VARIETIES.
Liberty of the Press.—If the Liberty of the Press be, what we firmly believe it is, that political blessing which includes all other, or that at least, without which all others would become curses, how much does it behove all those who perceive and feel its value, to struggle not factiously or indiscreetly, but with all the intrepidity which virtue and good sense authorise, to defend and preserve it? The Liberty of the Press embraces all other liberty, civil and religious. Without it, no people or government can be free. How are grievances to be redressed, if they are not to be stated? How are laws to be amended, if their tendency and expediency cannot be considered and discussed? There can be no such rights as those our ancestors fought for, bled for, and died for, if the people cannot talk about the subject of them, write about them, and in short, exercise the Liberty of the Press respecting them. When the law gives rights, it gives also the means of exercising them. Nay, it gives more; it gives moreover, the presumption of innocence in the exercise. It is not to be presumed that any man has a criminal intent in availing himself of a constitutional privilege. When another motive is asserted, it is incumbent on him who makes the averment to prove it by unequivocal evidence. If room be left for a rational doubt, the accused is entitled to a verdict in his favour.Scotsman.
