with respect to the
author. This expression may, perhaps, appear obscure to you, but I am
in the possession of some matters which serve to shew that the action
against the publisher is not intended to be a _real_ action. If,
therefore, any persons concerned in the prosecution have found their
cause so weak, as to make it appear convenient to them to enter into
a negociation with the publisher, whether for the purpose of his
submitting to a verdict, and to make use of the verdict so obtained as a
circumstance, by way of precedent, on a future trial against myself;
or for any other purpose not fully made known to me; if, I say, I have
cause to suspect this to be the case, I shall most certainly withdraw
the defence I should otherwise have made, or promoted on his (the
publisher's) behalf, and leave the negociators to themselves, and shall
reserve the whole of the defence for the _real_ trial.(1)

But, sir, for the purpose of conducting this matter with at least the
appearance of fairness and openness, that shall justify itself before
the public, whose cause it really is, (for it is the right of public
discussion and investigation that is questioned,) I have to propose to
you to cease the prosecution against the publisher; and as the reason
or pretext can no longer exist for continuing it against him because
Mr. Paine could not be found, that you would direct the whole process
against me, with whom the prosecuting party will not find it possible to
enter into any private negociation.

1 A detailed account of the proceedings with regard to the
publisher will be found infra, in ix., Letter to the
Addressers.--_Editor_.

I will do the cause full justice, as well for the sake of the nation, as
for my own reputation.

Another reason for discontinuing the process against the publisher is,
because it can amount to nothing. First, because a jury in London cannot
decide upon the fact of publishing beyond the limits of the jurisdiction
of London, and therefore the work may be republished over and over
again in every county in the nation, and every case must have a separate
process; and by the time that three or four hundred prosecutions have
been had, the eyes of the nation will then be fully open to see that the
work in question contains a plan the best calculated to root out all the
abuses of government, and to lessen the taxes of the nation upwards of
_six millions annually_.

Secondly, Because though the gen