From form of procedure I pass to rules of evidence; and here again the
Senate must avoid technicalities, and not allow any artificial rule to
shut out the truth. It would allow no such thing on the expulsion of a
Senator. How allow it on the expulsion of a President? On this account
I voted to admit all evidence offered during the trial,--believing,
in the first place, that it ought to be heard and considered, and, in
the second place, that, even if shut out from this Chamber, it could
not be shut out from the public, or be shut out from history, both
of which must be the ultimate judges. On the impeachment of Prince
Polignac and his colleagues of the French Cabinet, in 1830, for signing
the ordinances which cost Charles the Tenth his throne, some forty
witnesses were sworn, without objection, in a brief space of time, and
no testimony was excluded. An examination of the two volumes entitled
“Procès des Derniers Ministres de Charles X.” confirms what I say. This
example, which commends itself to the enlightened reason, seems in
harmony with declared principles of Parliamentary Law.
As in pleadings, so in evidence, the Law of Parliament, and not the
Common Law, is the guide of the Senate. In other courts the rules vary,
as on trial by jury in the King’s Bench depositions are not received,
while in Chancery just the reverse is the case. The Court of Parliament
has its own rules. Here again I quote the famous Report:--
“No doctrine or rule of law, much less the practice of any
court, ought to have weight or authority in Parliament further
than as such doctrine, rule, or practice is agreeable to the
proceedings in Parliament, or hath received the sanction of
approved precedent there, _or is founded on the immutable
principles of substantial justice_, without which, your
Committee readily agrees, no practice in any court, high or
low, is proper or fit to be maintained.”[183]