El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-11
FEW STATESMEN
ARE IMPEACHED
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high in the United States about that
time, and by a strict party vote he was
declared not guilty Of the several Of
lenses charged against him.
1t was a quadter Of a century be-
fore another official was hailed before
the senate sitting as a court of i'm
parchment. This time IL was district
judge, James H Peck, who was
charged with high crimes and miSde-
meanOrs.' In 1880 the house impeached
hif for grossly abusing his power as d
judge by casting an attorney into
prison for "a hours and suspending him
from the bar OF his court for is months
for writing and publishing a mOder-
ate criticism Of one Of judge Pekk S
decisions, the case at issue being one
in which the debarred attorney was
interested The suspension prevented
his further participation in the suit.
The senate heard the evidence and
then declared that the judge was jus
titled in assuming that he was clothed
with the legal power he exercised, and
also held that there was no evidence
that Pecks sentence Of Imprisonment
and suspension had been the result of
malice. There was but a single ar
ticle in the charges Of impeachment
against judge Peck, and that merely
recited his sentence Of the attorney,
Luke E. Lawless.
The Humphries Impeachment.
More than 30 years passed before the
machinery of impeachment was again
set in motion. It was in 1852 that the
house voted to impeach judge West H.
HUMPHREYS, a district judge in Ten
nessee. upon charges which had to do
with his desertiOn Of the federal bench
and assuming a similar position on the
Confederate bench. He was charged
with publicly declaring for the right of
secession and melting revolt against
the United States; with supporting the
ordinance of secession; with eonspiring
against the government; with refusing
to hold court; and with, as a Confede-
rate judge, causing arrests, imprisOn-
ments, and cOnfiscatiOns. He did not
defend himself nor even enter an ap-
pearance- He was found guilty Of all
the charges except those of unlawful
arrests and cOnfiScatiOnS, of which
he was acquitted.
impeachment OF n President.
The next case is the most notable
one in the history of American juris-
prudence. 1t is the only time a presi-
dent ever has been impeached, although
an effort was made to impeach John
Tyler. The quarrel between congress
and president Johnson had degenerated
into the bitterest contest American
politics has ever seen. Congress had
passed over the veto of the president,
the tenure OF office act, a measure
which took away from the president
the right to control his own cabinet
He regarded it as unconstitutional, as
1t was He attempted to ignore the
law, but in the case Of the secretary
snip of war, held by Edwin NJ Stanton
he claimed that his removal of that
official did not violate the tenure of
office act. He was charged with vio-
lation of the tenure of office act with |
attempting to induce a general in the |
army to disobey a low of congress. and
with attempting to bring that body
into contempt and reproach by intern
perate and infammatOry speeches
Inc next Impeachment was that Of /
william w. Belknap, secretary of war |
under Grant, who was impeached for
having accepted a part of the profits |
or an army post leadership from a |
trader whom he had appointed. A few
hours before the house voted to i'm |
peach him, Belknap resigned The
senate refused to stop its proceedings |
because OF his resignation, but after I
trial he was acquitted
Twenty-eight years passed before /
the next impeachment trial found its /
way into the senate. Then Judge /
CHARLES Swayne was impeached on u !
arlIcIes he was charged with having /
padded ms expense accounts, with US 1
ing a railroad car for his own use 1
lnaI was owned by a road in the hands /
OF receiver appointed by him, charg-
Lhg Ihe expense to the railroad. He \
was further charged with not living IN /
MS district, and with. malicfouslv ad-
Judging certain parties guilty of con-
Tempt OF court, by imposing excessive |
-lnes and prison sentences upon them.
ne was acquitted on every count, even
. majority vote not being secured on
any Of them.