SITTING FOR THE TRIAL OF WILLIAM W. BELKNAP, LATE SECRETARY OF WAR, ON THE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT EXHIBITED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1876. PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES RELATING TO THE IMPEACHMENT OF W. W. BELKNAP, LATE SECRETARY OF WAR. THURSDAY, March 2, 1876. Mr. Clymer, of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the War Department, submitted to the House the following report: The Committee on Expenditures in the War Department would respectfully report: That they found at the very threshold of their investigation such unquestioned evidence of the malfeasance in office by General William W. Belknap, theu Secretary of War, that they find it to be their duty to lay the same before the House. They further report that this day, at eleven o'clock a. m., a letter of the President of the United States was presented to the committee accepting the resignation of the Secretary of War, which is hereto attached, together with a copy of his letter of resignation, which the President informs the committee was accepted about ten o'clock and twenty minutes this morning. They, therefore, unanimously report and demand that the said William W. Belknap, late Secretary of War, be dealt with according to the laws of the land, and to that end submit herewith the testimony in the case taken, together with the several statements and exhibits thereto attached, and also a rescript of the proceedings of the committee had during the investigation of this subject. And they submit the following resolutions, which they recommend shall be adopted: Resolved, That William W. Belknap, late Secretary of War, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors while in office. Resolved, That the testimony in the case of William W. Belknap, late Secretary of War, be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, with instructions to prepare and report without unnecessary delay suitable articles of impeachment of said William W. Belknap, late Secretary of War. Resolved, That a committee of five members of this House be appointed and instructed to proceed immediately to the bar of the Senate, and there impeach William W. Belknap, late Secretary of War, in the name of the House of Representatives and of all the people of the United States of America, of high crimes and misdemeanors while in office, and to inform that body that formal articles of impeachment will in due time be presented, and to request the Senate to take such order in the premises as they deem appropriate. Mr. Clymer read the evidence and the accompanying papers, exhib its, and statements in the case. He then demanded the previous question upon the adoption of the resolutions. After an hour's debate, in which Mr. Robbins of North Carolina, Mr. Bass of New York, Mr. Hoar of Massachusetts, Mr. Blackburn of Kentucky, Mr. Danford of Ohio, and Mr. Kasson of Iowa participated, the resolutions were unanimously adopted. The Speaker appointed as the committee called for in the second resolution, Mr. Clymer, Mr. Robbins of North Carolina, Mr. Blackburn, Mr. Bass, and Mr. Danford. TUESDAY, March 7, 1876. Mr. Clymer rose to a question of privilege. The evening previous, he stated, a subpoena, issued by the supreme court of the District of |