Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 16.pdf/445

 396

judgment upon a technical error. Lord Chief Justice Holt did not instruct the jury directly that they must take the law from him, although such was the effect of what he told them. His charge is very interesting for its complete inversion of modern ideas ot free discussion of public affairs:

nothing can be worse to any government than to endeavor to procure animosities as to the management of it; this has been al ways looked upon as a crime, and no govern ment can be safe without it being punished.'' In 1731 Franklin was tried for a similar political libel (17 St. Tr. 626; 22 ib. 973. nV

JOHN TUTCHIN.

"To say that corrupt officers are appointed to administer affairs is certainly a reflection on the government. If people should not be called to account for possessing the people with an ill opinion of the government, no government can subsist. For it is very ne cessary for all governments that the people should have a good opinion of it. And

He had published in The Craftsman the fam ous "Letter from The Hague," said to have been written by Lord Bolingbroke. This letter censured the policy of the govern ment with reference to the Spanish treaty of 1729, charging the ministry with inca pacity and perfidy. The prosecution was conducted by two future chancellors, Philip