Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

kins of Pennsylvania; Silas Wright of New York.-20. And thus the resolution was passed, and was nothing but an empty fulmination -a mere personal censure-having no relation to any business or proceeding in the Senate; and evidently intended for effect on the people. To increase this effect, Mr. Clay proposed a resolve that the Secretary should count the names of the signers to the memorials for and against the act of the removal, and strike the balance between them, which he computed at an hundred thousand: evidently intending to add the effect of this popular voice to the weight of the senatorial condemnation. The number turned

means by which they were collected.

MR. CLAY and Mr. Calhoun were the two lead-out to be unexpectedly small, considering the ing spirits in the condemnation of President Jackson. Mr. Webster did not speak in favor of their resolution, but aided it incidentally in the delivery of his distress speeches. The resolution was theirs, modified from time to time by themselves, without any vote of the Senate, and by virtue of the privilege which belongs to the mover of any motion to change it as he pleases, until the Senate, by some action upon it, makes it its own. It was altered repeatedly, and up to the last moment; and after undergoing its final mutation, at the moment when the yeas and nays were about to be called, it was passed by the same majority that would have voted for it on the first day of its introduction. The yeas were: Messrs. Bibb of Kentucky; Black of Mississippi; Calhoun; Clay; Clayton of Delaware; Ewing of Ohio; Frelinghuysen of New Jersey; Kent of Maryland; Knight of Rhode Island; Leigh of Virginia; Mangum of North Carolina; Naudain of Delaware; Poindexter of Mississippi; Porter of Louisiana; Prentiss of Vermont; Preston of South Carolina; Robbins of Rhode Island; Silsbee of Massachusetts; Nathan Smith of Connecticut; Southard of New Jersey; Sprague of Maine; Swift of Vermont; Tomlinson of Connecticut; Tyler of Virginia; Waggaman of Louisiana; Webster.-26. The nays were: Messrs. Benton; Brown of North Carolina; Forsyth of Georgia; Grundy of Tennessee; Hendricks of Indiana; Hill of New Hampshire; Kane of Illinois; King of Alabama; King of Georgia; Linn of Missouri; McKean of Pennsylvania; Moore of Alabama; Morris, of Ohio; Robinson of Illinois; Shepley of Maine; Tallmadge of New York; Tipton of Indiana; Hugh L. White of Tennessee; Wil

When passed, the total irrelevance of the resolution to any right or duty of the Senate was made manifest by the insignificance that attended its decision. There was nothing to be done with it, or upon it, or under it, or in relation to it. It went to no committee, laid the foundation for no action, was not communicable to the other House, or to the President; and remained an intrusive fulmination on the Senate Journal: put there not for any legislative purpose, but purely and simply for popular effect. Great reliance was placed upon that effect. It was fully believed-notwithstanding the experience of the Senate, in Mr. Van Buren's case-that a senatorial condemnation would destroy whomsoever it struck-even General Jackson. Vain calculation! and equally condemned by the lessons of history, and by the impulsions of the human heart. Fair play is the first feeling of the masses; a fair and impartial trial is the law of the heart, as well as of the land; and no condemnation is tolerated of any man by his enemies. All such are required to retire from the box and the bench, on a real trial: much more to refrain from a simulated one; and above all from instigating one. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay were both known to have their private griefs against General Jackson, and also to have been in vehement opposition to each other, and that they had "compromised" their own bone of contention to be able to act in conjunction against him. The instinctive sagacity of the people saw all this; and their innate sense of justice and decorum revolted at it; and at the end of these proceedings, the results were in exact contradiction to the calculation of their effect. General Jackson

was more popular than ever; the leaders in the exposing the rottenness of their ally, the bank movement against him were nationally crippled; their friends, in many instances, were politically destroyed in their States. It was a second edition of "Fox's martyrs."

