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"Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger" | |
| Man who believes that a Governour has a Regard for him and confides in him, it is natural for such Men to wish well to the Affairs of such a Governour; and as they may be Men of Honour and Generosity, may, and no Doubt will, wish him Success, so far as the Rights and Privileges of their Fellow Citizens are not affected. But as Men of Honour, I can apprehend nothing from them; they will never exceed that Point. There are others that are under stronger Obligations, and those are such, as are in some Sort engaged in Support of a Governour's Cause, by their own or their Relations Dependance on his Favour, for some Post or Preferment; such Men have what is commonly called Duty and Gratitude, to influence their Inclinations, and oblige them to go his Lengths. I know Men's Interests are very near to them, and they will do much, rather than forgoe the Favour of a Governour, and a Livelihood at the same Time; but I can with very just Grounds hope, even from those Men, whom I will suppose to be Men of Honour and Conscience too, that when they see, the Liberty of their Country is in Danger, either by their Concurrence, or even by their Silence, they will, like Englishmen, and like themselves, freely make a Sacrifice of any Preferment or Favour rather than be accessary to destroying the Liberties of their Country, and entailing Slavery upon their Posterity. There are indeed another set of Men, of whom I have no Hopes, I mean such, who lay aside all other Considerations, and are ready to joyn with Power in any Shapes, and with any Man or Sort of Men, by whose Means or Interest they may be assisted to gratify their Malice and Envy against those whom they have been pleased to hate; and that for no other Reason, but because they are Men of Abilities and Integrity, or at least are possessed of some valuable Qualities far superior to their own. But as Envy is the Sin of the Devil, and therefore very hard, if at all, to be repented of, I will believe there are but few of this detestable and worthless Sort of Men, nor will their Opinions or Inclinations have any influence upon this Tryal. But to proceed; I beg Leave to insist, That the Right of complaining or remonstrating is natural; and the Restraint upon this natural Right is the Law only, and that those Restraints can only extend to what is false: For as it is Truth alone which can excuse or justify any Man for complaining of a bad Administration, I as frankly agree, that nothing ought to excuse a Man who raises a false Charge or Accusation, even against a private Person, |
and that no manner of Allowance ought to be made to him, who does so against a publick Magistrate. Truth ought to govern the whole Affair of Libels, and yet the Party accused runs Risque enough even then; for if he fails of proving every Tittle of what he has wrote, and to the Satisfaction of the Court and Jury too, he may find to his Cost, that when the Prosecution is set on Foot by Men in Power, it seldom wants Friends to Favour it. And from thence (it is said) has arisen the great Diversity of Opinions among Judges, about what Words were or were not scandalous or libellous. I believe it will be granted, that there is not greater Uncertainty in any Part of the Law, than about Words of Scandal; it would be mispending of the Court's Time to mention the Cases; they may be said to be numberless; and therefore the utmost Care ought to be taken in following Precedents; and the Times when the Judgments were given, which are quoted for Authorities in the Case of Libels, are much to be regarded. I think it will be agreed, That ever since the Time of the Star Chamber, where the most arbitrary and destructive Judgments and Opinions were given, that ever an Englishman heard of, at least in his own Country: I say, Prosecutions for Libels since the Time of that arbitrary Court, and until the glorious Revolution, have generally been set on Foot at the Instance of the Crown or its Ministers; and it is no small Reproach to the Law, that these Prosecutions were too often and too much countenanced by the Judges, who held their Places at Pleasure, (a disagreeable Tenure to any Officer, but a dangerous one in the Case of a Judge.) To say more to this Point may not be proper. And yet I cannot think it unwarrantable, to shew the unhappy Influence that a Sovereign has sometimes had, not only upon Judges, but even upon Parliaments themselves. It has already been shewn, how the Judges differed in their Opinions about the Nature of a Libel, in the Case of the seven Bishops. There you see three Judges of one Opinion, that is, of a wrong Opinion, in the Judgment of the best Men in England, and one Judge of a right Opinion. How unhappy might it have been for all of us at this Day, if that Jury had understood the Words in that Information as the Court did? Or if they had left it to the Court, to judge whether the Petition of the Bishops was or was not a Libel? No they took upon them, to their immortal |
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 The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York | |