riting, you
are _not to examine the truth of that fact_ in such writing,
but the slander which it imports to the king or government;
and _be it never so true_, yet if slanderous to the king or
the government, _it is a libel and to be punished_; in that
case, _the right or wrong_ is _not to be examined, or if
what was done by the government be legal, or no_; but
whether the party have done such an act. If the king have a
power (for still I keep to that), to issue forth
proclamations to his subjects, and to make orders and
constitutions in matters ecclesiastical, if he do issue
forth his proclamation, and make an order upon the matters
within his power and prerogative; and if any one would come
and bring that power in question otherwise than in
parliament, that the matter of that proclamation be not
legal, I say that is sedition, and you are not to examine
the legality or illegality of the order or proclamation, but
the slander and reflection upon the government."

"If a person do a thing that is libellous, you shall not
examine the fact, but the consequence of it; whether it
tended to stir up sedition against the public, or to stir up
strife between man and man, in the case of private persons;
as if a man should say of a judge, he has taken a bribe, and
I will prove it.

"They tell the king it is inconsistent with their honor,
prudence, and conscience, to do what he would have them to
do. And if these things be not reflective upon the king and
government, I know not what is.

"I'll tell you what they should have done, Sir. If they were
commanded to do any thing against _their consciences, they
should have acquiesced till the meeting of the parliament_.
[At which some people in the court hissed.]

"_If the king will impose upon a man what he cannot do, he
must acquiesce_; but shall he come and fly in the face of
his prince? Shall he say it is illegal? and the prince acts
against prudence, honor, or conscience, and throw dirt in
the king's face? Sure that is not permitted; that is
libelling with a witness."[39]

[Footnote 39: 12 St. Tr. 415, 416, 417.]

Here, however, there was a JURY--the seven bishops were acquitted amid
the tumultuous huzzas of the people, who crowded all the open spaces
in the neighborhood of Westminster Hall,