GERALD HENRY SUPPLE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 143, 3 November 1870, Page 7

GERALD HENRY SUPPLE.

We have been requested by several of our readers to insert, from the " Melbourne Leader," the following statement made by Gerald Henry Supple before the last dread sentence was passed upon him :—: —

Shortly after ten o'clock on Thursday morning, the loth September, Chief Justice Sir W. F. Sfcawell entered and took his seat upon the bench.

General Henry Supple was brought up for sentence. The associate having read the order of the full court, the prisoner was asked in the usual formula if he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed upon him.

In reply to this question he said :—: — I wish to make a few remarks in order to clear away imputations on my character for sanity which have been engendered during these proceedings, and to elucidate my true position in the matter.- Tears a'»o I had a quarrel with G-eorge Paton Smith, on account of the scurrilous abuse which he heaped upon my countrymen, and of which I knew he was the writer, and the cause of its being published in the " Age."

I was at the time the only Irishman on the staff, and I felt bound by all the ties I held sacred to defend my country from his scurrilous attacks. From that time he has slandered me in every possible way, and also my country, and this is not mere hallucination on my part, for his character as a slanderer is well known in Melbourne. For years he has carried it on with impunity, unchecked by any one, and has gloated over the mischief and misery he has been the means of perpetrating. There are persons in this city who are professed vilifiers, who will hound down any one, working in the dark, and stabbing their victims from behind. Two years ago my brother-in-law, Walter Monroe Wilson, who is now dead, and than whom a more gifted, honorable, and chivalrous man never trod upon these shores, was subjected to the slanders and scurrilous attacks of these conspirators. It was George Paton Smith who was the author of this conspiracy — the man who in his place in Parliament, since the occurrence for which I am here, stood up and denounced the slanders who had driven the late M. D' Aloustel to commit suicide to escape from the wretched vilification of bis enemies. This man in Parliament had the audacity to denounce in others the very crime of which he was guilty himself — a familiar stratagem to whitewash a foul reputation. In this' colony slander abounds everywhere, and persons are to be found who pride themselves upon the skill with which they ply their trade and steer clear of the law of libel , who pride themselves on their skill in eating into and destroying character : and what checks exist to curb this demoralising, vile profession ? None whatever. In countries where the duel is allowed, such proves to be a very efficient check, but it is not allowed here. If a man sent a challenge he would be laughed at, and handed over to the police, and the matter would be considered a farce. If the duel had its evils, its abolition, which has fostered the present state of things, has resulted in greater evils. In England public opinion operates as a very effectual check against slander, but there is nothing of the kind here. We find a man whose character is well known in the community as an habitual slanderer, returned to sit in Parliament and the country submits to such an indignity. In this land, newly settled, the propensity to slander, as in all new countries, is very great, and the necessity for powerful checks being given to lying tongues and false- hearted slandeftrs exists far more than in other portions of the world. We are young and to a great degree society is yet in a chaotic state, and there is a peculiar tendency amongst us to foster this villanous conspiracy, through the action of which many a pure life has been blasted — many a pure heart has been crushed and brought to an untimely end, and many a hearthstone covered with trouble and sorrow. I consider by this act I have done the community a good stroke of service, and that I have served them by protesting with my life against the present mean and sordid state of civilisation, for I believe that the time will soon come when the public will rise in its strength and put down and exterminate this deadly can-ker-worm, and the sacrifice of my life will hasten it. I feel proud in having done a little towards reviving something like the old fashioned feeling of honorable detestation against these professed slanderers, these murderers of reputations. It is time that some nobler aim was given to men above that of mere greed of gain, and their time better occupied than in glimmering over their bank accounts and backbiting and vilifying the characters of their neighbors. I hold that the defamation of character is one of the greatest crimes which can be committed against the interest of society, it is monstrous and outrageous, and I hold the men who engage in it, who revel and delight in it, to be the meanest reptiles that ever crept on the face of the earth, and saould be struck down as mangy hounds — these are mv sentiments on the matter. I have heard that I have been accused of insanity! moral insanity! emotional insanity ; grotesque terms, hard to understand ! Wuat folly ! For thirteen years I have been connectad with the Melbourne Press, and I defy any one to come forward and say that I ever penned a line of base insinuation against any one. I believe the public to be the great criminal in this case, and if it could be individualised it ought to be standing now in this dock to answer for allowing the spirit of slander and defamation to spread over the land unheeded and unchecked. As for my life, I hope to die very cheerfully as I have lived, a detester of meanness. Hanging will not disgrace my life. I beg to offer my best thanks to my counsel and all my friends who have interested themselves in me. I shall be very glad to get away from the colony, even if the way out be by the gate of death, and I am perfectly willing, nay proud, to undergo it.

" Nature has written 'honest man of •his f.ice," s<iid a man to Jerrold, speaking of a person in whom Jerrold, 's faith was not altogether blind. " Humph !" replied Jerrold, •' then the pen must have been a very bad one."

A gentleman received an unpaid letter, commencing, "Sir, your letter of yesterday bears upon its face the stamp of fakehood." His answer was brief and to the purpose — "Sir, I only wish your letter of yesterday bore upon jta face a stamp of any kind.."