ration is, whether he _did print and
publish it_." "If you ... find the defendant not guilty, the fact
established by that verdict is, _he did not publish a paper of that
meaning_;" "the fact finally established by your verdict, if you find
him guilty, is, that _he printed_ and published a _paper, of the
tenor_ and of the meaning set _forth in the information_;" "but you do
_not give an opinion ... whether it is or not lawful to print a paper_
... of the tenor and meaning in the information;" "if in point of fact
it is innocent, it would be an innocent thing."

Thus practically the judge left the jury only one thing to determine,
Did Mr. Miller print Junius's letter to the king? That was a fact as
notorious as it now is in Boston that the _Daily Advertiser_ supported
the fugitive slave bill, and helped its execution, for the letter to
the king was there in Mr. Miller's journal as plainly as those
defences of the fugitive slave bill were in the _Advertiser_. If the
jury said "guilty," the court had the defendant in their claws,--and
all the wrath of the most malignant tories would fall on him and rend
him in pieces. But the jury fell back on their legitimate function to
determine the Fact, the Law, and the Application of the law to the
fact, and returned a verdict, Not Guilty, which a great multitude
repeated with loud acclaim!

* * * * *

7. Next, Gentlemen, I will relate a few cases in which the government
set all justice at defiance and clove down the right of speech,
commonly packing submissive juries. In 1790 and following years, while
the French Revolution was in progress, the thoughtful eyes of England
fell on the evils of her own country. America was already a Republic,
just recovering from the shock of violent separation from her
mother,--young, poor, but not unprosperous, and full of future promise
too obvious to escape the sagacious politicians who there saw a
cause--

"----with fear of change,
Perplexing Kings."

The people of France, by a few spasmodic efforts, broke the threefold
chain of Priest, King, and Noble, and began to lift up their head. But
Saxon England is sober, and so went to work more solemnly than her
mercurial neighbor. And besides, the British people had already a
firm, broad basis of personal freedom to stand on. Much was thought,
written, and spoken about reform in England, then most desperately
needing it. The American Revolution had Eng