The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-01-31
Impeachment Cases.

w
liam Blount United States senator from
Tennessee, was charged in 1897 will
conspiring with British officers to stea
part of Louisiana from Spain for Eng
lands benefit. The house prepared ar
ticles of impeachment. The senate ex
PEELED him, after putting him under
bonds for trial. Blount's defense was
that senator was not civil officer
liable to impeachment, and on the ques
ton of jurisdiction only he was ac
quilted.
Judge John Pickering of the federal
district court for New Hampshire was
impeached in 1903 for drunkenness and
profanity on the bench. The defense
was insanity On trial before the sen.
ate, Pickering was convicted by party
vote and removed from his office
In 1904, Samuel Chase of MARYLAND. a
justice of the supreme court of the
United States and one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence, was
charged with improper conduct on the
bench; among other things, with having
INDUCED in "highly indecent and extra
judicial reflections upon the United
States government" in the course of a
charge to Maryland grand Jury. The
impeachment proceedings, instigated
and managed by John Ran lolph of Vir-
ginia, were political in their origin and
animus. Judge Chase was acquitted
through the failure of the prosecution to
obtain two-thirds vote against him in
the senate on any one of the eight arti-
Giles of impeachment. He resumed his
seat on the bench and held it as long as
he lived.
About a quarter Of century later,
James IL. Peck, federal district Judge
IN Missouri, was impeached for oppress-
i've treatment of an attorney. The case
was OF no Importance. The Judge was
acquitted.
Thirty years afterward, at the begin
ming of the war of the rebellion. Judge
West H. Humphreys of the federal dis
trict court of Tennessee Joined the Con.
federacy and accepted judicial office I'M
der it, without taking the trouble to
send his resignation to Washington. He
was impeached mainly in order to vacate
the office and convicted on June 26. 1862.
one OF the witnesses summoned to ap-
pear against Judge Humphreys was An
drew johnson, then governor of Tennes-
see, destined himself to be the next sub
Ject of impeachment proceedings be-
fore the senate. One of the four sena-
tors who voted not guilty on the article
charging Judge Humphreys with high
treason was William Pitt Fessenden.
whose vote five years later saved An
drew johnson.
Andrew johnson was impeached on
March a, 1868, the II articles charging
the president in various forms with vio
latlon OF the tenure of Office act with
violation of the constitution, with con-
splracy to prevent the execution of the
tenure of office act, with conduct and ut
terances tending "to bring the high of
nee OF president into contempt, ridicule
and disgrace" and with the public de-
claration IN his speeches while swinging
around the circle that the Thirty-ninth
congress was no constitutional legisla-
lure. 1t Is not necessary to recite the
history of the memorable trial. which
lasted for nearly three months and in
which the hottest of political passions
were enlisted. Thirty-six votes were
needed to convict. No vote was ever
taken except on the three strongest ar
tlcles-the second, third and eleventh
and on each of these the senate stood 35
for conviction to 10 for acquittal, i'm
parchment failing by single vote. One
of the counsel who defended President
johnson was the Hon. William NJ. Evarts
of New York.
The seventh and last federal impeach-
ment was that of William w. Belknap.
Grants secretary of war. He was charged
In 1876 with corruption in Office, and the
house voted unanimously to impeach
him. he resigned hastily few hours
before the passage Of the impeachment
resolution, and his resignation was
promptly accepted by Grant. The trial
proceeded nevertheless. Belknaps de-
Tense was denial of jurisdiction, based
On the circumstance that when the i'm
parchment resolution passed the house
he had ceased to be civil officer of the
United States. The impeachment pro-
ceedings failed by the lack of two.
thirds majority in the senate for convic-
ton.
1t will be observed that in only two
cases have impeachment proceedings
against civil officer of the United
States been prosecuted successfully be
fore the senate by the house of repre-.
sentatives. One of these was for the re.
noval of drunken and profane judge,
whose presence upon the bench was
public scandal. The other was purely
formal proceeding to vacate the office of
a judge actually engaged in open rebel.
lion against the government, but tech.
nically still an incumbent of his Office
under the government. OF the five un.
successful impeachment proceedings on
record, two failed for want of juris.
iiction. Of the whole seven cases, four
concerned judicial officers. Only once
has there been an attempt to punish by
a cabinet officer. Only
once has there been an attempt to pun.
ISh and remove nv imneaehment a Draci