Let us examine what are the genuine principles of the liberty of the press, as they regard writings upon general subjects, unconnected with the personal reputations of private men, which are wholly foreign to the present inquiry.-They are full of simplicity, and are brought as near perfection, by the law of England, as, perhaps, is attainable by any of the frail institutions of mankind.

Although every community must establish supreme authorities, founded upon fixed principles, and must give high powers to magistrates to administer laws for the preservation of government, and for the security of those who are to be protected by it: -yet, as infallibility and perfection belong neither to human individuals nor to human establishments, it ought to be the policy of all free nations, as it is most peculiarly the principle of our own, to permit the most unbounded freedom of discussion, even to the detection of errors in the constitution of the very government itself; so as that common decorum is observed, which every state must exact from its subjects, and which imposes no restraint upon any intellectual composition, fairly, honestly, and decently addressed to the consciences and understandings of men. Upon this principle, I have an unquestionable right-a right which the best subjects have exercised-to examine the principles and structure of the constitution, and by fair, manly reasoning, to question the practice of its administrators.-I have a right to consider and to point out errors in the one

or in the other; and not merely to reason upon their existence, but to consider the means of their reformation.

By such free, well-intentioned, modest, and dignified communication of sentiments and opinions, all nations have been gradually improved, and milder laws and purer religions have been established. The same principles, which vindicate civil controversies, honestly directed, extend their protection to the sharpest contentions on the subject of religious faiths. This rational and legal course of improvement was recognised and ratified by Lord Kenyon as the law of England, in a late trial at Guildhall, where he looked back with gratitude to the labours of the Reformers, as the fountains of our religious emancipation, and of the civil blessings that followed in their train. The English constitution, indeed, does not stop short in the toleration of religious opinions, but liberally extends it to practice.-It permits every man, EVEN PUBLICLY, to worship God according to his own conscience, though in marked dissent from the national establishment,-so as he professes the general faith, which is the sanction of all our moral duties, and the only pledge of our submission to the system which constitutes the state.

Is not this freedom of controversy, and freedom of worship, sufficient for all the purposes of human happiness and improvement?-Can it be necessary for either, that the law should hold out indemnity to those, who wholly abjure and revile the govern

ment of their country, or the religion on which it rests for its foundation? I expect to hear, in answer to what I am now saying, much that will offend me.-My learned friend, from the difficulties of his situation, which I know, from experience, how to feel for very sincerely, may be driven to advance propositions which it may be my duty, with much freedom, to reply to ;-and the law will sanction that freedom.-But will not the ends of justice be completely answered by my exercise of that right, in terms that are decent, and calculated to expose its defects? Or will my argument suffer, or will public justice be impeded, because neither private honour and justice, nor public decorum, would endure my telling my very learned friend, because I differ from him in opinion, that he is a fool,-a liar,-and a scoun drel, in the face of the Court? This is just the distinction between a book of free legal controversy, and the book which I am arraigning before you. Every man has a right to investigate, with decency, controversial points of the Christian religion;-but no man, consistently with a law which only exists under its sanctions, has a right to deny its very ex istence, and to pour forth such shocking and insulting invectives, as the lowest establishments in the gradations of civil authority ought not to be subjected to, and which soon would be borne down by insolence and disobedience, if they were.

The same principle pervades the whole system of the law, not merely in its abstract theory, but in its

daily and most applauded practice.The intercourse between the sexes, which, properly regulated, not only continues, but humanizes and adorns our natures, is the foundation of all the thousand romances, plays, and novels, which are in the hands of every body. Some of them lead to the confirmation of every virtuous principle; others, though with the same profession, address the imagination in a manner to lead the passions into dangerous excesses; but though the law does not nicely discri minate the various shades which distinguish such works from one another, so as to suffer many to pass, through its liberal spirit, that upon principle ought to be suppressed, would it, or does it tolerate, or does any decent man contend that it ought to pass by unpunished, libels of the most shameless obscenity, manifestly pointed to debauch innocence, and to blast and poison the morals of the rising generation? This is only another illustration to demonstrate the obvious distinction between the work of an author, who fairly exercises the powers of his mind, in investigating the religion or government of any country, and him who attacks the rational existence of every religion or government, and brands with absurdity and folly the state which sanctions, and the obedient tools who cherish the delusion. But this publication appears to me to be as cruel and mischievous in its effects, as it is manifestly illegal in its principles; because it strikes at the best-sometimes, alas! the only refuge and consolation amidst the distresses and

VOL. II.

afflictions of the world. The poor and humble, whom it affects to pity, may be stabbed to the heart by it.-THEY have more occasion for firm hopes heyond the grave, than the rich and prosperous, who have other comforts to render life delightful.-I can conceive a distressed but virtuous man, surrounded by his children, looking up to him for bread when he has none to give them; sinking under the last day's labour, and unequal to the next,yet still, supported by confidence in the hour when all tears shall be wiped from the eyes of affliction, bearing the burden laid upon him by a mysterious Providence which he adores, and anticipating with exultation the revealed promises of his Creator, when he shall be greater than the greatest, and happier than the happiest of mankind. What a change in such a mind might be wrought by such a merciless publication! Gentlemen! whether these remarks are the overcharged declamations of an accusing Counsel, or the just reflections of a man anxious for the public happiness, which is best secured by the morals of a nation, will be soon settled by an appeal to the passages in the work, that are selected by the Indictment for your consideration and judgment. You are at liberty to connect them with every context and sequel, and to bestow upon them the mildest interpretation. Here Mr. Erskine read and commented upon several of the selected passages, and then proceeded as fol lows:]

Gentlemen, it would be useless and disgusting to