Diplomats -- United States -- Biography; Morgenthau, Henry, 1856-1946; United States -- Foreign relations -- 20th century
The Tiger’s opportunity to impeach Sulzer came about in this way: When
Sulzer filed his sworn statement of campaign expenses, Tammany scented
some gross discrepancies and did some shrewd detective work. The result
was that they discovered that he had not included in his list of
contributions the $2,500 he had received from Jacob H. Schiff, nor the
checks of several others, including my own, which amounted in all to
many thousands of dollars. By careful investigation they had
established the fact that he had not applied these moneys to his
campaign expenses, but had deposited them to his personal account and
used the money as margin with a Wall Street broker for stock-market
speculation. Thereupon, Tammany leaders in the State Legislature arose
in the Assembly Chamber and impeached William Sulzer of high crimes and
misdemeanours. They charged him, among other things, with filing a false
statement of campaign expenses, with perjury, and with the suppression
of testimony; and demanded his dismissal from office. The Assembly
sustained a motion for his impeachment. When I returned from Europe in
September, 1913, I found that his trial was in progress, and I was
summoned as a witness to testify before the High Court of Impeachment.
It would take the pens of a Macaulay and a Swift to do justice to this
modern burlesque of the trial of Warren Hastings. I use the term
“burlesque” in no sense of disrespect toward the Court and its setting.
The dignity of the proceedings was almost awe-inspiring. But the
defendant lent no such exalted interest to the event as did the romantic
figure of Warren Hastings. The offences of Hastings had, at least, the
dramatic merits of their magnitude. Burke’s indictment of him was a
recital of crimes worthy of the treatment of a Greek tragic poet.
Hastings’s accusers were distressed queens, pillaged treasures, and
suffering peoples. Burke’s plea for a verdict was an appeal to the
conscience of mankind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account