The testimony taken was reported by the Committee on the 15th of
April. His impeachment would have required a trial by the Senate,
which would have prolonged the session at least a month, and to this
members were much averse. Parties came to me and said, "Judge, what's
the use of pressing this matter. You have sent Turner where there are
only grizzly bears and Indians; why not let him remain there? He
can do no harm there." I replied that he was not fit to be a judge
anywhere, and I refused assent to a postponement of the matter.
Afterwards, when the vote was about to be taken, a Senator and a
personal friend of Turner, misinterpreting some expressions of mine
that I desired to bring the matter to a speedy close, privately stated
to members of the House that I had declared myself satisfied by the
passage of the court bill and was willing to let the impeachment be
dropped, it being understood that this course would not be taken as a
sanction of the Judge's conduct. To my astonishment, members who
had said only half an hour before that they should vote for the
impeachment now voted for an indefinite postponement, which was
carried by three votes--fifteen to twelve. I did not vote, and three
members who strongly favored the impeachment were absent at the
time. Seven of the members who voted for the indefinite postponement
afterwards informed me that they had done so under the impression that
such a disposition of the matter would be satisfactory to me, and that
if a direct vote had been taken on the charges they should have voted
for the impeachment.
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