KANSAS. 



KASHGARIA. 



417 



a moderate Republican, and in 1872 voted for 

 Horace Greeley. 



The legislation of the session was impor- 

 tant. A commission was authorized for a 



revision of the laws. The close of the fiscal 

 year was changed from November 30th to June 

 30th, and appropriations were made for twc 

 years and seven months, as follows : 



Grand total $1,262,089 40 



There was no important action taken by 

 political parties during the year, though an 

 election was held on the 6th of November to 

 choose a Lieuten ant-Governor, to fill the va- 

 cancy created by the resignation of Mr. Salter, 

 and a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The 

 vote for Lieutenant-Governor was, for L. U. 

 Humphrey, Republican, 62,570; Thomas W. 

 Walterson, Democrat, 24,740 ; D. B. Hadley, 

 " Greenback," 9,590 ; scattering, 1,039; mak- 

 ing a total vote of 97,939. Humphrey's plu- 

 rality over Walterson was 37,830 ; majority 

 over all, 27,261. The vote for Chief Justice 

 was 100,124, of which Arthur A. Horton, Re- 

 publican, received 63,850; William R. Wag- 

 staff, Democrat, 25,378; S. A. Riggs, Green- 

 back, 9,880 ; scattering, 1,016. Horton's plu- 

 rality over Wagstaff was 38,472 ; majority over 

 all, 27,576. 



A case involving the law of libel, P. B. 

 Castle, vs. D. W. Houston, was decided by the 

 Supreme Court of the Stnte in December, on 

 an appeal from the District Court of Leaven- 

 worth County. The suit was brought against 

 the proprietor of a newspaper for damages for 

 alleged libelous statements regarding the plain- 

 tiff. In instructing the jury, the judge of the 

 lower court had said : 



The fact of the language being true is not alone 

 an answer to the charge, out can only be shown in 

 mitigation of damages. 



It is not a defense simply to show the truth of 

 the matter published, but the party must go further, 

 and show that it was not only true, but that he acted 

 with good motives and for a justifiable end, and 

 that be had some purpose in view that was justifi- 

 able. If that be the case, if lie acts honestly for 

 good purposes and for justifiable ends, and what he 

 says is true, then he is to be excused or acquitted. 



A verdict for damages having been given, 

 an appeal was taken. Chief Justice Horton, 

 VOL. xvn. 27 A 



after reviewing the law of libel, laid down 

 these as the established principles : 



First. In all criminal prosecutions the truth of 

 the libel is no defense, unless it was for public bene- 

 fit that the matters charged should be published, or, 

 in other words, that the alleged libelous matter was 

 true in fact, and was published for justifiable ends, 

 but in all such proceedings the jury have the right 

 to determine at their discretion the law and the 

 facts. 



Second. In all civil actions of libel brought by 

 the party claiming to have been defamed, where the 

 defendant alleges and establishes the truth of the 

 matter charged as defamatory, such defendant is 

 justified in law, and exempt from all civil responsi- 

 bility. In such actions the jury must receive and 

 accept the direction of the court as to the law. Un- 

 der thi*i view the court below misdirected the jury 

 on the trial in a very material point, and very prop- 

 erly, on attention being again called to the matter by 

 a motion for a new trial, granted such motion, and 

 set the case again for hearing. The instructions 

 given might have been applicable in a criminal pro- 

 ceeding, where the motive of the publication is im- 

 portant, and where the jury have the right to deter- 

 mine the lawns well as the fact, but were erroneous 

 in a civil action, where the facts charged were proven 

 in justification. The instructions assumed that the 

 truth is not a full and complete defense unless it was 

 shown to have been published for good purposes 

 and justifiable ends. This is not correct. If the 

 charges made by the defendant are true, however 

 malicious, no action lies. 



The order setting aside the verdict and grant- 

 ing a new trial was affirmed, all the judges 

 concurring. 



A monument to the memory of John Brown 

 was publicly dedicated at Ossawattomie, on the 

 30th of October, on which occasion United 

 States Senator John J. Ingalls delivered an 

 historical and eulogistic address. 



KASHGARIA, also called East Turkistan, 

 a Mohammedan Empire of Central Asia; area, 

 about 574,000 square miles; population, about 

 1,000,000. 



