To this exalted tribunal I look with confidence for a display of that dignified impartiality, which will do credit to their elevated situation, and reflect honor on their country. You will raise yourselves, I am convinced, above the common level of human prejudices, personal or political, and will suffer no considerations but those which are perfectly correct to be blended with your inquiries or mingled with your decisions.
Party, it is true, is a spirit of so subtle a nature as to diffuse itself almost imperceptibly over the human mind; it frequently pervades the system without being felt, and sometimes warps the judgment when least suspected. Against the influence of this spirit I need scarcely caution the judges whom I have the honor to address. It cannot approach within the pale of this Court, or enter their hallowed walls.
I have marked, Mr. President, in the questions which you have so correctly put to the witnesses in the course of their examination, that singleness of eye, which looks to the discovery of truth alone, without reference to the party whose case it may affect; whilst your conduct in maintaining that order and decorum suitable to the solemnity of the occasion has exhibited an example worthy of imitation.
I have observed, with heartfelt pleasure and honest pride, the unwearied and impartial attention paid by the members of this Court during the progress of this momentous cause. To my mind it presages a decision worthy of themselves, and serviceable to their country, and is a sure pledge that their determination will be honest, upright, and independent.
If, after a fair and full inquiry into the facts, illustrated by the arguments for and against the accused, and a careful examination of the law, commented on by those whose duty it is to support the impeachment, and those who are opposed to it, the Senate shall be of opinion that the charges have not been substantiated, and pronounce a verdict of acquittal, believe me, sir, I, as a citizen faithful, obedient, and affectionate to the laws of my country, shall most cheerfully acquiesce in the decision. But I do confidently trust that it will not take place, on the principles or the precedent established in the case of Warren Hastings, the Governor of Bengal, that plunderer of India, that destroyer of the people of Asia, that devastator of the East, whose crimes were without number, and whose enormities exceeded calculation. What fields have been dyed, what streams have been tinged with the innocent blood of victims sacrificed on the altar of his avarice or his ambition! An obligation however solemn, a treaty however sacred, interposed but a weak and feeble barrier to the views of his personal or political aggrandizement. Even a zenana, the sacred retreat of women, holy and consecrated to the fairest work of the creation, by the religious customs of that country, has been violated whenever the silver and the gold, the jewels and the diamonds, were sufficient objects to attract his attention or gratify his rapacity.
The House of Representatives, so far from deserving blame, in my humble opinion, merit commendation for the reluctance with which they proceeded to accusation, and for the care, caution, and dignity which have marked their steps. I have frequently heard an unbecoming zeal reprobated in a prosecutor; but never before did I hear from the lips of a counsel for an offender, a complaint of delay and remissness in charging his client with guilt. What a striking contrast does their conduct furnish, compared with that of the defendant! They betrayed no thirst for prosecution, but an unwillingness to accuse; no eager appetite for conviction, but an anxious desire that impartial justice should take place between the public and an individual, whom irresistible evidence had compelled them to present before the highest judicial authority of the nation. Not, it is true, for the murder of despotic princes whose will was the law, and whose laws perhaps were as sanguinary as those of Draco; nor for the plunder of empires, swayed by an iron sceptre as oppressive as the dominion of Hastings. Far other crimes are laid to his charge. The defendant, a citizen of this free land, sworn to support our mild constitution and our equal laws, and bound by his oath of office to administer justice impartially, having a perfect knowledge of his duty, (for of ignorance the whole world will acquit him,) stands charged with plundering, in the holy habit of a judge, a jury of his country of their most sacred rights, and injured and insulted freemen of their constitutional privileges.
He was indeed providentially prevented from imbruing his hands in the blood of poor Fries, but he stands accused of shedding, with unfeeling severity, the life-blood of the constitution itself.
Such are the crimes for which he is arraigned at your bar, and which one of the gentlemen has been pleased to term petty offences. In the dark catalogue of criminal enormities, perhaps few are to be found of a deeper dye. If I were an advocate of the doctrines of constructive and cumulative treasons, of which the learned judge appears to have been a great admirer and a zealous supporter, I would say that he himself was guilty of judicial treason against the constitution of the country and majesty of the people.
The independence of the Judiciary, the political tocsin of the day, and the alarm bell of the night, has been rung through every change in our ears. They have played upon this chord until its vibrations produce no effect. The sound is rather calculated to stun us into an insensibility against real attacks, for the poor hobby has been literally rode to death. To the rational independence of the Judiciary, I am, and ever have been a firm and uniform friend. But I am no advocate for the inviolability of judges more than of kings. In this country I am afraid the doctrine has been carried to such an extravagant length, that the Judiciary may justly be considered like a spoiled child. They are here placed almost beyond the reach of the people, though not beyond the immediate power and influence of the Executive. I wish not to see them the slaves of any administration, but the faithful and impartial executors of justice. My desire is that the laws, like the providence of the Deity, should shed their protecting influence equally over all.
It will be allowed that the hopes of an individual are as powerful inducements to action as his fears. Whether the Executive can depress or exalt him, his influence is equally great. Whether he can punish his errors or reward his faults, his dominion is the same. We all know that an associate judge may sigh for promotion, and may be created a Chief Justice, whilst experience teaches us, that more than one Chief Justice has been appointed a Minister Plenipotentiary. These facts are staring us in the face, when we talk of judges being independent of the Government.