The Judges entered the Court, at about 15 minutes past ele wen. They were accompanied by Mr. Dallas, and several other gentlemen. The Judges being feated, Mr. Whitehill, the Prefident of the Court, thus ade effed them : Edward Shippen, Efquire, Chief Juftice, and Jafper Yeates, and Thomas Smith, Efquires, affiftant Juflices of the Supreme Court of Pennfylvania, you ftand impeached by the House of Reprefentatives of the Commonwealth of Pennfylvania, of a high mifdemeanor in the execution of your office. The impeachment will be read by the clerk. Here Mr. Bryan, the clerk of the Senate, read the article of impeachment for which, fee introduction, page 14. Immediately after the article of impeachment was read, Chief Justice SHIPPEN, rofe and faid, Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to deliver our plea and anfwer to this replication in writing. The clerk then read the plea and anfwer as follows :— "The answer of Edward Shippen, Jasper Yeates, and Thomas Smith, to the article of impeachment, exbibited against them by the bonorable House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania :— The faid Edward Shippen, Jasper Yeates, and Thomas Smith, faving to themselves refpectively, all exceptions whatsoever, to the faid article, and the charges therein contained, feverally anfwer and fay : That, they are not jointly or feverally, guilty of all, or any of the matters in the faid article contained, in manner and form, as they are therein charged against them. And they further, confidently aver, that, all and fingular the things, which they have judicially done in the premises, were dictated by the pureft motives of public juftice, were warranted and justified by the conftitution and known laws of the Commonwealth; and, were free from all feelings and designs of favor, prejudice, cruelty, or oppreffion. EDWARD SHIPPEN, (Signed) THOMAS SMITH. (Signed) A. J. DALLAS, JARED INGERSOLL, Counsel for the re- Mr. BOILEAU, rofe on the part of the managers of the im peachment, and faid Mr. Speaker, The managers of the impeachment conceive it to be their duty before they file a replication to this plea, to confult the House of Reprefentatives; and they folicit for that purpose, time until to-morrow morning at 11 o'clock, to give in their replication. The Court granted the time, and adjourned until half paft o'clock to-morrow. TUESDAY, January 8th, 1805. The Court opened at half paft eleven. accompanied by Meffrs. Dallas and Ingerfol. The Judges were M. BOILEAU." Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the House of Reprefentatives, I am inftructed to offer a replication to the plea given yesterday, in anfwer to the articles of impeachment." The replication was prefented to the Prefident of the Court. It was then read by the clerk as follows: "In the House of Representatives, Jan. 8th, 1805. The House of Reprefentatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, profecutors on behalf of themselves and the people of Pennsylvania, against Edward Shippen, Efquire, Chief Juftice, and Jafper Yeates, and Thomas Smith, Esquires, affistant Juftices of the Supreme Court, reply to the answer of the faid Edward Shippen, Jafper Yeates, and Thomas Smith, and aver, that the charges against the faid Edward Shippen, Jafper Yeates, and Thomas Smith, are true; and that the faid Edward Shippen, Jafper Yeates, and Thomas Smith, are guilty of all and every the matters contained in the article of accufation and impeachment by the Houfe of Reprefentatives exhibited against them, in manner and form as they are therein charged; and this the prefent Houfe of Reprefentatives are ready to prove against them, at fuch convenient time and place as the Senate fhall appoint for that purpose. SIMON SNYDER, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Attefied for Matthew Hufton, clerk of the House of Reprefentatives. ABNER WEBB, Asst. Clk." The clerk then read the rules adopted by the Senate, relative to motions and questions, as follows: "During the trial of impeachment, any motion made by the parties, or their counfel, to the Court, fhall be committed to writing, and read by the clerk of the Senate. "All questions put to witneffes, fhall be through the Speaker; and, if required by him, reduced to writing." Mr. BOILEAU." Mr. Speaker, I am authorized to state, that the managers and their counfel, are now ready to proceed on the trial." Mr. DALLAS. "On the part of the Judges, we are prepared." Mr. BOILEAU then rofe, and spoke as follows: Mr. Speaker, & Gentlemen of the Senate, CONNECTED with the honor conferred upon me by the Houfe of Representatives, as one of the managers to conduct this im-, peachment, is the arduous task of addreffing you on the fubject: I rife with embarraff:nent and diffidence, in a fituation at once fo novel, unpleafant, and deeply interefting. It is the first time, in my life, fir, that ever I appeared to fpeak in a Court of Juf tice, and never did I rife to fpeak in any Affembly, fo deeply. impreffed with a fenfe of the importance of the caufe, fo deeply impreffed with feelings of regret, for the refpectable and ve nerable objects of this profecution; and I hope, they will believe my affertion, when I fay, that to them, I owe no perfonal hoftility. On the contrary, when I caft my eyes on thofe geu tlemen, and recollect the refpectable characters they have fup ported in life-when I recollect the vast importance of the quef tion on which they are now arraigned at the bar of this tribunal, I am almoft overwhelmed with the idea. How imperious must be the neceffity, and how interefting to the people, is the deciWhen I re-;" fion which is to terminate this all-important trial. colle&t the magnitude of this question-a queftion greater than ever was agitated in Pennsylvania before, I feel the moft folicitous anxiety. The caufe now before you, is without example, in the hiftory of this country. The annals of Pennsylvania do not furnish us with the example of the impeachment of one