The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-03-26


the court until the Judge who wrote 1t
woAld not know it. This editorial, Mr..
Busbee labelled as "terse, beautiful and
effective" and added: When Days case
came up the lines parted
The speaker feared that what he said
Saturday may have been misunderstood,
and he wanted to explain:
Il make and shallmakeno 6$R IS. IS
Il make and shall make no assertions
as to the good faith of members of the
House i nthis proceeding. l have said,
and do say, they were appealed to on the
partisan grounds. But | have not said
and do not say that they acted on other
than the right as they saw it, but
do say that the men who sat under these
partisan appeals must have been more
than men to have resisted them
Referring to Col. Davidson's speech
pointing out the steady encroachments
of the Judiciary on the other departments
of government, Mr.. BusDee declared that
the North Carolina court, more than
that OF any other. State in the Union
had resisted the encroachments of the
Federal courts.
Now with prophetic eye the speaker
peered into the future and his voice be-
came that of Job sitting on an ashe heap
scraping his body with a piece of pot.
He bemoaned the present, trembled at
the thought of the future, and declared
it would be "a day fraught with great
danger when this prosecution was sus-
tanned, for then the judges will sit
trembling beneath as word suspended by
single hair
He passed from Job to Kiplng and
tcld his hearers the Judiciary was not
armed with the reeking tube and iron
shard of the Executive, nor does it hold
the purse string as does the Legislature.
But the effect of this prosecution if it is
successful, is to make the legislative
branch of the government independent
and supreme.
Again, with Kaleidoscope suddenness
he changed the topic of discussion, and
with gap trappings and bold front he
marched to the defense of Chief Justice
Marshalls memory. For three quarters
of a century he said it had been safe
and revered by all men, and the one
bright particular star in it was the de-
cision in Marbury VS. Madison. But
the fame of this imoratal
the fame of this immortal expouhder of
the constitution, had been attacked, and
in this case. He wanted to resent the
things that had been said and defend
Marshalls name against all corners.
He passed for a reply. There was none.
Then none had dared take up the chal-
lenge, and he proceeded.
The doctrine of stare decisis was dis
cussed, which being interpreted means
the court is bound by precedents and
former opinions. In this, too, Mr.. Bus
bee maintained his bellicose bearing. He
announced his willingness ito break with
counsel for the managers lance over
the correctness of the decisions of the
judges on trial" but he did protest
against this Senate sitting as a review
Ing body. / protest in the name of JUS
tice that these judges are here to answer
to the lawyers here-whether they APP
prove it rnot in every particular"
Nobody rose to contest this point, eth
err. Then the speaker flew into a defiant
mood and the word defy flew thick
and fast like hailstones from his mouth.
II know danger of defiance, +" he de-
clared, but defy the other side to
show one single case in which a judge
has been impeached for error in his de-
cisions unless that error was commit
ted with corrupt and wilful intent.
defy to do It,"
Nobody did it..
Some Senators had thought, he said,
when they read that, ignorance of the
law excuses no man, that this applied
to judges. Mr.. Busbee, solemnly declared
that it did not; that on the blooming
other hand the judges were the only
class in the world to which it did not
apply.
"a Judge was never held accountable
for error in judgment or ignorance of the
law
This was truly refreshing, and in tones
meant to be conciliatory, if not plead
ing, he said it seemed to him that
upon this point we all might agree and
upon this platform We all might stand"
He would not elaborate the point; it
seemed to him too plain to need elabora
ton.
His clints, he said, did not ask mercy,
only justice-'that justice which Sidney
Smith declared is the hand maid of
truth
The martial spirit again took posses
sion of the speaker. Remembering that
one of counsel on the other side had
used the expression, "the bloody
of this argument" Mr.. Busbee seized
upon it with avidity, and using it as
a spring board he turned sonersault
into a veritable sea of blood.
''The bloody angle he rolled the term
beneath his tongue He repeated 1t and
then said it again to see how CHASTITY
he could make it sound. In bathed
breath he whispered it. in high pitched
voice he yelled it. 1.-THE bloody angle. ="
rs this the bloody angle, he asked
That historic spot where man met man
face to face and blood flowed like water"
Then he answered his own question by
saying "It is the blood of sacrifice and
injustice.
God forbid that there should ever
be a bloody angle here like that. Fifty
against two. These men have stood by
the law as they have seen it, for that
are they to be summoned to a bloody
angle?
ut would indeed be the bloodiest pic
tur in the book Of time.
At 11:45 Mr.. Busbee finished his re-
marks and Mr.. Long began his remarks,
reading them from manuscript in a
sedative voice of which somnolent ad-
vantage, and from which galleries and
Hobbies fed. He began with learned
discussion of impeachment-who may be
impeached, when and where and how.