et "for shaving purposes." The insinuation was uncalled for and
unjustifiable; and as the editor subsequently admitted that it was only
made in jest, it may be imputed to his credit that he had the grace to
be ashamed of it. A libel suit, however, followed. It was at first
decided in Cooper's favor. It was then carried up to the Court of
Errors, and in December, 1845, more than a year after Mr. Stone's death,
that tribunal reversed the decision. The result of the trial was hailed
with the keenest delight by the Whig press of the state. "The Great
Persecutor," as he was sometimes styled, had been finally foiled. "The
rights of the press," said one of the newspapers, "are at last
triumphant over the tyranny of courts and the vile constructions of the
law of libel." The value of the victory, however, was largely lessened
by the little respect in which the Court of Errors was held. This (p. 224)
tribunal, which consisted in the majority of cases of the Chancellor and
of the members of the state Senate, was swept away by the Constitution
of 1846. Its influence had gone long before. Cooper was doubtless giving
expression to the general feeling as well as venting his own indignation
at this particular decision when he spoke of it, as he did a little
later, as a "pitiful imitation of the House of Lords' system," by which
a body of "small lawyers, country doctors, merchants, farmers," with
occasionally a man of ability, were constituted the highest tribunal in
the state.

Two other results followed incidentally this controversy about the
battle of Lake Erie. One had the nature of comedy, the other partook
rather of that of tragedy. Perry, as has been said, was a Rhode
Islander, and many of the men he had with him had come from that state.
Tristam Burges, in his lecture, had, in many instances, allowed his
eloquence to get the better of his sense. In the preface to it, when
published, he abandoned the latter altogether. He twice asserted, and
gave his reasons for it, that "the fleet and battle of Erie" were to be
regarded "as a part of the maritime affairs of Rhode Island."
Apparently, however, the whole state took the same view. There seemed to
be a feeling prevalent in it that its own reputation lay in destroying
the reputation of Perry's second in command. In 1845 Elliott had a medal
struck in honor of Cooper. It bore on one side the head of the author
surrounded by the words, "The Personification of Honor, Truth, and
Justice