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THOMAS COOPER. 795

of the good people of this country. In the act which defines
this offense and points out the punishment, a liberality of de-
fense is given, unknown, I believe, in any other country where
the party is tried for a libel on the government. Here the
defendant is allowed, under the third section of that act, to
give in evidence the truth of the matters charged as a libel
in the publication, and the jury have a right to determine
the law and the fact under the direction of the court. The
true spirit of the law is that the defendant shall not be found
guilty of publishing defamatory writings, unless they be
false, nor, although they may be false, shall he be considered
as guilty under the law, unless the intent of the publication
appear to be malicious.

That such publication has proceeded upon a knowledge of
the truth, he is permitted to give as matter of evidence; and
if true, it must be allowed to go far to satisfy the minds of
the jury that the malicious motives imputed to him are not
true. In private actions for slander, where a man seeks
pecuniary redress for the injury his character has sustained,
the defendant is entitled to give in evidence, as a defense to
the action, the truth of the words spoken or the written libel;
and if the truth of the assertions be proved, it will amount
to a justification. There is no difference, then, between the
defense that may be set up to an action of slander, or libel on
a private person, and that which is permitted under the law
whereon this indictment is grounded.

The defendant has undertaken to satisfy the mind of the
jury that, in this publication, he had no malicious intention
against the President of the United States; I join issue with
him on the point, and request your particular attention to it,
He alleges that he did not impute improper motives to the
President, and attempts to substantiate his allegation by re-
ferring you to his declaration in the outset, where he says
that ‘I cannot believe him (the President) capable of such
gross misrepresentations, for I stilt think well of his inten-
tions, however I may disapprove of his eonduct;’’ but to this
I shall add that he goes on and concludes with a paragraph,

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