libeller is blacker than that of the highway robber, or of one who commits
the crime of midnight arson. The man who plunders on the highway may have
the semblance of an apology for what he does. An affectionate wife may
demand subsistence; a circle of helpless children raise to him the
supplicating hand for food. He may be driven to the desperate act by the
high mandate of imperative necessity. The mild features of the husband and
father may intermingle with those of the robber and soften the roughness of
the shade. But the robber of character plunders that which "not enricheth
him," though it makes his neighbor "poor indeed." The man who at the
midnight hour consumes his neighbor's dwelling does him an injury which
perhaps is not irreparable. Industry may rear another habitation. The storm
may indeed descend upon him until charity opens a neighboring door; the
rude winds of heaven may whistle around his uncovered family. But he looks
forward to better days; he has yet a hook left to hang a hope on. No such
consolation cheers the heart of him whose character has been torn from him.
If innocent he may look, like Anaxagoras, to the heavens; but he must be
constrained to feel this world is to him a wilderness. For whither shall he
go? Shall he dedicate himself to the service of his country? But will his
country receive him? Will she employ in her councils, or in her armies, the
man at whom the "slow unmoving finger of scorn" is pointed? Shall he betake
himself to the fireside? The story of his disgrace will enter his own doors
before him. And can he bear, think you, can he bear the sympathizing
agonies of a distressed wife? Can he endure the formidable presence of
scrutinizing, sneering domestics? Will his children receive instructions
from the lips of a disgraced father?

Gentlemen, I am not ranging on fairy ground. I am telling the plain story
of my client's wrongs. By the guiltless hand of malice his character has
been wantonly massacred,--and he now appears before a jury of his country
for redress. Will you deny him this redress? Is character valuable? On this