Page:Tryal of Richard Francklin.pdf/6

 Oaths muſt do; that he hop'd that they would not ſhut their Eyes againſt the Light, but ſee as every common Reader in a Coffee Houſe does.

Mr. Solicitor-General next ſpoke on the part of the King, with ſeveral of the ſame Circumſtances, that had been before mentioned by Mr. Attorney-General; and added ſeveral learned Arguments againſt Libels in general; particularly, the ill Conſequence that attends a frequent Oppoſition of his Majeſty's Meaſures, as no Treaty could be made without his Conſent; and that the ſaid Extract of the Hague Letter, reflecting on the Miniſter's Conduct, muſt of Conſequence be a falſe, ſcandalous and ſeditious Libel.

He next took Notice of the Information, on which they were then trying Mr. Francklin, wherein he was repreſented as a ſeditious Perſon, and a Publisher of falſe News; and concluded, that as he prov'd the Fact on the Defendant, he hop'd they would give a Verdict againſt him.

Then the Council for the King proceeded to call the following Evidence to ſupport the Charge.

Mr. Jenkins being ſworn, produced a Letter, ſent from abroad, which being read in Court, made mention of ſeveral of his Majeſty's Allies being diſguſted at the Extract of a private Letter from the Hague, inſerted in the Craftſman of January laſt, which was taken Notice of by the King's Council, to be the ſame on which the Information was laid againſt Mr. Francklin. Here the Letter was read in Court.

George Tilſon, Eſq; Under Secretary of State, was call'd, who being ſworn, produced a Letter ſent from the Secretary of State to his Catholick Majeſty, to the Right Honourable the Lord Viſcount Townſhend, one of his late Majeſty's Principal Secretaries of State, in the Year 1725, in which a formal Demand was