"^ 4 o^ lis* AT ^ oVJIaf* ■<£? "^ ,0 I Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/santangelostrialOOsant 4M3 poJf'' SANTANGELO'S TRIAL FOR- LIBEL AGAINST SAMUEL Mc ROBERTS. A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES, FROM ILLINOIS. BEFORE THE COURT OF GENERAL SESSIONS, IN THB CITY OP NEW YOKE. 1\ ■'■'SV INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN BY MR. 0. de A. SANTANGELO TO HIS COUNSEL. NEW YORK. 1842. o i-2 J 7 Gentlemen, However adverse the result of my approaching trial for LIBEL may be, I shall solely look upon it as a subject for a few additional pages to the history of my strange adven- tures. Yet I could not feel indifferent to the least judicial inci- dent, which may not prove fully creditable to my personal honor. Society, it may be said with much truth, does not always condemn what a magistrate condemns, nor is public opinion always subservient to the decisions of juries or courts. It is not less certain, however, that men, uninformed of the true facts, might easily be led into error by wrong judicial sentences silently acquiesced to. Nature and reason, on the other hand, order me to defend myself. I shall never consent, therefore, to have my person confounded with the common mass of trembling victims to tyrannical power and brutal force. Let me defend my person, my name, my honor, and all my natural and civil rights, to the utmost. Must I suc- cumb ? Well, I shall ; but not without being fully at peace with my own heart and mind. All that I aim at, is not to descend into the tomb a voluntary prey to inconsolable grief and dejecting opprobrium. I care but little for any other possible injury that human malice or folly can inflict on my septuagenary body or exhausted purse. Worldly misfortunes have no real terrors, in my opinion, whenever they can be courageously faced by honesty and innocence. But, although I have long since been initiated in the myste- ries of Themis, still, imperfectly acquainted with the English language, and in almost utter ignorance of the common law of this country, I could not, if abandoned to my own personal resources, flatter myself to give my defence all that vigor, of which I think it susceptible. These considerations have com- pelled me, Gentlemen, to have recourse to your professional and eiRcient assistance : and the complicated nature of the case, suggests the propriety of giving you as complete a view of it as now lies within my reach. 1 would convince you of the justice of my cause before you attempt to convince the Court where the cause shall have to be debated. Above all, I would call your serious attention to the immense eventual disparity of forces existing between my assail- ant and myself The contest is literally between a naked human frame and a man clothed in full armour, presenting al- together an invulnerable, impenetrable mass of iron. In fact, what is a naturalized citizen against a native, a stranger to all political parties against a 'protected partizan, a private for- saken individual against a Senator, shielded by the esprit de corps of numerous and powerful colleagues ? You, learned juristSj cannot be ignorant of all those inscrutable and resistless influences, by which the human heart is secretly and sovereignly mastered, notwithstanding the most dazzling external appearances, or illusive protestations of rigorous im- partiality and unshakeable uprightness. My only possible re- source seems, therefore, to be an appeal to the national hon- or of all parties, all corporations, all classes of native and adopted citizens, and, more especially, to the individual con- scientious integrity of those to whose judgment the law con- fides the decision of my case. I would likewise take the liberty of reminding you that juries — composed no doubt of excellent people, but common- ly not much versed in dialectical and legal sciences — em- brace, but too often, the opinion of those who speak the last to them, and that those who, amongst us, speak the last to them, are by no means the accused or his counsel, as in Con- tinental Europe, but the Attorney General and the Judge of the court. This fact renders it advisable for the accused, or his counsel, to foresee in his defence, and defeat beforehand all objections which might possibly be made by those whose daring eloquence or imposmg character could lead the jury to overlook the true merits of the defensive edifice. By the Code of Criminal Instruction of France, B. 11. Tit. 11. Art. 335, a reply to the defence is permitted both to the civil party and the Attorney General ; but "I' accuse ou son con- seil auront toujours la parole les derniers." This is a proper deference paid to the rights of man, and by such a procedure, the fate of the accused does not hang on a chance, which can so justly be compared to the drawing of a lottery. I will now come to the point. I shall begin by submitting to you a faithful copy of all such documents as I have at present prcemamSti^. and which seem necessary or useful to my defensive process. I shall expose, in continuation, for ^ your better information, such ideas of the case as I have been ~ able to conceive, and of which you will make, in your wisdom, the estimate you shall think proper. Such other proceedings as may take place before the Court of General Sessions, your professional action, the progress and final issue of the trial, to- gether with all such suitable observations as it may elicit, will form the subject of the Second Part of this writing, and the whole will be recorded by the press. The extraordinary fact of this being, in the whole course of my life, and at my age of sev. enty, myjlrst appearance before a criminal court in the char- acter of an accused person (as not even for mj political offences in Europe was I ever tried or heard inpvUic) must be made known in all its extent. I owe this innocent and honest satis, faction to my friends in both worlds, and to myself. Deign, Gentlemen, to accept the assurances of my respect- ful regard. Your most humble servant. Santangelo, Mid York, JYovember 1st. 1842. True copies of the original Documents, chronologically dis. posed, as quoted hi my "Instructions to my Counsel." touching my defence against the charge of " Libel" pre- ferred by Senator Samuel Mc Roberts before the Court of General Sessions, evincing the ftitility of his action, and vindicating my slandered character. NO. 1. Washington, Feb. 15th. 1842— Received from 0. de. A. Santangelo, Esq. two hundred dollars in full for his note due this day. Thos. p. Jones. This receipt was delivered on the 18th Feb., 1842, by D r. T. P. Jones, who had lent Mr. O. de A. Santangelo the sum of two hundred dollars for the term of four months, for which he received through me the in- terest of forty dollars, at five per cent, per month, besides a bonus of five dollars— in all, forty-five dollars. Eugene Plunkett. NO. 2. I hereby certify that on the 28th day of February 1842, I was inform- ed by Messrs. Robert Dyer & Co. Auctioneers, of the City of Washing- ton, that they had made sales of Mexican Scrip at public auction, as fol- lows : One Certificate for $500, sold to the Hon. James A. Pearce, of Mary- land, at 49 cents on the dollar — makiag the amount of $245,00. One Certificate for $500, sold to the Hon. Samuel Mc Roberts, of Il- linois, at 48 cents on the dollar, making the amount of $240,00. Both these Certificates belonged to the deceased Abraham Miller, and were sold by Mr. Rives, Editor of the Globe, executor of said Miller. Eugene Plunkett. NO° 3. I have bought of Mr. 0. de A. Santangelo, a certificate issued under the Mexican Convention, No. 1159, dated 26th of March 1842, signed by T. L. Smith, for two hundred dollars — but I agree that if he pays me fifty dollars within two months from this date, with uiterest at six per cent, per annum, that I will transfer him said certificate. April 6th, 1842. .Saml. Mc. Roberts. I have bought of Mr. Santangelo a Certificate issued under the trea- ty with Mexico, dated 26th Marcla 1842, for five hundred dollars, signed by T. L. Smith. If Mr. Santangelo pays me one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and interest, by the 6th of June next, I will transfer him said certificate. April 15, 1842. Saml. Mc Roberts. I have purchased of O. deA. Santangelo, a certificate issued under the Mexican Treaty, bemg No. 1121, dated March 26th, 1842, for the sum of one thousand dollars, signed by T. L. Smith. If Mr. Santangelo pays me the sum of two hundred and fifty-three dollars and fifty cents, on or before the sixth of June 1842, with interest at the rate of six per cent per annum, I will sell and transfer him said certificate. April £3, 1S42. Saml. Mc Roberts. If Mr. Santangelo has two notes of five hundred, they would be more convenient than one of a thousand. I am willing to purchase five hundred dollars this evening, at 25 cents to the dollar as before. (This note was received on the morning of the 28th of April, 1842, from Senator Mc Roberts.) I have bought of O. de A. Santangelo, a certificate issued under the treaty with Mexico, No. 1158, dated March 26th, 1842, and signed by T, L". Smith, for the sum of five hundred dollars. If Mr. Santangelo pays me one hundred and tweny-five dollars with interest, at the rate of six per cent per annum, on or before the 6th of June, 1842, I will sell and transfer to him said certificate. April 28th, 1842. Saml. Mc Roberts. T, P. Jones presents his respectful compUments to Mrs. de Santangelo, and with real regret informs her that a letter just received from New York, calling for an immediate payment of $500 will ^prevent him from making the proposed loan on the 1st of the month. T. P. J. giyes the earliest notice of this in his power, and hopes that the disappointment may not be attended by any serious inconvenience. Washington, May 26th, 1842. NO. 9. Copy— Washington, May 26th, 1842.