Page:United States Reports, Volume 2.djvu/95

 Surinam; Couar or Bemfylwniaa 89_ E will be -yours." The words proved, by the evidence on the trial, ¤7$!•` to have been fpoken were, that •¢ IVeedle faid he had hved {ix "V"f; years in England, and nine in Ireland, and that he lived well, and that is was not fo as people took it in this country; and he further faid, the King would become King, and that the witnefs thought fo roo." There was, however, fome attempt to {here that he was intoxicated at the time of {peaking the olibnhve words. The indiétment was foundedon the 4th Set}. of the A5} of Allembly (1 ol. Dall. Edit. p. 728) and charged all`the mil`- prilions of trcafon there enumerated. The words are “ '1`hat •• if any perfon or perfons within this State {hall attempt to con- “ vey intelligence to the enemies of this State, ortthcUnited State: “ qfdrnerica, or by pubhuzy and deliberntzby _/jr.-aling or wrxlmg “ again/I our public de/ence; or_/Zia/I mohcian/ly and ado%dI:y en- “ deuvaur to excite the people lo rj]? the Geverrtment of fbi: “ Cammanwealtb, or pegfuade tbem to return to a dependence up- “ vifedly terrify, or diieourage, the people from enlilting into the “ fervice of the Commonwealth; or {hall ltir up, excite or raife ¢• tumults, diforders, or infurreitions in the State, or dnfpofe “ them to favor the enemy; or oppofe and endeavour to pre- •* vent the meafures carrying on in lhpport of the freedom and •‘ independence of the {aid Ibsited Stutex; every fuch perfon, “ being thereof legally conviéted by the evidence of two or more “ credible witnelles, {hall be adjudged guilty of mifprilion of “ treafon, &c." Braefrd, Attorney General, having clofed the teflimony for the profecution, obferved that the acl of Aliembly was couch- ed in general and comprehenlive terms; and that the words prov- ed to have been fpoken hy thc defendant were clearly within the fenfe and meaning of the words laid in the indiflment. To lhew the heinous nature of the ofF.:nce,he cited Fg/I. zoo. 201. t 4 BI. C; I 17; and he inlilted that drunkennefs, in itfelf a vice, ‘ could not be an excufe for the perpetration of a crime. 1"mm, for the defendant, premifed that the law on which the indiétment arofe, was new, and could only be julliiied by ‘ the crilis of American aflinirs at the time of palling it, when it was neceflixry to teal the lips of the difalfcited. The necellity no longer exilied g and policy would admit, what legal autho- rities required, that, aa a penal law, it {hould he ltrieily confirm- ed. '1`he part of the feéiion of the aét, to which the evidence applies, ia then materially incorreét : For, it is not fenll: in the prefent form of wording and pointing; and can only he render- ed intelligible by adding fome words, and by omitting the femi- colon, and the disjunetivc “ or." By that correélion, it would reid thus: *‘ If any perfon, by publicly and deliberately fpealr- _ M ` •• ing
 * ‘ an the Crown gf Great Britain; or {hall malicioully and ad-

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