te for that journal an amusing account
of the trial, in his own paper Weed gave vent to the anger which the
result had excited. The verdicts gained in his various cases by "this
man Cooper," he said, had made "deep inroads upon a fame once bright and
enviable, but now sadly dim and dilapidated." He then recited in full
the misdeeds of the novelist. "For all this," concluded the aggrieved
editor, "connected with the attempt to deprive the citizens of a social
privilege with which they were invested by his honored father, we said
Mr. Cooper was despised. And for this he prosecuted us. And now having
again said it he may again prosecute us, if he wants and thinks he can
obtain four hundred dollars more."

Weed did not appreciate the fact that he was not dealing with a
politician, but with a man indifferent to or rather contemptuous of
popular clamor. His challenge was immediately accepted. Early in
December, 1841, he was able to announce the fact that he had been (p. 193)
sued again. "The sheriff," he said, "has served another writ upon
us for an alleged libel upon Cooper. It remains to be seen how much
longer courts and juries will sanction this legal persecution of a man,
who after libeling his country and calumniating his countrymen, seeks to
muzzle a free press." The jocular tone used at first had all vanished.
Instead it was replaced by a fierce spirit of wrathfulness and defiance.
During the whole of December, 1841, Weed kept constantly republishing
extracts from other newspapers reflecting upon and attacking Cooper's
character and conduct. These were, he said, "sharp rebukes" of the
novelist's "ridiculous and unworthy attempt to disgrace his own country
to gain the favor and smiles of the nobility abroad." Some of these
newspaper comments furnish very amusing reading now, especially as the
impunity of most of the writers was due to their insignificance. "We
rejoice," said one of them, "to witness the spirit of independence
manifested by the conductors of the press. It proves their incorruptible
integrity and their love of principle, their firm hostility to foreign
notions, and their detestation of the man who seeks to ape the high and
aristocratic manners of English nobility." These valorous declarations
came mainly from the country papers of the state of New York, for the
"Evening Journal" was the Triton of these minnows. Weed, however,
eagerly reproduced everything that came from outside. One article, in
particul