Judge of the Supreme Court, much lefs of three. It is not the mere delinquency of an inferior magiftrate-it is not the trivial error of a magiftrate more elevated-but it is to try the crimi nality of three of the Judges of the first Judicial Court in this Commonwealth, men who are venerable in years, and whofe long lives and experience, fhould have warned them again fuch acts, as they are called upon this day to anfwer. It is, indeed, an awful and imperious neceffity, which this day calls upon us to profecute, and it mult, without doubt, be equally unpleasant for you, gentlemen of the Senate, to decide between thofe citizens at your bar, and the rights of our fellow-citizens, the rights of man, of our conftitution, and of our country. But, when I recollect, fir, that a few days ago, I lifted up my hand, to the fearcher of all hearts, and fwore to perform my duty to my conflituents, under the conftitution and the laws; when I recollect, fir, that I am addreffing a Court, compofed of men, chofen for the probity and integrity of their private and public lives, from various parts of the ftate; men, who are a like fuperior to private corruption, as well as to mere eloquence and fophiftry ;-not a jury, felected by an hoftile officer, or packed by a fycophantic sheriff,-I have nothing to fear, when I call upon them to be juft. "Before fuch a tribunal, no man who feels the mens conscia recti can have caufe to fear.". But, when I feel, that I am pleading, not only for my own rights, but for their rights, for the rights of my fellow-citizens, and for the rights of man, which I feel have been violated by thofe venerable gentlemen now at your bar, I do it with confidence that this honorable Court will vindicate thofe rights, and fee that the conítitution and laws have been complied with. Gentlemen of the Senate, I feel a diffidence, on a queftion of this magnitude, arifing from the feeblenefs of my powers, to do it juftice, and becaufe I know, that there are many, if not all, compofing this honorable Court, whofe age and experience, qualify them to form more correct opinions on the evidence and arguments which may be adduced. But, I fhall endeavor to point out thofe general and immutable principles, by which we fhould be guided in this prefecution. Thefe principles, are fimple and plain. Truth needs not the force of eloquence. No eloquence, no talents, are neceffary to make truth impreffive on the minds of intelligent men. The trial of this impeachment, fir, is involved with the foundation of our liberties, and the fecurity of our freedom. Permit me to lead back your attention, to the all-important period of '76, and the objects which it embraced, and let me afk what was the language of that day? When I look upon the members of the Senate, who compofe this honorable Court, and fee men whofe venerable heads are bleached with virtuous years, I feel how much more capable they are to relate, than I am to conceive the origin of the glorious declaration, which previous oppreffion produced, and the gallant and heroic ftruggle by which it was fupported. Although I was too young to engage in the perils of that glorious period, my bofom allo F caught the facred flame-my heart felt the throb which was excited in every virtuous breaft-What heart did not beat high-what cheek but flufhed-and what eye did not sparkle with moisture, at the found of liberty and independence. Before that period, Mr. Speaker, the endearing name of liberty was rather worshipped, than poffeffed. It was adored like the unfeen God. The idea of liberty, as we now poffefs it, was then only known in fable; it was confidered as a vifionary. fcheme a mere utopian fcheme, which exifted only in the brain of the vifionary, or fpeculative philofopher, and incapable of being realized. But the fortunate deftiny was referved for Amnerica, to reduce to fimple practice what other nations, for ages deemed impracticable. We then faw the people of Pennfylvania, and of the United States, as it were, in a fate of nature, difavowing any earthly fuperior, flep forth in all their majefty, and declare by their immediate reprefentatives" that all men are born free." We faw them confult what form of govern ment was effential to the happiness of the people, and lay down principles of political and civil juftice-formed out of the chaos of feudal and colonial barbariím, and rifing, like another pheenix, from the ruins of the native element. Sir, when our patriots and our fages affembled, for the purpofe of establishing a free government, the eyes of every man in Pennfylvania, and of every man in the univerfe, who felt for the happiness of the human race, were directed towards us; and whilft the tyrants groaned in agony, and gnafhed their teeth, the friends of liberty looked up to us with hopeful folicitude. Sir, this was an objec worthy of attracting the eye of him who is the great parent of the human race, and to look down with complacency from the pinnacle of heaven, upon his long oppreffed children, and to fee them bursting the bonds and fhackles which attached a fection of the globe to a mere fpeck upon another hemifphere, and uniting in the bonds of civil and focial virtue. Here it is, that we verify the faying-"man is the nobleft work of God"-and a government founded on liberty, is the grandeft, and the nobleft work of man. If we turn our eyes to that interefting period and enquire what did the fages of Pennsylvania do? We hear them, fir, on the 15th of July, 1776, after the great example of the Congrefs of the Union, fpeaking in this language : "Whereas, all government ought to be infiituted and fup. ported for the fecurity and protection of the community as fuch, and to enable the individuals who compofe it, to enjoy their natural rights, and the other bleffings which the author of exiftence has bellowed upon man; and, whenever these great ends of government are not obtained, the people have a right, by common confent, to change it, and take fuch measures as to 1 |