Im-peach-ment, s

[Eng. impeach; -ment; Fr. empêchement.] *1. The act of hindering or preventing obstruction. "To march on to Calais without impeachment." Shakesp.: Henry V. , iii. 6. *2. An obstruction, hindrance, or impediment. "To the end he might without any impeachment allure all men to favor him."- P . Holland : Ammianus , p. 167. 3. The act of impeaching, accusing, or charging with a crime or misdemeanor. Specif., the arraignment of a minister of state for maladministration or treason. In England impeachments are made in the House of Commons, and tried by the House of Lords. "But an impeachment before the lords by the commons, in parliament, is a prosecution of the established law, being a presentment to the most high and supreme court of criminal jurisdiction by the most solemn grand inquest of the whole kingdom. A commoner cannot, however, be impeached before the lords for any capital offense, but only for high misdemeanors; a peer may be impeached for any crime." - Black stone : Comment., bk. iv., ch. 19. The Constitution of the United States provides that the House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment (Art. 1, Sec. 2, C1.5); and that the Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments (Art. I, Sec. 3, Cl. 6), Section 4 of Article II. provides that the President and Vice-President and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors. "The removal of Federal officers by impeachment proceedings under Section 4 of Article II. of the Constitution has been attempted seven times. "The Blount case was the first. William Blount, United States Senator from Tenne ee, was charged in 1797 with conspiring with British officers to steal part of Louisiana from Spain for England's benefit. The House prepared articles of impeachment. The Senate expelled him, after putting him under bonds for trial. Blount's defense was that a Senator was not a civil officer liable to impeachment, and on the question of jurisdiction only he was acquitted. "Judge John Pick ering, of the Federal District Court for New Hampshire, was impeached in 1803 for drunkenne and profanity on the bench. The defense was insanity. On trial before the Senate, Pick ering was convicted by a party vote, and removed from his office. "In 1804, 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 indulged in 'highly indecent and extra-judicial reflections upon the United States Government' in the course of a charge to a Maryland Grand Jury. The impeachment proceedings, instigated and managed by John Randolph of Virginia, were political in their origin and animus. Judge Chase was acquitted through the failure of the prosecution to obtain a two on any one of the thirds vote against him in the Senate, on any eight articles of impeachment. He resumed his seat on the bench, and held it as long as he lived. "About a quarter of a century later, James H. Peck, a Federal District Judge in Mi ouri, was impeached for oppre ive treatment of an attorney. The case was of no importance; the Judge was acquitted. "Thirty years afterward, at the beginning of the war of the rebellion, Judge West H. Humphreys of the Federal District Court of Tenne ee, joined the Confeder acy and accepted judicial office under it, without taking the trouble to send his resignation to Washington. He was im peached, mainly in order to vacate the office, and convicted on June 26, 1862. One of the witne es sum moned to appear against Judge Humphreys was Andrew Johnson, then Governor of Tenne ee, destined himself to be the next subject of impeachment proceedings before the Senate. One of the four Senators who voted not guilty on the article charging Judge Humphreys with high treason, was William Pitt Fe enden, whose vote five years later late saved Andrew Johnson. "Andrew Johnson was impeached on March 4, 1868, the eleven articles charging the President in various forms with violation of the Tenure of Office act, with violation of the Constitution, with conspiracy to prevent the execution of the Tenure of Office act, with conduct and utterances tending 'to bring the high office of President into contempt, ridicule, and disgrace;' and with the public declaration, in his speeches while swinging around the circle, that the Thirty-ninth Congre was no constitutional legislature. It is not nece ary to recite the history of the memorable trial, which lasted for nearly three months, and in which the hottest of political pa ions were enlisted. Thirty-six votes were needed to convict. No vote was ever taken except on the three strongest articles, the second, third, and eleventh, and on each of these the Senate stood 35 for conviction to 19 for acquittal, impeachment failing by a single vote. One of the counsel who defended President Johnson was the Hon. William M. Evarts of New York. "The seventh and last Federal impeachment was that of William W. Belknap, Grant's Secretary of War. He was justly charged in 1876 with corruption in office, and the House voted unanimously to impeach him. He resigned hastily a few hours before the pa age of the impeachment resolution, and his resignation was promptly accepted by Grant. The trial proceeded, neverthele . Belknap's defense was a denial of jurisdiction, based on the circumstance that when the impeachment resolution pa ed the House, he had ceased to be a civil officer of the United States. The impeachment proceedings failed by the lack of a two-thirds majority in the Senate for conviction. "It will be observed that in only cases have peach ment proceedings against a civil officer of the United States been prosecuted succe fully before the Senate by the House of Representatives. One of these was for the removal of a drunken and profane judge, whose presence upon the bench was a public scandal. The other was a purely formal proceeding to vacate the office of a judge actually engaged in open rebellion against the Government, but technically still an incumbent of his office under the Government. Of the five unsucce ful impeachment proceedings on record, two failed for want of jurisdiction. Of the whole seven cases, four concerned judicial officers. Only once has there been an attempt to punish by impeachment a Cabinet officer. Only once has there been an attempt to punish and remove by impeachment a President of the United States."- New York Sun , Dec. 24, 1893. 4. The state of being impeached; a charge, an accusation, an indictment. "The fears of the patricians lest they should be made the subjects of vindictive impeachments ."-Lewis: Cred. Early Rom . Hist . (1855), ii. 253. 5. The act of bringing discredit upon or calling in question the credibility, purity of motives, up rightne , correctne of a person or act; as, the impeachment of a witne , or the impeachment of a person's motives. impedite 6. A reproach; a ground of censure, reproach, or blame. "To let him spend his time no more at home, Which would be great impeachment to his age." Shakesp .: Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 3. impeachment of waste, s .