prove the truth of his inferences, but not of our allegations. You will readily perceive that when propositions like these are entertained, discussion becomes embarrassing; as we are bound to abide by such rulings as have been made by the court, and may yet be made in the course of the trial. Within the narrow limits assigned, I shall present the case as well as I can, upon the topics to which the discussion is cut down by the court. "You will not fail to appreciate the public aspect of the grave questions involved in the issue. The fearless comments of a free press on the public acts of those you entrust with power, are your only protection against profligate legislation and official corruption and venality. Even with such expo sures of malfeasance in office and partisan intrigue as you have hitherto had, and with the princely revenues of New York from its magnificent public works, your industry is taxed four millions annually for State purposes alone. Every farm from Lake Ontario to the sea is under mortgage to-day to the tax-gatherer, not for the legitimate support of gov ernment, but to supply the ever-recurring defi ciencies of a treasury drained by corrupt legisla tion. You are taxed because the capital of a free State is polluted by jobbers and money-changers. Laws are enacted by the mercenaries of the third estate. Where we most need integrity, roguery thrives, and honest men are in disrepute. Who ever is guilty, whoever innocent, the fact exists and is known to all men. It is matter of public history, and as familiar to every citizen as the fact that the cohorts of rebellion are now advancing in arms to subvert the Republic. Do I mistake the sentiment of this community when I say that deeply as we abhor the brazen front of treason which boldly encounters the perils of crime and war, still more do we detest and abhor the treach ery, the thievery, and the peculation of those among ourselves who betray public trusts, who rise and stab the people, and in the house of the people? However it may be with individuals, we know the laxity of public morals prevailing among many of those who have crept into high places. It has been found that there are gold-mines nearer than California, accessible to plastic consciences. Men have learned to buy their offices and sell their votes, — to barter honor for emolument, and conscience for coin. Human souls are bought and sold at the public shambles. In the present case we are not permitted to inquire who these
men are. But we may well ask, when we are called on to silence the sentinels who should warn us against corruption, what will be our con dition when you have muzzled those whose duty it is to guard us, when you have knifed the watch dogs who protect us while we sleep? You are to vindicate all rights and enforce all laws; but in doing so, and in arriving at a judgment in each particular case, you will not lose sight of what is due to the community at large, or discard from view the circumstances and surroundings which reflect light on the acts and motives of those who are arraigned before you as wrongdoers. We are to abide by the decisions of the courts; but we espe cially rejoice when they gladden good men, — as the exclusion of our evidence gladdened the wor thy gentlemen whom we brought here to reveal the doings and bargainings of the Albany lobby. How speedily the cloud rolled away which seemed before to darken the court-room! . . . "Legislative Corruption. Certain local journals persist in misrepresentations of the course of the ' Tribune ' respecting State matters so gross that we cannot refrain from noticing them. We take the following from a leader in the last ' Chautau qua Democrat ' as a sample : — "1 There may have been, and doubtless was, the usual amount of " legislative corruption " at Albany last winter." "The usual amount of legislative corruption at Albany? Time-honored usages of our ancestors! What has become of them? There was a period in our history when high offices were filled by up right men. Those whose lives touched the era of the Revolution retained the spirit of patriot ism in fires . . . and loathed crime and corrup tion and venality. But here a prominent public journal enters the lists against the 'Tribune,' and intimates that there is a usage of corruption which Republicans are bound to respect. It is because corruption is acquiring the sanction of usage, gen tlemen, that this case, involving the issue of cor rupt legislation, transcends in interest and impor tance any previous libel suit in this country. . . . "I need scarcely recur to the prominent char acteristics of the Gridiron bills, so admirably ana lyzed in the masterly opening argument of my associate. You remember that they were grants in perpetuity, obviously framed to evade the Con stitution, and without the usual reservation of the
