The news & observer., 1901-03-27
CLOSING SCENES OF
IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
Continued from First papel


The king found, that having openly de-
NED the law, he had no hope OF being
sustained unless the doctrine of non
resistance, preached for a generation by
Filmner, should be accepted This hope
failed him, and tho house of Stuart have
been exiles for two hundred years.
More dangerous than this was the at
tempt OF his father who undertook to
impose the tax known as Ship Money
PLAUSIBLE arguments were adduced to
shov that former kings of England had
hKcwise imposed and collected such taxes
without the consent of Parliament, and
the highest Court in the Kingdom upheld
the coatention. The tax was levied and
collected by the kings order, Parliament
noS consenting thereto. 1t required a
revolution and seven years of blood and
carnage and dictatorship and a second
revolution to restore the equilibrium of
the constitution.
WITHOUT BREAKING ITS LETTER.
"A still more dangerous form of at
tack upon the peoples liberty is where
the aggressor clothes all his acts with
forms of legality, and destroys the con-
stitution without breaking its letter. We
have an instance of this kind in 1892
in France. The revolution was half ac-
complished, and the forces of reaction
were rising, the kings of the ointment
were ready to make war upon the rcvo-
qotion and to restore to the kings of
France their ancient absolutism The
revolution resisted, and war was declared
The king had the power of Veto He
did not wish the French armies to fight,
but he hoped for the speedy arrival Of
no fnso
aid him in overthrowing the liberties Of
the French. When the National AS
sembly passed laws providing for the Ma
tional defence the king vetoed their ac:s;
when an army was organized the king
placed at its head general whose heart
was not with the people, and who would
not fight orders were issued to the
generals to watch Paris rather than the
frontiers, and orders we're given to the
fontier garrisons not to delay the ad-
vance of the enemy. Evey act the k'1g
did, either in vetoing the laws, or in
distributing the army, or i'll giving COM
mands to the army was in the exercise
of powers indisputably conferred upon him
by the constitution. yet he was giving
day by day the most powerful aid possi-
BILE to the declared enemies of France
with only show of defence, Verdun sur
rendered without the show of defence
The Austrians were at Thionville and the
Prussians were at ST. Monehould. At
last the people realized that their enemies
were not on the frontiers or with the
Austrians and Prussians, but that their
enemy was Louis the Sixteenth in the
Tullieries-. They rose, and the monarchy
hxy
dust.
ALL THREE FORMS IN ONE.
I'VE have, Mr.. President and Senators,
a case before us which partakes of all
the forms of attack which | have men
toned. We have a court which has done
some of the acts performed in each phase
of the conflicts / have mentioned This
court has set itself up to thwart the will
of the Representatives of the people, and
1t has endeavored to clothe it's acts with
the form of legality. 1t has presumed
upon the veneration and respect cur peo-
pie are so wont to ascribe to the ;udc-
fary it has searched for an ancient prece-
dent by which to justify its acts it has
unearthed an ancient rule of construction
and by means of the old decision and the
rule of construction the court has en-
deavored to paralyze the legislative
branch of the government, and to usurp
its functions; it has assumed the power
to veto the acts of the Legislature, to
suspend acts of the Legislature, to dis
regard acts of the Legislature, to amend,
repeal and pervert acts of the Legisla-
ture, and to appropriate money ard force
its payment cut OF the public treasury.
These are the acts, Mr. President and
Senators, for which the peoples Repre-
sentatives in the popular branch of the
General Assembly have impeached these
Respondents fer high crimes and misde-
meanors The acts alleged against the
Respondents are practically admitted, and
their defence rests either upon the theory
that first, the acts done were right and
within the scope of the authority of the
Supreme court, or second, that the Re-
spondents had no intention or purpose of
violating the law or constitution, or third
that If the Respondents have violated
the constitution with the intent to do
so, they are not impeachable because
their action was not corrupt.
NOT A COURT TO TRY THIEVES
In the opening address Judge Bynum
construed the language of our statute