n Provinces were to be made the
slave colonies of a metropolitan despotism. The usual charge of doing
all this by "force and arms," was of course thrown in. The publication
of the advertisement was declared a "crime of such heinousness and of
such a size as fairly called for the highest resentment which any
court of justice has thought proper to use with respect to crimes of
this denomination;" "a libel such that it is impossible by any
artifice to aggravate it;" "It will be totally impossible for the
imagination of any man, however shrewd, to state a libel more
scandalous and base in the fact imputed, more malignant and hostile to
the country in which the libeller is born, more dangerous in the
example if it were suffered to pass unpunished, than this:" "It is in
language addressed to the lowest and most miserable mortals, ... it is
addressed to the lowest of the mob, and the bulk of the people, who it
is fit should be otherwise taught, who it is fit should be otherwise
governed in this country."

Mr. Horne was brought to trial on the 4th of July, 1777. He defended
himself, but though a vigorous writer, he was not a good speaker, and
was in a strange place, while "Thurlow fought on his own dunghill,"
says Lord Campbell, "and throughout the whole day had the advantage
over him." There was a special jury packed for the purpose by the
hireling sheriff,--a "London jury" famous for corruption,--a
tyrannical and powerful judge, ready to turn every weapon of the court
against the defendant and to construct law against the liberty of
speech. Of course Mr. Horne was convicted.

But how should he be punished? Thurlow determined.

"My Lords, the punishments to be inflicted upon misdemeanors
of this sort, have usually been of three different kinds;
fine, corporal punishment by imprisonment, and infamy by the
judgment of the pillory. With regard to the _fine_, it is
impossible for justice to make this sort of punishment,
however the infamy will always fall upon the offender;
because it is well known, that men who have more wealth, who
have better and more respectful situations and reputations
to be watchful over, employ men in desperate situations both
of circumstances and characters, in order to do that which
serves their party purposes; and when the punishment comes
to be inflicted, this court must have regard to the apparent
situation and circumstances of the m