Mr. Harper read the depositions of Joseph H. Brett, John T. Moore, Gabriel North, Erastus Root, C. Keiser, Isaac G. Burnett, David Zeigler, John Bradford, Jacob Broadwell, Jos. Van Horne, Samuel Hildige, Geo. Williamson, M. Williams, and William Goforth. Messrs. Van. Rensselaer, Jeremiah Morrow, Tallmadge, Bacon, and Davenport, of the House of Representatives, and Mr. Tiffin, of the Senate, were then examined, and attested to the general respectability of character of several of the witnesses from whom depositions had been received on the part of Mr. Smith.
Mr. Key then rose to show why the report of the committee should not be adopted, and after taking a legal view of the rules of evidence which should govern the admissibility of evidence in this inquiry, and arguing that the Senate could inquire into nothing which was indictable at common law, he proceeded to the facts of the case, and said:
Having now, sir, stated these objections against the present inquiry, and more particularly and more earnestly against the principles which the honorable committee have recommended to govern it, I gladly proceed to discharge the remaining part of my duty, by submitting a few remarks upon the testimony exhibited upon this occasion. It will be readily admitted that, excepting Elias Glover, no witness deposes directly and positively to the guilt of the honorable member accused. Their testimony is wholly circumstantial, and I hope to be enabled to show, that from no circumstance they state can guilt be fairly inferred. But the chief question to be ascertained, the point on which this inquiry will be found wholly to turn, is the degree of credit which is to be given to the testimony of Elias Glover. I am much gratified, sir, in recollecting the importance attached to the evidence of this witness in the commencement of this proceeding, and the almost universal acknowledgment that Mr. Smith’s fate depended upon the truth or falsehood of his testimony. We are most willing to rest it upon this issue; we could not ask a more favorable one than that which compels every man before he can believe in the guilt of the accused, to the necessity of first believing in the truth of Elias Glover, and this I now proceed to show is impossible.
The first question asked on these occasions, is, “What is the general character of the witness?” We have traced this person, sir, from his first setting out in life, have followed him into every place where he has lived, and put this question to his neighbors. How is it answered? At Newtown, Connecticut, where he first established himself, thirteen deponents declare him unworthy of credit; with some slight difference of expression, this is clearly and positively affirmed by them all. One of them, however, (Mr. Oliver Tousy, I believe,) states that he made particular inquiries of almost all the respectable persons in and about Newtown, and that he inquired of none but respectable persons; that, from the result of these inquiries, he is induced to believe that was a respectable jury taken from Newtown and Elias Glover sworn as a witness before them he would not be believed. It seems, sir, that he soon changed so disagreeable a situation. We next hear of him at Delhi, in Delaware County, New York. From this place, sir, we have produced to you the depositions of twenty-one witnesses, who all concur in a similar opinion of his infamy, using, if possible, still stronger language than the witnesses from Newtown. By what means can a character thus charged be defended? Can it be said that these men are selected, and are his enemies? They swear they are not. That they are not themselves credible? Many of them were, fortunately, known to the honorable members of the other House, who have told you they are respectable. Among them are the chief judge and the associates, and the sheriff of the county in which he practised, of whom one is now a Senator of New York, and two of the others members of Assembly; nor can such testimony be outweighed by that which his father and his uncle have collected in support of his character. There are few men so infamous but that some persons may be always found to declare a good opinion of them, and what sort of persons these are who have said they never heard any thing against the reputation of Elias Glover, it may not be difficult to ascertain. Upon this subject, it is only necessary to call the attention of the Senate to the manner in which those depositions in New York are proved to have been taken by his uncle, David Beers, who is himself one of the deponents. Ezekiel K. Granger states that this man used every expedient to prevent the attendance of Mr. Smith’s attorney; that he refused to examine any witness in his presence, and that nearly half of whom he did procure to depose, are the relations of Glover; a circumstance on which the