Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1912-06-08


sentatlyes by a vote Of 1876 to AZ de
cided TO impeach the president. The
managers selected by the house. most
of them radical anti-Johnson men. in
Guided 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.
or the charges those embodied In the
second and third articles. dealing with
stanton's removal and the appoint
ment Of bis successor. and the elev-
enth. which charged the president with
publicly holding that the Thlrty-nintb
congress was an unlawful body, were
considered most important.
His trial opened on March 30, John
son being represented by coterie Of
able lawyers, among whom were Il. r.
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
p, and after a long and able summing
up the vote was taken on May 1G.
There We're afty-four senators. ane
1t was necessary to get thirty-six tc
convict The FIRST vote was as the
eleventh count, on which the vote
stood So for conviction and 10 for ac
1nittal 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 OF
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 Tmpeached
The impeachment Of General William
w. BelknSp, 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
soldier during the civil war and en-
tered the cabinet early in Grants first
term as head 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
lucrative one. and the profits de
pended to a large extent on the secre
tary of war. The charge against Bel
KNAPP was that he had entered into o
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
$4,000.
Evidence of Belknaps corruption
was presented to the house in a report
from the committee ON expenditures in
the war department, which recon-
mended impeachment. This was on
March ., 1876. The house at once
unanimously voted to impeach the sec
rotary. 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
tation of standing by his friends" at
once acceded to his secretary's request
Proceedings Went On.
George f. Hoar of Massachusetts,
then 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 not
guilty" AS the necessary two.thirds
vote was not obtained. despite the evil
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 resiguing he had put
himself outside the jurisdiction of the
senatorial court of impeachment. II
is not generally held, however, that
the action of the senate in the Belknap
case. although it 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 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 1880
Early i'm 1908 he was charged With
classifying 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
30, 1,