To the intelligent and enlightened of my own country, I address my parting voice, entreating them to show themselves superior to the petty attacks of the ignorant and the worthless, and still to look with dispassionate and philosophic eye to the moral character of England, as the intellectual source of our rising greatness; while I appeal to every generous-minded Englishman from the slanders which disgrace the press, insult the understanding, and belie the magnanimity of his country: and I invite him to look to America, as to a kindred nation, worthy of its origin; giving, in the healthy vigour of its growth, the best of comments on its parent stock; and reflecting, in the dawning brightness of its fame, the moral effulgence of British glory.
"Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists"
Washington Irving
But Mrs. Trevor turned a deaf ear to their slanders.
"The Rough Road"
William John Locke
That kind of competition is barred among our breeds; and also the kind which consists of using poisons, or of starting slanders against your opponent.
"The Book of Life: Vol. I Mind and Body; Vol. II Love and Society"
Upton Sinclair