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THOMAS COOPER. 811

you; but, the jury have found otherwise. You are a gentle-
man of the profession, of such capacity and knowledge, as
to have it more in your power to mislead the ignorant. I do
not want to oppress, but I will restrain, as far as I can, all
sueh licentious attacks on the government of the country.
Mr. Cooper. I have been asked by the court whether, in
ease of a fine being imposed upon me, I shall be supported
by a party. Sir, I solemnly aver, that throughout my life,
here and elsewhere, among all the political questions in
which I have been concerned, I have never so far demeaned
myself as te be a party writer. I never was in the pay or
under the support of any party; there is no party in this,
or any other country, that ean offer me a temptation to prosti-
tute my pen, If there are any persons here who are ac-
quainted with what I have published, they must feel and be
satisfied that I have had higher and better motives, than a
party could suggest. I have written, to the best of my abil-
ity, what I seriously thought would eonduce to the general
good of mankind. The exertions of my talents, such as they
are, have been unbonght, and go they shal? continue; they
have indeed been paid for, but they have been paid for by
myself, and by myself only, and sometimes dearly. The public
is my debtor, and what I have paid or suffered for them, if
my duty should again call upon me to write or to aet, I shall
again most readily submit to. I do not pretend to have no
party opinions, to have no predilection for particular de-
seriptions of men or of measures; but I do not act upon minor
considerations; I belong here, as in my former country, to
the great party of mankind. With regard to any offers
which may have heen made to me, to enable me to discharge
the fine which may be imposed, I will state candidly to the
eourt what has passed, for I wish not to conceal the truth; I
have had no previous communication or promise whatever,
T have since had no specific promises of money or anything
else. I wrote from my own suggestions. But, many of my
friends have, in the expectation of a verdict against me, come
forward with general offers of pecuniary assistance; these

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