Mr. Francis S. Key, of counsel for Mr. Smith, asked for subpœnas for Messrs. Davenport, Morrow, and Sturges, of the House of Representatives, to attest the credibility of witnesses; and likewise for a subpœna for General Wilkinson.
It was intimated that the usual mode of proceeding in such a case was to request the attendance of the members of the other House.
Mr. Key then opened the defence by a few very concise preliminary remarks. He observed that the counsel of Mr. Smith felt highly gratified in appearing before the Senate with a body of testimony sufficiently strong to flatter them with the assurance of a favorable result; that all the apprehensions which had arisen from the distance and the extent of the testimony were almost removed; and that although testimony was still coming in, they were fully satisfied with that they had already received.
He said they would be able to show that the testimony of Elias Glover was not worthy of credit. He admitted that if this testimony were correct, John Smith was unworthy of his seat; but they would be able entirely to destroy its weight by destroying his credibility. They would, likewise, be able to show that there was nothing else in the other testimony which materially affected the character of the accused. They would also, after this, enter into a consideration of the principles on which a decision in this case ought to be made; and endeavor to show that that decision could only be made according to legal evidence; that the Senate were bound by judicial principles, and that the accused was consequently entitled to the same privileges as he would be in a court of justice.
Mr. Key said he should first proceed to offer depositions to discredit Elias Glover. He would show that he had not only made charges, which were contradicted by respectable testimony, but likewise by his own declarations at other times. He would commence with the proof of his general character, and show that it had been such, ever since he entered into life, as to destroy the weight of his testimony; he would show that he had in several instances perjured himself. He would then show his inducements to perjure himself in this case, by establishing the existence of a combination, of which he was the head, to ruin Mr. Smith.
Mr. Key was about to read sundry depositions taken at Newtown, Connecticut. Previous to this he read the certificates of notice given by Mr. Smith to Mr. Glover, of his purpose to take depositions relative to his character. From these it appeared that Mr. Smith had, on the 10th of February, notified him of his intention to take depositions at Delhi, New York, on the 15th February, at Newtown, Connecticut, on the 20th, in the Mississippi Territory on the 25th, at Cincinnati the ——
Mr. Crawford objected to reading these depositions. He observed that they went seriously to affect the character of Mr. Glover; that the Senate had, in such a case, prescribed that the depositions should only be received in case of reasonable notice having been given to the person whose character it was intended to discredit: that in this case no such reasonable notice had been allowed; that the notice was too short to be of the least use to Mr. Glover.
Mr. Harper, of counsel for Mr. Smith, observed that as much time had been given by Mr. Smith as he could possibly spare. The times fixed for taking depositions at the several places, had been as distant as they could be, consistently with Mr. Smith’s getting the testimony forwarded to the seat of Government by the 1st of March; the period then fixed by the Senate for his hearing.
Mr. S. Smith stated that, although the resolution fixing the 1st of March for a hearing had passed on the 20th of January, the notices of Mr. Smith were not dated till the 10th of February, at Berrysville, in Virginia, where he had put them into the post office.