deponents are entirely silent. In addition to this, he is proved by one of those persons to have altered and misstated his testimony. Surely his character is very far from receiving any support from depositions thus taken. We have also produced a record from Delaware County court, which, though it may not prove him guilty of forgery, yet contains evidence charging him with an act almost equally dishonorable. From this accumulating weight of disgrace, thus increasing with his progress in depravity, he again finds it necessary to escape, and wisely determines to fix upon a still more distant residence. The last two or three years of his life have been spent in the State of Ohio, and, during that period, I shall be able to show that he has reached a height of profligacy even beyond the promise of his former years. The numerous witnesses from Cincinnati, though not particularly questioned as to his general character, (being examined to impeach his credit on other grounds,) yet show the degree of estimation in which he is there held; and thus, sir, we flatter ourselves with having produced the most ample proof that truth is not to be expected from this witness; that he would not shrink from perjury, when prompted to accomplish a favorite object. That such an object was presented to him on this occasion; that the inducements to his crime were considerable, is obvious. We are informed by many of the deponents from Cincinnati, particularly by Mr. Burnett and Mr. St. Clair, that he had long felt and evinced the most malignant animosity towards Mr. Smith. The existence of this disposition in himself, and others associated with him in the same dishonorable cause, is further evidenced by the base and unmanly means they have used during this inquiry. I allude, sir, to their refusal to give evidence for Mr. Smith, and then secretly sending their depositions to the Senate; conduct in every respect worthy of the friends of Elias Glover; and also to those anonymous slanders which have been forwarded (doubtless from the same source) to almost every honorable member of this House. Of these deponents, and the support their testimony attempts to give to the character of Glover, little need be said. I cannot suppose it possible the Senate will receive this evidence, or, if received, that any reliance will be placed upon it. The profligacy, however, of the principal one among them is so palpable and audacious that it deserves some little notice; I mean William McFarland, the friend to whom Elias Glover alludes as having been present when Mr. Smith acknowledged his participation in the conspiracy. This man, sir, has had the effrontery (after refusing to answer Mr. Smith’s interrogatories) to send on to the Senate an affidavit in which he states that Elias Glover’s deposition is substantially correct; yet he had been sworn at Richmond, and we have his affidavit, and again at Chilicothe before the grand jury, and we have a statement of his evidence. They afford the most direct contradiction of his present deposition that can be conceived. Unless Mr. McFarland then will condescend to tell us, how are we to ascertain which is true and which is false? As it now stands we have, in addition to his declarations to General Gano and Mr. Burnett, one or two of his depositions acquitting Mr. Smith, to set off against the one which accuses him. Of the other deponents I shall say no more than what appears from their own representation, (and nothing more harsh could well be said of them,) they are the friends of William McFarland and Elias Glover. To have obtained the enmity of men disgraced by such a friendship is no small honor to Mr. Smith.
However conclusive this proof of the general character of this witness may appear, it yet constitutes but a small part of the infamy with which we have overwhelmed him. We have shown this capacity for perjury, and the disposition he must have felt to exert it on this occasion. I now proceed to point out the actual commission of it, in the most wilful, premeditated, and repeated instances. This witness, it seems, appeared before a grand jury at Chilicothe, in January last, which body had the penetration to discern his falsehoods, though no testimony was produced to discredit him. One of the jurors, Mr. Ethan Stone, has stated to us in his deposition the substance of his examination on that occasion, from his notes, which he tells us he was very particular in taking. His statement is also corroborated by General Gano and Colonel Armstrong, who were members of the same jury. We are thus informed that Elias Glover on that occasion declared “that he had never published or offered for publication any piece in ridicule of the measures taken by Government to arrest the progress of Burr’s conspiracy.” Of the falsehood of this assertion we have produced the most undeniable evidence.
