In civil actions an advocate should never appear but when he is persuaded the merits of the cause lie on the side of his client. In criminal actions it often happens that the defendant in strict justice deserves punishment; yet a counsel may oppose it when a magistrate cannot come at the offender without making a breach in the barriers of liberty and opening a floodgate to arbitrary power. But when the defendant is innocent and unjustly prosecuted, his counsel may, nay ought to, take all advantages and use every stratagem that his skill, art, and learning can furnish him with. This last was the case of Zenger at New York, as appears by the printed trial and the verdict of the jury. It was a popular cause. The liberty of the press in that Province depended on it. On such occasions the dry rules of strict pleading are never observed. The counsel for the defendant sometimes argues from the known principles of law, then raises doubts and difficulties to confound his antagonist, now applies himself to the affections, and chiefly endeavors to raise the passions. Zenger’s defense is to be considered in all those different lights. Upon the whole: To suppress inquiries into the administration is good policy in an arbitrary government. But a free Constitution and freedom of speech have such a reciprocal dependence on each other that they cannot subsist without consisting together. Notes to the Introduction [1]Cadwallader Colden, _History of William Cosby’s Administration as Governor of the Province of New York, and of Lieutenant-Governor George Clarke’s Administration through 1737_ (New York Historical Society Collections, 1935), p. 286. [2]_Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York_, ed. E. B. O’Callaghan (Albany, 1853-87), V, 937. [3]William Smith, _The History of the Late Province of New York, from Its Discovery to the Appointment of Governor Colden in 1762_ (New York, 1829-30), II, 3. [4]Livingston Rutherfurd, _John Peter Zenger, His Press, His Trial and a Bibliography of Zenger Imprints_ (New York, 1904), p. 15. [5]_N.Y. Col. Docs._, V, 949. [6]Colden, _op. cit._, p. 298. [7]_N.Y. Col. Docs._, V, 955. [8]Colden, _op. cit._, pp. 298-299. [9]_Ibid._, p. 313. [10]_New York Gazette_, November 5, 1733. [11]_Ibid._, January 7, 1734. [12]_Ibid._, March 18, 1734. [13]_N.Y. Col. Docs._, V, 940. [14]_Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey_, ed. William A. Whitehead (Newark, 1880-1928), V, 359. [15]_Ibid._, V, 360. [16]_N.Y. Col. Docs._, VI, 21. [17]_Ibid._, VI, 5. [18]_New York Weekly Journal_, January 21, 1734. [19]_Ibid._, January 28, 1734. [20]_New York Gazette_, February 4, 1734. [21]_New York Weekly Journal_, November 26, 1733. [22]_Ibid._, December 31, 1733. [23]_New York Gazette_, April 1, 1734. [24]Colden, _op. cit._, p. 323. [25]_N.Y. Col. Docs._, V, 978. [26]_Ibid._, V, 975. [27]_Ibid._, V, 976.