[clx. 367]

1822 July 9

Constitut. Code Rationale

Securities

Public Opinion Tribunal

Defamation no ground

for suppression etc

That which a man in whose instance an /the/ imputation is false, is as nothing /little/ in comparison of what the man suffers in whose instance the same imputation is true.

Accordingly the marks of vexation exhibited will naturally be in the same proportion: the intensity of the desire manifested for suppression and vengeance

To see imputed to him a misdeed by which in proportion as his having committed it is believed, the esteem and respect that would otherwise be entertained /felt/ for him will be diminished, is doubtless an uneasy sight: a sight productive of uneasiness proportioned to the degree in which the diminution of respect will be produced if the imputation be believed to be true, and the extent to which such belief has place.

There will be in any case the trouble of calling upon the defamer for his proofs: and if it be a case in which the circumstances admitt of the defamers giving an air of probability to the charge, viz. by means of circumstantial evidence, the trouble of encountering the probative force of such circumstantial evidence by arguments, and counter evidence or both. Note however at bottom[?] of all this trouble will remain for consolation the consciousness of innocence

Look now to the case of him in whose instance the imputation is true.