George Barrell Cheever: Deacon Giles' distillery (1844)

The allusions in the piece were introduced merely as they came in upon the writer's mind, presenting forcible illustrations of moral truth, and appendages to the dream adapted to arrest attention and increase its power. In the eye of the law there is nothing in them which is libellous, for there is nothing in them of untruth; nor was there aught of malice or inimical intention in their introduction as portions of the article. They have been dwelt upon and magnified, with gratuitous application and elaborate proof, in the attempt to fix upon my character the charge of a malicious libel, though in themselves of such a nature, that had it not been for that attempt, not one mind in a thousand would have connected them with reality, or paused to seek their origin. For the defence of their use, I throw myself on the protection of the statute, which makes their truth a justification, alleging the importance of the object which I had in view, and the innocence of motive with which I have prosecuted it.

I am aware that it is easy for the prosecutor to link the parts that are imaginary in the article charged as libellous, with the circumstances that are real; and that the difficulty of making the separation which existed in the mind of the writer evident to the minds of a jury, is perhaps the intrinsic difficulty in the case. I am also aware that it is difficult for some minds to appreciate the singleness of purpose with which a composition like that of this supposed dream may be conceived and executed. But I do not think that any man accustomed to guage the miseries of the world, and examine their causes,—I do not think that any man, who has looked at the spread of intemperance, and weighed its evils,—will for a moment feel at a loss. He will see in that article nothing but a manifest attempt to delineate, in coloring as strong and true as possible, the evils of distilleries. He 'will see that from the nature of the piece it must have been almost purely imaginary; and its object, its design, its scope, will seem to him just what it is, a description of the fountain of intemperance. With the view of that vice before him, he will see motive enough to prompt the mind of the writer in such an effort; and perhaps the medium of just such a fiction will seem to him peculiarly fitted for a degree of successful instrumentality in the advancement of the temperance reformation.