ord Thurlow, who procured the postponement of
the second reading until the opinion of the judges should have been
ascertained. They, on being appealed to, declared that the criminality
or innocence of any act was the result of the judgment which the law
pronounces upon that act, and must therefore be in all cases and under
all circumstances matter of law, and not matter of fact, and that the
criminality or innocence of letters or papers set forth as overt acts of
treason, was matter of law, and not of fact. These startling assertions
had not much weight with the House of Lords, thanks to the able
arguments of Lord Camden, and the bill passed, with a protest attached
from Lord Thurlow and five others, in which they predicted 'the
confusion and destruction of the law of England.' Of this bill, Macaulay
says: 'Fox and Pitt are fairly entitled to divide the high honor of
having added to our statute book the inestimable law which places the
liberty of the press under the protection of juries.' Intimately
connected with this struggle for the liberty of public opinion was
another mighty engine, which was brought to bear, and that was the
Public Association, with its legitimate offspring, the Public Meeting.
The power and influence which this organization exerted were enormous,
and, though it was often employed in a bad or unworthy cause--such, for
instance, as the Protestant agitation, culminating in Lord George
Gordon's riots in 1780--yet it has been of incalculable advantage to the
progress of the state, the enlightenment of the nation, and the
advancement of civilization, freedom, and truth. Take, for instance, the
Slave-Trade Association, the object and scope of which are thus
admirably described by Erskine May, in his 'Constitutional History of
England':

'It was almost beyond the range of politics. It had no
constitutional change to seek, no interest to promote, no prejudice
to gratify, not even the national welfare to advance. Its clients
were a despised race in a distant clime--an inferior type of the
human family--for whom natures of a higher mould felt repugnance
rather than sympathy. Benevolence and Christian charity were its
only incentives. On the other hand, the slave-trade was supported
by some of the most powerful classes in the country--merchants,
shipowners, planters. Before it could be proscribed, vested
interests must be overborne--ignorance enlightened--pre