showing its corruption in conciliating politicians, and its criminality in distressing the people-and the unholiness of the combination which, to attain political power and secure a bank charter, were seducing the venal, terrifying the timid, disturbing the country, destroying business and property, and falsely accusing the President of great crimes and misdemeanors; because, faithful and fearless, he stood sole obstacle to the success of the combined powers. Our labors were great and incessant, for we had superior numbers, and great ability to contend against. I spoke myself above thirty times; others as often; all many times; and all strained to the utmost; for we felt, that the cause of Jackson was that of the country-his defeat that of the people-and the success of the combination, the delivering up of the government to the domination of a moneyed power which knew no mode of government but that of corruption and oppression. We contended strenuously in both Houses; and as courageously in the Senate against a fixed majority as if we had some chance for success; but our exertions were not for the Senate, but for the people-not to change senatorial votes, but to rouse the masses throughout the land; and while borne down by a majority of ten in the Senate, we looked with pride to the other end of the building; and derived confidence from the contemplation of a majority of fifty, fresh from the elections of the people, and strong in their good cause. It was a scene for Mons. De Tocqueville to have looked on to have learnt which way the difference lay between the men of the direct vote of the people, and those of the indirect vote of the General Assembly, "filtrated" through the "refining" process of an intermediate body.

During all the progress of this proceeding while a phalanx of orators and speakers were daily fulminating against him-while many hundred newspapers incessantly assailed himwhile public meetings were held in all parts, and men of all sorts, even beardless youths, harangued against him as if he had been a Nero —while a stream of committees was pouring upon him (as they were called), and whom he soon refused to receive in that character; during the hundred days that all this was going on, and to judge from the imposing appearance which the crowds made that came to Washington to bring up the "distress," and to give countenance to the Senate, and emphasis to its proceedings, and to fill the daily gallery, applauding the speakers against the President-saluting with noise and confusion those who spoke on his side: during all this time, and when a nation seemed to be in arms, and the earth in commotion against him, he was tranquil and quiet, confident of eventual victory, and firmly relying upon God and the people to set all right. I was accustomed to see him often during that time, always in the night (for I had no time to quit my seat during the day); and never saw him appear more truly heroic and grand than at this time. He was perfectly mild in his language, cheerful in his temper, firm in his conviction; and confident in his reliance on the power in which he put his trust. I have seen him in a great many situations of peril, and even of desperation, both civil and military, and always saw him firmly relying upon the success of the right through God and the people; and never saw that confidence more firm and steady than now. After giving him an But although fictitious and forged, yet the account of the day's proceedings, talking over distress was real, and did an immensity of misthe state of the contest, and ready to return to chief. Vast numbers of individuals were ruinsleep a little, and prepare much, for the combats ed, or crippled in their affairs; a great many of the next day, he would usually say: "We banks were broken—a run being made upon all shall whip them yet. The people will take it that would not come into the system of the naup after a while." But he also had good de- tional bank. The deposit banks above all were fenders present, and in both Houses, and men selected for pressure. Several of them were who did not confine themselves to the defensive driven to suspension-some to give up the de-did not limit themselves to returning blow posits—and the bank in Washington, in which for blow-but assailed the assailants-boldly the treasury did its business, was only saved charging upon them their own illegal conduct from closing its doors by running wagons with

specie through mud and mire from the mint in Philadelphia to the bank in Washington, to supply the place of what was hauled from the bank in Washington to the national bank in Philadelphia-the two sets of wagons, one going and one coming, often passing each other on the road. But, while ruin was going on upon others, the great corporation in Philadelphia was doing well. The distress of the country was its harvest; and its monthly returns showed constant increases of specie.

late to the officers of the Senate, to their chamber, and other appurtenances, or to subjects of order, and other matters of the like nature-in all which either House may lawfully proceed without any co-operation with the other, or with the President.

[ocr errors]

equally plain that neither the President nor any other officer can be rightfully subjected to the operation of the judicial power of the Senate, except in the cases and under the forms prescribed by the constitution.