The editor of the Western Spy, David L. Carney, deposes that Glover brought him such a piece which he refused to publish. Ephraim Morgan swears that he was present at the time, and confirms this statement. If Mr. Glover is disposed to dispute the point with these two witnesses, we will call a third, to whom, however objectionable, he must submit. This is no other than himself. He told Mr. Arthur St. Clair (as that gentleman states in his deposition) that “he had published one piece, ridiculing the measures taken to stop Burr, and had written another (which he offered to show him) which the printers had refused to publish.” He again told the same to Mr. Jacob Burnett, and urged him to join in squibbing the measures of Government. Can anything be more complete and confounding than this detection? Let us view another instance. The same grand juryman informs us that during his examination he declared, “that he never had any correspondence with Colonel Burr;” these are the words taken from Mr. Stone’s notes. And yet he tells Captain Nicholls, whose deposition we have produced, that he had written to Burr, and that he daily expected to hear from him. In addition to this, the testimony of Mr. George Russell is before the Senate, who is personally known to several of the honorable members of this House, who declares that Glover actually gave him a letter to carry to Colonel Burr, with injunctions to burn it if he did not see him.
I might, sir, point out other instances of falsehoods equally gross, but it cannot be necessary to take a particular notice of each. I shall therefore only call the attention of the Senate to a circumstance which exhibits a number of them in one general point of view. He appears from his own testimony to have been the person who furnished Matthew Nimmo with his information relative to Mr. Smith’s participation in the conspiracy. Now, the information he gave Nimmo should certainly agree with that which he now gives us in his deposition. Yet they are essentially different, nay, even directly contradictory, as is obvious from comparing them.
But, sir, independent of all these circumstances, I would ask nothing more to discredit the witness than the internal evidence of falsehood which his deposition bears. What can be more incredible than the facts he states? Mr. Smith is an associate in Burr’s conspiracy, and yet never commits an act which evinces the least participation in it, never affords it the least support, never endeavors to interest his friends and dependents in it, but would have remained wholly unknown and unsuspected but for his disclosure to Elias Glover; and this confidant, whom he thus highly trusts, was at that very moment, and before and afterwards, his open and irreconcilable enemy.
He further tells us that he received this communication “under the strictest injunctions of secrecy; that to divulge it on any occasion less pregnant with evil would reflect infamy and disgrace upon his character and conduct, and that he therefore balanced between his honor and his patriotism, before he could divulge it.” Now, can Mr. Glover reasonably expect any one to believe this? And if we were thus to indulge him, how much reputation would he save by it? Does a man of character ever allow any circumstances, however “pregnant with evil,” to induce him to receive a communication, promise to conceal it, and then divulge it? Where, sir, does he find a sanction for a doctrine so absurd and detestable? Does that sacred volume which he has dared to profane with his touch, and thus openly contemns, allow any such dispensation from the eternal and immutable laws which it awfully commands us on all occasions to observe? Is any such ridiculous exception to be there found, which shall justify a man in violating the plainest rule of morality and becoming a scoundrel for the good of his country? But even if this pretext could account for his disclosure to Nimmo, in November, it can be no pretence for his afterwards voluntarily and certainly unnecessarily reducing it to an affidavit in February. Some delay in making out this deposition might be necessary, from the nice balance which he tells us he was adjusting. With his honor in one scale and his patriotism in the other, it is not wonderful that it should take him a month or two to ascertain which of these two straws was the heaviest; but it is singular that his patriotism should not preponderate till all symptoms of danger to his country had disappeared—till the conspiracy was completely defeated.
There are, sir, two other depositions relative to the credit of this witness which I had intended to notice. Mr. Longworth details to us a conversation held between him and Glover, early in February, and just after he had made his affidavit. Glover then told him that he had not “acted against Mr. Smith;” that “he thought him unjustly accused,” and believed “he had no share in the conspiracy.” In the April following, Dr. Lanier’s deposition informs us of an interview (at which he was present) between Mr. Smith and Glover. How strongly marked is the conduct of each on that occasion. In Mr. Smith we see the firmness of an innocent man, indignantly daring forth his slanderer, and in the other a soul as contemptible for its meanness as detestable for its vices, descending (if indeed such a creature can properly be said to descend to any thing) to the grossest falsehoods and most humiliating prevarications.