East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1919-05-26
.fy KAISER NOT ONLY
RULER UP fORiTRIAl !
WHETHER LAW OR NOT
Napoleon Was Exiled and
Charles l of England
Was Beheaded.
Ry ]. w. T. MASON

dent exists under international law for
the trial of William Hohenzollern, ex-
Emperor of Germany. by a court of
the Allies. nevertheless this will not
be the first case of n monarch, ''above
ltthe law" brought to punishment by
,EeNtra-legal means.
n When Napoleon began to be desert
ed by his soldiers in 1874, and saw his
hopes of final victory vanish, he en-
trusted Marshal Ney and others of his
friends with the work of negotiating
Ilterms with the allied enemy powers,
The allies insisted upon Napoleon's
labdlcation on behalf of himself and
his heirs as Emperor of France and
| King of Italy. Napoleon consented.
1.-THE allies thereupon dis not bring him
/ to trial but continued the negotiations
In the end Napoleon was permitted TO
| -IB uG ulIa .LoIsdu1, 10 9nn sul dssN
lowance of 100000 yearly. Chiefly
Through the influence of Car Alexan-
der. Elba was created principality
for him. and he was sent there osten-
| sibly as its ruler, but in reality, a pri-
soner.
After Napoleon's escape from Elba,
and his defeat at Waterloo, he be-
came. in effect, an outlaw. He fled to
Paris from Waterloo and abdicated
iagaiR. The Prussians were marching
toward Paris, intent on making Ma
poleon a prisoner of war, and the
French provisional government order
ed him to leave the capitol. Napoleon
was advised to try to escape to Ameri-
ca. He got as far as Rochefort. on the
French Coast, hoping to find an
American sailing ship there. The
British man-of-war Bellerophon how
ever, was in the harbor, and escape
was impossible.
The French royali3ts were now pur-
suing Napoleon, and rather than fall
into the hands of his own countrymen,
Napoleon boarded the Bellerophon
and surrendered Internationally to
British. The Bellerophon took him to
Plymoth. From there, he was sent to
st. Helena, by order of the British
government. He was stripped of his
imperial dignities, as punishment for
his escape from Elba, and thereafter
was not known as the Emperor Napo-
leon, but as General Bonaparte.
Previous to this termination of the
Corsican's public career, the French
had used extra-legal authority for
ridding themselves of the Bourbon
monarchy. The National Convention
of the French Revolution, on Septem-
ber goth. 1892, decreed the establish
ment of a republic. Louis XVI, who
lost his throne by this act, fell under
suspicion of conspiring to restore the
monarchy. A charge of treason was
brought against him, and he was
brought to-trial before the convention,
January 18th 1898. A majority vote
alone of the. convention was declared
necessary to convict. On January
goth, the convention voted 3S7 for
conviction. and ass for acquittal.
There was no authority in French law
for this procedure but that fact didn't
save Louis head and he was guillotin-
ed January 21st.
Charles Behcaded.
The English had great difficulties
in evading the law before they sue
ceeded in beheading the last of their
own absolutists, Charles 1. Charles
had attempted to intimidate the House
of Commons into doing his will by
storming the halls sacred to elected
representatives of the people. Never
theless, when Cromwells soldiers cap
tured Charles and called upon the
Commons to proceed against him, the
sense of lawful procedure was too
strong among majority of the mem
bers for them to act in so unprecedent-
ed a case.
Thereupon the Cromwell warriors
under command of Colonel Pride, en-
pIoyed what was after called 'Pride's
purge They forcibly expelled 143
members of the Commons who were
favorable to Charles. Other members
of the house prudently remained away
until there were only about so in at
tendance. This body was the famous
trump parliament On January /,
1919, it declared Charles guilty of
treason. The House of Lords refused |
to agree. and the Commons resolved |
that the right of legislation was a pos
session of the Commoners alone. They |
also declared they could make laws
without the Kings consent.
Then the rump established a high
court of justice comprising some $50
members to try Charles. The monarch
announced he was above the law, and |.
asked for the authority of his judges. h
He was told he was being tried by the Il
authority of the English people who ;
lad elected him. Charles retorted his
title was hereditary, not elective, and .
had been so for a thousand years.
The eminent legal authorities of
,ut the soldiers of Cromwell had no
interest in legal technicalities though
many of the judges refused to 90 on
With the trial. At the final session on
y sixty-two were present. They un- ,
declared Charles guilty.
urists down to the present day have =.
eld the verdict illegal, but Charles !,
,as led to the block in whitehall, Jan .
airy 80, 1919, and lost his head at :.
ingle blow of the executioner's axe. %
Bill of Impeachment.
The only effort that has been made
! American history to remove the
hfef executive was strictly legal A
i'll impeaching President Andrew
phnson was passed by the House of
representatives. and was sent to the :
mate on March 4, 1868. The princi-
al accusation was that johnson had .
sobeyed the tenure Of office act,
hich prohibited the removal from Of 2
ce. without whose appointment had u
be confirmed by the senate. In al
aIity, the Impeachment followed nj
tier quarrel between johnson and
because OF Johnson's lenient g
policy after the Civil
ar.