Chap. XIV.] AND Religion-. 227 



was, that, whether the words published were true or false 

 the crime of publishing was the same ; because whether 

 true or false, they tended to a breach of the peace! 

 Nay, there was a Boroughmoiiger Judge in England, 

 who had laid it down as laic, that the truer the words 

 were, the more criminal Avas the libel ; because, said 

 he, a breach of the peace was more likely to be pro- 

 duced by telling triith of a villain, than by telling 

 falsehood of a virtuous man. In point of fact, this 

 was true enough, to be sure ; but what an infamous 

 doctrine ! What a base, what an unjust mind must 

 this man have had ! 



418. The State of New York, ashamed that there 

 should any longer be room for such miserable quib- 

 bling ; ashamed to leave the Liberty of the Press 

 exposed to the changes and chances of a doctrine so 

 hostile to common sense as well as to every principle 

 of freedom, ^lassed an ^1 ct, which makes the truth of 

 any publication a. just if cation of it, provided the pub- 

 lisher can shew, that the publication was made with 

 good motives and justifiable ends; and who can possibly 

 publish tridh without being able to shew good motives 

 and justifable ends ? To expose and censure tyranny 

 profligacy, fraud, hypocrisy, debauchery, drunken- 

 ness : indeed, all sorts of wickedness and folly; and 

 to do this in the words of truth, must tend, cannot fail 

 to tend, to check wickedness and folly, and to strengthen 

 and promote virtue and wisdom ; and these, and these 

 onhji are the uses of the press. I know it has been said, 

 for I have heard it said, that this is going too far ; that it 

 would tend to lay open the private affairs of families. 

 And what then ! Wickedness and folly should meet their 

 due measure of censure, or ridicule, be they found where 

 they may. If the faults of private persons were too 

 trifling to deserve public notice, the mention of them 

 would give the parties no pain, and the publisher 

 would be despised for his tittle-tattle ; that is all. And, 

 if they were of a nature so grave as for the exposure 

 of them to give the parties pain, the exposure would 

 be useful, as a warning to others. 



419. Amongst the persons whom I have heard ex- 

 press a wish, to see the press what they called /ree, and 



