WASHINGTON, _March 28, 1860_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
After a delay which has afforded me ample time for reflection, and after
much and careful deliberation, I find myself constrained by an imperious
sense of duty, as a coordinate branch of the Federal Government, to
protest against the first two clauses of the first resolution adopted
by the House of Representatives on the 5th instant, and published in the
Congressional Globe on the succeeding day. These clauses are in the
following words:
_Resolved_, That a committee of five members be appointed by the Speaker
for the purpose, first, of investigating whether the President of the
United States or any other officer of the Government has, by money,
patronage, or other improper means, sought to influence the action of
Congress or any committee thereof for or against the passage of any law
appertaining to the rights of any State or Territory; and, second, also
to inquire into and investigate whether any officer or officers of the
Government have, by combination or otherwise, prevented or defeated, or
attempted to prevent or defeat, the execution of any law or laws now
upon the statute book, and whether the President has failed or refused
to compel the execution of any law thereof.
I confine myself exclusively to these two branches of the resolution,
because the portions of it which follow relate to alleged abuses in
post-offices, navy-yards, public buildings, and other public works
of the United States. In such cases inquiries are highly proper in
themselves and belong equally to the Senate and the House, as incident
to their legislative duties and being necessary to enable them to
discover and to provide the appropriate legislative remedies for any
abuses which may be ascertained. Although the terms of the latter
portion of the resolution are extremely vague and general, yet my sole
purpose in adverting to them at present is to mark the broad line of
distinction between the accusatory and the remedial clauses of this
resolution. The House of Representatives possess no power under the
Constitution over the first or accusatory portion of the resolution
except as an impeaching body, whilst over the last, in common with the
Senate, their authority as a legislative body is fully and cheerfully
admitted.
It is solely in reference to the first or impeaching power that I
propose to make a few observations. Except in this single case, the
Constitution has invested the House of Representatives with no power,
no jurisdiction, no supremacy whatever over the President. In all other
respects he is quite as independent of them as they are of him. As a
coordinate branch of the Government he is their equal. Indeed, he is the
only direct representative on earth of the people of all and each of the
sovereign States. To them, and to them alone, is he responsible whilst
acting within the sphere of his constitutional duty, and not in any
manner to the House of Representatives. The people have thought proper
to invest him with the most honorable, responsible, and dignified office
in the world, and the individual, however unworthy, now holding this
exalted position, will take care, so far as in him lies, that their
rights and prerogatives shall never be violated in his person, but
shall pass to his successors unimpaired by the adoption of a dangerous
precedent. He will defend them to the last extremity against any
unconstitutional attempt, come from what quarter it may, to abridge
the constitutional rights of the Executive and render him subservient
to any human power except themselves.
The people have not confined the President to the exercise of executive
duties. They have also conferred upon him a large measure of legislative
discretion. No bill can become a law without his approval, as
representing the people of the United States, unless it shall pass after
his veto by a majority of two-thirds of both Houses. In his legislative
capacity he might, in common with the Senate and the House, institute an
inquiry to ascertain any facts which ought to influence his judgment in
approving or vetoing any bill.
This participation in the performance of legislative duties between the
coordinate branches of the Government ought to inspire the conduct of
all of them in their relations toward each other with mutual forbearance
and respect. At least each has a right to demand justice from the other.
The cause of complaint is that the constitutional rights and immunities
of the Executive have been violated in the person of the President.
The trial of an impeachment of the President before the Senate
on charges preferred and prosecuted against him by the House of
Representatives would be an imposing spectacle for the world. In
the result not only his removal from the Presidential office would be
involved, but, what is of infinitely greater importance to himself, his
character, both in the eyes of the present and of future generations,
might possibly be tarnished. The disgrace cast upon him would in some
degree be reflected upon the character of the American people, who
elected him. Hence the precautions adopted by the Constitution to
secure a fair trial. On such a trial it declares that "the Chief
Justice shall preside." This was doubtless because the framers of
the Constitution believed it to be possible that the Vice-President
might be biased by the fact that "in case of the removal of the
President from office ... the same shall devolve on the Vice-President."
The preliminary proceedings in the House in the case of charges which
may involve impeachment have been well and wisely settled by long
practice upon principles of equal justice both to the accused and to
the people. The precedent established in the case of Judge Peck, of
Missouri, in 1831, after a careful review of all former precedents,
will, I venture to predict, stand the test of time.
In that case Luke Edward Lawless, the accuser, presented a petition to
the House, in which he set forth minutely and specifically his causes of
complaint. He prayed "that the conduct and proceedings in this behalf of
said Judge Peck may be inquired into by your honorable body, and such
decision made thereon as to your wisdom and justice shall seem proper."
This petition was referred to the Judiciary Committee; such has ever
been deemed the appropriate committee to make similar investigations.
It is a standing committee, supposed to be appointed without reference
to any special case, and at all times is presumed to be composed of
the most eminent lawyers in the House from different portions of the
Union, whose acquaintance with judicial proceedings and whose habits of
investigation qualify them peculiarly for the task. No tribunal, from
their position and character, could in the nature of things be more
impartial. In the case of Judge Peck the witnesses were selected by the
committee itself, with a view to ascertain the truth of the charge.
