
could report to the House of Delegates
that this man, for whom l had given my
time upon the political hustings, who
was q representative of the party to
which was attached, was guilty in the
slightest degree. Such were the feelings
| entertained at the time l entered upon
this case. Substantially the same testi-
timony made here was brought to the
attention of the committee What
could | do? Could there be any
political bias? Was there anything to
do but to do my duty as i deemed to be
right? Tho recommendation Was made
that the parties be i'm } cached, and the
House, acting upon the recommendation,
did impeach. Ten or twelve months
have elapsed, wherein, we are told, these
scandalous reports have originated and
been published through the State, and
popular conviction rivited against this
man. How grave a mistake! Upon the
contrary, every obstacle that could be
thrown IN our way, has been-the char
acters of the managers maligned and
the managers themselves subjected to
personal assaults, because they attemp. ed
to discharge their duty as they considered
it. So much Tor persecution.
1t is further said by one of the respon-
dent counsel that the motive animating
the managers and others who devised
the impeachment, was to tear down thes C
gentlemen from the honorable standard
they occupied to level with them--to
be ciphers among us-but if they are
figures in moral or physical aspect, |
would like to know what the ciphcrs
amount to?
Although it may be irksome to the
Senate, it is due myselfthat | make these
personal explanations.
Mr.. Good then discussed the point
raised by Mr.. Davenport, that there had
been no act of the Legislature to carry the
Constitutional provision into effect, and
that therefore the Court had no jurisdic-
ton; and also to the technical objections
raised by respondents counsel to the
replication OF the managers.
In this connection | desire to say that
the principle is laid down by Judge
Story, that there is little technicality in
impeachments. desire to call your at
tention to section 765. He lays down
the principle that the charges should be
made known without the quibbles that
arise from able and astute lawyers.
Therefore say in common sense view
the replication is sufficient. and it is like
wise under the authority of Judge Story.
Hcthen discussed the propositions that
offences might be impeachable and not
indictable, and in this connection cited the
cases of Judges IIumphries and Anderson,
and a number of others who were i'm
peached for offences not inditable. In
this connection he said:
The elementary writers, drawing their
inspirat.on from these sources, have laid
down the doctrine that it is no answer
that the offense must be Indictable to be
improbable. Story and Rawle
and Curtis all agree that such
is the law existing in the United
States. All these writers sustain our
theory in this case. Added to these pre-
cedents and opinions, We take the terms
OF the Constitution, which says in the
very language there employed that often
scs are Improbable that are not indict-
able. For instance, in the ninth section
of the fourth article of the Constitution
it is stated that party may impeach for
"incompetency,' yet no one will be bold
enough to say that q citizen or a
public official may be indicted, tried
and convicted because he may be in
competent. | refer to the Constitution
of 1916, of $780, of 1851, of 1868 and to
our present Constitution. in support of
these views. Am TO be told that a cit
izen who may happen to hold promi-
nent Office, unfit TO discharge the duties
of that position. it matters not what his
moral character may be, who eau no,
keep record or manages the accounts
of the affairs of his Office to the prejudice
OF the people of the State, and yet who
refuses to resign, actually incompetent
49, 40, ha rap,,vads He must he rtu,Cy.