— Dr. T. P. Jones— Sir- Relying on your positive promises, the promises of a gentleman, I shall indubitably lose $1650. Your notice of this morning comes much too late for me to hope for a remedy. You assured my wife and Mr. Plun- kett, several days ago, that you already had the greatest part of the money ready for the loan. The conditions were settled, and I confident- ly trusted on their fulfilment ; but it seems that Mr. Mc Roberts is more fortunate than myself and that I must be, as ever, the victim of untow- ard circumstances. This note is only an attempt to recall you to a sen- timent of honor ; if useless, I shall have to endure this new stroke of fate without repining : it will add a page to the volume of my misfor- tunes. — Respectfully, your obt. servant — Santangelo. — I certify that the above is a true copy of the letter handed to Mr. T. P. Jones, this day — Washington, May 26th, 1842. Eugene Plunkktt. NO. 10. Copy— Washington, May 26th, 1842.— Dr. T. P. Jones— Sir-- My note of this morning, in answer to yours of the same date, handed to you by my wife in company with Mr. Plunkett, has produced no effect. No satisfactory apology has been made on your part. Was the " imme- diate payment of $500," which you pretend to have been called upoa for, from New York, due or not ? If it was in virtue of previous en- gagements, of which you could not be ignorant, you ought not to have made any engagement with me, conscious of your inability to comply with it. If it was not, but is only a request of a recent date, you ought to have declined it for want of other means to enable you to keep yonr word to me. But you imagined you were dealing with a silly peasant just come from the country, wholly unacquainted with the in- trigues of a town usurer. You have wilfully and dishonorably broken a contract, thus causing me a sure loss of $1650 — Must I now engage a contest with a man des- titute of honor ? I could sue you for damages, but could I flatter myself with any success without suffering an expense often times the amount, which your treacherous hand snatches from my pocket ? I would, however, inform you that our Government, on which I have to call for all the losses its culpable inaction is causing to me and to all the claimants on Mexico, will be duly informed of this transaction of yours; and as all my communications with it on the subject are made public, you will appear in them in your true colours. I consider it, on the other hand, to be my duty to warn the public against dealing with an infamous scoundrel, a consummate liar, and a coward, worthy only of the lash of your obedient servant. — Santangelo. I certify the above is a true copy of a letter sent to J. P, Jones.— Washington, May 26th, 1842. EUOENE Pj.tJNKETT, 2 10 NO. 11. This is a letter from Saniangelo to Mc Roberts dated Mayi27th, 1842, filed in the original documents at said No. 11,] and copied in full in Santangelo's Instructions to his Counsel. NO» 12. Letter from Mc Roberts to Santangelo, dated Washington, May 28th 1842 — filed in the original documents at said No. 12, and copied in full in said Instructions. NO. 13. Letter from Santangelo to Mc Roberts dated Washington, June 1st 1842, filed in the originals at No. 13, and copied in full in said Instruc- tions. NO. 14. Copy — To the President of the United 'States — Sir — From the accompanying copy of a letter which I have just addressed to the more honored than honorable Senator of the United States of America, Mr. Samuel Mc Roberts, you will perceive to what a degree of violence and distress the rights of your citizens wronged by Mexico, are now brought by your inexplicable inaction. Your most humble servant. — Santangelo. Washington, June 1st, 1842. I certify the above is a true copy of a letter sent to the President of the United States. Washington, June 1st, 1842. Eugene Plunkett. NO. 15. Copy. — To Hon. Willie P. Mangum, President of the Senate — Sir — I herewith enclose a copy of a note which I addressed yesterday to Senator Samuel Mc Roberts from Illinois, as you should know intus et in cute every one of the members of the Body, of which you are the head. I take this step, not from any hope of interference on your part be- tween that extremely honorable Pater Conscriptus and mj^self, for he would always prefer $1650 to your esteem. My object is to let you know that should I ever be obliged to chastise in some way the base covetousness of that miserable blackguard, this should not imply the slightest idea of disrespect on my part to your august Body. — With sentiment of high consideration, I have the honor to be, your most obe- dient servant — ^Santangelo. Washington, June 2d, 1842. I certify the above is a true copy of a note addressed to Hon. Willie P. Mangum — Washington, June 2d, 1842. Eugene Plunkett. 11 KO. 16. The original insulting and provoking letter, of seven written pages dated — Washington City, June 4th, 1842, wholly written by Samuel Mc Roberts, signed by him, addressed to O. de A. Santangelo — which letter was afterwards printed and inserted in full by said Mc Roberts in his libellous pamphlet published in "Washington, under date of the 9th of August 1842, entitled " Address of Mr. Mc Roberts of the Senate of the United States, in reply to a publication of O. de Santangelo," a copy of which pamphlet is annexed, under the letter B, to the Deposi- tion of Johnson K- Rodgers, taken by order of the Court of Sessions on the 10th of September, 1842 ; and another is filed amongst the docu- ments of the defendant, Santangelo, at No. 26. xro. 17. Letter from Mad. Santangelo to Senator Mc Roberts, dated Washing- ton, June 6th 1842 — filed in the original documents at No. 17, and co- pied in full in the Instructions of Mr. Santangelo to his Counsel. NO. 18. Obligation of Charles J. Nourse Esq. dated Washington, June 6th, 1842 — filed amongst the originals at No. 18, and copied in full in said Instructions. liTO. 19. Another obligation of the same person under same date — filed in the originals at No. 19, and copied in full in said Instructions. I TSO. 20. Extract from the " Weekly Herald" of New York, of Saturday the 18th of June 1842, page 308, column 3d under the head, " Washington, Monday Evening (which was the 13 th of June) proceedings in Con- gress &c." " A personal altercation took place in the Senate between Mc Ro- berts of Illinois, and Mr. Smith of Connecticut. Mr. Smith charged Mr. Mc Roberts with falsehood. The latter retorted with some spirit, but there is no danger of bloodshed. There will never be another fight in Congress. Recent events have shown that there is great economy of human life in the Chivalry of the present day." ZVO. 21. The original letter from Santangelo to Samuel Mc Roberts, dated Washmgton, D. C. June 30th, 1842, in refutation of the insulting and false statements made by the latter in his letter of the 4th June, before 12 mentioned— Avhich original letter was afterwards published by Mr. S, in his " Circular to the World," denounced as libellous by said Mc Ro- berts, and filed in Mr. Santangelo's documents under No. 25. To said letter is subjoined the following declaration : Washington, D. C. June 30th, 1822--I, the undersigned, do hereby certify and attest that the above letter, written on thirty-one pages of common letter paper, addressed to Samuel Mc Roberts, and signed " Santangelo," is identically the sfime