They were cross-examined by him, and everything was conducted in such
a manner as to afford him no reasonable cause of complaint. In view of
this precedent, and, what is of far greater importance, in view of the
Constitution and the principles of eternal justice, in what manner
has the President of the United States been treated by the House of
Representatives? Mr. John Covode, a Representative from Pennsylvania, is
the accuser of the President. Instead of following the wise precedents
of former times, and especially that in the case of Judge Peck, and
referring the accusation to the Committee on the Judiciary, the House
have made my accuser one of my judges.
To make the accuser the judge is a violation of the principles of
universal justice, and is condemned by the practice of all civilized
nations. Every freeman must revolt at such a spectacle. I am to
appear before Mr. Covode, either personally or by a substitute, to
cross-examine the witnesses which he may produce before himself to
sustain his own accusations against me; and perhaps even this poor
boon may be denied to the President.
And what is the nature of the investigation which his resolution
proposes to institute? It is as vague and general as the English
language affords words in which to make it. The committee is to inquire,
not into any specific charge or charges, but whether the President has,
by "money, patronage, or other improper means, sought to influence,"
not the action of any individual member or members of Congress, but
"the action" of the entire body "of Congress" itself "or any committee
thereof." The President might have had some glimmering of the nature of
the offense to be investigated had his accuser pointed to the act or
acts of Congress which he sought to pass or to defeat by the employment
of "money, patronage, or other improper means." But the accusation
is bounded by no such limits. It extends to the whole circle of
legislation--to interference "for or against the passage of any law
appertaining to the rights of any State or Territory." And what law does
not appertain to the rights of some State or Territory? And what law or
laws has the President failed to execute? These might easily have been
pointed out had any such existed.
Had Mr. Lawless asked an inquiry to be made by the House whether Judge
Peck, in general terms, had not violated his judicial duties, without
the specification of any particular act, I do not believe there would
have been a single vote in that body in favor of the inquiry.
Since the time of the star-chamber and of general warrants there has
been no such proceeding in England.
The House of Representatives, the high impeaching power of the country,
without consenting to hear a word of explanation, have indorsed this
accusation against the President and made it their own act. They even
refused to permit a Member to inquire of the President's accuser what
were the specific charges against him. Thus, in this preliminary
accusation of "high crimes and misdemeanors" against a coordinate branch
of the Government, under the impeaching power, the House refused to hear
a single suggestion, even in regard to the correct mode of proceeding,
but without a moment's delay passed the accusatory resolutions under
the pressure of the previous question.
In the institution of a prosecution for any offense against the most
humble citizen--and I claim for myself no greater rights than he
enjoys--the constitutions of the United States and of the several States
require that he shall be informed in the very beginning of the nature
and cause of the accusation against him, in order to enable him to
prepare for his defense. There are other principles which I might
enumerate, not less sacred, presenting an impenetrable shield to protect
every citizen falsely charged with a criminal offense. These have been
violated in the prosecution instituted by the House of Representatives
against the executive branch of the Government. Shall the President
alone be deprived of the protection of these great principles which
prevail in every land where a ray of liberty penetrates the gloom of
despotism? Shall the Executive alone be deprived of rights which all
his fellow-citizens enjoy? The whole proceeding against him justifies
the fears of those wise and great men who, before the Constitution was
adopted by the States, apprehended that the tendency of the Government
was to the aggrandizement of the legislative at the expense of the
executive and judicial departments.
I again declare emphatically that I make this protest for no reason
personal to myself, and I do it with perfect respect for the House of
Representatives, in which I had the honor of serving as a member for
five successive terms. I have lived long in this goodly land, and have
enjoyed all the offices and honors which my country could bestow. Amid
all the political storms through which I have passed, the present is the
first attempt which has ever been made, to my knowledge, to assail my
personal or official integrity; and this as the time is approaching
when I shall voluntarily retire from the service of my country. I feel
proudly conscious that there is no public act of my life which will not
bear the strictest scrutiny. I defy all investigation. Nothing but the
basest perjury can sully my good name. I do not fear even this, because
I cherish an humble confidence that the gracious Being who has hitherto
defended and protected me against the shafts of falsehood and malice
will not desert me now when I have become "old and gray headed." I can
declare before God and my country that no human being (with an exception
scarcely worthy of notice) has at any period of my life dared to
approach me with a corrupt or dishonorable proposition, and until recent
developments it had never entered into my imagination that any person,
even in the storm of exasperated political excitement, would charge me
in the most remote degree with having made such a proposition to any
human being. I may now, however, exclaim in the language of complaint
employed by my first and greatest predecessor, that I have been abused
"in such exaggerated and indecent terms as could scarcely be applied
to a Nero, to a notorious defaulter, or even to a common pickpocket."
I do therefore, for the reasons stated and in the name of the people of
the several States, solemnly protest against these proceedings of the
House of Representatives, because they are in violation of the rights of
the coordinate executive branch of the Government and subversive of its
constitutional independence; because they are calculated to foster a
band of interested parasites and informers, ever ready, for their own
advantage, to swear before _ex parte_ committees to pretended private
conversations between the President and themselves, incapable from their
nature of being disproved, thus furnishing material for harassing him,
degrading him in the eyes of the country, and eventually, should he be a
weak or a timid man, rendering him subservient to improper influences in
order to avoid such persecutions and annoyances; because they tend to
destroy that harmonious action for the common good which ought to be
maintained, and which I sincerely desire to cherish, between coordinate
branches of the Government; and, finally, because, if unresisted, they
would establish a precedent dangerous and embarrassing to all my
successors, to whatever political party they might be attached.