Given its reputation as the most partisan subset of this highly partisan Congress, it is no surprise that the House Judiciary Committee voted along straight party lines Monday, 21-16, to launch an impeachment inquiry of President Clinton. By the same count, the minority Democrats lost their bid for a limited, speedy and fair proceeding.

Limited and speedy definitely are out. Fair still has a shot.

But only if the process proceeds from the committee to the full House for an impeachment vote — that is, an indictment — and finally to the Senate for trial. Fair won’t happen if impeachment is used as a weapon to threaten the president into resigning.

The problem with resignation is that, although Mr. Clinton’s heartfelt, remorseful farewell would be public, the devilish details behind his departure would not. Should the new president, Al Gore, pardon his predecessor to shield him from prosecution as a private citizen for perjury and obstruction, suspicions would mount that Mr. Clinton traded two years in the Oval Office for a free pass. Should President Gore not issue a pardon, suspicions would mount that he cut a deal with Republicans, perhaps something to do with a less-than-vigorous investigation of his own campaign-finance troubles. If there is a cancer on the presidency, there also is a cancer on the Congress. In neither case is resignation the cure.

Far too much business in Washington is conducted behind closed doors, or, as they say within the Beltway, in the cloakroom. Larding up an appropriations bill with home-district goodies on a wink and a nod is one thing; a constitutional crisis is no time for horse-trading.

The wise souls who wrote this nation’s Constitution more than 200 years ago included an impeachment provison for a very good reason: Presidents may be elected for four years, but there’s no guarantee of job security in case of conduct unbecoming to the office. The process described is highly deliberative, it is loaded with checks and balances and, above all, it is open to the public.

Just once, 130 years ago, has impeachment process been carried through to its final stage. It’s time to dust off this neglected piece of machinery, fire it up and see how it runs.

Only through the impeachment process will the American people, the real stakeholders here, get to assess the full body of evidence against President Clinton, without benefit of spin. They’ll get to see which members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, act in the best interests of the country and which are out for political gain.

Beyond this repulsive, sordid affair, this open process would bring the benefit of conveying to future presidents the message that impeachment is not some unthinkable doomsday device but a valuable tool that has been used before and will, if necessary, be used again. And if Kenneth Starr’s investigation was as skewed and manipulative as the critics say, only the light of day that an open process will bring can expose the flaws and lead to whatever improvements may be needed in future independent counsel investigations.

No one knows more about the poisoned atmosphere that lingers after a presidential resignation than President Gerald Ford. In a recent essay. Mr. Ford, now 85 and with no political ax to grind, readily admits that his pardon 24 years ago of Richard Nixon did not end the national nightmare as he intended; instead it fostered a persistent mistrust of government. This time, Mr. Ford urges that the impeachment process be carried through to a fair and open conclusion. As Congress faces this momentous occasion, Mr. Ford wisely suggests the American people be given the opportunity to see who rises to it.