was denounced as tyrannical, oppressive,
unconstitutional, and destructive of the liberty of speech and of the
press, and it was made one of the principal charges against the party in
power of that day, and was the chief means of its overthrow. During the
short period of the existence of that odious law, some few prosecutions
were instituted under it against obnoxious individuals; and these were
the only cases of prosecution for seditious libel that had ever occurred
in this country.

In the present case, an attempt was made to apply the well known
principles of the common law to the same improper and unconstitutional
end. The case was new to our courts, and was of rare occurrence in the
courts of England. Without being a prophet or the son of a prophet,
Mr. Coxe said he would venture to predict that, if the doctrines which
had been urged in behalf of this prosecution, and the proceedings which
had been here justified by the District Attorney, should be established
as lawful, the seeds will have been sown from which will be reaped, for
us and for our children, a harvest of woe and disaster.

He could not, therefore, but deeply feel the share of responsibility
which devolved upon him in the management of this case, and in the
vindication of the great principles of constitutional liberty in which
he had been nurtured and to which he was bound to adhere.

If, upon such a warrant as was issued against this traverser, any
individual in this community might be arrested, his papers seized and
examined, his most private correspondence exhibited to the public gaze,
and if all this proceeding was to be warranted by the laws under which
we live, then, gentlemen, said Mr. Coxe, this District is no place for
me. He would seek some place where he would be safe from such
outrages--some place where the principles of civil liberty are still
understood and cherished.

If, upon testimony thus illegally obtained from him, without having been
guilty of any overt act against the peace of the community, he could
be indicted for sedition, incarcerated for eight months preparatory
to a trial, and then be told that for having such publications as the
traverser had in his private custody, under his own lock and key, or
for loaning one to an intelligent friend, for his single perusal, he
should be exposed to conviction and punishment for sedition, then he
would, to escape such tyranny, expatriate himself, abandoning a land
no longer free.