k,
write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for
the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or
abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all prosecutions for
libel the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall
appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true and was
published with good motives and for justifiable ends, accused shall be
acquitted."

But the right to criticise is general, and belongs quite as much to any
other individual as to the newspaper writer, editor or publisher.

The _actions_ of individuals are always legitimate subjects of
discussion and criticism.

"In this country," says Judge Smith, of the New Hampshire Supreme Court,
"every citizen has the right to call the attention of his
fellow-citizens to the maladministration of public affairs or the
misconduct of public servants, if his real motive in so doing is to
bring about a reform of abuses or to defeat the re-election or
reappointment of an incompetent officer."

"No one can doubt the importance," is the language of Judge Story, "in a
free government of the right to canvass the _acts_ of public men and the
tendency of public measures--to censure boldly the conduct of rulers and
to scrutinize the policy and plans of government."

The language of the English courts is nearly as broad.

"God forbid that you should not be allowed to comment on the _conduct_
of all mankind, providing you do it justly and honorably," says Baron
Alderson.

Chief Justice Cockburn said: "It is of vast importance that criticism,
so long as it is fair, reasonable and just, should be allowed the utmost
latitude, and that the most unsparing censure of works which are fairly
subject to it should not be held libelous."

CRITICISM DOES NOT EXTEND TO PERSON

But the privilege of criticism extends only to the _actions_ or _works_
of an individual; it does not extend to the _person_. In the case of an
author, his _works_ may be criticised as severely as the occasion
demands. "Every man who publishes a book commits himself to the judgment
of the public," says an eminent English judge; but this can not be made
the excuse for personal abuse of the author himself.

The author, the artist, the architect, who produces a book, a painting
or a building, is in this respect in the same position as the maker or
producer of a watch, a piano or a carving-knife.

The thing produced in either ca