University of Virginia Library

4658. LIBELS, Prosecutions for.—

While
a full range is proper for actions by individuals,
either private or public, for slanders affecting
them, I would wish much to see the experiment
tried of getting along without public
prosecutions for libels. I believe we can do it.
Patience and well doing, instead of punishment,
if it can be found sufficiently efficacious,
would be a happy change in the instruments
of government.—
To Levi Lincoln. Ford ed., viii, 139.
(March. 1802)