Arizona silver belt., 1886-01-02
THE FIRST LtBEL SUIT.
How the Early Printers Struggled for the
 Liberty of fhs Press.
From Th. Philadelphia Timesl

of the introduction of printing int
 the Middle Colonies nothing IS nor
 interesting as the h t thrown upO,
 the achievement of the liberty of tn,
 press, which was accomplished afte.
 80 thany struggles in Pennsylvania
 It was here that the first and greates
 fight occurred and here that the frs
 victory was won. While the infan
 press in the rest of the world was un
 der censorship and but the hireC
 mouthpiece of oppressiOp, in Pennsyl
 vania first of all It becashe the popu
 lar voice and expression of the people,
 will. 1t Is asserted of Bradford that
 he was the first man anywhere tC
 maintain the freedom of the press against arbitrary power. In 1889 n
 Pennsylvania some questions arose
 between the people and Captain John Blackwell, the then Governor. Brad ford printed the charter, but, antlci- pating trouble, did not put his name to it, He was called to account by the Governor, who plainly told Brad ford that he should print nothing but what the Governor should allow. He claimed to have ordeisefor the sup pression of printing here and to look after Bradford's press.
 After this Bradford, satisfied that he had better leave Pennsylvania, pre- pared to do so. Meantime, however, dissensiOnS broke out among the pro fessing and ruling Quakers in power and the Quakers who were out of power and for pamphlet directed against the former Bradford was ar rested and his press ana type seized, Bradford conducted his own case, ob- jecting to two of the jurymen because they had expressed opinions not only as to the fact of his having published the paper, but as to its being of se- ditious character. When the prose cutting attorney said to him: "Didst thou at any time hear them say that thou printed the paper, for that IS only what they are to fnd?" Brad ford replied: That is not only what they are to find. The1 are to find -elso V.i:s-tst'.i-=ss ssiOa-p4 p5s- or not"
 Thus on the soil of Pennsylvania the father of the press in America as- serted in 1892 principle in the law of libel hardly then conceived any where, winch English Judges, after the struggle of the great Wing Chief Justice and Chancellor Lord Camden and of the brilliant declaimer, Mir. Erskine, were unable to reach, though at later day it was established in England by the enactment of MT. Fox'S libel bill in Parliament itself. A most curious circumstance caused this bill to be decided in favor of Bradford, which of itself was the first victory in the world for the freedom of the press. The prosecution had to prove that Bradford printed the pam phlet, but when he dld he took care that no one saw him. Having no other evidence the prosecuting attor- ney brought out the form, already seized by him, from which the pam phlet had been printed. This was selzed upon with exultation by the prosecuting party. Even on that evil dence in all probability Bradford would have been thrown into prison and temporarily, at least, suppressed. But while the form was being exam ined by tho jurymen, who could not read the type backward without look ing at them closely, the chase along the panel was accidentally moved and all of sudden, the quoins getting loose, the mass of type fell to the floor in pi. The evidence had disappeared by magic and Bradford acquitted.
 The accession of James II. pre- vented Bradford from going to En- gland, but decree in Pennsylvania, that he should print nothing about religion that had not been passed upon by council, drove him to New York, where at first, as paid Crown Printer on salary, he printed only such things as proclamations, royal notices, etc., as directed. After good deal of row about this time, "for the sat. lsfaction of the people" Governor Fletcher consented to have the votes of the Council and Assembly printed, though not the papers and messages passing between his EKcellency and that body. That this was concession may be inferred from the fact that in Virginia the prohibition, directed personally against Bradford, who was trying to establish a branch there, ordered "that no one should use the printing press on any occasion whatever"