which, at the request of the lat- ter, I have copied from his autograph — which was folded, sealed, superscribed, and delivered by me at the door of the Senate Chamber this morning at 9 o'clock ; and which, after having been unsealed and enveloped under a different cover, was returned to Mr. Santangelo, at or about 12 o'clock, without any answer. Eugene Plunkett. sro. 22. This is the cover in which Mr. Mc Roberts enveloped the letter of the 30th of June 1 842, addressed to him by Mr. Santangelo, and by him (Mc Roberts) opened, and contemptuously returned to the latter, as stated by Mr. Plunkett in the proceeding document No. 21 . Said cover bears a superscription in blue ink written by Mc Roberts himself in the following terms : " 0. DE A. Santangelo— at Mrs. Gazaways' — Corner of lOthStreet — Washington City." ZUO. 23. Extract from a letter from James F. Haliday, foreman of Mr. Force's printing establishment in the city of Washington : " Washington, July 1st 1842— Gen. Santangelo—The letter to Mc Roberts, which Mr. Plun- kett left with me to be printed, I have submitted to Mr. Force, and he requests me to say, that although he is desirous of accomodating you, it will be impossible for him for a week or two to put the work in the office, in as much as he has promised a small volume now in hand within a specified time, and it cannot be put aside ; and owing to the great delay in Congress making an appropriation for our work long since due, and the difficulty in collecting money elsewhere, he cannot increase the number of his hands, when he has no immediate resources to meet the expense &c. Very respectfully™ James F. Hahday." DC?" In confirmation of the above, see the affidavit of said James F. Haliday, of the 5th of Sept. last. Doc. No. 29. 13 XVO. 24, Extract from a letter from Mr. Eugene Plunkett to Mr. Santangelo, dated Washington, June 6th, 1842 — filed amongst the original documents at No. 24, and copied in full in Santangelo's Instructions to his Coun- sel. sro. 25. This is the pamphlet entitled " A Circular to the World," which Mr, Santangelo published in New York under date of the 26th July, 1842, and with his own signature, in which he refutes line by line, and word by word, the insulting letter addressed to him by Mc Roberts, dated the 4th of June, which " Circular to the World," filed amongst Santangelo's documents at No. 25, forms the basis for his present prjpsecution for libel before the Court of General Sessions. Z70, 26, This is a pamphlet published by Samuel Mc Roberts in Washing- ton under his own name, and bearing date the 9th of August, 1842, en- titled " Address of Mr. Mc Roberts of the Senate of the United States, in reply to a publication of 0. de Santangelo" ; which pamphlet bears on its title page an anonymous note by the Publisher, containing the most defamatory insults and calunmies, and on its 3d page it is address- ed "To the Public." rro. 27. TO ALL MEN. A Pamphlet has made its appearance in the city of Washington un- der the title of " Address of Mr. Mc Roberts, of the Senate of the United States, in reply to a Publication of 0. De Santangelo." To this title is immediately subjoined, under the anonymous desig- nation of " Note by the Publisher," a calumnious denunciation, charging publicly " Santangelo" with defaming crimes " wholly new in this country ....!!!" On the second printed page of the Pamphlet, the " Address" appears made "To the Public." In his " Address" to the Public, Mc Roberts bravely involves in his slander Madame Santangelo, a perfect model of all social and domestic virtues, and Mr. Plunkett, a youth of 22 years of age, whose talents, morals, manners, point of honor and patriotism, would comma4d the respect of the universe. j^ The world will now be presented (in a document which shallTje sent to-morrow or next day to the printer) with a full incontrovertible evi- dence of Sabiuel Mc Roberts, and his absconding " Publisher," be- ing, if not two furious madmen, or mad desperadoes, incontestibly a couple of barefaced impostors, abject ruffians, cowardly felons, igno- rant slaves, exhibiting in their hideous persons such a complication of 14 nals of human wickedn«. Ar ,1, ■"?", ''''''™" P"™""' "> *e an- modem nations """"'"''""• " '^' "™mal records of all ancient and or'cven,'iS5 nTon^fTr"]; 'tSt"?*'^ ^ '=°T ^f J°""«' quences. i)e„5 «,L„' „; / ' .^^^o'^'*.^^ hand, regardless of all conse- /»».. i.. alw?;^ "waTaXw? aT^ «/rb™t 'sfc^ifr""'*'-" " "" He. York, August 20, 18«""° "' ^""^^"^ S.nt.noelo. 3^0, 28, Dear Mada m, Washington, 3d Sept. 1842. .lte^T^S.Vant3eJ:dt;t=at/o?X'S '"'n >""■ '"" Session of that body, for the Hon Snm 17^7 ^l ^^"*^''' ^"""? the that it was regularly sent to hir* ^' ^"*'''''' of Illinoir, and Very respectfully, rp ,;r ,. '^•^•J'^HNSON, Proprietor of the Index To Mrs. Mary de Santangelo. Washington. NO. 29, ^o'^'oalf^^^^^^^^^ on or about the ing establishment of Mr Pete? Fotpp . 1 ^^"?''''" '^^^ *^ ^^^ Print- Samuel Mc Roberts bykTS deTstrZTr'^'- 1""^^' ^^^^««««d to should be immediately prnVedanATnfK'T^^^ turned said letter to Mr SantnnL^ • u °" *^^ following day, I re- Mr.ForcewasdesirouftoaccoS^^^ ^^ »hat sible to put the woric in handTr . i ™' ''"' ^^^^ " ^""'^ beimpos- ise to finish, w Zi a sZJZ ? ^'^^ ^' ^T' ^'^ ^'^'^^""t of « Prom- which could notrpu^asS&c'Tnl^Trf ^^'^^ ^'»«» P^^ting, the letter addressed to SamnplSr' iJ ^""'^^^I ^^^^^^^ *nd a»es^ that tangelo in a pamph et ent^^^^^^^^ ^""^ P>^'^*^^^ by Mr. San- best of my knowledZ nnH K r r ^ Circular to the World," is to tlie above wriuen '° ^""^ ^"^'"^' ^ ''""^ ^^PY of the Manuscript le Uer James H. Haliday. Swotn and Subscribed before me, this 5,h day of September, 1842. --■ R- K. MoRSEtL, J. P. 16 NO. 30. ,nJAi ^^"^^.^A^^a'^^S' delivered by printers m Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria D. C.-affirming that the "Address" of Mc Roberts was not printed m their various printing offices-filed amongst the onginal documents at No. 30, and lettered A to J, inclusive. XfO. 31, 'Georgetown, D. C, Sept. 6th, 1832. UnTt^.5??r;P^-^' " ^^^'^'^ ""L^': ^*= ^«b^««' °f the Senate of the wii» 1° T^P^5^.^°''J?,^h'''^*t^*''^«fO- deSantangelo;" was first ofSjirr^^°"^'^*"¥'''" ^^^- i" a reporter's box iA the House ot Kepresentatives, on Tuesday, August 16th, 1842. Henry Hardy. NO 32, Santangelo's «' Circular to all Men" dated August 26th, with the ad- dition of some lines addressed by him to the District Attorney and three members of the Grand Jury-filed in the original documents at No. 32, and copied m full m his Instructions to his Counsel. XrO. 33. Vfh'^fiTo^^S'^^^^^u^^-' pharlesFenderich, dated Washington, Sept. structiots '"^ ongmals at No. 33, and copied in full in said In- xro. 34. THE INDICTMENT. Copy— City and County of New York, ss: The Jurors of the People of the State of New York in and for the bo- dy ot the city and county of New York, upon their oath present that, Samuel Mc Roberts long before, and at the time of the writintr, prmting and publishmg of the false, scandalous, malicious and defa7m- IGRESSION — TO BE TAKEN NOTICE OF, OPv NOT,, AD LIBITUM. I am toid by a Senator of the United States, in public, before the Na- tion, before Congress, before a Court of Justice, to have been expelled from other countries, to have come here to defraud, swindle, libel the government &c., and these reproaches are accompanied with the titles of base, coward, villain, infamous, traitor, fellon fire. This I must regard as an attempt to blacken before the world at once my name, my family, my origin, my education, and my whole life both in Ameri- ca and Europe. The Court of General Sessions and the American peo- ple must now either believe me as depicted by the Senator, or the Senator such as he really is, the vilest, the foulest of calumniators. A few words, therefore, I must be allowed in support of my natural and social rights. This is one of the cases, in which honor must not be im- molated to a misunderstood modesty. Nobody here is obliged to believe, nor authorized to know, who I was, how I lived during fifty years in Europe. I shall not unfold, then, before the Court and America such numberless irrefragable proofs, which are actually in my possession, as might bury my Honorable de- tractor in an abyss of scorn and everlasting infamy. The Consul Gen- eral of ray native country, at present in this city, has already told the Senator who I am, what brought nie, eighteen years ago, to these shores, and since when I have been honoi-ably recalled home by the crowned philantrophist who is now making the felicity of the Two-Sici- lies, [doc. 51 and 52] — The motives of my still preferring