Part 45 (1/2)

CHAPTER LXVIII.

THE IMPEACHMENT OF GOVERNOR HOLDEN.

A. D. 1870 TO 1872.

The election of 1870 resulted in a great triumph for the people. Opponents of the administration were elected to the Legislature in overwhelming majorities, and a determination to bring Governor Holden to trial for his crimes against the Const.i.tution and liberties of the people was at once apparent.

2. Nothing can be more important; in a civilized government than protection to the liberties of the people. Nothing is truer than that ”eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” Even in the royal government of England, for more than two centuries the King has had no power to deprive a citizen of the right to be heard in the courts, when restrained by legal process or otherwise.

Neither there nor in America could anything but foreign invasion or positive insurrection justify even Parliament or Congress in suspending the right to this palladium of civil liberty.

3. Upon motion in the House of Representatives, the Legislature having a.s.sembled, a committee was appointed to inquire into the facts, and soon, articles of impeachment were presented to the Senate, charging the Governor of the State with the commission of ”high crimes and misdemeanors.”

1871.

4. By the terms of the State Const.i.tution, this worked a disability in Governor Holden; and Tod R. Caldwell, of Burke, then Lieutenant-Governor, a.s.sumed control of the Executive Department.

5. In a court of impeachment in North Carolina, when the Governor is on trial, the Chief-Justice is the president of the body. The members of the Senate are triers and the House of Representatives act as prosecutors in behalf of the people, and a two-thirds vote is required to convict.

6. Thus, with Judge Pearson presiding, there was a long and deliberate examination as to the charges made against the Chief- Magistrate of North Carolina. After hearing the testimony presented both by the accusers and by the respondent, Governor Holden was convicted of the charges made against him, deprived of his office, and declared incapable of holding any further honor or dignity in the State.

7. Such a trial has been seen but in this single instance in all the history of the State, and it attracted considerable attention in its progress. It involved great and important issues, and was happily followed by peace and quiet in every portion of the State.

8. After eight years' absence, a delegation was again seen in the Federal capital representing the State of North Carolina in the Congress of the United States. For two years past her members of Congress had been allowed to partic.i.p.ate in the national legislation, and thus an ignominious disability had at last been removed from her Federal relations. A mighty convulsion, that had stirred the nation to its depths, was being slowly hushed into calm by the adoption of wiser and more peaceful methods. A broader nationality was coming alike to the Northern and Southern people, and the wounds of the war were fast healing in the lapse of time.

9. The census of 1870 showed vast improvement in many departments of human industry. North Carolina, in the many alterations wrought by the war, was learning the wisdom of diversifying the pursuits of the people. Slowly public attention was being turned to the opening of new industries. The Western North Carolina, the Raleigh & Augusta and the Carolina Central Railroads were opening up a new era in the history of such interests in the Old North State.

10. With a greatly extended area of production in cotton, there was, besides, an enormous addition, of railroad profits from the increase both of travel and freights. As the railway lines lengthened to the west, it was found that they would repay the cost of construction, and each of the rival political parties pledged itself to the completion of the great Western Road which was to pierce the extreme mountain barriers and find outlets into Tennessee, both at Ducktown and the Warm Springs, in Madison county.

11. Slowly this great dream of the wise men of the past approaches the day of its accomplishment. A half century has gone by since Dr. Joseph Caldwell and Governor Dudley first impressed this scheme upon the public mind as a work of the future.

QUESTIONS.

1. What was the result of the election of 1870? Upon what was the Legislature determined?

2. Can you tell what is said about protection of the liberties of the people?

3. What was done by the House of Representatives?

4. How did these charges affect the Governor? Who a.s.sumed control of the Executive Department?

5. Who const.i.tutes a court of impeachment in North Carolina, and what vote does it take to convict?

6. Who presided at the trial of Governor Holden? How did the trial terminate? What was the punishment?

7. What is said of this great trial? What did it involve? By what was it followed?

8. What political changes were seen at Was.h.i.+ngton City? How was the condition becoming better?

9. What is said of industrial pursuits in North Carolina? Of railroads? Can you trace the route of these railroads on the map?