IMPERATIVE IMPRIMATUR. 



47 



character, alleged against judicial or executive 

 officers. These prosecutions are instituted by the 

 house of commons, and are usually commenced by 

 sending an oral message from the house of commons 

 to the lords, announcing the intended impeachment ; 

 and aftenvards articles of impeachment are drawn 

 up much in the fonn of an indictment, and the house 

 of commons attends the prosecution as a committee 

 of the whole, or appoints managers to conduct the 

 prosecution, and demand judgment. As the crimes 

 triable by impeachment are not limited, so the 

 severest punishments may be inflicted in pursuance 

 of the judgments rendered. 



In the United States of America the constitutional 

 provisions, on the subject of impeachment, are de- 

 rived from the British constitution, but not without 

 important modifications. By the constitution of the 

 United States, the senate is the high court for the 

 trial of impeachments, which are instituted by the 

 house of representatives, as in England by the com- 

 mons, and all executive and judicial officers are 

 amenable in this mode of trial. In case of the 

 impeachment of the president of the United States, 

 the chief justice of the supreme court of the United 

 States presides, but in no other case. The constitu- 

 tion of the United States does not require any par- 

 ticular number of the senators to be present, in order 

 to constitute a court of impeachment. The members 

 of the senate and house of representatives are not 

 liable to impeachment, each house having jurisdiction 

 over its own members. Managers are appointed, on 

 the part of the house of representatives, to conduct 

 the prosecution. The party impeached is heard by 

 counsel, if he choose. The arguments having been 

 heard, the senate deliberates with closed doors, but 

 the judgment is given publicly. No person is con- 

 victed without the concurrence of two-thirds of the 

 members present. The judgment extends only to 

 removal from office, and disqualification to hold any 

 office of honour, trust, or emolument, under the 

 government. In the several states, most of the con- 

 stitutions contain provisions similar to those of the 

 constitution of the United States, the senate, or 

 upper house, being the court of impeachment, and 

 the house of representatives, or lower house, being 

 the prosecutors. 



IMPERATIVE. In grammar, the imperative 

 mood of a verb is that which expresses command, 

 entreaty, advice, exhortation; as, go, attend, &c. 



IMPERATOR was the name given by the Ro- 

 mans to the commander-in-chief of an army, and 

 imperium signified military command. Imperator 

 was a title of different import in different times. 

 The consuls originally bore the title of imperator, 

 before they were called consuls. The name was 

 afterwards given by the soldiers and senate to a 

 general, after a great victory, and he retained it till 

 after his triumph. In later times, no one received 

 this title who had not defeated a hostile force of at 

 least 10,000 men. After the overthrow of the 

 republic, imperator became the highest title of the su- 

 preme ruler. The successors of Augustus used it, and 

 it expressed the same thing as the hated title of king. 

 In still later times, it had the signification which we 

 attach to the word emperor. It was still given, how- 

 ever, to triumphant generals, and, in this case, had its 

 old signification. The emperors appear to have used 

 it, because they were considered as superior to all the 

 generals. In the times of the republic, this title was 

 placed after the name; for instance, Cicero imperator: 

 as the title of an emperor, it stood before the name. 

 Imperator was a surname given by the inhabitants of 

 Preneste to Jupiter, whose statue was carried to 

 Rome, and placed in the capitol, by Titus Quinctius, 

 M-hen he captured Preneste. See JKmpei-or. 



IMPERIAL CHAMBER. See Chamber Impe- 

 rial. 



IMPERI ALI-LERCARI, FRANCIS MARIA; doge of 

 Genoa. Louis XIV. bombarded Genoa during his 

 dogeship, in revenge for her adherence to Spain for 

 fifty years. The doge was obliged to ask the pardon 

 of Louis in person, and attended by four senators. 

 Imperial! conducted himself with great dignity in 

 this humiliating affair, and when asked what he found 

 most remarkable at Versailles, gave that celebrated 

 answer, " To see myself here.'' 



IMPRESSION, in the arts, is used to signify the 

 transfer of certain figures by pressure from a hard to 

 a soft substance. This transfer affords the means of 

 multiplying copies, and takes place in typography, 

 copper-plate printing, lithography, &c. Engravers 

 in copper and wood work in plane surfaces ; the gem 

 and stamp engravers, however, produce elevated or 

 sunk figures ; consequently, the impressions appear 

 in relievo, and the substances which receive them 

 must be susceptible of being raised or depressed. In 

 order to obtain impressions from copper-plates, a 

 colouring substance must be put in the incisions of 

 the plate. In the case of wood-cuts, the colouring 

 matter is applied to the elevations. In both cases, 

 the copy is procured by pressure. There are two 

 kinds of impressions : 



1. That executed upon plane surfaces, as in litho- 

 graphy, copper-plate printing, and copies from wood- 

 cuts. The instruments for it are the printing, rolling, 

 and lithographic press. (See article Copper-Plate 

 Printing.) The goodness of the copies depend partly 

 on the care and skill of the printer ; partly also on 

 the degree in which the plate has been used. The 

 best copies are always among the first hundred, and 

 are called, with us, the proof impressions; on the 

 continent, avant la lettre, i. e., those struck off before 

 the name of the engraving is inscribed on the plate. 

 These are sold at a higher price than the subsequent 

 impressions. An engraved plate affords more good 

 copies than an etched one, and this more than one in 

 aqua tinta. Copies are taken from wood-cuts in the 

 same way as from copper-plates. The same degree of 

 care, however, is not necessary in conducting the 

 process. 



2. Copies in relievo. These are impressions of 

 medals and gems, or stamps, so as to leave raised or 

 sunken figures (empreinte). Medals and engraved 

 gems are valuable, as historical monuments and works 

 of art, and the mode in which copies of them are 

 made is a matter of importance. Representations of 

 them in copper-plate engravings, cannot properly 

 express their character as works of art. Impressions 

 are therefore taken immediately from them, by means 

 of fine sealing-wax, sulphur, wax, glass, &c. Copies 

 in vitreous substances are called pastes. See Casting, 

 and Pastes. 



IMPRESSMENT OF SEAMEN. See Seamen. 



IMPRIMATUR (Latin, let it be printed); the 

 word by which the licenser allows a book to be 

 printed, in countries where the censorship of books 

 is exercised in its rigour. An account of this worst 

 species of tyranny has already been given under the 

 head of Books, Censorship of, (see also Index). Mil- 

 ton, in his eloquent speech for unlicensed printing or 

 Areopagitica, humorously describes this practice of 

 licensing books, exhibiting a specimen of what he 

 calls a quadruple exorcism, approved and licensed 

 under the hands of two or three monks " Let the 

 chancellor Cini see if this work may be printed;" 

 (signed) V. R., vicar of Florence. Then comes the 

 chancellor " I have seen this work, and find nothing 

 against the Catholic faith and good morals;" (signed) 

 N. C., chancellor of Florence. Then the vicar re- 

 appears "Considering, &c., this work may Le 