to live, in obscurity, amongst /reeTTiew to the splendor of a royal court, are I trust, not unknown to those who know my personal character and principles. Neither shall I take the trouble of troubling others with idle recitals about my sacrificing titles, riches, distinctions and privileges of the most eminent order on the altar of Liberty, nor my long services ren- dered to this goddess in Italy, France and Spain since 1796, when at the age>,of 22 I was Secretary of the Lombard Legation near the " Di- Tectoir executif " of France ; nor about my 34 years of military services, 10 truly of glorious campaigns, three dangerous wounds, and chivalrie decorations bought with my blood on the field of battle, and honorable mention of my soldier-like conduct in several bulletins of the grand-ar- mies, whose glories I had the honor to share. Nor shall I say a single word about my military, political and philosophical works and periodi- cals in behalf of the rights of mankind, even in times and places where a single word could cause the loss of my head, nor about my four emi- grations, eight imprisonments, two capital sentences, and numerous af- fairer d''homteur, either as a patriot, a free-mason, a carbonari, or a man of honor &;c. but always in defence of the sovereignty of the people. I shall likewise pass in silence the enlistment of my name among the members of many illustrious scientific societies, and the marks of benev- olence received from liberal sovereigns and queens reagent, sovereign repubUcan corporations^ and a host of renowned diploma^^tists and others 67 - of eminent rank, even religious, and even in no few occasions, Brom en« tire populations. — I will have here, for the first time in my long life, the pride, the vanity, the impertiQence, the impudence, the foolishness of ad- vancing and affirming that, if success has put me at an immense dis- tance from William Tell, Washington, La Fayette, John Tyler Dan lEL Webster fee, my services, sufferings, disinterestedness, losses, con- stancy, dangers, firmness, and true and total self-abnegation, have pla- ced at an enormous distance from me many of the heroes of the pre- sent age, with the exception, however, of Samuel Mc Roberts, the Se- nator from Illinois. Let me forget Europe. But I have a right, and I must avail of it, highly to give the lie to whomsoever may dare to calumniate my life in America. Here I am to show my forehead to this land of my choice, to this country of my adop- tion, here where truth can easily be known, and imposition unmasked. Eighteen years residence and of unspotten conduct in this quarter of the globe, have not convinced a Mc Roberts that no such charges of fraud, swindling, felony, treason, libelling the government &c. were to be pre- ferred by a gentleman and a Senator against an honest citizen for the only crime of having tried, although in vain, to defend his purse against vile rapacity. What, in the name of God, have I ever done in America? Scarcely landed, in May 1824, from the U, S. frigate Constitution, in New York, I went to declare before the Marine Court my intention of becoming an American citizen, as I did after five years experiment (doc. 60), I placed, through the recommendations of Count Survilliers, my ex- King, an only son in the Counting-House of Messrs. Leroy, Bayard & Co., and I opened a course of commercial sciences through a Prospectus raisonne (doc. 53), bearing as references the names of twelve distinguish- ed houses, and of which the Atlantic Magazine, the Statesman, the New -York American &c. made here the highest encomiums. I went in 1825 to install my son in an English Mining Company, directed by Chev, Rivafinoli, in Mexico, where finding the United States cursed, her citi- zens insulted, her rights trampled upon, her minister (Poinsett) calum- niated and threatened, I advocated, in a work on the " Congress of Pa- nama"(doc. 54) the cause of my adopted country, without offending in the least her enemies there, and I was banished by a corrupt ministry against the will of the whole Mexican nation, which rose en masse against its government and threatened its existence. Insulted by its " Gaceta," ruined in my properiy by its agents, I went to embark at Veracruz un- der escort, and my adored only son, who renounced a salary of $3000 per annum to follow his old and unfortunate parent, caught the yellow fever in that port, and found a watery grave in the gulf I labored nine months under insanity caused by that inestimable loss, I was introduced to president Adams, secretary Clay, .John Seargent, Duponceaux, Cary and Lea &c. in Philadelphia, where I married an accomplished lady of Lancaster, and afterwards established in New York a splendid Boarding School for ladies, and select evening classes for gentlemen, and in the cousre of five years had thirteen hundred pupils, amongst whom, I am happy to record, several members of the family of Kent, two Slosson's,a daughter of Judge Hammond, &c. I received there the visits of Gover- nor Clinton and Dr. Mitchell, with whom I became acquainted at the Holland Lodge No. 16 (of which I was a member), of J. R. Poinsett, on his returning from Mexicoj and of all the distinguished Mexicans, who repaired to this city, such as Zavala, Tornel, Megia, Barragan, Basadre, Basave and sons, Salgado with his family of three ladies, Hernandez, Ortiz, Almonte, Pedraza, Kegrete (an ex- iled general from Mexico), the consul Obregon, &c. In 1832, the cholera dispersed the members of my Institute ; and being recalled to Mexico, where I was promised by her new administrators, an indemni- ty for the distressing iujuries I had endured in 1826,1 there found my old friend Santa Anna, at the head of the Capuchins, nobles, escoceses. cen- tralists &c. I opened then, an academy for ladies, which in a few months became the model of all similar institutions in the country, and commenced editing the semi-weekly literary periodical " El Correo At- lantico ;" but I would neither praise nor censure Santa Anna, and he be- came my enemy. I advocated, against the slanders of various editors, the innocence of the American colonists of Texas, and the honor of our government, accused of promoting their insurrection, to possess it- self with that portion of the Mexican dominions [doc. 35] ; and then banished again in 1835, despoiled, robbed, losing $6000 per annum from my school, and as much from my paper. I took refuge in New Orleans. I established immediately in that city another Institution, and instruct- ed nearly 800 youth in less than five years, continued my " Correo At- lantico" in defence of Texas, whose Congress made me a gift of 4605 acres of land, and gave to the militia of that state a volunteer company, called " The Mount Vernon Musketeers [doc. 56 and 59]. But, in 1840, obliged by our Convention with Mexico, to go and lay my claims upon Mexico before a Board established in Washington, I repaired there with my family, and suffered immense prejudices both from my removal from New Orleans, and my struggles in Washington against all sorts of oppres- sion. Yet I do not know of having any enemy there but the enigmatic Tyler and Webster, Ai^A/y interested in forcing the claimants on Mexico to sell their awarded credits against that country, at a few cents on the dollar ; and I shall always remember with astonishment, that in the same city and at the same period, that a Senator from Illinois, " receiv- ed an intimation that I was a base man," numerous and distinguish- ed members of the " National Institution for the promotion of Science" there established, honored my insignificance by unanimously enrolling my PUTKiD-sTENCH-name in their illustrious catalogue [doc. 57 and 58]. I was ultimately brought up as a criminal by whom ? by a Mc Roberts (!!!) before the Court of General Sessions in this city ! (page 35). This has been my defrauding, my sivindling in America ;and my just complaints against a couple of soulless members of our administration, who were sacrificing our own citizens to their respectful regard for Mexico, my libels on the government ! Yet I never was an office-seeker, nor an in- triguer at the polls! I never received or asked a favor ! I never, du- ring 18 years of labor and honor, appeared before a criminal court of justice in this country. I challenge the universe to deny this ; and I condemn Samuel Mc Roberts to bear stamped on his forehead the word CALUMNIATOR, nisi contrarium probe tur — But let us have proofs, not words. On my receiving, on the 22d of August, m New York, the above briefly analyzed "Address" mailed, in Washington the preceding day, 69 2] St, by Mr. Plunkett [doc. 45], I prepared for a suitable counter-reply, and published en attendant on the 26th, the following advertisement [doc. 27) : " TO ALL MEN. " A pamphlet has made its appearance in the city of Washington un- " der the title of 'Address of Mr. Mc Roberts of the Senate of the " United States, in reply to a Publication of O. de Santangelo.' — To " this title is immediately subjoined, under the anonymous designation " of' Note by the Publisher,'' a calumnious denunciation, charging pub- " licly ' Santangelo' with defaming crimes ' wholly new in our coun- " try ....!! i' On the second printed page of the pamphlet, the 'Ad- " dress' appears made ' To the Public' In his Address to the Public " Mc Roberts bravely involves Madame Santangelo, a perfect model " of all social and domestic virtues, and Mr. E. Plunkett, a youth of 24 " years of age, whose talents, morals, manners, point of honor and patri- *' otism would command the respect of the universe. The world will " now be presented (in a document, which shall be sent to-morrow or " next day, to the printer) with a full incontrovertible evidence of " Samuel Mc Roberts and his absconding ' Publisher,' being, if not two " furious madmen, or mad desperadoes^ incontestably a couple of bare- " faced impostors, abject ruffians, cowardly felons (not/e//ow5) ignorant " slaves, exhibiting in their hideous persons such a complication of re- " fined malice, wanton iniquity, perverse ribaldry, meretricious impu- " dence, moral corruption, and such an example of open rebellion to all " natural and social obligations, principles of common honesty, andfeel- " ings of self-respect, that scarcely any thing approaching their hellish " character could ever be found, by the most diligent peruser, in the an- " nals of human wickedness, or the criminal records of all ancient and " modern nations. — I shall support, under oath, this affirmation before " any court of justice, or even, if called upon for it, sword in hand, re- " gardless of all consequences. Deus meumque jus is my first motto ; " preferring death to infamy, is, always was, and shall always be, the " second. — Orazio de Attellis Santangelo. — New York, August 26, " 1842." This advertisement had scarcely been published in the morning of the 26th ot August, when in the afternoon I received the visit of Messrs. Rogers and Bell, and in the night that of constable Smith. The promised refutation of the " Address" was then suspended, and I be- came a prisoner under bail. OC?' The consequence which I intend to draw from these premises, is by no means a right to have the " Address" of Mc Roberts taken at present by the Court of Sessions into consideration as a criminal deed to operate in this trial so as to subject him to the penalty of the law against libels. He is neither accused, nor formally indicted. But his " Address" is here exhibited merely as a legal defensive document, as an additional evidence proving the following facts : 1st. That every statement, every word contained in my " Circular to the "World," about the deceptions and the character of Samuel Mc Roberts, is true, exact, correct, proved, incontestable, and consequently that said " Circular" cannot be legally qualified as libellous. 70 2dly. That the Indictment in this case being grounded on error, and highly prejudicial both as to the form and the merits of the process, must be annulled. 3dly. That the action instituted by the complainant before the Court of Sessions having been long preceded by 9, private revenge on his part far more offensive than the offence he pretends to have received, cannot be admitted in law, nor consequently can the State of New York derive from it, from a-nw//i a tall gentleman very busy in making dashes and marking passages oil a copy of my " Circular to the World," evidently framing the Indict- ment which was to be issued against me. I was later apprized that he was the counsel of my accuser ! The Indictment. This document, the basis of the prosecution, drawn up by the accu- ser's counsel, adopted under oath by the grand jury, signed under date of the 7th of September by its foreman Mr. Mauran, and by the men- tioned District Attorney, contains but the quotation of several detached and mutilated passages from my " Circular to the World," placed be- tween inverted commas, and picked out here and there from the body of sixteen printed pages, thus forming a variegated mosaic tableau hav- mg, all together, a meaning quite diflferent from what they would ex- press, were each of them accompanied by all the statements and expla- nations which precede and follow them in the pamphlet itself I need not to remark that this manner of criminating a writer, show- ing so little candor, is by no means lawful. It is only from the whole of a writing that its true object, meaning, spirit, or even degree of cul- pability, may be properly ascertained. Nothing like justice can other- wise be done. I then repectfully object to the legal validity of said Indictment, and formally protest against all its possible injurious effects. I protest, above all, against the Indictment in what relates to certain i'ao-Mg charges not even supported by any quotation from my pamphlet, as for instance, my having provoked the accuser Mc Roberts " to com- mit 3. breach of the peace with force and arms" &c. a charge, which, even in the hypothesis of its being correct, would amount to nothing. To express a desire, a readiness, a hope for a partie d' honneur, is neither a challenge made nor accepted, and cannot consequently be legally qual- ified as subject to penal sanction; for it is the breach of the peace itself, and not an alledged provocation to a breach of the peace, that is legally imputable. Charges, not taxatively specified in the penal code, and grounded solely on arbitrary interpretations, or intentional questions, which Divinity alone can solve Avhen not evinced by any exterior human action, should never flow from the pen of an honest lawyer, and much less of a magistrate, whose sole mission is impartially to secure the enapire of law and justice against every actual violation, without the slightest regard for litles, functions or the standing of any of the inter- ested parties, and thus preserve unimpaired and unsoiled the majesty of the people in whose name he acts. Were it not so, Senator Mc Roberts would find himself far more im- peachable for having provoked ^.breach of the peace\fi\h. force and armsr by playing the bully in his " Address" of the 9th of August " To the- Public," now before the court, wherein he says : Tage 6 — " To save himself (myself) from personal chastisement fee."' Page 15 — ♦' This hero (myself) of scurrilous pamphlets never makes such a call as would put his (my) courage to the test" &c. — continuing' immediately : "It is a pity that such chivalry should bolt before it reach- rs es the sticking point ! but there would be danger in such rashness ; so he (myself) pockets the insults, and revenges himself [myself] by teh ling lies" Same page — " and kept himself [myself ] concealed in close quarters while in Washington, to shelter himself [myself] from what his guilty conscience told him he deserved, the cowhide''^ &c. Page 16 — " that such a being [myself] should talk oi courage ' &c. Are not such truly quarrelsome bravadoes as a threat with personal chastisement ; a reproach with my never making a call to put my cour- ao"e to the test; the sarcasm of tsxj pocketing the insults, his avowed in- sults, and revenging myself by telling lies ; the assertions of my keeping concealed ixora his cowhide; the derisory mention of my cowj-a^e &c. — are not I repeat, so many and such violent provocations to a breach of the peace with force and arms, to be taken notice of, only because they come from the sacred and august brains of a Senator ? Is not this, on the contrary, one of the cases [the breach of the peace], in which the Constitution [ art. 1. sec. 6. s^L] does not exempt from arrest members of Congress, even "during their attendance at the Sessions of their res- pective Houses ?" But the most singular and flagrant contradiction between the Grand Jury and the honorable accuser, must now astonish the court and the world. The Indictment of the 7th September, repeatedly charges me with having " provoked Mc Roberts to breaches of the peace with force and arms," whilst Mc Roberts himself had reproached me in his "Address" of the 9th of the preceding month of August, with cowardly concealing myself from a personal chastisement, from his cowhide &c, and with pocketing the insults .... and never making a call to put my courage to the test? Who is