The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-06-05
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CASE RECALLS
OF PAST YEARS
Only Two Defendants, Both
Federal Judges, Have
Been Convicted.

JOhnSOn'S demand.
On Feb 21, 1868. the house of repre-
sentatives by a vote of 126 to AZ de
cided to impeach the president. The
managers selected by the house, most
of them radical anti-Johnson men. in
cluded Benjamin f. Butler, Thaddeus
Stevens, George S. Boutwell, and John
A. Logon. The formal impeachment.
consisting Of eleven separate articles.
was laid before the senate on March 5.
OF the charges those embodied in the
second and third articles, dealing with
Stanton's removal and the appoint
1lent OF his successor, and the elev-
enth, which charged the president with
publicly holding that the Thlrty-nlnth
congress was an unlawful body, were
considered most important.
His trial opened on March 80, John
son being represented by a coterie of
able lawyers, among whom were B. II.
Curtis, later an associate justice of
the supreme court: William NJ. Evarts
and Henry Stanberry. Chief Justice
Chase presided and did his best to pre-
vent the unfair action of the senate in
regard to the admission Of evidence,
which was disclosed as the trial pro-
ceeded. The proof was all in by April
%, and after long and able summing
up the vote was taken on May 16.
There were f1fty-four senators, and
1t was necessary to get thirty-six to
! convict The first vote was as the
eleventh count, on which the vote
stood 80 for conviction and 10 for ac-
quittal thus falling one vote short of
the required two-thirds. This resulted
from the fact that seven regular Re
publicans voted with the twelve Dem
ocrats and four so called Johnson or
administration Republicans to acquit.
The same result having been obtained
on the second and third counts, the
radical opposition threw up its hands
and the senate adjourned sine die with
out voting on the other charges.
Grants War Secretary Impeached
The impeachment Of General William
W. Belknap, secretary of war in the
cabinet of President Grant, constitutes
the only impeachment Of cabinet
officer in American history. General
Belknap had an honorable record as
a soldier during the civil war and en-
tered the cabinet early In Grants first
term as bead of the war department
! One Of his duties In that position was
! the appointment of an officer known
as the post trader. The position was
a lucrative one, and the profits de-
pended to large extent on the secre-
| 90 0P No oh ot,nct Dol
knap was that he had entered into a
corrupt bargain with his appointee by
means of which he was to receive a
part of his large profits, payable in
quarterly installments. Proof was sub
mitted to show that Belknap's share of
the profits amounted in all to about
$20,OOO
Evidence Of Belknaps corruption
was presented to the house In report
from the committee on expenditures in
the war department, which recon-
mended impeachment. This was on
March 2, 1876 The house at once
unanimously voted to impeach the sec
retary. Belknap, however, had previ
ously received an intimation Of what
the report was to contain, and on the
morning of the same day he handed
In his resignation to President Grant
with the request that 1t be immediate
ly accepted. Grant, who had the repu-
tatlon Of standing by his friends" at
once acceded to his secretary's request
Proceedings Went On.
George F. Hoar of Massachusetts.
then a member of the house, was the
principal manager for the house, and
the impeachment proceedings were
launched despite Belknap's resignation.
The vote on the impeachment was tax
en- on Aug. /. Thirty-seven senators
voted guilty" and twenty-five mot
guilty" AS the necessary two-thirds
vote was not obtained, despite the evi-
dent guilt of the accused, he cannot be
said to have been convicted. But
twenty-three of the senators who vOt-
ed mot guilty" accompanied their
votes with an explanation that they
had voted as they did because of their
belief that by resigning he had put
himself outside the jurisdiction of the
senatorial court Of impeachment. It
ID uOl ESueIdllJ uSIuS uoNeNeI, lnul
the action of the senate in the Belllnap
case, although 1t establishes a prece-
dent, is either final or binding.
There was a lapse Of almost three
decades between the impeachment of
Secretary Belknap and that of Judge
Charles Swayne, who was the latest
federal officer to face a court of i'm
parchment Swayne was a judge of
the United States district court for
the northern district Of Florida, to
which post he was appointed in 1899.
Early in 1903 he was charged with
falsifying his expense accounts, and
in December Of that year congress or
dered an investigation. The matter
dragged along through 1904, and ii
was December Of that year before the
house finally voted to impeach him,
Articles Of impeachment containing
thirteen counts were filed with the
senate on Jan. H.. 1905. The trial be