Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1867-03-23


States the subjects of impeachment are the
President, the Vice President, and all civil
officers, an3 the offensss for which they may
he impeached are treason, bribery, and other
high crimes and misdemeanoys. The ar;
ticles Of accusation must be lodged by the
House of Representatives and tried by the
Senate. The usual course is for member
of the House to introduce resolution either
preferring charges or calling for com
mittee Of inquiry. After the resolution Of
impeachment has passed the House, com
mittec is appointed to conduct the prosecu-
tion at the bar Of the Senate A vote OF
two.thirds of the Senators present is neces-
sary for conviction When the President is
tried the Chief Justice must preside. The
Judgment cannot extend beyond removal
from office and disqualification to hold any
office of honor trust, or profit under the
United States The ". Y. Tribune, speak
ing on this subject, says: ...,. .sa aG
| The case of Bacon was only one of seve-
raj which the same Parliament pursued and
punished. Sir Giles Mompesson, Sir Francis
| Mitchell, Bennett, Judge of the Prerogative
Court of Canterbury, Field, Bishop of Lam
daft, Yelverton, the Attorney General, were
all prosecuted within a few months, and a
barrister named Floyd, for no more serious
ciense than rejoicing at the expulsion of the
/ Palatine from Prague, was sentenced to be
degraded from the estate of gentleman
and declared infamous, to stand in the pill
| lory, to be fined $4,000, to be imprisoned
for life, and to be whipped at the carts
tail. The whipping, was afterward remit
ted. Three years later, in 1924, the Lord
Treasurer, Middesex, having been impeach-
ed, through the influence of Buckingham, of
bribery, oppression, and neglect of duty,
was condemned to pay q fine of $50 900, and
to be imprisoned during pleasure, and for
ever excluded from Parliament and the
verge of the Court. But when the memora-
BILE conflict between the King and Parlia-
ment ending in the revolution and Protec-
torate, broke out in the next reign, the i'm
peachment of Buckingham himself was
subject of long and angry controversy. The
protection of Charles l.. who went to .he
length of dissolving Parliament in order to
save his favorite, could not have shielded
the Duke long from the vengeance of the
Commons but his career was cut short by
the knife of an assassin.
The power of impeachment now became,
in the hands of the popular party led by
Pym and Hampden, weapon OF tremen-
dous power, and they used it without
mercy. On the 18th of November, l640,
the House of Commons debated with closed
doors, and when these were opened, ma
jority of the members, with Pym at their
head, proceeded to the bar of the Lords and
impeached Stafford, the most obnoxious of
the royal ministers, of high treason. The
trial took place in Westminster Hall the
following March. Next to the trial of
Warren Hastings, it was probably the most
remarkable impeachment case in English
history. The Commons sat on elevated
benches on each side of the Lords. The
King and Queen occupied private boxes be-
hind the throne, hoping vainly that their
) presence would act as check upon the for
wardness of the witnesses and the violence
of the managers. A gallery was erected for
ladies, who paid high prices for admission
The trial lasted thirteen days. The specta.
tors used to come as early as five in the
morning BY seven the hall was full. The
proceedings began at nine, and were often
prolonged till two, three, or four o'clock in
the morning without intermission. The
Commons abandoned the impeachment and
introduced in their own body bill of at.
tainder, charging Stafford with an attempt
to subvert the liberties of the country
Convicted and sentenced to death he met
his fate with magnificent calmness and dig.
nifty, and has doubtless received more lie.
nient judgment from posterity than If his
fate had been less cruel and his prosecutors
more merciful.
When Stafford was led out to execution
he knelt before the window of cell which
he had to pass, and begged the blessing ol
Archbishop Laud, who was there imprison'
ed on charges similar to those for which the
Earl himself was to suffer. Laud was i'm
peached, and, after a year and quarter,
was brought to trial. The cause was pro
longed six months, and then was termina
ted just as Strafford's had been. The Com
mons, 2espairing of a conviction before the
Upper House, brought in bill of attainder
and the Archbishop was beheaded.
Inpeachments, indeed, from the time
, forth, seem to have been, with very few
exceptions, tedious, irritating, and expen
sive failures Charles l. impeached the
leaders of the Parliamentary party; but his
action was clearly unconstitutional, and
nothing came of it. Lord Clarendon wa:
| impeached of high treason in the reign o!
; Charles H., and went into voluntary exile
Lords Arlington and Dandy were impeach
ed in the same reign, and the prosecution
. failed. But during the insane period o.
| Oates's "Pepish Plot" the venerable Wis
count Stafford was placed at the bar of the
House of Lords, charged with completely il
, that imaginary scheme, and after a sever
days trial was convicted and executed
: His death had an effect very different from
what his prosecutors desired, and probably
did more than any other thing to arouse the
nation from its bloody dream of plots and
conspiracy. Indeed the tendency of i'm
peachment in modern times has almost al
, ways been to raise the prisoner to the digni
,, ty of martyrdom, and benefit the cause fol-
which he suffers.
The circumstances of the trial of Warrer
Hastings are so well known that we neet
only briefly refer to them. Impeached fol
: tyrannical and corrupt practices during hi
; administration as Governor General of Bri
tish India, lie was tried before one of tn,
most distinguished assemblages that evel
gathered in Westminster Hall-Burke, Fox
and Sheridan making some of their most
celebrated speeches as managers on behalf
, of the Commons. The articles of impeach