Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1873-07-10
Reform in Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Constitutional
Convention has Unexpectedly voted,
! by majority of one, to adjourn until
the third Tuesday in October. This
sudden action is conceded to have
been brought about by the influence Of
the Ring, which feared to let the Con
vention complete its schemes of re-
form and submit them to the suffrages
of the people. In particular was their
dread manifested respecting the revi-
sal of the Registry and Election law,
which would terminate their rule with
its first operation. 1t is universally
conceded that the Convention is COM
posed of as able and sagacious public
men as have assembled in any State
on similar business in many years.
The very pains taken to select leading
members Of such experience and
weight of character for the work of
reforming organic law of the State
was a sufficient pledge Of its being se-
riously entered upon. And the task
has been one of searching for funda-
mental principles of government and
clearing away that large body of patch:
ing and temporizing which becomes
the cover for inevitable abuses. Men
like Buckalew, Black and Curtin have
given their best intellectual efforts to
the business of correcting errors that
were become radical, by restoring the
simplicity and directness of the or
ganic law and sloughing of the barna-
cles of false and corrupt habit of leg
islation. One of the most important
of the topics handled by the Conven-
ton is the law of libel, which in Penn
sylvania, as in other States, rests on
the most unphilosophical grounds, if
not in many respects the most arbitra-
ry assumptions. Under the existing
law in Pennsylvania, it is not essen
tial that the prosecution should estab-
lish the fact of malice; all it is called
on to do is to pierce the alleged truth
of the libel, and even the slightest
flaw in it takes the ground from under
the feet of the defence. So small a
matter as a typographical error has
been known to give the case to the
prosecutor, though no malice at all was
shown. The Convention has correct
ed SO gross an injustice, and made the
element of malice play the leading
part in the case, as it ought. But the
singular circumstance about it is, that
the defence is to have the privilege Of
proving want of malice, instead of the
prosecutions being compelled to estab-
lish its presence. How it will work
experience alone will show; it has
usually been held that, setting aside
the cid dogma Of "the greater the
truth the greater the libel" malice con-
stituted the real feature of libel, and
hence that the party aggrieved was
bound to prove its existence. But this
novel experiment takes it entirely out
of the hands of the prosecution, and
turns it over as weapon to the de-
fence altogether, If the latter can
prove no malice, the case falls to the
ground.
What gives this new shaping of the
law of libel such exceptional signifi-
cance at the present time is the notori-
Gus fact of the controlling power of
the rings in Pennsylvania, that oper-
ates irresistably upon the Federal
Government. While raising such a
clamor against the New York Ring,
which fearless Democrats pursued to
it's destruction, the Administration fol-
lowers have no syllable of condemna-
tio2 for the Cameron, Hartranft and
Kemble concern that rules far beyond
the limits of Pennsylvania. Even the
Dingley Republican Convention in
Maine the other day took virtuous
pains to denounce Tweedism, but ap-
peared never to have heard of the
Cameron and Grant partnership, from
which the State of Pennsylvania, like
another LAGOON, is struggling to free
itself If the people are ready to
adopt this revision of the law of libel
which the Convention will present for
their acceptance, the Independent and
fearless press of Pennsylvania will be
able to make such war upon the rule
of corruption as will shake the system