Governor, and of all others concern d in the Administration of the Government of the said Province, and against the Peace of Our Sovereign Lord the King His Crown and Dignity, &c. Whereupon the said Attorney General of Our said Lord the King, for Our said Lord the King, prays the Advisement of the Court here, in the Premises, and the due Process of the Law, against him the said John Peter Zenger, in this Part to be done, to answer to Our said Lord the King of and in the Premises, &c.
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
