Mr. Branch, as a libeller of the most extravagant kind, merited condign punishment; but, after all, it is very clear that Mr. Branch’s strange, wild, energetic, incoherent nature, has been made use of by somebody else to accomplish his own purposes. Branch has been the catspaw of some deeper and more sanely plotting intellect behind the curtain; and we regret that the Recorder considered it necessary to rule out the testimony which might have introduced us to the principals in this offensive operation, instead of their harum-scarum instrument. It would have been, as far as the libelled ones are concerned, much better to have probed the whole affair to the bottom, even if the exact rule of evidence had been made to yield temporarily to the exigency. It would have been better for them to let the public perceive precisely on what ground all this edifice of mendacity had been constructed. It would have exhibited the confidence which belongs to conscious innocence. It would not only have exposed the real wire-workers of this game of wholesale calumniation, but, in demonstrating the integrity of the parties assailed, it would have left no unexplained mystery, no dubious point of fact, around which malice might still gather the shadowy wind-breath of current scandal. If, however, they are satisfied, we ought to be. We are not convinced that Randall’s Island is a paradise of official morality, and the great public would not credit us were we to hazard an assertion to that effect; but we _are_ satisfied that the particular charges made by Mr. Branch are untrue, though imposed upon him as truths, and we hope that, having had their probity completely substantiated in the premises, the gentlemen so recklessly accused by Mr. Branch are not disposed to be vindictive.