sin of injustice that admits no mitigation.
When slander is sworn to before the courts, it acquires a fourth
malice, that of irreligion, and is called false testimony. It is not
alone perjury, for perjury does not necessarily attack the neighbor's
good name; it is perjured calumny, a crime that deserves all the
reprobation it receives in this world--and in the next.

To lie outright, deliberately and with malice aforethought, in
traducing a fellow-man, is slander in its direct form; but such
conditions are not required to constitute a real fault of calumny. It
is not necessary to be certain that what you allege against your
neighbor be false; it is sufficient that you be uncertain if it be
true. An unsubstantiated charge or accusation, a mere rumor given out
as worthy of belief, a suspicion or doubt clothed so as to appear a
certainty, these contain all the malice and all the elements of slander
clearly characterized. Charity, justice and truth alike are violated,
guilt is there in unquestioned evidence. Whatever subterfuge,
equivocation or other crooked proceeding be resorted to, if mendacity
in any form is a feature of the aspersions we cast upon the neighbor,
we sin by calumny, purely and simply.

Some excuse themselves on the plea that what they say, they give out
for what it is worth; they heard it from others, and take no
responsibility as to its truth or falsehood. But here we must consider
the credulity of the hearers. Will they believe it, whether you do or
not? Are they likely to receive it as truth, either because they are
looking for just such reports, or because they know no better? And
whether they believe it or not, will they, on your authority, have
sufficient reason for giving credence to your words? May it not happen
that the very fact of your mentioning what you did is a sufficient mark
of credibility for others? And by so doing, you contribute to their
knowledge of what is false, or what is not proven true, concerning the
reputation of a neighbor.

For it must be remembered that all imprudence is not guiltless, all
thoughtlessness is not innocent of wrong. It is easy to calumniate a
person by qualifying him in an off-hand way as a thief, a blackleg, a
fast-liver, etc. It is easy, by adding an invented detail to a
statement, to give it an altogether different color and turn truth into
falsehood. But the easiest way is to interpret a man's intentions
according to a dislike, and, by stringing in suc