their ſelves, in reſpect to us at leaſt, they are but ſimple individuals.
Were they more, ſtill a ſimple individual might anſwer them.Were they more, yet, in this country, the meaſures even of Government are open to the examination of every ſubject. The right of cenſuring what they diſapprove, the partiſans of America have exerciſed, and ſtill exerciſe, without ſcruple and without ſhame. They will not ſurely deny to me the right of defending what I approve. Here at leaſt they will not be backward in acknowledging, that it is no mean advantage, which we derive from the happy form of our Conſtitution, that private individuals are competent to thoſe taſks, which, under more jealous governments, can be executed only by officers commiſſioned for the purpoſe. Here at leaſt they will allow that an inſult offered to every man may be repelled by any man.[1]
- ↑
Total deſtruction of the liberty of the preſs in AmericaI ſay here they will acknowledge this. Not ſo in that unhappy country, over which theſe aſſertors of liberty have aſſumed juriſdiction. Here, ſo much to think of doing any thing to impair the liberty of the preſs, is repreſented as the moſt atrocious tyranny. There, this liberty, has been utterly deſtroyed. And when was it deſtroyed? Did theſe men wait till they were already under the irritation of long continued and reciprocal hoſtilities? No. It was at a time of pretended ſuffering, and pretended patience. It was one of the firſt preludes to execution of their deſign.
effected at the beginning of this conteſtSo ſore were they, ſo conſcious, from the very beginning, of their guilt, that in the midſt of a people, groaning, as they would have it believed, under the preſſure of injuries, then actually inflicting on them by the hands of unrelenting tyrants; they dared not leave the people at large to expreſs their real feelings; they dared not leave the channels of conviction open. To their own party alone was reſerved the privilege of expreſſing their ſentiments. To them only the preſs was open. To their opponents; to thoſe whom they but ſuſpected of oppoſition, it was irrevocably ſhut. Whatever could be ſaid to blacken the deſigns, miſ-ſtate the words, miſrepresent the actions, of the latter, was received with
eagerneſs.
