The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-10-10

bids that we should attribute than to
any unworthy motives. Il is. indeed.
most remarkable that a man writing
OF times 50 intense a. those With
which Governor Holden deals during
which he WAS the center % the nrrr-
est passions known 10 man Should
write with such an absence o. rr-jl-
dice and bitterness
On page 159 is found the following
passage: One morning during tho
spring of 1870. CHIEF Justice Pearson
called 10 see me at my house We
conversed A good while. Among 9th
er things, he said. The senate o. this
state mas been chosen for four years
he said ii was chosen for four Years
and he could prove il beyond a doubt.
He said ne hoped l would confer with
him, and thar | would aid HIM in .
case TO be made up by the supreme
Court ] was surprised At the Sug-
gestion- The proposition was 10 me a
new one. ] had not thought ~ II.
But | said 10 him Judge. the people
IN voting for the Constitution no
doubt believed they were voting for
two years for the Senate. and not
four years And besides il is written
that the different departments OF the
Government shall be kept always sep
arate and distinct. According II this
rule. / could not beforehand confer
with the court He seemed TO be. rs
a. pm -
nest. The Senate at that time ~as
by tWo-thirds Republican. II was the
first Senate under the neW Constitu-
ton. | did not think OF the matter
any more until I was impeached'
The inference. Of course. is that IL
Judge Pearson's opinion We're cor
rect. and had il been followed. there
would have @en mo impeachment
proceedings.
But the astonishing part Of Cover
nor HoldenS statement IL the fact
that it is directly contrary to the po-
sition taken by Judge Pearson whom
his opinion IN this very point was
sought by the Senate itself. In De
cember. 1862, the Legislature adopted
q resolution asking the opinion OF
the Supreme Court judges as to the
term for which the members OF the
Legislature had been elected. The
judges replied in January. 1870.
Judges Reade. RodTnan, and Settle
declined to express an opinion on the
grounds that the Constitution forbade
their doing SO. Judges Pearson and
Dick took the other view. and tn"
former submitted a lengthy opinion.
~concurred in by the latter. to the eff
feet that the Legislature was elected
for two years. DR.. Boyd thinks, from
these facts. that the conversation be-
tween Holden and Pearson, referred
to above, must have taken place in
the spring of 1859, not 1870; q more
probable explanation is thar the Gov
ernor's memory after the Ia psc of
eighteen years. played him false
But astonishing as is the statement
of Governor Holden above referred
to, il is less 50 than the following.
made on page Isl. Says he, with ref
erence to Chief Justice P~earson's con
duet during the Impeachment trial:
Il had the best reasons for believing
/ a Il aru3r dS that he rpO3 Tdad me as
innocent. and that the writ Of habeas
corpus did not run in the counties Of
AIamance and Caswell. Mr.. Boyden
CNathaniel Boyden, one OF Governor
Holden's COUNSEL told ME in my
house in Washington city, in 1871.
that Chief Justice Pearson had told
him that L had the right, as Cover
nor. to put those two counties in Il
state of Instruction. and therefore
the writ did not run in those coua-
ties. And, said Mr.. Boyden. he
gave me points during YOUR trial on
which to defend you On my return
from Washington city told Mr. Bad
ger OR. c. Badger, another o. his
~counsel) M Mr.. Boyden had said.
MIR. Badger aid Why. he has told
me the same thing. This same
statement - repeated on page 80.
If Governor Ho1den's N I'M
not play him a trick. the conduct Of
Judge Pearson as it is here represent
ed, is not only most remarkable, but
utterly indefensibie. 1t is difficult 10
believe that the Governor accurately
the position Of the Chief JUS
tee. Either his own failing memory
must have confused the statements
made to him BY Mr.. Boyden and Mr..
Badger. or else those gentlemen must
| have misunderstood Judge Pearson.
II think the former rs the true explain
fatisn. 1t would not be refnarkaoie
| , That n Sf3torert made in 20 TO AT.
| Reydcn repeated by him in 1871 10
Cfove-nor Holden. and transcribed by
the latter eighteen years tlssst later.
fshoufd become confused in the Eaters
memoir But there car be no doubt
about what Judge Pearson wrofs in
the vear 1870 when discussing mrs
very proposition in his famous ppfn-
ion in ex parte AGolpnuS g Moore
In his opinion ne saws distinctly
The main question. and one OF which