Page:Letters of Junius, volume 2 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/293

Rh to a jury, "Gentlemen, you are to bring in a verdict guilty or not guilty: but whether the defendant be guilty or not guilty, is not matter for your consideration." Cloath it in what language you will, this is the sum total of Lord Mansfield's doctrine. If not, let Zeno show us the difference.

it seems, the liberty of the press may be abused", and "the abuse of a valuable privilege is the certain means to lose it. The first I admit,—but let the abuse be submitted to a jury; a sufficient, and, indeed, the only legal and constitutional check upon the licence of the press. The second I flatly deny. In direct contradiction to Lord Mansfield, I affirm, that "the abuse of a valuable privilege is not the certain means to lose it." if it were, the English nation would have few privileges left; for, where is the privilege that has not, at one time or other, been abused by individuals? But it is false in reason and equity, that particular abuses should produce a general forfeiture. Shall the community be deprived of the protection of the laws, because there are robbers and murderers?—Shall the community be punished, because individuals have offended? Lord Mansfield says so, consistently enough with his