right, the Grand Jury or Mc Roberts ? If the for- mer, the latter is an impostor, and an impostor cannot be a witness for the State. If the latter, the former, that is the Grand Jury, have com- mitted a scandalous error in their Indictment, which could have been avoided, had I been heard by them, or had the District Attorney pre- sented to them the libellous " Address" of the Senator. Am I, then, the provoker or the provoked ? Shall I now be the victim of two asser- tions which so flagrantly and so thoroughly destroy each other ? Shall I be tried, at the same time, as a timid rabbit and a fierce lion ? The inquisitorial mania was, however, pushed so far in the Indict- ment that the charges preferred in it appear to result from various libel- lous publications, whilst the " Circular to the World" of the S6th of July, 1842, is the only one denounced in my case as libellous. Two charges are now made in the Indictment, grounded on facts supposed to have taken place one month later than the publication of the " Circular to the World," that is on the 26th of August ! the day of my arrest ! And it is on such anachronisms that a man of honor must be put on criminal trial ! Still, not enough. The Indictment is not limited, as it should be, to qualifying the nature of my pretended libel : it also attacks my personal character in the most wanton manner and positive tone, by describing me, before preferring any charges, as a " person of a wicked and ma- licious MIND AND DISPOSITION." This preliminary qualification was, then, evidently inserted in the Indictment not as a consequence of the crime 79 imputed to me, but as a premise calculated to give credibility to the charges which were successively to be preferred in it ; and this malig- nant inversion of argument adds not a little both to the lawless object of the accuser, and to the libellous nature of the accusation. And whence had the grand-jury obtained such precious information about the wicked' ness and the maliciousness of my mind and disposition ? On what ha- bitual commissions oi wicked and malicious deeds on my part, is that in- formation grounded ? Is in the opinion of the grand-jury a single instance of resentment, violently provoked, an evidence of natural malignity of mind, and wickedness of disposition ? Is not, with the grand-jury, a no- ble and generous sensibility against attacks on personal honor, veracity, integrity &c., a virtue, nay a duty of the true gentleman ? Is such a sen- sibility a proof of a vicious and criminal heart? An isolated manifesta- tion of this sensibility is, therefore, enough, in their opinion, to nullify seventy years of unblemished and never questioned respectability of cha- racter ! The real or supposed culpability of a work cannot, then, in their wisdom, be demonstrated but by denigrating right or wrong the personal qualities of the author ! ! ! I must, therefore, be permitted loudly and formally to declare that Indictment to be itself, in this respect, a judicial calumny, a judicial libel, a judicial preliminary to a judicial assassina- tion. It is evidently calculated to make my cause much worse. It is a gratuitous aggravation of ihe accusation, a malignant enlargement of the supposed enormity of the charge, a fallacious extrinsecal charge, giving an additional weight to the fancied guilt. Yet we are told by all the ju- rists of the globe that, in criminal prosecutions, innocence rather than guilt is to be sought for in an accused person. Shall this tenet of uni- versal jurisprudence be disregarded in this classical land of freedom, justice and learning ? Is an indictment, amongst us, rather to create than to prosecute crime ? Shall here an accused person be compelled to struggle less against an interested calumniator than against a grand- jury, whose religious impassibility is considered by law as respectable as truth itself? But abandoning the indictment to the scrutiny of the pure and undefiled conscience of the courts I shall now go on in my legal re- marks about the proceedings, on which this singular trial for libel is made to rest. The True Bill From the Indictment just spoken of, a " true bill" sprung up, which cannot pass unnoticed. To " find a true bill" is a Blackstonian expression meaning, I pre- sume, to find a legal cause for a legal prosecution : in other words ; legally to admit or reject an accusation. This is the task of the so call- ed grand jury. Thenatureof this task is far more important than is commonly imag- ined. A " true bill" could possibly be found on untrue data, on illusive appearances, on crafty, specious, surprising denunciations, in a word, on unfounded or exaggerated charges. Then, should the innocence of the accused be ultimately acknowledged by the tribunal, to which his trial is committed, he shall have innocently endured a protracted imprison- ment, ruinous expenses and loss of time, the despair of his family, a dis- credit which has perhaps caused to himself and partners an irreparable bankruptcy, or such other derangements in his business as will have 80 plunged him into indigence and disgrace, or even abridged his days. Who and what shall indemnify him or his heirs, for so many and such cruel injuries ? This is, however, but too often the case ; and still no one attaches the least importance to it. Slave of old routines, every one thinks but of his own actual condition, leaving the future and his posterity to the care of blind fate. The New York Evening Tattler of the 27 ih September ultimo, very a propos exclaimed : " The common laAV of lihel is often made the ground of malicious prosecutions; and grand-juries, in their one-sided views of criminal causes, too often commit grievous injustice in finding bills of indictment under this law. A recent instance is that of Dr. Comstock, the cele- brated dealer in various medicines, against whom an indictment was procured by J. M. Burritt. The case came to trial at the last term of the court of Sessions, when the jury acquitted Dr. Comstock without leaving their seats. This is one of the several prosecutions which have terminated with a like result. Grand-juries cannot be too guarded and cautious in the exercise of their functions." (doc. 50). The Hon. William Jay, in a recent charge to the Grand Jury of West- chester County, told them : " It is right, gentlemen, to remember that offenders are to be indicted, as well as convicted, on legal testimony. The accused is very properly denied the privilege of making any defence bel'ore you ; it is, therefore, peculiarly proper that he should not be put to expense, inconvenience and disgrace of an Indictment, except on evidence wliich, if not explained or contradicted on the trial, would just- ify his conviction — ." But how can a Grand Jury be guarded against error when nothing is made known to them but the accusation, the admissibility, or inadmis- sibility of which can only be shown by explanations given by the accus- ed himself or his counsel ? No doubt grand juries are not to enter into the merits of the case ; but an unfounded charge, a worthless testimony, their own incompetency or want of jurisdiction, an alibi well proved, a mistaken indentity of the person, and such other numberless prejudicial exceptions could be brought forward, as, by either destroying all prima facie evidence, or by placing one of the parties or both out of the au- thority of the State, would give no room to further proceedings. The District Attorney is not here, as in continental Europe, the advo- cate of the law, the impartial expositor of the case : he is the organ, the legal agent of the State, that is, of the plaintiff, and then the Grand Jury finds a " true bill" on the allegations of one of the parties against the other. In France, whose " Code d' instruction criminelle" has been adopted by almost all the European powers, neither parties nor wit- nesses are allowed to appear before the " Cour royale," making there the functions of our grand juries (art. 223 Fr. Code) : but the " procu- reur general" (attorney general) makes his report to the " Cour royale" within five days from the day, on which he receives the documents drawn up by the Police, or " Judge d' instruction," during which time " both the civil party and the accused may present all such memorials as they think proper (art. 217 Fr. Code) ;" and thus some means, at least, are left to the accused to have his exceptions against the admissibility of the accusation taken into consideration. Far from me be the idea of censuring the law which leaves here no means at all to the accused to avert the danger of being undeservedly 81 or illegally subjected to a trial, I