The Judicial History of Individual Liberty. usurpers of their possessions. . . . Sensible of the decline of their spiritual and moral influence, they cling to temporal power, and lose in their officiousness in political matters even the semblance of the character of min isters of religion." For this publication Williams was brought to trial before Baron Wood and a special jury in August, 1822.
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published for the purpose of bringing into hatred and contempt any of the establish ments of the country, it is a libel and ought to be punished, and if this were not so, this liberty of the press, as it is called, might pull down all our institutions. The defendant was found guilty, but he was never called up for judgment.
SIR FRANCIS BURDETT.
Scarlett and Tindal prosecuted; Brougham and Alderson defended. This cause enlisted Brougham's warmest feelings; his speech for Williams is a masterpiece of invective. Baron Wood charged the jury in his usual style. "I have no difficulty in telling you," he said, "that when anything is printed and
Two other contemporary prosecutions for libel on the sovereign may be noticed. In 1823 Harvey and Chapman, publisher and proprietor respectively of the Sunday Times, were tried and convicted for publishing an article intimating that George IV. was in sane (2 St. Tr., N. S. i). The defendants,
