And I concur in the opinion expressed by my predecessor in the letter addressed by the late Secretary of State to the governor of Texas on the 12th day of February, 1847, that the boundary between the State of Texas and the Territory of New Mexico "is a subject which more properly belongs to the legislative than to the executive branch of the Government.

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.

The negative upon the acts of the legislative by the executive authority, and that in the hands of one individual, would seem to be an incongruity in our system.

The legislative branch comes first and occupies most space in the constitution because its framers regarded the legislative as the most important branch.

The worst fears of the patriots and statesmen who framed the Constitution in regard to the usurpations of the legislative on the executive and judicial branches will then be realized.

They would then transfer the question from their legislative to their accusatory jurisdiction, and take care that in all the preliminary judicial proceedings preparatory to the vote of articles of impeachment the accused should enjoy the benefit of cross-examining the witnesses and all the other safeguards with which the Constitution surrounds every American citizen.

It is precisely because they are, and are intended to be, arenas of political combat, that legislatures cannot be trustworthy courts, and it was because this fact was notorious that the founders of this government tried to separate the legislative from the judicial function, and to make this separation the foundation of the new republic.