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 The Judicial History of Individual Liberty, purpose of parliamentary reform, but really, it was claimed, for subverting the govern ment. It was sought to hold Hardy liable, not only for his own words and acts, but for all the proceedings of these societies and their members. With all its horde of spies and informers the crown was unable to prove the existence of any unlawful designs on Hardy's part by evidence of overt acts of

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prived of the sanction of clear and unambig uous laws. If wrong is committed, let pun ishment follow according to the measure of that wrong; if men are turbulent, let them be visited by the laws according to the measure of their turbulency; if they write libels upon government, let them be punished according to the quality of those libels; but you must not, and will not, because the stability of the

LORD CHfEF JUSTICE EYRE.

treason. It was only by straining the doc trine of constructive treason to a most dan gerous extreme that a conviction was possi ble. This deplorable result was averted by the consummate skill and eloquence of Erskine. Erskine disclaimed all intention of vindicating anything that would promote disorder; but he maintained that "the worst possible disorder is when subjects are de-

monarchy is an important concern to the nation, confound the nature and distinctions of crimes, and pronounce that the life of a sovereign has been invaded because the privileges of the people have been, perhaps, irregularly and hotly asserted; you will not, to give security to government, repeal the most sacred laws instituted for our protec tion, and which are, indeed, the only con