Omaha daily bee., 1912-08-04
RARITY OF IMPEACHMEN1S
Only Eight Trials Since Formation
OF the Government.
TWO OF THE EIGHT CONVICTED
Eamon. But Eutile Attempts to Gust
Federal Officials for Politicai
Reasons-Possible Case
in Sight.

4 pAS~~-~-S
Judiciary committee Of the house OF
representatives is the usual course pur-
sued in determining whether an impeach-
ment trial shall be invoked in the course.
Should the committee decide on impeach-
ment it will report to the house, SUD-
init a resolution to that effect ana ask
for the appointment. If the house grants
the request the managers will appear in
the senate and demand trial In due
time the senate will form itself into
| trial court, where the accused will be
heard by counsel, and testimony taken IN
the usual way.
| There have been eight impeachment
trials of federal officials before the
United States senate, only two OF which
resulted in conviction, as follows:
William Blount, United States senator,
l7s7-sS, no trial, lack Of jurisdiction.
John Pickering. United States district
Judge, 1s0s-O4, tried. found guilty. and re-
moved from office.
Samuel Chase, associate judge of the
United States supreme court, 1So4-QS, tried
and acquitted.
James Peck, United States district
Judge, 1S2s-sO. tried and acquitted.
West H. Humphreys, United States dis
trict Judge, 1852, tried, found guilty. and
removed from office.
Andrew Johnson. president, 1858, tried
and acquitted.
| w. w. Belknap, secretary Of war, 1876.
tried, failed of conviction on ground OF
lack of jurisdiction.
Charles Swayne, United States district
Judge, 1906, tried and acquitted.
| First ON Record.
The first impeachment in the history of
the country, that of William Blount,
United States senator from Tennessee, re-
suited in mo trial." Blount, native of
North Carolina, had sat in the convention
Of 1857, which drafted the federal con-
stitution, and was one Of the signers of
that document. Subsequently, he was ap-
pointed by Washington, governor OF the
Territory South of the Ohio River" He
presided over the constitutional conven-
ton of the new state of Tennessee in 17a6,
and in the same year was elected United
States senator. In the following year he
was concerned in the scheme known as
"Blounts conspiracy" which provided
for an attack by force of Americans
and British, with assistance Of Greek
and Cherokee Indians, in the interests
Of Great Britain on the Spanish settle
ments in Florida and Louisiana. AS the
successful carrying out Of the conspiracy
involved the bribery of federal officers,
breach of the neutrality Of the United
States, and of the treaty Of San Lorenzo
El Real, between the United States and
Spain, by which each power was pledged
not to incite the Indians against the
other, Blount was impeached by the
house of representatives on July Z, 1877.
On the following day he was formally
| expelled from the senate for having
been guilty of high misdemeanor, entirely
inconsistent with his public trust and
duty as a senator"
The first actual impeachment trial OF a
federal officer was that Of Judge John
Pickering of the United States district
court for New Hampshire and resulted
In a conviction. Judge Pickering was
impeached in 1903 on four counts, charS-
| ing him with drunkness and profanity
on the bench, and with the Imprisonment
of an attorney for contempt Of court,
He was tried, and the necessary two
thirds of the senate voted guilty" Evi-
dence submitted at the time convinced
the senate that the judge was really in
sane, which afterwards proved to be the
case. He was, therefore, removed from
office; the judgment pronounced did not
reach to a disqualification from holding
office, which, in view of the facts. was
considered unnecessary.
Political Trials.
The two greatest impeachment trials OF
American history those Of Justice Chase
and President Johnson, must both be con-
sidered In reality political trials. There
is no question that both originated in po'
Ntical differences, and that in both the
result, had either been convicted, would
have been largely political. In 1904 the
partisan bitterness between the old-line
federalists and the republicans-the old
anti -federalists-was at white heat. In
Pennsylvania, where most of the judges
were federalists, this rancer made itself
felt in disposition to remodel the courts
by removing the judges. Judge Addison,
president judge of the court OF common
pleas, had been successfully impeached,
and removed from the bench In 1903 by
the radicals, who controlled the state
| legislature, for making political har-
angue to a grand jury which tended to
discredit the republican state authorities.
| The successful impeachment Of Judge
Pickering in 1904 tended in measure to
break the spell of an inviolate and ir.
removable judiciary, and paved the way
for the proceedings against Justice
Chase, which were begun before the end
Of the same year.
Samuel Chase, who was signer Of tho
Declaration Of Independence, had won
wide renown as lawyer before he be-
came chief justice of the criminal cour+
in Maryland. from which, in 1856, he had
been transferred by Washington to the
| United States supreme court as an Is
sociate Justice. Although as deeply
learned in the law as any member of the
| court save Marshall, and entirely above
reproach, so far as his personal integ-
rity was concerned, Chase was tempera-
mentally better fitted by reason Of his
overbearing manner and Feasibility to be
a prosecuting attorney than judge. His
intimate friendship with Washington, and
his uncompromising adherence to federal
principles, aroused the wrath Of the re-
publican leaders in congress, and marked
him as an object of their attack.
John Randolph of Roanoke took the
lead against Justice Chase. and 1t was
largely through his influence and energy
that the house Of representatives, IL,