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 upon, to wit, in or about the month of June in the said 21st year of the said Queen, publicly, to wit, in the said Colony, avow and acknowlege his having so caused the said papers and records to be burned and destroyed as aforesaid. Wherefore the said defendant, at the said time and place, in the said Information mentioned, did print and publish, of and concerning the said W. T. Bridges and of his said accroached, assumed, and usurped Government as aforesaid, the said alleged libel in the said Information mentioned, with intent and in order that the said W. T. Bridges, and the said certain other persons unknown, might be lawfully punished for their several and respective actings in the premises. And the said defendant does aver, that it was for the public benefit, that the matters, charged in the said alleged libel in the said Information mentioned, should be printed and published as aforesaid, and that the particular fact by reason whereof it was for the public benefit that the said matter so charged should be so printed and published as aforesaid, was and is that the said alleged libel was so printed and published by the said defendant in order to the lawful punishment of the said W. T. Bridges, and of the said other persons unknown, who then and there were guilty of the lawful and contemptuous actings aforesaid. Without this, that he the said defendant did, at the time in the said Information in that behalf alleged or ever print or publish the said alleged libel, with the intents or with the meanings in the said Information respectively alleged, or with any or either of the same respectively. And this the said defendant is ready to verify. Wherefore he prays Judgment of the Court here, and that he may be dismissed and dis charged of the premises in the Information above specified (Signed)

On the part of the prosecution;—

De Injuria sua propria, absque tali causa;—

On which issue wasjoinedwas joined [sic].