The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

The public will probably recollect, that some time last year the British ministry commenced a prosecution against some of the London printers, for a paragraph in their several papers respecting the Russian Ambassador; which paragraph, the mere report of the day, proved not to be true. The Ministry were eagerly glad of the opportunity, in order to curry favour with the Empress, who, by the bye, is a woman of too great and discerning a mind to be humbugged by such trifling littleness; however, the Ministry went on with the prosecution; and the following, taken from the London Courant of November 20th, will show the servile and persecuting spirit of the British Ministry, and that John Miller, the printer, hath more sense, more honesty, candor and fortitude, than the King of England and all his Ministry, with Lord Mansfield at the head of them, put together; John Miller will rise when they will fall; and most probably, when he is out of prison, they will be in.

LONDON, Nov. 29, 1781.

YESTERDAY, at a little after eleven o'clock, Mr. Miller, printer of the London Evening Post, was carried up from Mr. Armstrong's, in Carey Street, to the Court of King's Bench, by habeas corpus, in order to receive the judgement of that Court, for copying a paragraph, respecting the Russian Ambassador, from a morning paper, into the London Evening Post, of which he was then the printer. After attending about an hour, Mr. Miller was brought into Court, when the Attorney General moved the judgment of it against him. Being then called upon to signify whether he had any affidavit to offer, Mr. Miller addressed their Lordships in the following words:

MY LORDS!

You have before you one of the most honest and boldest printers that ever lived! A professed enemy to all the enemies of Old England, and to all Scotch enemies in particular! I do not come here to entreat mercy. I cannot be served worse than my brother printers have been; unless justice chooses to make an example of itself as well as me: for it will then become a capricious, arbitrary tyrant, instead of a dispenser of justice, if I should be punished worse than others similarly circumstanced.

Hence, then, am I to go to the King's Bench prison for a year, and, to increase the punishment, I am debarred the society of my wife and children; a new species of oppression, not known in any other country in the world!

I know the worst. Neither exhortation nor punishment will produce any alteration in me; for I promise to go on, whilst I have hands, without any attention to my ears, in the great line of duty as an English printer, a character the most respectable. I shall still keep a faithful watch over the conduct of public men, where I conceive their measures may affect the public interest or public liberty! The Roman goose was not more watchful over the Capitol, nor the cock over Peter! I shall both crow and cackle when I think it right, without asking any leave, or waiting for any other approbation, than that of the public! In this conduct, I own, I may sometimes give a false alarm, but it shall be through error only, and not through design!

In the present instance, all that can be laid to my charge, is, the hasty adoption of a current report. Were the report true, I could not answer to my conscience not to publish it. Were it ill founded, it would do no harm. Men of good character are little hurt by bad reports.

As to the idea of embroiling the nation; it is too ridiculous to call for serious refutation. What! the Empress of all the Russias go to war with the King of Great Britain, because John Miller told a lie about her Ambassador! Her Imperial Majesty would certainly have been satisfied with an apology for the surmise: and so should her Ambassador be, as he has been, and which I am now, and at all times ready further to make.

But if I am proceeded against judicially, I claim at least judicial forms to be attended to. I am not to be called upon to confess guilt, unless the confession will produce me some favour.

I still say, I am not guilty! I call for proof, and demand a trial.

What is it to me that a piece of paper was left at my house?

This is a criminal proceeding.

In civil process, it may be sufficient to give a man notice, and if he does not appear, to take the charge pro confesso. In such cases there is no presumption in his favour:

But, by the law of England, all men are, in criminal matters, presumed innocent, till they are found guilty. There are but two ways of finding a man guilty; one is by his own confession on record: the other is by a verdict of twelve men. But in both cases he must appear and plead. Now, I have never appeared, nor ever pleaded. I may be guilty of a contempt: punish me for that, if you please. You might indeed have proceeded to outlawry against me; but you have not done so; yet you say I am attainted of high crimes and misdemeanors. The attaint, I again insist, must come only from my pleading guilty, or my being found so by a Jury, if I pleaded not guilty.

Your taking judgment by default, is by assimilating informations with civil actions; yet you make them have the effect of indictments. I cannot stand before this court more as a culprit, by being informed against by one man without oath, than by twelve upon oath.

I demand the privilege of an Englishman: that I may be admitted to plead; I do plead not guilty. Thereupon try me; and if I am convicted upon proof by a Jury, do your worst! Till then, I am an unheard, and therefore should be considered an innocent man.

MY LORD!

I have served the public fourteen years faithfully and disinterestedly; seven years of which I laboured in defending and asserting the rights of my countrymen and fellow citizens! and the last seven years in decrying and exposing the wickedness of the ACCURSED AMERICAN WAR!

I now sit down an oppressed and distressed man! And though without a shilling in my pocket, with a wife and seven children, I go to prison, in the utmost confidence of my soul, casting them upon the public for protection and support.