would only observe that, if he has no right to be heard, in person or through a memorial, by the Grand Ju- ry, this body is not forbidden, I think, to permit his appearance, and even to summon him to appear, before them, if necessary or useful to the interest of the law. Under this impression, I attempted to obtain a hearing before the Grand Jury of September last by addressing to the District Attorney, and the Grand Jurors Mauran, foreman, Andrews and Lawrence, the following lines : " Should the Grand Jury, in their high justice, deign to grant me a " hearing, they would easily perceive, that, first violently provoked, " through a letter of the 4th of June, by Mr. Mc Roberts; then publicly " assailed by him through a pamphlet of the 9th of August, containing *' not merely injurious and vague epithets, but defamatory and utterly " calumnious imputations of crimes " wholly NEW in this country ;" ** and then again, maliciously and atrociously brought hy him to law on " the 26th of the same month to avoid, himself, a judicial prosecution, " I could reasonably expect that " no true bill" would now be foimd " against me, or it ought to be found both against the accused and the *' accuser." My demand was not granted, nor answered. Yet I could have prov- ed, not only the want of all legal action in my accuser, but also the ab- solute want of all legal jurisdiction in the State of New York, of which the following fourth and last Point of these "■ Instructions to my Coun- sel" will exhibit the most incontrovertible demonstration. The " true bill" was then found on the 7th of September, and the Indictment sent to the Court of General Sessions ! Postponement of the Trial. Senator Mc Roberts was now anxious to quit New York as quickly as possible, not less from his impatience to return to his constituents in Illinois singing the hymn of victory over his victim, than because, Con- gress having adjourned on the 1st of September, he did not feel al- together safe in this city against the possible result of his own calum- nious libel, the "Address." He endeavored therefore to have me tried by the Court of General Sessions immediately. His counsel grounded the reason for such an extraordinary despatch chiefly on the fancied fact that the State of Illinois was " literally inundated with my libel, the " Circular to the World ;" the which was published in the news- papers of this city (doc. 49). My affidavit proved, however, the neces- sity of the postponement of the trial until the November term of the Court (doc. 35). This term did not suit the Senator. Congress was not to meet again before December, and he found it inconvenient for him to repair again to New York in November, that is, when, not furnished with a Senatorial passport, and still isolated from his scattered col- leagues and protectors, he could have exposed himself to some un- pleasant adventure. He then insisted, in contradiction with his first eagerness, for the December term, and the vmsuspecting court granted it. This was, perhaps, the first instance of a longer postponement of tri- al being granted than was solicited : an unexampled generosity, which by favouring the intrigues and the impunity of a calumniator, pro- longed the imprisonment of his victim one month. I leave this episode of the drama to the scrutinizing bon sens of the court. 11 B2 Dq^osition of Johnson K. Rogers. Tliis was another sjrprismg perfOTmance. JolmscHi K. Rc^rs •was the cnlr witness for the prosecaricm, presented by the accusiiig Senator. On his'testiinonr was me acdon of the State of 2s ew York, in her as- snned character of r-Zci-iri^/f, determined. On his deposition the whole ]Htx»diire rested, and the trial was to be grounded. But it was pro- dent fisr the accuser to keep his mendacious tool at a distance from the coart, when my case gnall be called tip in public debate ; and, at the same time, it was convenient to hare that wimess crc^j-esamined at a pedod w^hen my coonsel could hare not become fully acquainted with the part he bail lakea in the affair: to interrogate him on all its particu- lais. Mr eoonsd. was smnmcmed to appear cai the lOih of September at the oiBce c£ the D^tnet Atttomey, in whose presence Mr. Ece^rs made his depoation and was cros-esamined, "his deposition to be read, by agreanent of the partis, as eyidoice, upon the trial of the ease, sulgect to all legal exceptions fitc" [doc, 36]. The clatise '' by agreement ci the parties" was intended, it seems, to throw cfn me the ccBseqaeoces erf that prematttre examination, whilst neither had my eoDDsel had the time to consult mc, nor had I had that of Tbmfc-ingr of it. So tiiat the a-rt was altogether a lawless surprise, cm which I would call the most serious attention, cf the cotnx. In fact, the deposition and crcss- pTaynmat inn of Bogers were not ooly defectrre and incomplete, but neidier was the tchole truth> nca- the pure truth told in thenv as we shall see ia the following 4ih Point of these " Instructioiis." 4th Point n^ State of Ne"vr York has to avenge no offence wliateverj on my part, to her peace or dignity, and consequently has no le- gal jurisdiction in the matter, my arrest having been bnt a felse imprisonment. I hare demonstrated, ia ie li r:i::: :f ±^5^ Zz^'m-.'.lv:^ :: ~v :: i^- selj that the State cf ZSew i ;:'£ :: :li l:". ::iijte^ie:i\; ::;::: :^t i;:::^ lawfiilcTlavr"TS? :f :ie :r_r— ?- : ;— tIi:^;.-: II: z: in. _i5":.: t i ; - > eedore agai^s zz^i ;: :.:: . - -: ^li :::i: :jie i: ::;:i ;: i: ::ii;I;i:i. ant, ha-rin^ I- -'^- ~ -^^ '--- :;-^r^-e-:I.- ;_;;. ^ii .ef: - ; :::zz. ::: action in thr z^z '.- ':z-. zz:\ :f 'I_e State :f!New_YoTk. We ~'_ iit see that, erei :^ ::.t -''. :-.:::. :; '.I.e S:a:e cf iN^ew Y:ri: ma^^^^ :^e against me i£ i-st-i:!::: "^~:^_:i :.e; ^u^::; '.i ^z^ziisiz^-'. :z eii^-'e ".:her peace and dignity, the c-ily ia,:: :: :_:: ;_; .r-:ud.on. ri^yt ^.listing, her jnrisdktLan cwild not be exercise i ";i: ;y ;- abuse of power. This qnestioa being merely legal, the Court of Z: ::= -:. :^ild b« coosulted in ease cfit being solved by the Coart of Ses; : - nnfeToiable way. "We hare se^i {age 34, that a libd. prof-^rlr -. ::IlTf is but a nco- aitiry befwe the lawi unl^s it \ie propagated. Tc -^ . t : : : rint a speech. 83 a kw, a nord, a sCTDco, a poem, car any liiemT or pc^lwiark w^ ever withom makiEe it known, is dcmg nothkig. andeertemlTo wiato TtMlfit. NoinatterhowwiiiedapEodiiramk,orWMma»ils com^ printed or manasei^ are, it e^not^Mdal^eaOTedf ag law, except when those eope hare heea madeBse o^ fte(^ ifcar*s- tribotis or drcnlatwii, fa /«Wc» pnposes. iirui.^i.««. For the sme reason die ^aee^diere a real «^Hpo^«efJ^ii« printed, bnt not prepagnied, eanoot d^amme ^ jndioal jui^«wb asainsl the aathw, and modi less in a eoanl^where the jress e &^ and no prerioiE censnre is deoeed or penmtted. Hence, H ™V^ /aic/e« nse of an (^aisre writing can con^itBte 4e on^the M odIt « the eamtrr where the /airfess nse rf it I*^''^^™^,^y *^ plaV thdr swav in the natte-. Indeed, it Jsnot Ae ja^eeijfteM» trr'whaethe'&ggeT has been mann&ctMed, bos the J^^. ^ Whose toiitoml jm^ictiQBthe mnrdes has be^ papeaated, t^ . -— ri^htlr take cognizance ^ aae « two co^estrf thefew Ihadinmrpo^saon: to ^-^ lar- ceded. xmda 4e Hiq«e^«i Aat b«h cd th<^ TiatoEs wereftom G^ ffiaanddear«Et^^TToc ^nd the pam^ "^.^i'^^^ilfS ^Ms last ^atemait is fWlT confessed by Sogers hm^ m teo^ esaminatioa (doc 36) brfoe" the Kstrict Attorney, ^^f^^,^^^ " Witnes (Refers) t(W Santangdo d»t he w«ited to i^f™« « the pamphleti-Witnes lired in Geosia. and wante d to bay ^ ^m send to his friends— Santaigdo reeswerf m araey or cmijii ■ rmm mx the pamphlets fee." ^"Jk^^^l^ie^ [Rogas] that l^had be«. W7^ ire^ by Mr. Mc Roberts, and hence he p*iblkfafid die pamphlet Sc k 84 And again : " Said Mc Roberts requested witness to call on Santangelo, as abovey for the purpose of obtaining proofs that he [Santangelo] had published said pamphlet here &c " For the purpose of obtaining proofs ! Mc Roberts had, then, no proofs of my " Circular to the World" having been published in New- York, before he obtained one through his own emissary. Until that mo- ment no proof existed, therefore, of its distribution within the State of New York. Still that very proof was fraudulently snatched from me through an insidious juggling trick, practiced by an avowed tool of my own accuser, asserting that he lived i7i Georgia, and that the pamphlet was to be sent to his friends there. Rogers pushed the deception still farther. The more to impose upon my unsuspecting mind, and to cause me to give full credit to his fictitious desire of sending pamphlets to Georgia, he