"On the contrary the whole phraseology and sense of the resolution seem to be judicial. Its essence, true character, and only practical effect, are to be found in the conduct which it charges upon the President, and in the judgment which it pronounces on that conduct. The resolution, therefore, though discussed and adopted by the Senate in its legislative capacity, is, in its office, When all was over, and the Senate's sen- and in all its characteristics, essentially judicial. tence had been sent out to do its office among That the Senate possesses a high judicial the people, General Jackson felt that the time power, and that instances may occur in which had come for him to speak; and did so in a the President of the United States will be amenable to it, is undeniable. But under the pro"Protest," addressed to the Senate, and re-visions of the constitution, it would seem to be markable for the temperance and moderation of its language. He had considered the proceeding against him, from the beginning, as illegal and void—as having no legislative aim or object-as being intended merely for cen- "The constitution declares that 'the Presisure; and, therefore, not coming within any dent, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the power or duty of the Senate. He deemed it United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of treason, briextra-judicial and unparliamentary, legally no bery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors' more than the act of a town meeting, while in--that the House of Representatives 'shall have vested with the forms of a legal proceeding; and intended to act upon the public mind with the force of a sentence of conviction on an impeachment, while in reality but a personal act against him in his personal, and not in his official character. This idea he prominently put forth in his "Protest;" from which some passages are here given:

"The resolution in question was introduced, discussed, and passed, not as a joint, but as a separate resolution. It asserts no legislative power, proposes no legislative action; and neither possesses the form nor any of the attributes of a legislative measure. It does not appear to have been entertained or passed, with any view or expectation of its issuing in a law or joint resolution, or in the repeal of any law or joint resolution, or in any other legislative action.

"Whilst wanting both the form and substance of a legislative measure, it is equally manifest, that the resolution was not justified by any of the executive powers conferred on the Senate. These powers relate exclusively to the consideration of treaties and nominations to office; and they are exercised in secret session, and with closed doors. This resolution does not apply to any treaty or nomination, and was passed in a public session.

"Nor does this proceeding in any way belong to that class of incidental resolutions which re

the sole power of impeachment'-that the Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments' that 'when sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation that when the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside'—that no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present'

and that 'judgment shall not extend further than to remove from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit, under the United States.'

"The resolution above quoted, charges in substance that in certain proceedings relating to the public revenue, the President has usurped authority and power not conferred upon him by the constitution and laws, and that in doing so he violated both. Any such act constitutes a high crime-one of the highest, indeed, which the President can commit-a crime which justly exposes him to impeachment by the House of Representatives, and upon due conviction, to removal from office, and to the complete and immutable disfranchisement prescribed by the constitution.

"The resolution, then, was in substance an impeachment of the President; and in its passage amounts to a declaration by a majority of the Senate, that he is guilty of an impeachable offence. As such it is spread upon the journals of the Senate-published to the nation and to the world-made part of our enduring archives

and incorporated in the history of the age. The punishment of removal from office and fu

ture disqualification, does not, it is true, follow this decision; nor would it have followed the like decision, if the regular forms of proceeding had been pursued, because the requisite number did not concur in the result. But the moral influence of a solemn declaration, by a majority of the Senate, that the accused is guilty of the offence charged upon him, has been as effectually secured, as if the like declaration had been made upon an impeachment expressed in the same terms. Indeed, a greater practical effect has been gained, because the votes given for the resolution, though not sufficient to authorize a judgment of guilty on an impeachment, were numerous enough to carry that resolution.

