to that poet, Milton; a man-how shall I describe him? -No copier of any thing that is human; he looked up to that sublime source, as he describes it, the universal God and father of the world, who, as he expresses it, is the source of all wisdom, and who sendeth out his sun, and touches with the hallowed fire of his altar, those lips which he pleases to inspire. Methinks I see it so; I think I see not the distinction of the English constitution; -but I think I see what Milton thought he then saw; but which unfortunately never came to pass. The country is, forsooth, in danger by the publication of a sixpenny pamphlet, but the auspices of the greatest statesman are eminently so; a man whom to name is to honor and admire; a man whom no history can shew a greater, nor any private acquaintance more dear; a man who is loved with the affection of a friend; a man who put to its hazard his ease and darling popularity, for the benefit of the people of the land; that he was born by his mighty talents to cultivate and reduce to order. This is the character given to Mr. Fox by Mr. Burke; and this is the man with whom, says he, I have lived in the greatest friendship, and whom, I must say, I have lived to see treated in the manner I have unfortunately witnessed. "Gentlemen, I have but a few words more to trouble you with, if you will have the goodness to hear me ; and that is this: I wish that this man may be judged of by you in the manner I have been proposing; that all this freedom, though it is not any other freedom than belongs to the constitution of the country. Remember, I am not asking the verdict for him, on any other institution than the law of England. I am not desiring your decision on any other constitution. The policy of Great Britain is not to have a jealousy over her subjects, to know what is for the benefit of the whole community. The subjects of England are affected to whatever is right and honest; and let reason be reason, let truth and falsehood oppose and fight one another, but it is better to pursue this course with respect to Englishmen which was proposed by Lord Chatham. Do not think they are to be bent to your purpose by a froward conduct. Be to their faults a little blind; "Do not limit their conception; and do not imagine with the Attorney-General, that they are to be led away either by argument, or by sarcasm: but it is to operate by degrees, it is to engage their affections, convince their reason, and they will be loyal from the only principle that can make loyalty sincere, vigorous, or rational; a conviction which will operate by degrees, that is, their truest interest, and that their form of government is for their common good: constraint is the natural parent of resistance, and this doctrine is by no means novel. In all histories of former times, it has always been express and convincing, that where one side has been tyrannical, the other side, that was in opposition to it, has been refractory on the other hand, all nations have considered the contrary, even as long ago as Lucian. You all remember, gentlemen, the pleasant story in that fable of his, respecting the countryman and Jupiter; they were conversing with great freedom and familiarity on the subjects of heaven and earth; the countryman listened with great attention, and acquiesced in the conversation so long as Jupiter tried only to convince him by reason and argument; but the countryman happening to hint a doubt as to the truth and propriety of something which Jupiter had advanced, he instantly turned round and threatened him with his thunder. 'No,' says the countryman, if you up with your thunder, I believe you are in the wrong; you are always wrong when you appeal to your thunder; as long as you have reason on your side, I believe you may be right, but I cannot fight against thunder.' So, Gentlemen, I cannot fight against the voice of the people of England; and God forbid I should! I am an obedient subject and servant of the law-to that rule of action I shall ever give my voice, opinion, and conduct. You may condemn my conduct, but I shall ever do as I have been doing to-day; I hope, with confidence, that I am not transgressing those rules in doing the duties of my situation, which are accidentally cast upon me." Notwithstanding this very ingenious and elaborate defence of Mr. PAINE by Mr. Erskine, the jury immediately gave their verdict, GUILTY. DEFENCE OF JOHN HORNE, Esq. on an information against him in the court of King's Bench, by the ATTORNEYGENERAL, for a libel, 4th of July, 1777, at Guildhall in the city of London, before Lord MANSFIELD and a Special jury. "Gentlemen of the Jury, "I am much happier, gentlemen, in addressing myself to you, and I hope and believe I shall be much more fortunate as well as happy, than in addressing myself to the judge. I have been betrayed, gentlemen, I hope, into no unseemly warmth; but yet into some warmth. I have felt myself like a man first put into hot water; but I have now been long enough in it to be perfectly cool. And, gentlemen, some small allowances might have been made for me by my judge who presides upon this cause, when he considers the peculiar disadvantages in which I stand here before him. Gentlemen, I am an absolute novice in these matters: and yet opposed to gentlemen, some of the most eminent in their profession, and some of the most conversant in practice. But that is not all; I have a farther disadvantage. I stand here, gentlemen, before you, a culprit as well as a pleader; personally and very materially interested in the issue of the cause which I have to defend. And every gentleman in the court must know (some perhaps by their own experience, all by the reason of the thing) how very different is the sportful combat with foils from that which is seriously disputed with unbated swords; and how frequently the fluttering of the heart, in the latter situation, has been known to enfeeble the steadiest wrist, and to dazzle the clearest and most quick-sighted eye. Gentlemen, I have read even of counsel, eminent in their profession, conversant in practice, approved and applauded for their ingenuity in the defence of others, who, when they came to stand in the same situation in which I now stand, have complained to the court (and met with an indulgence which I have not); they have complained to the court of the same disadvantage which I now feel. Gentlemen, I have listened to Mr. Attorney-General's declamation with as much patience, and, I believe, with much more pleasure, than any one in the court. That pleasure I do acknowledge was personal to myself; arising from the futility of the support which Mr. Attorney-General has attempted to give to the serious charge which he has brought against me; a pleasure, however, mixed with some pain, when I consider the wretched times at which we are arrived; when a gentleman of his natural sagacity is, I own, justified by recent experience, for supposing it possible to obtain from a London jury a verdict for the crown, upon a mere common-place declamation against scandal and indecency in general, without one single syllable of reason, or law, or argument, applicable to that particular charge which he has brought against me, and which you are now upon your oath to decide. Gentlemen, you know, as well as I do, that I am personally, and in all respects an absolute stranger to any one of you. I am glad of it. I do not expect or desire from you either friendship, or favour, or indulgence. It is your duty to do impartial justice, and I only request your attention. I began with requesting it; and I requested your attention, that you may be able to judge for yourselves, and that the verdict which you shall give (personally as it respects myself it is totally indifferent to me), but that the verdict which you shall give, may be really your own, as it ought to be, and not the judge's. That is the only thing I request of you, and I request it because it is your duty and your oath. "Gentlemen, as for the charge that is brought against me, you cannot be ignorant that I am charged with the only unpardonable crime which can, at this time, be committed-I am accused of a libel. "Murder and sodomy, you know, have in these our days often found successful solicitors; and the laws against popery (though unrepealed and in full legal force) are, when resorted to, thought, by the magistrate who presides here, too rigorous to be suffered to have their free course against a religion so destructive of the civil right of mankind, and so favorable to absolute and arbitrary power. But whilst that has been favored beyond the laws, nothing beyond the laws has been thought rigorous and severe enough against the charge of libel. Murder, attended with the most aggravating circumstances has been repeatedly pardoned; and treason, the blackest treason, against the family on the throne, and (what is of much more consequence to us than any family) against the free constitution of this country, has been not only pardoned, but taken into favor; and the estates of convict traitors have been restored to them and their families. Whilst mercy and forgiveness, gentlemen, have been thus flowing unnaturally in a full stream over the |