The news & observer., 1901-03-15
JUDGE ALIENS SPEECH.
A Powerful Argument Showing the Guilt of
the Judges.

the Judges.
The full text of Judge Aliens speech
in the Senate yesterday, opening the
impeachment trial. is as follows:
Mr.. President:
The duty devolves upon me as chairman
OF the Board of Managers of presenting to
thls court the views of the House of Rep
resentatives upon the pending Articles of
impeachment We shall ask the calm. de-
llberate consideration of each member OF
the Court, and shall demand that he pro-
nounce the verdict which his Judgment
and his conscience dictate There have
been strong influences at work to divert
the minds of members of the General AS
semblY from the real issue. and to i'm
press upon them and the people that there
is no serious question here to be decided
We have been told that the people of the
otate do not approve this prosecution. If
thls were true, the obligation would be
none the less upon you to decide this
case upon the law and the evidence. as
you SIT as sworn triers and cannot he
sWayed by public clamor for or against
tne respondents. But we believe that IL
is not true that the people do not an
prove this prosecution, and that the sug-
gestion can in every instance be traced
10 those who are personally interested
IN the defence. If such considerations
could enter into the minds of Senators we
would point to the action of the Houea
OF representatives as expressive of the
will of the people. We have been elected
by the people, are responsive TO their
wiShQG a
conduct, and are acting under the obliqa
tlons OF an oath to protect and preserve
their rights. Can we not then claim m
prosecute IN this matter, in fact as well
as IN theory, in the name of and for all
the people of North Carolina
NO POLITICS IN IT.
Again, it is claimed that this prosecu
tion is partisan, and that the purpose is
political. We would ask Senators to bear
in mind that the purpose of all impeach
ments is in one sense political. in that
1t is an effort to purge the public service.
and that the instance will be rare indeed
IN which it is not exercised by a political
party opposed to the political views of
those whose conduct is being INQUIRED
into This is true, because those of the
same political faith are in sympa-
tiny with each other, and thev
will not take the odium of exhibiting to
the public the misconduct of officials for
whose election they are responsible. Ii
it is intended. however, to say that this
prosecution is partisan, in the sense that
1t is an effort to get rid of officers of
different political party simply because
there is difference in political views, the
charge is without foundation, and the
course that this prosecution has taken
disproves it. When the first resolution
was introduced in the House of Represen-
tatives il was at once referred to the
Judiciary Committee of the House. At a
meeting of the committee on the same day
the resolution was without debate refer
red to subcommittee of five consisting
of Judge Graham, Judge Connor. Mr.. Craig.
hr. Spainhour and myself. At the irst
meeting of this subcommittee it was
unanimously agreed that we would first
undertake to ascertain the facts before
we discussed any conclusions, or any
recommendations that we would make.
We examined all witnesses that were OBJ
tainable who were thought to know any
thing OF the facts, and after this exam
ination We discussed the evidence and
agreed upon the facts that we would find.
Continued on Third Page.)