"That the resolution does not expressly allege that the assumption of power and authority, which it condemns, was intentional and corrupt, is no answer to the preceding view of its character and effect. The act thus condemned, necessarily implies volition and design in the individual to whom it is imputed, and being unlawful in its character, the legal conclusion is, that it was prompted by improper motives, and committed with an unlawful intent. The charge is not of a mistake in the exercise of supposed powers, but of the assumption of powers not conferred by the constitution and laws, but in derogation of both, and nothing is suggested to excuse or palliate the turpitude of the act. In the absence of any such excuse, or palliation, there is room only for one inference; and that is, that the intent was unlawful and corrupt. Besides, the resolution not only contains no mitigating suggestion, but on the contrary, it holds up the act complained of as justly obnoxious to censure and reprobation; and thus as distinctly stamps it with impurity of motive, as if the strongest epithets had been used.

cally disregarded, in the commencement and conduct of these proceedings, but in their result, I find myself convicted by less than two-thirds of the members present, of an impeachable offence."

Having thus shown the proceedings of the Senate to have been extra-judicial and the mere fulmination of a censure, such as might come from a "mass meeting," and finding no warrant in any right or duty of the body, and intended for nothing but to operate upon him personally, he then showed that senators from three States had voted contrary to the sense of their respective State legislatures. On this point he said:

final

"There are also some other circumstances connected with the discussion and passage of the resolution, to which I feel it to be, not only my right, but my duty to refer. It appears by the journal of the Senate, that among the twentysix senators who voted for the resolution on its bate, in its original form, were one of the senapassage, and who had supported it in detors from the State of Maine, the two senators from New Jersey, and one of the senators from Ohio. It also appears by the same journal, and by the files of the Senate, that the legislatures of these States had severally expressed their opinions in respect to the Executive proceedings drawn in question before the Senate. clared by their votes that the President, in the late Executive proceedings in relation to the revenue, had been guilty of the impeachable offence of assuming upon himself authority and laws, but in derogation of both,' whilst the legpower not conferred by the constitution and

"It is thus seen that four senators have de

"The President of the United States, there-islatures of their respective States had deliberfore, has been by a majority of his constitutional ately approved those very proceedings, as consisttriers, accused and found guilty of an impeach-ent with the constitution, and demanded by the able offence; but in no part of this proceeding have the directions of the constitution been ob

served.

public good. If these four votes had been given in accordance with the sentiments of the legisla tures, as above expressed, there would have been but twenty-four votes out of forty-six for cencord of his conviction could not have been placed suring the President, and the unprecedented reupon the journals of the Senate.

"In thus referring to the resolutions and instructions of State legislatures, I disclaim and repudiate all authority or design to interfere with the responsibility due from members of the Senate to their own consciences, their constituents and their country. The facts now stated belong to the history of these proceedings, and are important to the just development of the principles and interests involved in them, as well as to the and with that view, and that view only, are they proper vindication of the Executive department; here made the topic of remark.”

"The impeachment, instead of being preferred and prosecuted by the House of Representatives, originated in the Senate, and was prosecuted without the aid or concurrence of the other House. The oath or affirmation prescribed by the constitution, was not taken by the senators; the Chief Justice did not preside; no notice of the charge was given to the accused; and no opportunity afforded him to respond to the accusation, to meet his accusers face to face, to cross-examine the witnesses, to procure counteracting testimony, or to be heard in his defence. The safeguards and formalities which the constitution has connected with the power of impeachment, were doubtless supposed by the framers of that instrument, to be essential to the protection of the public servant, to the attainment of justice, and to the order, impartiality, and dignity of the procedure. These test against the Senate's proceedings in these safeguards and formalities were not only practi- words:

The President then entered his solemn pro

"With this view, and for the reasons which have been stated, I do hereby solemnly protest against the aforementioned proceedings of the Senate, as unauthorized by the constitution; contrary to its spirit and to several of its express provisions; subversive of that distribution of the powers of government which it has ordained and established; destructive of the checks and safeguards by which those powers were intended, on the one hand, to be controlled, and, on the other, to be protected; and calculated, by their immediate and collateral effects, by their character and tendency, to concentrate in the hands of a body not directly amenable to the people, a degree of influence and power dangerous to their liberties, and fatal to the constitution of their choice."