contracted for the sum of $6,50 the purchase of 25 copies of another pamphlet published here by P***, entitled : " The honor of the United States of America under the administration of Tyler, Web- ster & Co." assuring me that he would come in the evening to take those copies and pay the price agreed upon ; and in his stead I was vis- ited in the evening by constable Smith ! The fact of this pretended pur- chase was also maliciously concealed in his deposition [doc. 36] and cer- tainly to conceal a truth, under an oath to tell the whole truth, is not less a falsity and a perjury than to sivear to a lie. The testimony of Mr. Bell will, however, satisfy the Court in this particular. Another lie of witness Rogers is " my having stated to him that I had distributed the pamphlet in this city" — Which pamphlet ? the one relating to Mc Roberts, or that of which he had perfidiously contracted the purchase ? Mr. Bell will, perhaps, solve also this question. On my part I can only remark that I could not have made the confession attri- buted to me by Rogers. True, I shall not flatter myself to have well understood his English, nor to have made him well comprehend mine : but neither would he have made the enquiry " whether I had distri- buted the pamphlet against Mc Roberts in this city," without exposing himself to the risk of making me know the treacherous object of his ensnaring visit, nor could I have made a disclosure as unnecessary as untrue at that period, except by way of a foolish boast. At all events, far from there being before the Court any judicial proof of that my sup- posed extra-judicial confession hitherto destitute of all evidence and ut- terly unpresumable, I have plead not guilty, and thus the onus probandi rests with the accuser. On the contrary, Rogers himself evinces the total absence of all proofs of the distribution of the criminated pamphlet in this city, by stating that " he had been requested by Mc Roberts to call on Tcvefor the purpose of obtaining proofs of my having published it here ;" which plainly means that no distribution of the pamphlet had been made, nor was legally ascertained to have been made here, pre- vious both to the visit of Rogers and to my arrest. Hence it follows that my arrest, solicited, decreed and executed in consequence of a charge grounded on factSi of which the accuser himself was the author and the prompter, -was toto coelo a false imprisonment; and the State of New York, acting in the character oi plaintiff in this cause, has been herself made the unconscious tool of a private revenge, of a lawless act, which, neither the court, nor the State herself, could sanctify with their appro- val, without sanctifying immorality. 85 The consequence of these premises is obvious. The State of New York has no legal jurisdiction in the matter : 1st. — Because the small number of three hundred copies of my " Cir- cular to the World" could not reasonably be intended for its circulation at once in Washington, for which place it had been exclusively writ- ten ; in Illinois, which State Mc Roberts's counsel affirmed in open court had been " literally inimdated by it ;" and also in this populous city and immense State, where, on the other hand, no particular reason existed for such a circulation, in exclusion of or in preference to all other States of the Union. The " Circular to the World," notwithstanding its bom- bastic title, was exclusively intended, I repeat, for Washington, that city having been the scene of my quarrel with the noble Senator. 2dly. — Because the fact of my pamphlet having been subreptitiously snatched from my hands, in my own abode, by a secret agent of the ac- cuser himself, under the qualification of a resident of Georgia and the false pretence of sending it to his friends in that State, all this, far from constituting a proof of my intention of offending the State of New York, clearly shovps that no such offence had been given to her when she excentrically became the plaintiff in the prosecution. Nor can the factum of the accuser constitute, on any account vrhatever, the culpability of the accused. Nor, again, can the means of conveyance, by the mail, or through a private bearer, of a pamphlet from this State to another, form an evidence of its distribution in New- York — much less for the alleged purpose of grossly, wilfully^ wickedly, and maliciously breaking her peace and offending her dignity. Any other view of the case would evidently be absurd, and judicial proceedings, verdicts or sentences should not, I trust, be grounded on absurdities. Is it not astonishing, therefore, that, to avenge the never disturbed peace, the never outraged dignity, in one word, to avenge an offence never given to the State of New- York (for not one of her inhabitants had ever the least notice of the pretended libel previous to my false impris- onment) a criminal prosecution should have been instituted on the affida- vit of a single individual, a true libeller himself, presenting as corpus de- licti a pamphlet provoked by his own offences, and procured through the medium of a perfidious intrigue, it being in no way intended for dis- tribution within the territorial jurisdiction of this State? Is this what is called " Santangelo's trial for libel ? Is such a trial possible in one of the most enhghtened and well governed States of the American Union ? And would not the fact be more astonishing of my being now placed by the accuser himself in the necessity of truly distributing and widely circulating my pretended libel in defence of my own personal rights, not merely in New- York, but throughout both worlds, and in several lang' uages ? Will he not become his own defamer by causing this very pamphlet, for which I am to be tried, to be spread in New- York, where it is now utterly unknown, except to him, the accuser, /rom Illinois, and to Rogers, his noble understrapper, /rom Georgia, as if two men, one from Georgia, and the other from Illinois, should form and constitute the State of New- York ? — a pamphlet declared to be false because it spoke the truth; SCANDALOUS because it was scandalously provoked; malicious because it was an indispensable vindication of my own honor and char- acter ; and defamatoey because of the honest and patriotic purpose of 86 putting our National Congress on its guard against such of its members, whose morals and conduct, out of its halls, would infallibly defame at once its august name, and that of the whole illustrious nation, to which I have the honor of belonging, both at home and abroad ? This will be, however, the unavoidable consequence of the mistaken position in which Mr. Roberts has been placed by his own master-hand, and his revenge- ful and codicious feelings — first before the public through calumnious productions, and then before a tribunal, whose good faith and religious respect for justice he has hoped easily to overreach. Under the triple aegis of native countrymen, political partisans and colleagues in Con- gress, he has felt certain of a resounding victory over an humble natu- ralized citizen, already overcome by years and misfortunes But let American honor display its vigor, and his " chateau en Espagne" will fall to the ground. — SP-286. 86 putting our National Congress on its guard against such of its members, whose morals and conduct, out of its halls, would infallibly defame at once its august name, and that of the whole illustrious nation, to which I have the honor of belonging, both at home and abroad ? This will be, however, the unavoidable consequence of the mistaken position in which Mr. Roberts has been placed by his own mastek-hand, and his revenge- ful and codicious feelings — first before the public through calumnious productions, and then before a tribunal, whose good faith and religious respect for justice he has hoped easily to overreach. Under the triple aegis of native countrymen, political partisans and colleagues in Con- gress, he has felt certain of a resounding victory over an humble natu- ralized citizen, already overcome by years and misfortunes But let American honor display its vigor, and his " chateau en Espagne" will fall to the ground. — ERRATA. PAGE. 43 assert 47 (doc. 47) 53 caliber 14th of June 55 2st of August avail Mr. Santangelo mark 63 daily 64 Robers 65 guarda 72 concilia CORRiaE. assent (doc. 45 and 47) calibre 4th of June 21st of August avoid Mrs. Santangelo marks daily (doc. 28) Roberts guardo consilio \0^ There are a few other errors, of little or no importance. SP-2 86. ^^^S^' „ „ ^y ^ .-^•' V ^.' .-^' -^^ ^c ° " » -^>. ^ -^0^ ).OvS c 0' 0' .f 1ST. AUGUSTINE '^. 4V ^ ' .^Jv^-^. -.aiill^» .C>^