The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

THE EXPEDITION OF HUMPHRY CLINKER 103
They pay his fine, they contribute to the increase of his stock, his
shop is crowded with customers, and the sale of his paper rises in
proportion to the scandal it contains. All this time the prosecutor is
inveighed against as a tyrant and oppressor, for having chosen to
proceed by the way of information, which is deemed a grievance;
but if he lays an action for damages, he must prove the damage,
and I leave you to judge, whether a gentleman’s character may
not be brought into contempt, and all his views in life blasted by
calumny, without his being able to specify the particulars of the
damage he has sustained.
‘This spirit of defamation is a kind of heresy, that thrives under
persecution. The liberty of the press is a term of great efficacy; and,
like that of the Protestant religion, has often served the purposes of
sedition—A minister, therefore, must arm himself with patience,
and bear those attacks without repining—Whatever mischief they
may do in other respects, they certainly contribute, in one parti-
cular, to the advantage of government; for those defamatory articles
have multiplied papers in such a manner, and augmented their
sale to such a degree, that the duty upon stamps and advertisements
has made a very considerable addition to the revenue.’ Certain it
is, a gentleman’s honour is a very delicate subject to be handled by
a jury, composed of men, who cannot be supposed remarkable
either for sentiment or impartiality—In such a case, indeed, the
defendant is tried, not only by his peers, but also by his party;
and I really think, that of all patriots, he is the most resolute who
exposes himself to such detraction, for the sake of his country—
If, from the ignorance or partiality of juries, a gentleman can have
no redress from law, for being defamed in a pamphlet or news-
paper, I know but one other method of proceeding against the
publisher, which is attended with some risque, but has been
practised successfully, more than once, in my remembrance—A
regiment of horse was represented, in one of the news-papers, as
having misbehaved at Dettingen; a captain of that regiment broke
the publisher’s bones, telling him, at the same time, if he went to
law, he should certainly have the like salutation from every officer
of the corps. Governor —— took the same satisfaction on the ribs
of an author, who traduced him by name in a periodical paper—I
know a low fellow of the same class, who, being turned out of
Venice for his impudence and scurrility, retired to Lugano, a town
of the Grisons, (a free people, God wot) where he found a printing