" You don’t know, my dear minister, all that can be made in the provinces of a judicial affair when adroitly manipulated, — cooked, as I may say. In my long and laborious career at the bar I saw plenty of that kind of miracle. But a parliamentary debate is another thing. In that there’s no need of proof; one can kill one’s man with probabilities and assertions, if hotly maintained. "

― Honoré de Balzac , Works of Honore de Balzac