The punishment which the senate may inflict in case of conviction is limited to removal from office and disqualification from holding office in the future. The Constitution makes it mandatory upon the senate to remove the convicted official, but whether he shall forever be disqualified from holding office in the future is left to the discretion of the senate. In England the House of Lords, which tries impeachment cases, is not limited in the extent of punishment which it may inflict, but may, at its discretion, sentence the convicted official to imprisonment or the payment of a fine. While the senate of the United States cannot do this, the person convicted and removed may, nevertheless, be indicted and tried by the courts as any other criminal may. The procedure of removing an officer by impeachment is so cumbersome and unwieldy that it has rarely been resorted to. During our entire history there have been only eight impeachment trials of federal officers, and of these there were convictions in but three cases.[30] If this were the only method of removal it would be difficult to get rid of corrupt and incompetent officials, but it must be remembered that any federal official except the judges may be removed from office by the President for any reason that to him seems fit and proper; and the power is frequently exercised. [30] The first was that of Judge John Pickering of the United States District Court of New Hampshire, March, 1803. The second was that of Judge Samuel Chase, of the Supreme Court, March, 1804. James H. Peck, District Judge of Missouri, was impeached in April, 1830; West H. Humphreys, District Judge of Tennessee, May, 1862; Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, February, 1868; William W. Belknap, Secretary of War, March, 1876; Charles Swayne, Judge of the United States District Court for Florida, 1905; and Robert W. Archbald, Judge of the Court of Commerce, 1912. Of these, Pickering, Humphreys, and Archbald were convicted and removed from office, while Humphreys and Archbald were in addition disqualified from holding federal office in the future. Belknap resigned before impeachment charges were preferred, but the senate decided that it had jurisdiction, nevertheless, and the trial was proceeded with only to result in his acquittal. =References.=--ANDREWS, Manual of the Constitution, pp. 47-68. BEARD, American Government and Politics, chs. xii-xiii. BRYCE, The American Commonwealth (abridged edition), chs. ix-xii. HARRISON, This Country of Ours, ch. ii. HART, Actual Government, ch. xiii. HINSDALE, American Government, chs. xvii-xxiii. WILSON, Congressional Government, secs. 1273-1293. =Documentary and Illustrative Material.=--1. Copy of the Congressional Directory. 2. Copies of the Congressional Record. 3. A map showing the Congressional districts of the state. RESEARCH QUESTIONS