New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-12-28
purpose 10 his dishonor and degrsdstion-!hen
the fact that have wormed out some fact which

rebounds 10 his discre34t on which 10 base my
attacks upon him. will not shield ne from legal
reprobatioD. Nor should il. II the facts eXhio-
tied prove a malicious iE,sri on the para OF TIA
person charged with libel, ne must justify his
publication 10 the last title or be b.sYei fe,--
I full responsibility.
But tie Law dOts not presume msu libelsr
merely because be speaks 6isparlgiDey Of an
other. On The contrary, it expressly gn)res the
! presumption OF malice in m1ny impOitan, cases.
For instance: District Attorney drawing TO-
dictmsnts is not tobepresumed libeler although
| he charges the accused with heiaogs offences A
Judge charging Jury is not accounted lbeler.
though lie gives the prisoner at the Der decid
eddy uBenvisble character. An employer VINO is
| applied to for the character of his late clerk
| journeyman or ieryans, may give him reputa-
ton very far from fstteripg yet lot be held pre-.
sumptively guilty. of libel. True, the advocate
al the bar, the dis.rictattorney at ais desk, the
Judge On toe bench the master answering 10 IIires
os TO bis late servant may be guilty oftbe malicious
defamation which is the essence of libel, and
therefore be held responsible to an action for that
ofense; but he lie not presumed a l6eler merely
because he has been impelled in the discharge of
his duty to speak unfsvorably Of some one
Now in morarcbical Europe, the Press is III
turslIy and necessarily on object Of dislise OF
fear, Of apprehension on the part Of the priv
legged few who make the judges and WELD the
bsyonets; hence itis not usual allowed the beBe-
ftoftbe same equitsblepr resumption which shields
the master, tie advocate, the Judge; but the
equity Of the rule, the reason for the immunity
| is precisely tho same in its case as in the Others
An Editor who priDts current report or para
graph importing that John Smith has been ar
rested on charge OF forgery under circumstances
which sfIord strong presumption of his gait, is
not proved a libeier, even by evidence thqt Joha
Smith is moi Il forger and has not even been le-
gslly accused Of such crime II is ill,ei
possible that the Editor may have been iI-
PEELED by malicious intent in utsering
the report TO said Smiths discred.; but
the mere fact that taid report appeared in
said EDITORS journsl proves nothing Of the sort,
spd creates no such presumption in any breast
but that Of the law. We have been some twenty
times sued for lbel and we do no. believe there
has been single suit in which the mere require.
ment that the plaintiff Snd his counsel should
make sOlemn Sfiidavit subject to the pains and
penalties of perjury that we intended unustly
to define spd iDjufe said plaintiff, would no.
have saved us from the trouble, anxiety and cost
Of such prosecution. Indursttd as legal cou-
sciences are known to be- We cannot recall sin
sc case in which the money. hunter and his shark
would not have been stopped By such. an Aida
Wit. Yet many thousands of dollars Of our hard
carnings-ten in costs for every one in damages
have been wrested from u' by these plupdering
libe.-suits. Gentlemen legislators viii you not
shield US from such robbery, and enable us TO do
our doiy TO the public fully and fearlesslyl
Take the case 10 which the larges. damages
were obtained against ns-tbat Of the Yankee
skipper whore cafe was settled By Sderifi's
Jury last summer. This man left Braz Ii m port
where he vas pretty well known, under circum-
stauces which in'uced belief tia. he had run
down the COST Of Patagonia 10 prey on defense
less Br5z.lisn vessels, either under Blenos
AyTetn letter Of marque, or withOu. any warrant
Whatever. Tie Braziii.n commodore (Grenie,D
cent vessel in pursuit e him, and notified our
as pirate if be caught hin. The presumption
tina: he had started OF privaeering or pirltical
expedition was universal; s1d tie statement
was Transmitted by mercantile house in Bra
Ill 70 It's correspondent in Boston az an IN lOubted
fact As such il was Inscribed on the books of
tie Merchants Exchange there aad thence tee-
grapbed over to the Associated Pres. of this
and we presume Of tbe other great cities. As
such it appeared in The TRIBUNE simultsne-
Cusy with other journals. Yet the presumption
so naturally and widely cherished proved mis-.
taken one Tie suspected skipper, committed
10 act of piracy or depreciation of sDy kind; his
vessel was soon wrecked OFF the Patagonian
coast; aud lie came home here TO sue us (ahd we
presume others also) for libel He never asked
Us to correct the statement telegraphei to and
publshed by US, as We should very gladly have
dole Lad We been enabled 70 do so. He gave
US 10 chance to make him reparston in kind
but went in for what he could make
with the Bar and tae Bench to aid him.
We made him 40 trouble, sought no delay, and
lot wiihiug 10 prove him pirate when he
was hot one, let the take tie shortest course
ly interposing 10 plea AID letting the case 90 10
Sher'fs jury, where we introduced the tesi-
moDy OF Com. Mckeever and others 10 expsna-
ten Of The whole matter, and were sentenced by
the Sherihs enlightened and magnanmOus dis
penters Of justice to pay the skipper $3.50 and
costs AID some Of these, We understand, have
since expressed regret that We were No. once
more il tleir clutches, so that they could compel