Year: 1865

Of tAas party 70 which the dcfeadant beiongs-the
ssancnss friends Of the principles q which the defend
Hgn&nt and persistent efforts 70 Arag his private euds
sad personal eai,ies into public quss.ions because be
paper Of the siaae thel medium u graisy-


ing his personal malice. I open this before
he o. the ss. ssa = justice s seif demand.


Should my effort 70 do justice 70 my client mpsess you


with The feeling that lack earneetpess and sincerity In
the cause is fault and not that of my client his
cause II Il Is necessary 70 prove lawyers earnest


nessf u is necessary 70 earn his fec 70 exhibit great
dessasssd forensic ground and an lofty % sambansST an


Inadequate that effort will noe follow my adver-
sarys course n commenting the personal appearance


OF one OF the parties 20 the suit In the slang which fell


from the witness Mcneil II must indeed be miserable
cause which could compel lawyer and gentleman 70


hold his responsible And Why did the counsel


dare 70 say that Mr. Opdyke having raised himself from


the lowest walks OF society kicked away the ladder by


What the lowest walks2 Are they gentlemen your


pursuits, or mineY-the mechanics and tradesmenS


Where is the evidence that Mr. opdyke spurns these


man who has risen by energy, capacity industry and In


tegy to public fame and 70 private man who


has gone through his whole life with character


blemshcd and unsained till assailed by the maIignty
OF this man. without the Of SANDER being turned
spurnsd away from hims there be one Characteristic
OF Mr. 0pdyke that have learned pertaining 70 him,


rs his persistent adherence and fidelity 70 friends,
sentatives Of the class from which the defendant has
sprung, and to whom tho defendant is still attacheds


halls Numbers OF this class have this
room since the trial commenced. You must have
sn ri. Srnd DAY r
the the legislative onDss and IN PoSa


pared for them As 70 association and close intimacy
with these men, Mr. Opdyke viii enter into rivalry
tin in this cause has brought his character his Me- his
history his whole conduct during these transactions be-
fore the public, and offers It 70 the scrutiny Of you gen.
teen and his fellow citizens Now Of the strongest
accueations brought against him E that In doing these
things he has been instgated by avace. But gentle
men, that Is Q very common accusation against any
successful man. II there be among You man success
ful In life, you must know that when you encounter
those less industrious and less successful you apt 70
be pointed out man fond OF money, avaricous
man. But would any one here imagine that any body
would bring libel suit against Thurlow Weed for love Of
Affairs Of life ana from what G You have seen and learned
during the progress Of this trial. that II Mr. Opdyke
recovered the largest amount s your verdict could give


cd and the loss Of time, with the cost Of the trial for
90 protaced period II idle to talk therefore,
Of avaricous motives In case like this a. II 70 talk
Of Rogers account Of young girls being hung In England
In 179O OF De Tocquevillos comments the fall Of
Louis Philippe Mr. opdyke came with one single mo-


veto vindicate his character from the malignant attack
made upon III and he may thank God that he has done


completely successfully numphanty In every charge
he would cheerfuy pay oil that has cost him In money,
patiently whole day. in the presence OF this
Court o. c1ansS @ . Win en- I'VE nsu
verdict you could give him Mr. Opdyke does not want,
he does not need, this money. There are public
charities In this city that do need the money. He
knew the wary, unscupulous unrng antagonist he had


to grappe with in this contest and when he brought the
suit no knew all the facts Of the case Do you think he
would come here knowing the man he had 70
deal with, If his cause was not founded on
right and justiccf Do YOU think he would come
and invite this to spread open the map
Of his whole life before you no did know before.
hand that he had nothing 10 fear from the truth, and
that he firmly trusted and believed that the jury could
not be made 70 believe lief The defendant complains
that he has not been invited TO tesfya strange
plant to come from that quarter This y not criminal
In which he would be debarred from testifying
The issue You have 70 try Is not whether this
Is . libel, false libel, but simply what amount Of
damages the plaintiff should recover--a verdict
which shall not enable the defendant say the
nifty that George Opdykes character fs worth nothing
to invite some of your number gentlemen. 70 refUss 70
agree 70 any amount Of damages Whatever and then 70
0us hs ~ ssn ss M no nan
artace 70 get verdict. Weed had been brought into
criminal court an Indictment bis mouth would be
cloeed there no evidence can como fr0m q prisoner
The plaintiff always intended and always asked
that his opponent would oner some proof Of
iibels Mr. Weed could have gone ON mo
and told how pure and how free from maisce his
motives He could have testified 10 the efforts mado
by him 10 get the truth Of tho matter He could have
stated from what sources Of information he had learned
that George Opdyke was The bad man no represented
Of the witness box, az Mr. Opdyke had DONE Counsel
hos dragged in the letter Of Mr. Opdyke Of September
l8o3 addressed 70 Senator Harris, which letter. ap
peared lis face, reply 70 previous attack moro
bitter far than these hbes made by Thurow
Weed against George Opdyke Ismay that, for the
travel out OF the case; but s that the senior
se in tho called this newspaper pngilism. They
cannot ACCUSE Mr. 0pdyke Of being newspaper puglst
himself and his Ana dispute the right therefore,
OF the counsel attribute that character to his
client Mr. Weed not the editor Of the paper which
published these libels the time He did not publish
them to give notorety 70 a paper with which no
was at tho time connected, Of % 2 snven ,s pol. poll
for sander OF the community But he deliberately
any might, and borrowed column after column Of
that newspaper, his bad purposes; and
other men could have controlled this PAPER TO the extent
he did but himself These articles published In tho
manner in loaded type, and the editorials were gar.
nished with the initials Of tho veteran editor
Of tha. paper This looked as great .da. deal
to divert your minds from tho true ssue at stake and to
Ak them upon something oise Defendant charges That
Mr. Opdyke in 1863 denied that he bad any contrncts
and no wants you, gentlemen to convict him Of benga
fraudulent peculator on the goyernmenta foresworn
public official corrupt broker In public ofces-becausc
when charged with being gorged with public contracts
that II he had any contracts he fulfilled
them 10 the letter. and that at that time he had
whatever That statement true the letter was ruc
all was true in letter and spirit But that Is
not the issue. Tho defendant admits tho pub
licatIon Of tho articles alleged 10 contain the
AZ we get forth the complaint and charge that he
published Il and what he said In H. That is the
effect Of his interpreted from the conduct and
the ps of his counsel throughout tho But what
does no ssy In defenceY First that IL was provoked
Provoked by whom2 BY ell these gentlemen Counsel
rouqht 10 make you believe that because the Evening
Post editors got into the controversy and because Mr.
Horace Greeley got into H. that ho had right to single
out Mr. opdyke and charge him with these acts OF
corruption and dishonesty. He stated that he
acted on information which he thought reliable. Why
does he not provo hs2 Perhaps he Is the only who
could have proved IT, He had every opportunity and he
had right to go tho stand and testify TO this He
said he Investigated IT, Whore Ia Tho investigation
Where s the evidence Of any investigation In good fah7
There 10 little OF good faith and public duty and
Of right motive In the publication, and that Ia
none At all. Defendant could have sworn to ALL
and yet he sat here In dumb silence all
through when he could have gone on the stand and vim
dIcated himself would submit your Honor autho
rites libel " show that justfyng libel the rule
that tho Justification must be complete and broad
as the chargc-as broad - all the chATgosL


The Court--YeA


Mr. Emott-That tho defendant must establish every
one OF these acousatons in that 10 which tho Law
and the ministers under tho law put u, as true.