Evening star., 1924-06-13
IN TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

than the disease, and the Liberty of
giles. but without q grcan."
An appeal for a new trial was car
ried to the Supreme Court, and Chief
Justice Lewis cited the common law
land to justify his rulings against
admitting truth as a defense. and in
refusing to permit the jury even to
know his opinion as to what was the
law in this case: The new trial was
refused. although two justices of the
Supreme Court held for support of
Croswelrs contention. and cited a law
passed by Congress In 1898 which al
lowed the truth to be given in evil
dence on every prosecution under that
act. and 1t Is worthy of notice" said
the Justices. that the part of the act
allowing the truth to be given in evil
dence was declaratory. and thereby
conveyed the sense OF Congress that
such was already the existing law"
AS Croswell was not charged under
the federal sedition law. but under
the common law. therefore, it was
held by Chief Justice Lewis and sup
porting justices the federal law did
not apply. A new trial was denied.
\
The sedition law was passed by the
Federalists in Washington's term, to
meet the danger OF opponents of the
government when war with France was
threatened. Under that law any reflec-
ton upon the officials Of government. re-
gardlees of the truth Of the charges,
was held as criminal libel. This law be-
came intensely unpopular. as it was
tyrannical 1t was repealed soon after
the Croswell case in New York. although
that had no direct connection with the
federal law, but merely emphasized the
importancc Of the freedom of the press.
The last case under the federal sedi-
tion law was that of the scurrilous Cal
lender himself, held at Richmond, under
Justice Samuel Chase OF the United
States circuit court, together with Dis
rict Judge Cyrus Griffen. Among the
attorneys Interested were John Mar
shall. afterward the celebrated Chief
Justice OF the United States Supreme
Court: Edmund Randolph and Alexan-
der Hamilton.
Justice Chase was the greatest bully
that ever sat on the bench" and was
later impeached for his arbitrary con-
duct In this case he 80 browbeat the
attorneys. in his partisan determination
to punish Calender, that the defense at
torneys left the court in the midst OF
the trial. Calender was sentenced to
nine months in prison. He there con-
tinued his ISLANDERS of prominent OFF,
cials until President Jefferson pardoned
him. Soon thereafter the sedition law
was repealed. and then Calender turned
his wrath upon Jefferson. and sIandered
him as severely as he ever had the
Federalists.
These two cases had more to do with
establishing free press than any other
influence. as they demonstrated the
tyranny of bureaucratic control Of free
dom of speech Not only was the sedi-
tion law repealed. but the first amend
ment to the United States Constitution
guaranteed the freedom Of speech and
of the press All states have enacted
laws and most have provided clauses in
OF the press and of speech. and provid-
ing that in cases Of libel the truth shall
be admitted as a defense or mitigation
of the ofYense.
This does not license malicious
justify libel. if il is not said without
malice and for the public welfare but
no longer is il crime to tell the
truth affecting official policies or con-
duet or the record OF candidates for
public office, indicating their unfit
ness.
This was illustrated last Wednes-
day in the Supreme Court of the Dis
trict OF Columbia, in a libel suit for
100000 against a representative from
Mississippi. The defendant was
charged with having said in a cam
paign speech that certain woman
who was his rival candidate for Con-
gress was married to a man of negro
blood. The husband claimed that he
had no taint of negro blood, but was
part Choctaw Indian.
The defense was upheld by Chief
Justice Mccoy, since the defendant
claimed that he was able to prove the
truth of his original statement and
that he had a right to sponsor such a
truth, since he was a candidate
for Congress against the woman. The
case was dismissed.
The change of the ideals Of the law
in the contrast of the cases of Cros-
well, 1903, and the Mississippi repre-
sentative. 1924. marks the progress of
justice. of which free speech is the
greatest bulwark.
Copyright 1924 by Paul V Collins