Mr Susanna Hartley Widow untill he be one and twenty yeares of age & that ye said Mr Hartly be bound and enter into bond to learne him the trade of a Carpenter or Joyner wthin ye said time. . . . . [November 6.] A Bill of enditemte was Brought agt Wm Shreenes and presented to ye Grand Jury ye Grand Jury finds Billa vera ye Petty Jury was sent out & found ye Priso' guilty of Petty Larceny & so returned ye Bill whereupon he was ordered by the Court to have 30 lashes upon his naked back stript to his wast & sevearly Whipt and be bound to serve for his Phees one yeare and half from this day 9brs 9th to his Mr John Hatton besides his former Indenture of ffive yeares A Bill of enditemte was brought agt Robert White & Vincent White his son & presented to ye Grand Jury The Grand Jury finds Billa vera The petty Jury was sent out and they brought their verdict they found ye prisoners guilty of Grand Larceny & they craved the Benefit of ye clargey weh being granted Ordered that they be branded in ye hand wth the letter T upon ye Brawn of ye left thumbe wch was executed accordingly on Rob White; ye other reteined to long Time or be delivered by the Palatines Court . . . : Susana Harris enters for her daughter Sarah her proper Marke a crop & two Slitt on ye left ear & an over keele & an under keele on ye Right ear. William L. Saunders, editor, The Colonial Records of North Carolina (Raleigh, 1886), I, 392-402 passim. 72. A Prosecution for Criticising Government (1734) BY JOHN PETER ZENGER (1738) Zenger was the publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, and was prosecuted for teaching contempt of His Majesty's government. His acquittal is a landmark in the history of the press and of freedom of speech in America. - Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 242; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 105. New-York, ss. BEttorey General of Our Sovereign Lord the it remembred, That Richard Bradley, Esq; King, for the Province of New-York, who for Our said Lord the King in this Parts Prosecutes, in his own proper Person comes here into the Court of Our said Lord the King, and for Our said Lord the King gives the Court here to understand, and be informed, That John Peter Zenger, late of the City of New-York, Printer, (being a seditious Person, and a frequent Printer and Publisher of false News and seditious Libels, and wickedly and maliciously devising the Government of Our said Lord the King of this His Majesty's Province of New-York, under the Administration of His Excellency William Cosby, Esq; Captain General and Governour in Chief of the said Province, to traduce, scandalize and vilify, and His Excellency the said Governour, and the Ministers and Officers of Our said Lord the King of and for the said Province to bring into Suspicion and the ill Opinion of the Subjects of Our said Lord the King residing within the said Province) the Twenty eighth Day of January, in the seventh Year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord George the second, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. at the City of New-York, did falsly, seditiously and scandalously print and publish, and cause to be printed and published, a certain false, malicious, seditious, scandalous Libel, entituled, The New-York Weekly Journal, containing the freshest Advices foreign and domestick; in which Libel (of and concerning His Excellency the said Governour, and the Ministers and Officers of Our said Lord the King, of and for the said Province) among other Things therein contained are the Words "Your Appearance in Print at last, gives a Pleasure to many, tho' most wish you had come fairly into the open Field, and not appeared behind Retrenchments made of the supposed Laws against Libelling, and of what other Men have said and done before; these Retrenchments, Gentlemen, may soon be shewn to you and all Men to be weak, and to have neither Law nor Reason for their Foundation, so cannot long stand you in stead: Therefore, you had much better as yet leave them, and come to what the People of this City and Province (the City and Province of New-York meaning) think are the Points in Question (to wit) They (the People of the City and Province of New-York meaning) think as Matters now stand, that their LIBERTIES and PROPERTIES are precarious, and that SLAVERY is like to be intailed on them and their Posterity, if some past Things be not amended, and this they collect from many past Proceedings." (Meaning many the past Proceedings of His Excellency of the said Governour, and of the Ministers and Officers of our said Lord the King, of and for the said Province) among other Things therein contained, are these Words, " One of our Neighbours (one of the Inhabitants of NewJersey meaning) being in Company, observing the Strangers (some of the Inhabitants of New-York meaning) full of Complaints, endeavoured to perswade them to remove into Jersey; to which it was replied, that would be leaping out of the Frying Pan into the Fire; for, says he, we both are under the same Governour (His Excellency the said Governour meaning) and your Assembly have shewn with a Witness what is to be expected from them; one that was then moving to Pensilvania, (meaning one that was then removing from New-York, with intent to reside at Pensilvania) to which Place it is reported several considerable Men are removing (from New-York meaning) expressed in Terms very movong much Concern for the Circumstances of New-York (the bad Circumstances of the Province and the People of New-York meaning) seemed to think them very much owing to the Influence that some Men (whom he called Tools) had in the Administration (meaning the Administration of Government of the said Province of New-York) said he was now going from them, and was not to be hurt by any Measures they should take, but could not help having some Concern for the Welfare of his Country Men, and should be glad to hear that the Assembly (meaning the General Assembly