404 GOVERNMENT, LAWS, [PART II. 



never could have taken place ; for, the wasters 

 of that money would have been so exposed as 

 to be unable to live under the odium which th 

 exposure would have occasioned ; and, if the 

 parliament had not checked the waste and pu 

 nished the wasters, the public indignation would 

 have destroyed the parliament. But, with a 

 muzzled press, the wasters proceeded with the 

 consciousness of impunity. Say to any individual 

 man when he is 20 years of age : " You shall 

 " do just what you please with all the money of 

 " other people that you can, by any means, all 

 " your life long, get into your hands, and no one 

 " shall ever be permitted to make you account- 

 " able, or even to write or speak a word against 

 " you for any act of fraud, oppression, or waste." 

 Should you expect such an individual to act 

 honestly and wisely ? Yet, this, in fact, is what 

 a Boroughmonger Parliament and the new 

 Law of Libel'say to every set of Ministers. 



420. Before I quit this subject of Libel, let 

 me observe, however, that no juryman, even as 

 the la>v now stands in England, is in conscience 

 bound to find any man guilty on a charge of 

 criminal libel, unless the evidence prove that the 

 pretended libeller has been actuated by an evil 

 motive, and unless it be also proved by evidence, 

 that his words, spoken or written, were scanda 

 lous and malicious. Unless these things be 



