821 Page – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Here is the translated text as follows:

THOMAS COOPER

Close all the avenues of information and throw a veil over the grossest misconduct of our periodical rulers?

After offering these preliminary remarks, I shall give an account of the paper on which I am accused and then proceed to examine the charges of the indictment in the order in which they are laid. Much that I intended to advance I must relinquish, so as not to trespass too long on your time or weaken the effect of my own defense by fatiguing your attention.

The sacred paper now handed to me by the Attorney General suggests an observation which, though trite, is material. Upon the plan usually adopted in these ex-officio accusations, a good Christian might easily be proved an arrant atheist. "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." Take the last four words, and they are atheistical. Take the sentence, and it is Scripture. Similarly, take the marked passages in this paper, and they may, perhaps, be forced into something like improper imputation against the President. Take the paper itself, and the very first paragraph is a plain and positive approbation of his intention. Though I must acknowledge that, however upright I might formerly have believed his motives of action, I cannot, upon reflection, pay that tribute to his conduct or his motives on the present occasion.

The general circumstances that gave rise to the paper I now hold are these: Dr. Priestley, a man whose name implies a greater combination of learning, science, and ability, of important discovery, of exertion for the benefit of mankind, and of private integrity than any other man now living can boast—whose conduct towards me, in the instance detailed in this paper, is praise sufficient to bear up my mind against any consequences which the present trial can produce—had long been an acquaintance and an intimate acquaintance of Mr. Adams, in England and in this country. The letters of the latter to Dr. Priestley are full of strong expressions of friendship and esteem. Relying upon this long intercourse of cordiality between them, Dr. Priestley urged me to permit him to write to Mr. Adams on the subject of a vacancy mentioned.

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