of the Province of New-York) would exert themselves as became them, by shewing that they have the Interest of their Country more at Heart, than the Gratification of any private View of any of their Members, or being at all affected, by the Smiles or Frowns of a Governour, (His Excellency the said Governour meaning) both which ought equally to be despised, when the Interest of their Country is at Stake. You, says he, complain of the Lawyers, but I think the Law it self is at an End, WE (the People of the Province of New-York meaning) SEE MENS DEEDS DESTROYED, JUDGES ARBITRARILY DISPLACED, NEW COURTS ERECTED, WITHOUT CONSENT OF THE LEGISLATURE (within the Province of NewYork meaning) BY WHICH IT SEEMS TO ME, TRYALS BY JURIES ARE TAKEN AWAY WHEN A GOVERNOR PLEASES, (His Excellency the said Governour meaning) MEN OF KNOWN ESTATES DENYED THEIR VOTES, CONTRARY TO THE RECEIVED PRACTICE, THE BEST EXPOSITOR OF ANY LAW: Who is then in that Province (meaning the Province of New-York,) that call (can call meaning) any Thing his own, or enjoy any Liberty (Liberty meaning) longer than those in the Administration (meaning the Administration of Government of the said Province of New-York) will condescend to let them do it, for which Reason I have left it, (the Province of New-York meaning) as I believe more will." To the great Disturbance of the Peace of the said Province of New-York, to the Great Scandal of Our said Lord the King, of His Excellency the said Govornor, and of all others concern'd in the Administration of the To this Information the Defendant has pleaded Not Guilty, and we are ready to prove it. . . . Then Mr. Hamilton, who at the Request of some of my Friends, was so kind as to come from Philadelphia to assist me on the Tryal, spoke. Mr. Hamilton, May it please your Honour; I am concerned in this Cause on the Part of Mr. Zenger the Defendant. The Information against my Client was sent me, a few Days before I left Home, with some Instructions to let me know how far I might rely upon the Truth of those Parts of the Papers set forth in the Information, and which are said to be libellous. And tho' I am perfectly of the Opinion with the Gentleman who has just now spoke, on the same Side with me, as to the common Course of Proceedings, I mean in putting Mr. Attorney upon proving, that my Client printed and published those Papers mentioned in the Information; yet I cannot think it proper for me (without doing Violence to my own Principles) to deny the Publication of a Complaint, which I think is the Right of every free-born Subject to make, when the Matters so published can be supported with Truth; and therefore I'll save Mr. Attorney the Trouble of Examining his Witnesses to that Point; and I do (for my Client) confess, that he both printed and published the two News Papers set forth in the Information, and I hope in so doing he has committed no Crime. . . . Mr. Attorney,... The Case before the Court is, whether Mr. Zenger is guilty of Libelling his Excellency the Governor of New-York, and indeed the whole Administration of the Government? Mr. Hamilton has confessed the Printing and Publishing, and I think nothing is plainer, than that the Words in the Information are scandalous, and tend to Sedition, and to disquiet the Minds of the People of this Province. And if such Papers are not Libels, I think it may be said, there can be no such Thing as a Libel. Mr. Hamilton, May it please your Honour; I cannot agree with Mr. Attorney For tho' I freely acknowledge, that there are such Things as Libels, yet I must insist at the same Time, that what my Client is charged with, is not a Libel; and I observed just now, that Mr. Attorney in defining a Libel, made use of the Words scandalous, seditious, and tend to disquiet the People; but (whether with Design or not I will not say) he omitted the Word false. Mr. Attorney, I think I did not omit the Word false : But it has been said already, that it may be a Libel, notwithstanding it may be true. Mr. Hamilton, In this I must still differ with Mr. Attorney; for I depend upon it, we are to be tried upon this Information now before the Court and Jury, and to which we have pleaded Not Guilty, and by it we are charged with printing and publishing, a certain false, malicious, seditious and scandalous Libel. This Word false must have some Meaning, or else how came it there? . Mr. Ch. Justice, You cannot be admitted, Mr. Hamilton, to give the Truth of a Libel in Evidence. A Libel is not to be justified; for it is nevertheless a Libel that it is true. Mr. Hamilton, I am sorry the Court has so soon resolved upon that Piece of Law; I expected first to have been heard to that Point. I have not in all my Reading met with an Authority that says, we cannot be admitted to give the Truth in Evidence, upon an Information for a Libel. Mr. Ch. Justice, The Law is clear, That you cannot justify a Libel. . . . Mr. Hamilton, I thank your Honour. Then, Gentlemen of the Jury, it is to you we must now appeal, for Witnesses, to the Truth of the Facts we have offered, and are denied the Liberty to prove; and let it not seem strange, that I apply my self to you in this Manner, I am warranted so to do both by Law and Reason. The Last supposes you to be summoned, out of the Neighbourhood where the Fact is alledged to be committed; and the Reason of your being taken out of the Neighbourhood is, because you are supposed to have the best Knowledge of the Fact that is to be tried. And were you to find a Verdict against my Client, you must take upon you to say, the Papers referred to in the Information, and which we acknowledge we printed and published, are false, scandalous and seditious; but of this I can have no Apprehension. You are Citizens of New-York; you are really what the Law supposes you to be, honest and lawful Men; and, according to my Brief, the Facts which we offer to prove were not committed in a Corner; they are notoriously known to be true; and therefore in your Justice lies our |