Page:England's alarm!.djvu/55

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vernment to prevent it, none but the over-timid and apprehensive can ever say, that a paper written with moderation, temper, and positive or speculative truth, can produce it. It may be otherwise with inflammatory falsehoods, which ought to be punished, falsehood being a crime in itself, which, from its aggravation, and being disseminated among the people, has a real tendency to break the peace, if not to raise rebellion. This falsehood, however, is not to be implied, created by inuendo, or raised by averment or intendment, contrary to the maxim of Beau-pleader, which Lord Coke calls the heart-firing of the law. It must appear in the indictment, and be proved to the Jury, who are the proper, the natural judges of the intent of a defendant, drawn from facts, or he ought to be acquitted. If, for example, he own to them the writing or publishing, and that he will write or publish the like again, the criminality of that writing will determine his intention to be criminal, of which they have the right to judge.

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