And it concluded with an affecting appeal to his private history for the patriotism and integrity of his life, and the illustration of his conduct in relation to the bank, and showed his reliance on God and the People to sustain him; and looked with confidence to the place which justice would assign him on the page of history. This moving peroration was in these words:

and usurpers expiate their crimes. The only
ambition I can feel, is to acquit myself to Him
to whom I must soon render an account of my
stewardship, to serve my fellow-men, and live
respected and honored in the history of my
country. No; the ambition which leads me
on, is an anxious desire and a fixed determina-
tion, to return to the people, unimpaired, the
sacred trust they have confided to my charge
to heal the wounds of the constitution and pre-
serve it from further violation; to persuade my
countrymen, so far as I may, that it is not in a
splendid government, supported by powerful
monopolies and aristocratical establishments,
that they will find happiness, or their liberties
protected, but in a plain system, void of pomp
-protecting all, and granting favors to none-
dispensing its blessings like the dews of heaven,
unseen and unfelt, save in the freshness and
beauty they contribute to produce. It is such
a government that the genius of our people re-
quires-such a one only under which our States
may remain for ages to come, united, prosper-
ous, and free. If the Almighty Being who has
hitherto sustained and protected me, will but
vouchsafe to make my feeble powers instru-
mental to such a result, I shall anticipate with
pleasure the place to be assigned me in the
history of my country, and die contented with
the belief, that I have contributed in some small
degree, to increase the value and prolong the
duration of American liberty.

"The resolution of the Senate contains an imputation upon my private as well as upon my public character; and as it must stand for ever on their journals, I cannot close this substitute "To the end that the resolution of the Sefor that defence which I have not been allowed nate may not be hereafter drawn into precedent, to present in the ordinary form, without remark- with the authority of silent acquiescence on the ing, that I have lived in vain, if it be necessary part of the Executive department; and to the to enter into a formal vindication of my charac-end, also, that my motives and views in the ter and purposes from such an imputation. In Executive proceeding denounced in that resoluvain do I bear upon my person, enduring memo- tion may be known to my fellow-citizens, to the rials of that contest in which American liberty world, and to all posterity, I respectfully rewas purchased; in vain have I since perilled quest that this message and protest may be enproperty, fame, and life, in defence of the rights tered at length on the journals of the Senate." and privileges so dearly bought: in vain am I now, without a personal aspiration, or the hope No sooner was this Protest read in the Senate of individual advantage, encountering responsi-than it gave rise to a scene of the greatest exbilities and dangers, from which, by mere in-citement. Mr. Poindexter, of Mississippi, immeactivity in relation to a single point, I might diately assailed it as a breach of the privileges of have been exempt-if any serious doubts can be entertained as to the purity of my purposes the Senate, and unfit to be received by the body. and motives. If I had been ambitious, I should He said: "I will not dignify this paper by conhave sought an alliance with that powerful in- sidering it in the light of an Executive message: stitution, which even now aspires to no divided empire. If I had been venal, I should have it is no such thing. I regard it simply as a sold myself to its designs. Had I preferred paper, with the signature of Andrew Jackson; personal comfort and official ease to the perform- and, should the Senate refuse to receive it, it ance of my arduous duty, I should have ceased will not be the first paper with the same signato molest it. In the history of conquerors and usurpers, never, in the fire of youth, nor in the ture which has been refused a hearing in this vigor of manhood, could I find an attraction to body, on the ground of the abusive and vitupelure me from the path of duty; and now, I shall rative language which it contained. This effort scarcely find an inducement to commence the to denounce and overawe the deliberations of career of ambition, when gray hairs and a decaying frame, instead of inviting to toil and bat- the Senate may properly be regarded as capping tle, call me to the contemplation of other the climax of that systematic plan of operations worlds, where conquerors cease to be honored, which had for several years been in progress,

« AnteriorContinuar »